Xfce vs Gnome DE

Chat about Zorin
#15

Thanks, guys.

This helps. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find more than those two articles as tests - I was a bit surprised at the dearth of empirical analysis between the DEs.

@StarTreker your comment on using Xfce if gaming, is what made me think of giving Xfce another chance, down the line. My games aren’t as intensive as yours but I could still use resource efficiency. But I would like to see some empirical support before I make that decision. Like @zabadabadoo , I’m of the belief that since Gnome is working, don’t switch to Xfce until Gnome breaks. Unless I find the empirical support and then I may switch before then.

#16

If something is working for you, that is a fine thing. But something can be replaced by a better performer, without the replaced breaking.

I have provided my personal account of my experiences. And reading more pop-articles will only be more of the same.

Installing XFCE on your build of Zorin Core is a perfectly viable method of Testing By You. You can just switch to the XFCE desktop and try it out, compare them on Your Machine with Your specs and Your games.
If it does work better for you, you can just log in to XFCE session to hit the games and log in to Core for other stuff. No wipe and reload needed.
Why wait for an article to come down the pipe when you have the power at your fingertips to examine firsthand safely…
And if you do not notice any real difference, you can just remove XFCE.

#17

Thanks, I saw your posts on replacing DEs but I don’t know if those steps would provide a clean comparison of Xfce vs Gnome. Would they? If I don’t notice any difference would it be accurate to interpret that Gnome is not influencing the speed since I’ve installed and switched to Xfce?

#18

I would say, “Clean enough.” Thanks to systemd, there would be some services that would run regardless, simply because they are installed. You would be adding an environment you can use alongside the existing one.
But over-all, Gnome D.E. would not load if you log in to XFCE. I would say it is very similar to if you installed Zorin Lite, then installed some particular add-ons to XFCE, so not enough to really make a difference you can notice.

Yes, I would say so. Let’s say there is a speed increase in using XFCE, but you don’t even notice it. Then… does it matter?
Maybe you will notice a slight increase in speed, but dislike the desktop environment and decide it’s not worth using.
Maybe you will notice no difference in speed, but end up liking and preferring XFCE.
There are many possibilities. And you won’t really know until you roll up your sleeves and test it.
There is an advantage to you having XFCE on your computer that you can familiarize yourself with and play around with: Answering forum questions on Zorin Lite.

#19

One of the best ways that I’ve been able to tell if a DE Is improving speed in my computer, is by benchmarking it. Another way that’s easier, is to load up a game, note my FPS. Then switch distro, and load up same game, same area, same settings, note FPS. If the number is higher all the sudden, chances are, it’s the DE’s doing, especially if I’m running same video drivers.

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#20

I’m no gamer these days, so it would be differences in look and feel of the DE that would be of interest to me. When Z16 comes out :thinking:, I may convert my dedicated Win10 laptop to dual boot. I doubt if my old dual boot laptop, has resources to cope with 2 DE’s loaded.

#21

Until then, you can’t join our ultra-cool Xfce-clique. Hah! I’m finally cool,…I think.

#22

Are you posting using your phone, or have you beaten that new Xfce Lite install to accept your forum password?
I hope that is just an expereiment and that I am not going to be the only one left to answer Core and Gnomish questions going forward. :crazy_face:

#23

Nope. Still on phone. I’ll answer where i can - I should still remember some about gnome. And there is always Aravisian who remembers everything about every Linux distro and/or DE ever created.

#24

They would be installed, but not all running at the same time. It can handle it, because it would not be handling anything different.
On the old notebook, I had installed at one point all at the same time:

  • Kodi
  • Zorin OS Lite Desktop
  • Mate
  • Cinnamon
  • Enlightenment
  • Awesome
  • Fluxbox

You praise me with faint damns. Sadly, utterly untrue and I spend more time stumped or lost trying to help others on the forum than I do actually knowing anything.

#25

It isn’t CPU or RAM that is constrained, it is the minimal HDD root partition I have. Every app and update etc has to justify its existence.

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#26

I'm an idiot - why am I even a mod on here? Oh that's right, Aravisian recommended me. You guys sure you want to be taking advice from him?

Turns out I had changed my password at some point to add two more characters - I don't recall why or when. My phone password list showed it. So, now I'm back on with my computer. God, I hate phones - I don't know how people use them for long-term typing.

Anyway, I took the extra time to install Ultimate Lite and now I'm on Xfce. I like it except:

  1. Dragging is not as friendly as Gnome DE.
  2. Thunar has no "expandable folders" option (where you click a little arrow next to the folder and it shows all the contents within the same window) - at least I'm not aware of one.
  3. I have to use the keyboard assigned function keys to adjust brightness - Gnome had the option in the system tray.
    Other than those 3, Xfce has better optionality presentability. And of course, now I have a gazillion programs installed that I have to sift through but that's a feature of Ultimate rather than of Xfce.

I haven't played any taxing games yet, so I can't opine on that. Maybe down the line.

PS - Still interesting though that the forum refused to send me a password reset email since it did recognize my registered email. Oh well. Don't ever lose your password.

2 Likes
#27

Your beginning statement was hilarious Carmar. Yes, we still wan't you to continue being a moderator, cause I sure as heck don't want to be one. LOL

As with any distro, its a learning experience. And I bet you can find ways around those issues you expressed in the future. In the meantime, you will notice how much more customisable it is.

Play around with it, have fun, I know you will!

#28

Careful saying that around the Zorins. I am pretty sure I am on their Kill List right now. You might end up demoted.
Glad you got PW issue fixed, though.

Hit ctrl+e to make expandable treeview.

https://docs.xfce.org/xfce/xfce4-power-manager/brightness

Not sure what you mean on this one.

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#29

Thanks for the ctrl+e - the expandable is only in the left pane (a la Windows), in Gnome it was on the right pane, but that's good enough.
I could have sworn I didn't see the display brightness before but I see it now under the battery system tray. I'm losing it - my only explanation.
By dragging, I meant when I drag files/folders around the desktop when sorting them, if I get too close to a folder, the file is moved inside of it. I've learned to be careful, but in Gnome, I could get right up next to another folder without getting sucked into it. No biggie, I've learned to be careful.
And as ST noted earlier, Xfce is very customizable. Gnome wasn't bad but still had fewer features. Such as the Session and Startup manager.

#30

Are you referring to Desktop Icons or within the file manager itself? I just tested on Thunar and it does not auto-drop a file into another folder, even if I hover all over the top of it and wink a little bit.

#31

So what about the updates and changes in Gnome 40, what do the XCFE- and the Gnome-users think about Gnome 40 ?

https://help.gnome.org/misc/release-notes/40.0/

#32

I found this line from your link interesting:

Be it Flatpak or distribution packages, GNOME Software now tells you where you’re installing your software from.
Some work happened behind the scenes to improve how Software presents information about new packages.

#33

https://imgur.com/a/uBY4GFh

#34

Interesting. I changed corsair mouse to logitech g502 and my linux working 2 days good.
We will see how long i uninstalled snap and flatpak.
Using xfce DE.

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