xfce vs. gnome

**Rifester** · January 24th, 2010

I tried Xubuntu for the first time last night and was impressed. It ran great and looks better then Ubuntu. I cannot understand why Ubuntu's Karmic themes (boot screen, wallpapers, etc.) were so poor. Xubuntu's developers obviously gave more attention in this area. I know this doesn't matter much and can be changed, but to a new user a first impression is important.
I don't know much about XFCE. What negatives would there be in swtiching from Gnome for a basic user?

**beetleman64** · January 24th, 2010

I greatly dislike the black UI of Xubuntu, but I found a baseline install of xfce to be rather nice, like a very light KDE (if such a thing exists)

**Stan_1936** · January 24th, 2010

Originally Posted by MRife

I tried Xubuntu..themes ...were so poor....I know this doesn't matter much....

For the majority(not ALL) Xubuntu users, improved system responsiveness and NOT LOOKS is the main reason for choosing this distro.

This is the case with me. I use it on old hardware and the difference in overall speed, between it and the regular Gnome Ubuntu, is like night and day.

Originally Posted by MRife

..What negatives would there be in swtiching from Gnome for a basic user?

I have seen no issues with any gnome apps in Xubuntu.

**Rifester** · January 24th, 2010

I actually thought Xubuntu looked better out of the box then Ubuntu. I understand it is designed to run faster on older machines. So if an average Gnome user thought it looked better, and it ran better, what differences might cause problems when switching (if any). I was impressed with Xubuntu will be testing it more!

**cdude42** · March 30th, 2010

if they use anything like gnome-shell in ubuntu im definitely switching to xubuntu. for now, im gonna stick with gnome

**fredbird67** · April 12th, 2010

I'm with Simian Man. My first introduction to Linux was Mandrake in early 2004, and in January of 2005, I ditched Windows on my computer for the last time. Naturally, Mandrake is a KDE-centric distribution, and I was hooked on KDE and wouldn't consider a distro that didn't come with KDE. I also liked Mepis and PCLinuxOS a lot, too. Interestingly enough, I tried Kubuntu once and did not like it at all.

But that all changed when KDE 4 came out. It was slow, buggy, and confusing, and I thoroughly despised it and now totally refuse to consider KDE, and I don't care what so-called "improvements" have taken place since KDE 4 was released. Therefore, I went for broke and switched to Ubuntu, and I really got to where I liked GNOME quite a bit.

However, even on a computer with 1GB of RAM, I've noticed some sluggishness on occasion. Also, with the release of GNOME 3 being just around the corner, I do not wish to go through the abandonment of something that works perfectly in favor of a completely half-baked idea all over again, thank you very much. Besides, I've used Xfce before and as such, I already feel more or less at home with it.

What's more, I can still use most of the same desktop items that GNOME also uses (GTK themes, icon themes, Beryl themes, and, of course, wallpapers), although modifying a GTK theme if it's not entirely to your liking as-is is a little more involved in Xfce than it is in GNOME. But I can live with that little trade-off.

Fred in St. Louis

**gallifrey** · July 24th, 2010

I've been using Gnome up until now, but am thinking of switching, as I hate Evolution, and the fact that you can't integrate Thunderbird/Lightning/Sunbird in the same way that Evolution is integrated. (Yes, I am fussy.)

I might give XFCE a spin, and see what it's like.

**Dragonbite** · July 25th, 2010

Originally Posted by gallifrey

I've been using Gnome up until now, but am thinking of switching, as I hate Evolution, and the fact that you can't integrate Thunderbird/Lightning/Sunbird in the same way that Evolution is integrated. (Yes, I am fussy.)

I might give XFCE a spin, and see what it's like.

I'm not all that keen on Evolution, so I just don't use it. I prefer Gnome-shell when it works.

**ernestj** · December 13th, 2011

I noticed this thread started before I ever tried Linux. But I threw out Windows for Ubuntu 11.04 went to 11.10 still loved it. But I tried Xubuntu 11.10. I thought it was beautiful and wow, fast! My desktop is better looking than Ubuntu and I am hooked on XFCE! I recommend Xubuntu to everyone.

**kherring7383** · December 14th, 2011

For the last couple of months, I have been trying out several variations of Ubuntu 11.10 to include Mint 12 with Mate. And although I learned to tolerate Unity, I felt somewhat lost without the ability to customize it like Gnome 2x. However, for the last few days, I have been playing around with Xubuntu 11.10 with XFCE and I was really impressed with it and how closely it resembles Gnome. And since I really don't use Compiz that much, I used the built in features to create transparent windows and menus and was impressed of how extensive the overall operating system is. In short, I'll probably stick with Xubuntu for a while and see where the development goes and would like to recommend it for those looking for an alternative to Unity or MATE.