Finding the right Desktop Environment/Window Manager

[moo]

I've been using MX Linux for a few years now. I enjoyed the XFCE4 Desktop Environment, but then a friend introduced me to i3 as a Window Manager. I prefer i3 but configuring it is a huge pain in the ass, and it doesn't work out-of-the-box in the way that XFCE4 does (basic things like adjusting screen brightness or recognising second monitors require lots of irritating configuration). XFCE also looks much more visually attractive.

I'm wondering, what is the best DE I could try? Is there a version that gets the best of both worlds (the configurability and power of i3 with the beautifulness, and utility you get from the MX Linux XFCE4 setup)? (I did try following a youtube video that suggested running the i3wm within the default MX Linux XFCE4 DE, but this had side effect of creating lots of weird bugs, or annoyances)

Is there a different OS that I could be trying out that might meet what I'm looking for?

Hope this is right place to ask,

Many thanks

[andyprough]

It depends on why you like i3. I like using DWM, which is another tiling window manager similar to i3. I like it mainly because of the tiling feature. So I created keybindings in XFCE to give me some basic tiling options.

Unless you list the things you like about i3, it would be hard to give you a suggestion on some other DE to try. Fluxbox has a lot of really cool features, and is a very good middle ground between i3 and XFCE. But I wouldn't know if it could meet your needs until you list them out.

[wdscharff]

You have to make a choice based on your own needs and demands.
There is also an order of priorities.
I'll give you an indication based on my own experience.
For me, for example, stability in operation is the most important. The operating system has to run unobtrusively in the background and not get in my way. It must also be easy to learn and the configuration, even if the appearance changes, should be possible without studying computer science. So all rolling releases are out and there are only a few systems left, opensuse or Debian, but pure Debian is not really comfortable for beginners (or people who don't want to learn anything). That's where MX comes into play.
Surface, should look nice, is determined by my wallpaper to 95%, most of my applications run fullscreen (that's why I can do nothing with Tiling Windows nix, which bring me in image & video editing namely nothing).
As a desktop then something that is easily customizable and it is left up to me which ways I use to get to my applications as quickly as possible or how I can structure my more frequent tasks. All under the premise of stable and simple.
Which after 5 years of xfce on opensuse and 1 year of xfce on MX then ran out on Fluxbox.
Of course I also found cinnamon nice (some of it), Gnome 2 and later Mate, but there it then hung more often on the substructure. Arch (and some of its derivatives), k*x*ubuntu, mint, none managed to run smoothly for more than 4 weeks, at least in 2014/15.
If you have to meet deadlines, then you do NOT care if the problem is only a small one and is fixed after an hour, you just can't use something like that, period.

If tiling windows is important to you for your daily work, then you will have to bite the bullet that it is not as easy to configure as you would like and if it is really important, you will have to switch to an operating system that is native to tiling windows, so to speak.
You can't have everything, it just depends on whether you get a balanced mix of what you MUST have with enough of what you would like.

The best DE is the one that gets you to your goals the fastest... what are your goals? ;-}

[JayM]

I'm wondering, what is the best DE I could try?

Ah, another "what's the best" topic. "Best" is in the eye of the beholder. What's best for you might suck for me and vice-versa. I suggest you start by reading Wikipedia's pages on desktop environments and window managers to see what's currently available and maintained, then go from there.

[agnivo007]

Official MX supported options you have are XFCE, Fluxbox and KDE; which I think you already know. If you want to create a personal respin (like I do with LXQT, shelved off till MX21 KDE official release), read a lot of forum topics where people have tried doing the different and learn.

[oops]

@wdscharff "...The best DE is the one that gets you to your goals the fastest... what are your goals? ;-} ..."

For me, the best DE is a WM (light) ... Flubox, OpenBox, Wmaker, Icewm (my prefered WM) ... tiled WMs like i3 are too specific for me.
(For a DE, XFCE and LXDE are almost light)

[agnivo007]

^^ With bullseye packing lxqt 0.16 upstream, that's also a viable new lighter option that people can think about.

[oops]

@agnivo007 ... "With bullseye packing lxqt 0.16 upstream, that's also a viable new lighter option that people can think about."

Thanks for the info, so I have to try it into MX21.

[moo]

It depends on why you like i3. I like using DWM, which is another tiling window manager similar to i3. I like it mainly because of the tiling feature. So I created keybindings in XFCE to give me some basic tiling options.

Unless you list the things you like about i3, it would be hard to give you a suggestion on some other DE to try. Fluxbox has a lot of really cool features, and is a very good middle ground between i3 and XFCE. But I wouldn't know if it could meet your needs until you list them out.

oh thats cool, I didn't know you could create mappings similar to i3 within XFCE4 (I did actually try myself using default keyboard binding interface, but it was a bit weird, like certain bindings didn't seem to be recognised). How do you do it?
Also I'm interested by Fluxbox, how is that an imbetween?

Features I like about i3 are mainly the way it gives control through the keyboard, like rapidly switching workspace, resizing windows, moving windows about quickly, etc.

[andyprough]

oh thats cool, I didn't know you could create mappings similar to i3 within XFCE4 (I did actually try myself using default keyboard binding interface, but it was a bit weird, like certain bindings didn't seem to be recognised). How do you do it?
Also I'm interested by Fluxbox, how is that an imbetween?

Features I like about i3 are mainly the way it gives control through the keyboard, like rapidly switching workspace, resizing windows, moving windows about quickly, etc.

The keybindings are not going to be the same as i3, but it gives you some basic tile function. Go to XFCE4 Settings Manager and open the Window Manager settings. Go to the Keyboard tab.

Scroll down to where you see "Tile window to the top", "Tile window to the bottom", "Tile window to the left", "Tile window to the right", "Tile window to the top-left", "Tile window to the top-right", "Tile window to the bottom-left", "Tile window to the bottom-right". Set a keyboard shortcut for each one. I use the Control button and the 1-9 keys on my Number Pad so that the direction is similar. For instance, "left" is Ctrl-4, "right" is Ctrl-6, "top-left" is Ctrl-7, top-left is Ctrl-9, etc. Scroll back up to "Maximize window" - I use Ctrl-5 on the Number Pad for that one.

Currently "Resize window" is set as Alt+F8. That one is interesting to play with, allows you to use your arrow keys to resize your windows.

I also set keybindings for the "Move window to workspace 1-9" settings, using Shift-Super-1-9. If I want to go visit one of the workspaces 1-9, I set my keybindings for "Workspace 1-9" to Super+1-9. Those are the same keybindings I use for tags 1-9 on DWM. I like to set my workspaces up to look more like the dmenu bar on DWM. That can be set in the Settings Manager, Workspaces module, where I give myself 9 workspaces (same as DWM's 9 tags). I name them 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9. I set up my XFCE4 taskbar as a top vertical bar and keep my workspaces to the left on the taskbar to make it look similar to the dmenu bar on DWM.

I also do some other keybindings to get XFCE4 to work more like DWM. For example, I use Super-P to bring up dmenu on DWM (not sure if i3 use dmenu or rofi or what for the menu function). On XFCE, I set the keybinding for starting up the Whisker Menu to Super-P also. That is set in Settings Manager, in the Keyboard module, in the Application Shortcuts tab - you need to have a keybinding set for /usr/bin/xfce4-popup-whiskermenu. I also have keybindings set in the Applications Shortcuts tab for the terminal (/usr/bin/xfce4-terminal) as Shift+Super+Return - the same as for the terminal in DWM. I launch the Brave browser (/usr/bin/brave-browser) with Shift+Super+B, and LibreWolf browser (~/.local/bin/librewolf on my computer) with Shift+Super+L, and Thunar (/usr/bin/thunar) with Shift+Super+F - same keybindings I use in DWM. You can set up as many of these as you like.

That's just a taste of what you can do with keybindings in XFCE. I would spend time looking at a lot of the options in that Window Manager - Keyboard settings module, see what options you can bring over from what you were used to on i3.

As far as Fluxbox, I need to dig into my configuration notes a little bit, I know I wrote up some basic tiling instructions. I'll try to post something tonight or tomorrow if I have time. MX comes with a very highly customized Fluxbox setup, thanks to the tireless work of @Jerry3904, who also makes great walkthrough videos on youtube to describe all the Fluxbox options and all the different ways to configure it. You can begin reading about it and setting up your Fluxbox environment and playing around in it with the information from this page: https://mxlinux.org/mx-fluxbox/