Hello guys, Yesterday i was looking for software replacements today asking about things I know nothing about, but I find very interesting and want to play with it.
That is window managers and Desktop environments. In my quest in switching to Linux for programming and just really for fun I haven't really found a Desktop Environment that I love, I really like KDE Plasma so far because it feels like windows just with a lot of custom tweaks, but that isn't why I am switch to Linux I am switching to spice things up and to have absolute power (Mahahaha) over my computer, So today I am wanting to know information about Window managers as a replacement for a traditional Desktop Environment ( may have terminology incorrect ). I am interested in i3. Things I really want to know are can I use a standard desktop environment and i3 together, say I want my girlfriend or a friend to be able to use my computer with out having to know all my shortcuts could i do that so I can switch between Plasma and i3 (or other desktop). Also how hard is the transition switching to i3 and to Linux at once ( is it to much for a mere mortal). Is it something I should have a lot of experience with Linux first to use or is it something a noob like me could manage with the right amount of time and research. I have been watching videos on da Youtubes since i woke up today and it looks like a lot of fun to use. I have a quad monitor setup how does i3 and others work with muit monitor setups, that is kind of a big concern since losing those isn't an option for my desktop, may still use it for my laptop.
Will definitely look into that. Kind of the solution I am looking for that or if i can make it work like having 2 desktop environments where I can just login to what session I want being i3 or Plasma.
In most login manager you can switch your desktop manager before you login. so you could just set something like a guest account to KDE plasma and have your account be i3
i3 will have a steeper learning curve than regular linux because it is all terminal based.
I have never used i3 with multiple monitors so i cant speak on that front
That is exactly how i hoped that would work. currently I have whatever the Antergos default login manager is and when I was playing with a VM that had both GNOME and KDE Plasma i could just switch.
I thought that it would, but I guess this is something i am going to try on my own to see if i can do.
I will familiarlize myself with xrandr, currently have no idea what that is.
Will look into it and Yeah since i have gotten into Linux i tend to ask a question or 2 every week.
I push people to try stuff in that order because the workflows are exact opposites de to de. I love using workspaces whereas someonemay not, so that is sprinkled throughout that line. Theres more I could add to it, but if someone gets to gnome and is still unhappy I point them at freedesktop.org and amiwm and hope for the best.
Alright, so to learn about how linux works go install arch linux in a vm or on a junk computer. If you can't do that then just read the arch wiki about installing and see what al goes into it.
I have tried most of those, but thanks for the advice I really like KDE so far and gnome. Gnome i really hate the top panel it feels so useless and i don't like the full screen super to look for applications since i currently use it a good bit. KDE really enjoy.
Well then heres what I can say. Go get netrunner rolling, you can get the torrent on linuxtracker. Run it in a VM, play with THAT Kde. The way they set up KDE there is by far my favorite implementation of Kde ever but because that OS is dead, ish, and there is a way to do it that way but I don't know how because I'm not balls deep into kde 24/7.
And if this is Day 2, try MATE, XFCE, and maybe awesomeWM (learn how AWM works first).
Yeah, I am still wrapping my head around all of this, trying not to get to invested on one DE yet, and trying to stay open, good point in 1% i mean it's free i can change whatever whenever I am not locked in to anything so i should just take full advantage of that.