Favourite desktop environment discussion

[FortunateFowl]

The pinetab2 is a bit of a unique device. It is a tablet sized device, however it also comes with a keyboard and trackpad and a full linux install. This places it as something that isn't quite a regular desktop and isn't quite a mobile experience.

Because of its novelty I want to start a discussion on which desktop environment do users prefer so far, between plasma/KDE, plasma mobile, PHOSH*, LXDE, or any others. I would appreciate hearing what DE you used and any comments you may have.


For me the default is always KDE as I have used it since 3.0, although for the pinetab2, it felt somewhat sluggish and not very well adapted to using both tablet and keyboard features. While in theory touchscreen gestures from the screen edges and the automatic keyboard popup is fantastic, depending on what is open the touchscreen gestures don't always work or have a decent delay to them.

Currently trying PHOSH and find it much more responsive, touchscreen gestures are quick and work consistently. However the downsides are the display of all applications is already too big. A desktop install will simply have many more applications than most mobile devices, in practice starting applications using alt-f2 is just more practical.

I have not used an external monitor for the pinetab2, I imagine that would again change the consideration of DE.

* a working trial of phosh may be installed from the default danctnix repositories as simply as

Code:

sudo pacman -S phosh phosh-mobile-settings gnome-control-center-mobile

then log out and log back in and phosh is available.

[anxiousvisual]

The pinetab2 is a bit of a unique device. It is a tablet sized device, however it also comes with a keyboard and trackpad and a full linux install. This places it as something that isn't quite a regular desktop and isn't quite a mobile experience.

Because of its novelty I want to start a discussion on which desktop environment do users prefer so far, between plasma/KDE, plasma mobile, PHOSH*, LXDE, or any others. I would appreciate hearing what DE you used and any comments you may have.


For me the default is always KDE as I have used it since 3.0, although for the pinetab2, it felt somewhat sluggish and not very well adapted to using both tablet and keyboard features. While in theory touchscreen gestures from the screen edges and the automatic keyboard popup is fantastic, depending on what is open the touchscreen gestures don't always work or have a decent delay to them.

Currently trying PHOSH and find it much more responsive, touchscreen gestures are quick and work consistently. However the downsides are the display of all applications is already too big. A desktop install will simply have many more applications than most mobile devices, in practice starting applications using alt-f2 is just more practical.

I have not used an external monitor for the pinetab2, I imagine that would again change the consideration of DE.
geometry dash lite
* a working trial of phosh may be installed from the default danctnix repositories as simply as

Code:

sudo pacman -S phosh phosh-mobile-settings gnome-control-center-mobile

then log out and log back in and phosh is available.

KDE and MATE are my two favorite DEs after spending a considerable amount of time with each of them. However, I have had little trouble adapting to other desktop environments (LXQt, Xfce, Cinnamon, and even Trinity).

My only real problem with desktop environments is GNOME. For some reason, GNOME 3+ just doesn't agree with me.

[ratthing]

At the moment I am using LXQT and like it a lot.  KDE is always my go-to favorite, but it was too sluggish on the Pinetab2.

I'm working on figuirng out how to get the touchscreen to work properly on LXQTs rotated screen.

[tophneal]

I've been enjoying GNOME 43+ on my pt2, but would love to give Gnome Mobile Shell a try. It looks like it combines several of the things from phosh and gnome that i think are the most "sane" for mobile UI.

[Surehand53]

I am using Plasma Mobile on the original Archlinux and most of the time as a tablet (without keyboard attached). If I use the keyboard, then in some hybrid style, tapping on the screen writing with the keyboard and only occasionally I use the touchpad (although it is very good). Even then I usually don't switch to Plasma Desktop.

If feel it's ok responsive, except for the settings, but they are slow in Plasma Desktop as well.

There are a lot of small niggles but most of them feel like they just need fine tuning in configuration. Also some apps work better with a virtual keyboard than others. And copy and paste between apps is hit and miss.

Overall I feel pleasantly surprised how well the PT2 works as a tablet already and it can only get better from here.
For now for me the tricky bit is to understand the configuration options. In KDE style it's all over the place.

I have also installed Phosh on the same system and can switch to it in the display manager (sddm), but in that case Phosh works so so. I guess it needs a more dedicated configuration. Not Phosh's fault.

[KelsonV]

I'm working on figuirng out how to get the touchscreen to work properly on LXQTs rotated screen.

I figured that out last night: https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?...#pid119380

You have to install the xorg-input package, then you can run:

Code:

xinput map-to-output 'pointer:Goodix Capacitive TouchScreen' DSI-1

It works as an autorun item, as long as you check the "Wait for system tray" option.

[lllll]

I tried (on PineTab2) kde, kde plasma, gnome, phosh and sxmo.

I didn't expected it, but I really like sxmo a lot because
1. I don't get disorientated when trying to switch between apps
2. I don't have to resize (non-mobile) apps
3. It's easily possible to run an application in fullscreen

Actually it is a really clever design and I think it might be worth to learn how to use it.

However, there is not a device configuration file for PineTab2 yet and I didn't succeed to make a fully-working one.

I managed to get the volume buttons to work like this:

Creating a /usr/bin/sxmo_deviceprofile_pine64,pinetab2-v2.0.sh file with this content:

Code:

export SXMO_VOLUME_BUTTON="1:1:adc-keys"

(and making it executable!)

and within the directory with the devices profiles:

Code:

sudo ln -s three_button_touchscreen pine64,pinetab2-v2.0

and reboot.

But I failed to get the power button to work in a sane way (like when I pressed it, it continuosly spawned a terminal and other weird things) and unfortunately didn't have enough time for it to dig deeper, so I'm back at phosh for now.