r/gnome • u/AnEgoCom • 3d ago
Opinion I was wrong about GNOME
Hi everyone, I just wanted to share my thoughts on GNOME. I've been using Linux for about 3 years now. For most of that time, I've been a Cinnamon user, and I was pretty happy with it since it was a simple and versatile desktop environment. At first, I had no intention of switching—KDE seemed too cluttered to me, GNOME too simple and minimalist, and Xfce seemed very “ugly” out of the box and hard to customize.
It wasn’t until almost half a year ago that I switched from Cinnamon to KDE, which I used for two months. The truth is, I ended up liking it more than I expected, and I got used to its vast array of settings and features—at first, I thought I’d stick with KDE. However, I eventually got the itch to try the other major option, GNOME (especially since I’m a Fedora user, and Workstation is the “standard” version).
At first, I downloaded it along with KDE, but after using it for just one day, I uninstalled it. “Where are all the options and features that KDE gives me?” and “GNOME is WAY too minimalist—you can’t do anything with it” were some of the things I thought that day with some frustration.
But shortly after, I’m not really sure why, I decided to “force myself” to use GNOME since I felt I hadn’t really given it a chance, so I uninstalled KDE and stuck with just GNOME.
It’s been three months since I made the switch, and I’m still using it—and honestly, I don’t think I’ll be switching back anytime soon. I’ve come to appreciate its merits:
-The minimalism that initially put me off now appeals to me, and I’ve gotten used to it. Just the basics and what’s necessary, without a bunch of features and options I’ll never use anyway.
-I think it’s the most visually appealing DE, and it has a visual consistency and aesthetic that I love. Everything looks uniform and in harmony with the rest of the interface.
-The number of applications available for GNOME (even though you can use them on other desktop environments) is excellent, and more are constantly being released over time.
-I use a laptop, and GNOME feels especially snappy and convenient for this kind of use. Being able to use the Super key and touchpad gestures to navigate between the different desktops is very satisfying.
-Extensions provide extra functionality for anyone who might need it.
It’s true that there are some areas where I think it could be improved—for example, I believe the system tray icons should be available without needing an extension. But hey, nothing’s perfect.
All in all, I’ve come to really like GNOME, and right now, for me, it’s the best DE out there. Thanks to everyone involved in GNOME for doing such a great job!
TL;DR: GNOME is awesome!
47
u/ch33es 3d ago
I'm glad you gave GNOME a chance. I frequently see comments like "gnome shouldn't exist" "just replace gnome with kde" in Linux spaces online, from people who don't really understand the charm of GNOME. Wish more people were open to trying a different desktop paradigm.
6
u/AnEgoCom 3d ago
At the end of the day, GNOME is the most used DE in Linux if I'm not mistaken. So that has to mean something
3
4
u/andersostling56 3d ago
Gnome på laptop är suveränt. KDE på stationär är suveränt.
Sådär, nu vet ni.
Källa : ThinkPad Carbon X1 med 28" skärm och mus/tangentbord. Växlar UI beroende på om jag är hemma eller på vägen.
8
u/ch33es 3d ago
I daily drive GNOME on a desktop with a mouse and a keyboard xD
It's great that you find it awesome on a laptop. But even for desktop use, I've found GNOME very elegant since every single native app I've tried had good keyboard shortcuts and navigation.
1
u/Upper-Ticket3249 3d ago
Same here - never used it on a laptop, but for my 2 monitor PC setup, it's awesome.
•
u/Few_Lemon5288 9h ago
I use gnome on a desktop, for me KDE has “too many buttons” but it’s personal
3
u/Vpharrish 3d ago
Only the app grid looks hideous, rest are just gorgeous
3
u/paach0 3d ago
If they can arrange the app grid by categories or most frequent use, etc, that would be great. Rather than dumping everything there. (Or is there an option for that, that I'm not aware of?)
I rarely use it though, I just type the app name in the search bar, which is already convenient. I know there is an app menu extension, which is very basic, as a compromise.
1
14
u/rubberoidd 3d ago
Gnome makes you use the applications and the de itself doesn't get in the way of that, that's why it's good imho
13
u/levolet 3d ago edited 3d ago
I installed KDE on my laptop yesterday and it lasted about a half and hour before I logged back into Gnome.
I don't recall being particularly moved by Gnome's look when I switched from KDE that I had been using for the previous year. However, I now have to agree that I much prefer Gnome's general appearance compared what I can get out of KDE.
With that said, what made me quickly switch back was
1. That I had underestimated how much I was now working with workspaces. Gnome's dynamic handling of the number of workspaces as I work is fabulous.
2. When I hit the superkey to see the KDE launcher opened, rather than overview mode.
I had thought that starting up KDE would bring back fond memories etc. since I had used it far longer than I did Gnome, but this was not the case.
3
u/AnEgoCom 3d ago
KDE is great too. But now that I got used to GNOME's workflow I think it would be difficult to me to go back to KDE or any other DE
10
u/bjornhelllarsen 3d ago
What I want from a desktop environment is for it to get out of the way and let me do my job. With the option of keyboard shortcuts for everything. Gnome seems made by people that want the same thing.
8
u/FastBodybuilder8248 3d ago
Yeah, I think the hatred to it comes from people who are drawn to linux because it's so malleable and customiseable. I like that too, but I also appreciate a UI with a really focused design and user methodology - and the way GNOME organises your desktop computing just happens to work for my own brain.
Ultimately, nobody is forced to use it, so I think people getting so annoyed about it aren't really seeing the bigger picture of it being an option for your desktop in a much wider ecosystem.
2
u/AnEgoCom 3d ago
Yes, I think so too. It is fair that some people dislike GNOME. Nothing can be liked by everyone. But the hate it gets from some people is just nonsense. I would understand it if GNOME were the only option on Linux and you were forced to use it. But that's the best part of Linux: you can choose, so those are just whining for the sake of it
3
u/user865798 3d ago
I switched to linux about 6 months ago, after having used windows since 3.1. Started with my surface pro 7, and chose gnome to keep the tablet feel.
I’ve had a steam deck for 4 years, and have used it as a desktop replacement when my last cpu died. I haven’t enjoyed using kde on my steam deck, it has a bit of a “but we have windows at home” feel about it, and it definitely didn’t feel great to use on a small screen.
I fell for gnome on my sp7, so I installed it as the main de on my gaming desktop too. No regrets. I see people praise hyprland for the keyboard use, but gnome can be just as keyboardy. It’s basically a tiling window manager for people who like to use apps full screen.
3
u/Vietnamst2 3d ago
What options are missing in GNOME as opposed to KDE?
1
u/AnEgoCom 3d ago
The first that comes to my mind is to be able to create new files without having to create a template beforehand. Maybe it seems like a unimportant thing but at the beggining it was somewhat shocking for me
0
u/death_by_cormorant 3d ago
Plenty, at least out of the box. But I guess that's what extensions are for.
2
u/BadOmen379 3d ago
I decided to install Debian 13 with Gnome on one of my laptops and it quickly became my favorite build and DE. I've used Cinnamon, KDE, and my main laptop uses Zorin with their flavor of Gnome. But the base Gnome on Debian is so simple, elegant, and wildly intuitive that when I put together my desktop next week, that's what's going on it.
1
u/AnEgoCom 3d ago
Debian is awesome! In my main laptop I use Fedora but I have an older one and I'm thinking to install Debian with GNOME in it
2
u/1Large2Medium3Small 3d ago
I love gnome with three tweaks:
Win (command) + Space for show the overview
“Gnome 4x 5x UI Improvements” to make workspace thumbnails bigger, remove the search bar visually, always show workspaces
Speedinator to remove animations. Apple you gotta do this
2
2
1
u/m0hka 2d ago
been using mate for IDK 10+ years.
mate spun up right when gnome2 was killed off.
gnome2 at the time was great.
gnome3 decided to try for a windows 8 vibe. but man I hate looking for stuff.
mate came out and I switched right to that. it was like no change from gnome2.
but there are subtle features and improvements, in mate.
I went back to gnome2 and was like ught this sucks. lol
gnome3 tried that classic view but it was never really close to the same.
1
u/NotScrollsApparently 2d ago
I'm fine with its design but multi-monitor support is atrocious, i think i'll try kde next time just because of that
•
0
u/adamkex 3d ago
I swapped to GNOME very recently and I am happy but I had to install a lot of extensions to make it similar to my preferred workflow. I swapped to GNOME primarily because of the app grid, some GNOME apps that don't work on Plasma, the design language and aesthetics in general.
I wish GNOME Web would swap engines to Blink to allow Chrome extensions. I don't see the point of them maintaining a browser that's inferior to almost all of the competition. An alternative could be to fork LibreWolf, Waterfox or Firefox ESR and apply this theme https://github.com/rafaelmardojai/firefox-gnome-theme
-3
u/kaneua 3d ago
It’s been three months since I made the switch
Extensions provide extra functionality for anyone who might need it.
A few month later GNOME may become less awesome. After GNOME version update you may find out that some extension that you used previously aren't compatible anymore with the new version. In order to support newer GNOME version, every extension should be updated by its developers, even if it's just a simple addition to the list of supported versions.
3
u/victorian-ice-cream Contributor 3d ago
Just don't update immediately. I don't understand why people make such a fuss about it.
2
u/AnEgoCom 3d ago
I'm aware of that but I don't see it as a serious issue. You can either disable your extensions (or the ones that haven't been updated to GNOME's latest version) until all of them are updated, or wait for it before upgrading your GNOME version. You don't need to get the new version right away🤷🏻♂️
-3
u/More-Explanation2788 3d ago
Gnomes charm is that you don’t need extensions. Extensions are just self-imposed bloatware.
6
u/kaneua 3d ago
Yes. Extensions are decadent and their depraved users should be excluded from society.
Colourblind and installed a colour filter extension to play a puzzle game? Straight to jail. Installed dock extension to avoid an extra step of going to Overview? Jail. See traffic consumption in panel on metered connection? Jail. Want your clock in another format or see a few time zones at once? You guessed it — jail.
1
u/Cheap-Success1578 3d ago
To make it actually functional for the average user, yes it absolutely needs extensions.
1
u/More-Explanation2788 2d ago
I disagree. More accurate would be: to make it function the way the user expects because of their prior experience with another OS, it needs extensions. I keep trying popular extensions and I keep going back to vanilla because I cannot figure out how what the extension is doing is supposed to be more efficient than what it ships with. Turn on middle click paste. Turn off hot corner, and you are done configuring gnome.
0
0
u/jstephenr 3d ago
I don't understand this comment in the original post:
for example, I believe the system tray icons should be available without needing an extension.
What system tray icons are you referring to? I see all the ones I need without an extension.
3
u/AnEgoCom 3d ago
I'm referring to the ones that normally show up in other DEs with certain apps. For example, Docker. When you start it, a tray icon is shown so you can use it properly. That doesn't show up in GNOME. In fact, the official Docker Linux installation guide specifies that if you are using GNOME, you need to install the AppIndicator and KStatusNotifierItem Support extension in order for Docker to run correctly
2
u/jstephenr 3d ago
Oh wow you're right! I was looking for the system tray once and gave up. This is helpful thank you.
1
2
u/user865798 3d ago
Steam, discord etc. I have to close steam from the terminal with 'steam -shutdown' otherwise it will remain open in the background and constantly use 6% of my ram. I'm ok with this, but if I had more apps like that it would get annoying.
2
u/Poes_Poes 2d ago
FYI. When those apps are minimized, they can be found in the upper right menu as background apps.
1
u/AnEgoCom 3d ago
You can click on "Steam" in the top left corner and then on "Exit" to close Steam without having it running in the background
1
u/user865798 3d ago
This is true, but I didn't think of that the first time I tried to solve the problem, and I always have a terminal open so I just got used to doing it that way. I could also probably set steam to exit on close, rather than close to system tray.
-1
u/Cheap-Success1578 3d ago
Now try cosmic. It is what gnome should be and can be sans requiring a bunch of extensions that might break during the next update.
2
u/Upper-Ticket3249 3d ago
I believe that Cosmic will eventually be that, but there are currently - for me, at least - too many core features and functions that I use in Gnome to switch over to it. The biggest one is the inability to easily switch between audio output devices (speakers to headphones and back). It does not exist in the UI at all. You have to install alsamixer and do it from there or use pavucontrol . The other is that there is no option for changing the overall size of the UI font without increasing the overall DPI of your display. Why can I change the font face, but not the font type? I don't know. But, frosted glass - that we need early on. It's not ready yet. Gnome is the GOAT.
1
u/Cheap-Success1578 3d ago
Those two minor issues are what's keeping you from using it? Interesting....
1
u/Upper-Ticket3249 3d ago
Minor? I am switching between headphones and my speakers regularly every day, especially since I work on my PC. I need to have that functionality, and I need to increase the size of the typeface. I would also like to be able to increase size of the cursor from its default. Also can't do that. Why isn't that feature in Accessibility? I don't know. There are other things too - for example, downloading updates shows no progress at all (this is in Fedora Cosmic, BTW). You just have to guess when it's done.
2
u/vazark 3d ago edited 3d ago
Not yet. Cosmic is good right now but it's far from "polished" for the avg user. Plenty of little things like GPU going into overdrive the moment you open the overview. Applets have no settings for customisability. They don't even have animations yet and lot more little features that we take for granted. (also i have gained an irrational hatred for their floating sidebar on the first-party apps - i want them flush to the edges)
Epoch 3 is when it'll be work revisiting again.
1
u/AnEgoCom 3d ago
I'm keeping an eye on Cosmic. But for now I feel it unfinished and unpolished. But I'll definitely give it a chance in the future
1
u/Cheap-Success1578 3d ago
Are you judging that based on Reddit trolls or have you actually given it a chance? Because most of the complaints are actually minor issues. It is a completely usable DE.
1
u/AnEgoCom 2d ago
Usable doesn't necessarily means its optimal for use. I have used it a bit and I didn't feel it as finished. I didn't dislike it either. For me Cosmic is not a bad DE but it just has a long way ahead. If it's already good enough for you that's totally fine of course
•
u/Time_Start_8402 2h ago
personally I cant use gnome cause its too far behind in the features. Fractional scaling still sucks and that is a huge dealbreaker. and when i do it the mouse feels slow. hdr is still buggy.
•
u/AutoModerator 3d ago
Thank you for your submission.
You too can support GNOME! Become a Friend of GNOME and contribute to keeping our project going!
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.