So, I've been on linux for a pretty long time, however I still like the workflow of the windows GUI, hence I use KDE plasma.
But, since I have a R9 390X, I suddenly went from OpenSUSE to Fedora simply because of support for the card, and then it hit me, fedora is a gnome advocate...too late, already installing, already committed, welp time to find out if this support plasma, it does.
So I figured, you know what, I'll give it another try, give it a second chance, it probably improved drastically since last time I used it. The time frame I thought off is "hmmm, 3 months should do it, enough time to judge it, and others won't easily dismiss my claims if I spend that long on it (the simple minded ones, you gnow what I mean (....sorry, I'll let myself out))".
So now day 1 (3/4/17) marked, here we go.
Initial thoughts (Baseline): I tried and tried to think of one positive thing about gnome but last time I used it, it was treating me like a child, no bare metal customisation, horrible, horrible workflow interface (Who really likes the massive headers?!?! wasted space!) and don't get me started with the all-in-one on the top (I hate unity with a passion, it's probably sending me the same vibes)...ugh.
On a side note: Of course, if I see something I don't like, I'll try to improve it, fix it, but rest assured I won't be getting rid of gnome and will still use it within this time frame.
I've tried many DEs and gnome is the fastest for me to work with. Switching between widows, workspaces. Opening new windows... No complaints for gnome from me.
somethings i found out/picked up from using it for the past couple of months
If you want window snapping like having your screen divide into fourths, try the shell tile extension
If you need to rebind/change key settings, go to the tweak tool, under typing, then chose what you want to do. For me, I am rocking a old ps2 keyboard, so it does not have a super key so i rebound my caps lock to be l super
Yeah, I've already delved into the tweak tool, my god, it was much worse when I used it last time, but now it's kinda bearable for now, pixel-saver is pretty good, still experimenting....
Single DE heathens gonna hate. KDE on the desktop, Gnome on the laptop.
I'm gonna check out that gnome tweak tool now though.
Odd thing is with the AMD drivers for the 290 in the desktop running kernel 4.8, gnome on the laptop runs better than KDE on the desktop. That's all drivers though...
I don't dev so I've never tried opensuse. Might get into fedora, apparently good for corporate environments and I would love to try to move open source and linux further into everything.
I don't usually delve too deep in the DEs to tweak them. Most do what I need out of the box. Which is a good thing for more usage in the home space.
I do see what you're saying with KDE and Gnome though. gnome really does hold your hand.
Who really likes the massive headers?!?! wasted space!
I really like that people never specify which space is wasted. Because header bars usually save a large amount of space as in absolute number of unused pixels (vertically + horizontal). Only exception is Ubuntu where you sometimes have title bars + headerbars (they've patched it).
Many people like themes with little padding and Adwaita has more padding than the average theme, but that doesn't make header bars space inefficient.
I tried KDE briefly but one issue drove me crazy to do with how I use my TV in multi-monitor mode.. Both KDE and xfce exhibited strange unwanted behaviour. Gnome isn't perfect by any stretch, but it has been far more consistent for me.
So for the most part I've been using Gnome for the last 2 years and it's pretty good, the only thing that I've bumped into is some extensions getting broken during upgrade, but it's not every time or I haven't experienced it for a while should I say.
Indeed - for me the same - I initially hated gnome3 as well - coming from the blessed world of gnome2 - my grief and hatred was high. But now been using it for years - and I honestly have to admit I am realy happy with it - customized to my optical likings and the workflow I also like now - hope they do not change it majorly again though!
I'm going to have to disagree with you there, having bloated headers not only reduces my vertical real-estate, but also tilts me (If I can improve it, I will, no ifs no buts). So far I've made it manageable with gnome extensions and the tweak tool.
However I do acknowledge the fact that it's one own opinion on how they operate within their workflow and environment, it's always to an each their own argument, You've had your say, I've had mine, where done.
I wasn't much of a fan of gnome 3 when it came out. But it's improved with every release, I've been used it as my main desktop environment the last few releases (currently on 3.24).
I'd love to see something comparable to krunner, but for everything else it pretty much fits my needs now quite well.
A couple of nautilus extensions you may want to install (search for nautilus in dnf) and a plugin or two for some additional functionality if needed.
Since your going for 3 months, i think you may be in time for the next fedora release with gnome 3.24 as well.
