this post was submitted on 13 Sep 2024
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I'm currently using Fedora KDE Plasma, but I'd like to try out a tiling window manager. What would you all reccomend? I use my computer for school, so I would like it to be stable.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 months ago (3 children)

The word you're looking for is Desktop Environment (DE). KDE Plasma is one such DE. Distro is the underlying system.

  • i3 has been around forever and has lots of guides on how to customize it. Only downside is it's X11-only, so as everyone moves to Wayland, X11 support will decrease.
  • Sway is i3+Wayland, though it's newer, so I dunno how much customization content is out there or whether the i3 tutorials are forward compatible.
  • Hyprland is another popular choice, and it is Wayland-based. Only downside is the project lead is a toxic asshole, despite being a gifted dev.
  • Cosmic is an upcoming DE, so if you're in no hurry, keep an eye on that one.

To install any of them, search for the project and see if they have an installation guide for your distro. If not look up "how to install <DE> in Fedora."

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Cosmic is already more usable than most Window managers, that literally just manage Windows.

I mean, it has apps... and GUI settings...

There is a guy called Ryan Brue that packages all the COSMIC apps. He created a SIG and in the channel there are some COSMIC Devs helping out.

There is a uBlue variant with COSMIC, working pretty great.

COSMIC just breaks KDE Apps a bit. Will have to see if some package may fix them, as they are so themable that missing packages make them use aome shitty fallback theme.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I know Cosmic is there, but it's not even in beta. I can't yet recommend it in good conscience, especially for OP, who is new enough not to know the difference between a distro and a DE.

(And if you're reading this, OP, that's nothing to be ashamed of.)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Hm, the compositor stuff just works

The packages also dont interfere with others, probably? So on Fedora, just add the COPR and try them

COSMIC is extremely stable. I had a single crash or something, and that was a while ago. It is mainly just lacking features, but that is likely already at least as good as most Window Managers like Sway, that are extremely barebones.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I see someone every now and again on [email protected] asking about random Cosmic bugs, which is why I'm hesitant to recommend it to someone green.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Thats very understandable. Meanwhile I think no beginners use Sway etc.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

IIRC Sway is 100% compatible with i3 configs

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Oh, nice! Might give it a try myself!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago