Re: boot Debian Gnome, Debian KDE, and Mate, XFCE

From	George at Clug <Clug@goproject.info>
Newsgroups	linux.debian.user
Subject	Re: boot Debian Gnome, Debian KDE, and Mate, XFCE
Date	2024-09-27 14:00 +0200
Message-ID	<JrhND-fbY8-7@gated-at.bofh.it> (permalink)
References	<Jr9dn-f5U4-7@gated-at.bofh.it>
Organization	linux.* mail to news gateway

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On Friday, 27-09-2024 at 12:40 David Wright wrote:
> On Thu 26 Sep 2024 at 09:52:18 (+0100), Joe wrote:
> > On Thu, 26 Sep 2024 07:19:26 +1000 George at Clug wrote:
> > > On Wednesday, 25-09-2024 at 12:37 Max Nikulin wrote:
> > > > On 25/09/2024 04:52, George at Clug wrote:  
> > > > > An other example would be to boot Debian Gnome, Debian KDE, and
> > > > > Debian Mate, Debian XFCE.  
> > > > 
> > <snip>
> > > 
> > > > Display managers allow to 
> > > > select session type before login (but some can not remember
> > > > per-user preferences).  
> > > 
> > > Using a different display manager is not the same as using a
> > > different installation.
> > > 
> > No, for that you need multi-boot.
> > 
> > But to compare Gnome, KDE etc. you would be staying within one
> > installation and using the display manager to switch between desktop
> > environments, which is what these things are. You could also compare
> > with other environments such as window managers, but generally only
> > heavy professional users find it convenient to eliminate the desktop
> > environments, such as you mention (also LXDE and Cinnamon).
> > 
> > If you look around your login screen, it may not be obvious, but there
> > should be a way to select different types of session. Even with a
> > default Debian installation you should find a session control widget in
> > the top right corner of the screen while the login box is shown, though
> > it will only contain the desktop you selected on installation. But you
> > can install others, and they will appear on this session menu.
> 
> Is it safe to assume that the environment a sole DE gives you is the
> same as the environment when you've switched to that DE from running
> several others, or even when other DEs are installed on the system?

See issues I raised below. The main issue with installing multiple DEs, is that you get a very different installation to that of a single DE installation.

For example, when I install XFCE (my favourite DE) I often also install Cinnamon and/or Mate, but only ever log into XFCE. Installing in this manner installs many other programs that I like, e.g. gedit, System Monitor to be installed which I would otherwise have to install separately and later after the initial OS installation. 

One thing I find annoying about XFCE, if I only install XFCE, Thunar is unable to connect to SAMBA shares, but if I also install Cinnamon, then when logging into XFCE, Thunar can connect to SAMBA shares. 

There are packages I can install to get Thunar in an XFCE only installation to connect to SAMBA shares, but it is so much easier just to install both XFCE and Cinnamon when initially installing Debian. 

> Particularly (but sticking with Debian) in the context of:
> 
> > > > > For example if I could do this I would be able to test
> > > > > various GUIs or distributions for applications/games
> > > > > using the same hardware and gauge performance.
> 
> Also, do DEs ever disagree over how they use their dotfiles?

You have raised a good point.

When trying to use a single Linux installation for multiple DEs (GUIs), I have had these concerns:

1) If you install multiple DEs you get many files/programs installed that are extra to a specific DE.  This alters greatly the DE experience such that it become meaningless in trying/testing the given DE.

2) I have had issues with /home/[user].config files being corrupted as each DE alters various config files in their own way, causing conflicts with other DEs.

3) I am not confident that constant switching between display manager, e.g. LightDM, SLiM, XDM, GDM, SDDM, KDM, Ly will not cause issues. Besides the frustration of changing the configuration each time you want to jump into another DE.

4) Logging into different DEs does not provide for Windows/Arch Linux/Ubuntu/Linux Mint/Manjaro multiboot scenario.

Booting into completely different installations on different disk drives works very well, if you can select which drive you are booting from. And allows for comparison of distributions on the same hardware.

George.

> 
> Cheers,
> David.
> 
>

Thread

Availability of "Debian GNU/Linux Installation Guide" for OFFLINE use Richard Owlett <rowlett@access.net> - 2024-09-19 16:20 +0200
  Re: Availability of "Debian GNU/Linux Installation Guide" for  OFFLINE use David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> - 2024-09-19 17:10 +0200
    Re: Availability of "Debian GNU/Linux Installation Guide" for OFFLINE  use Richard Owlett <rowlett@access.net> - 2024-09-20 15:00 +0200
      Re: Availability of "Debian GNU/Linux Installation Guide" for  OFFLINE use David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> - 2024-09-20 18:00 +0200
        Re: Availability of "Debian GNU/Linux Installation Guide" for OFFLINE  use Richard Owlett <rowlett@access.net> - 2024-09-21 14:10 +0200
  Re: Availability of "Debian GNU/Linux Installation Guide" for OFFLINE  use Richard Owlett <rowlett@access.net> - 2024-09-22 13:20 +0200
    Re: Availability of "Debian GNU/Linux Installation Guide" for  OFFLINE use David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> - 2024-09-23 03:10 +0200
      Finding/creating Debian documentation for an unserved audience Richard Owlett <rowlett@access.net> - 2024-09-23 13:40 +0200
        Re: Finding/creating Debian documentation for an unserved audience Michel Verdier <mv524@free.fr> - 2024-09-24 10:50 +0200
          Re: Finding/creating Debian documentation for an unserved audience Richard Owlett <rowlett@access.net> - 2024-09-24 11:50 +0200
            Re: Finding/creating Debian documentation for an unserved audience Joe <joe@jretrading.com> - 2024-09-24 14:00 +0200
            Re: Finding/creating Debian documentation for an unserved audience George at Clug <Clug@goproject.info> - 2024-09-25 00:00 +0200
              boot Debian Gnome, Debian KDE, and Mate, XFCE (was: Re:  Finding/creating Debian documentation for an unserved audience) Max Nikulin <manikulin@gmail.com> - 2024-09-25 04:40 +0200
                boot Debian Gnome, Debian KDE, and Mate, XFCE  George at Clug <Clug@goproject.info> - 2024-09-25 23:30 +0200
                Re: boot Debian Gnome, Debian KDE, and Mate, XFCE Max Nikulin <manikulin@gmail.com> - 2024-09-26 04:50 +0200
                Re: boot Debian Gnome, Debian KDE, and Mate, XFCE Joe <joe@jretrading.com> - 2024-09-26 11:00 +0200
                Re: boot Debian Gnome, Debian KDE, and Mate, XFCE David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> - 2024-09-27 04:50 +0200
                Re: boot Debian Gnome, Debian KDE, and Mate, XFCE George at Clug <Clug@goproject.info> - 2024-09-27 14:00 +0200
                Re: boot Debian Gnome, Debian KDE, and Mate, XFCE Max Nikulin <manikulin@gmail.com> - 2024-09-28 05:10 +0200
                Re: boot Debian Gnome, Debian KDE, and Mate, XFCE Joe <joe@jretrading.com> - 2024-09-27 14:50 +0200
                Re: boot Debian Gnome, Debian KDE, and Mate, XFCE George at Clug <Clug@goproject.info> - 2024-09-28 17:10 +0200
                Re: boot Debian Gnome, Debian KDE, and Mate, XFCE Florent Rougon <f.rougon@free.fr> - 2024-09-29 15:00 +0200
                Re: boot Debian Gnome, Debian KDE, and Mate, XFCE Max Nikulin <manikulin@gmail.com> - 2024-09-30 04:30 +0200
        Re: Finding/creating Debian documentation for an unserved audience David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> - 2024-09-27 04:50 +0200
          Re: Finding/creating Debian documentation for an unserved audience Richard Owlett <rowlett@access.net> - 2024-09-27 14:10 +0200
          Re: Finding/creating Debian documentation for an unserved audience Joe <joe@jretrading.com> - 2024-09-27 15:10 +0200

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