Desktop <not a tech question, opinion question>

[silver.bullet at zoho.com]

On Sun, 30 Aug 2015 22:29:10 +0200, Nils Kassube wrote:
>If you don't use the meta package you may not get all the standard 
>features of the wanted desktop. And of course I wouldn't recommend to 
>use "--no-install-recommends" because you would also be missing some 
>things. Furthermore I don't think you can determine what would be
>"crap" before you have tried it.

That's a valid argument.

>And most unnecessary packages have no effect if you don't use them
>(except wasting a little disk space of course).

A lot of packages affect an install, at least regarding system resources
and I'm not thinking of disk space. If you e.g. need hard real-time
abilities, then the Ubuntu's policy to autostart each service that can
be autostarted could cause issues. For other needs unneeded packages
likely cause issues too.

Some few exceptions even could damage your hardware, e.g. external hard
disk drives. Thunar, the Xfce4 file manager recommends GVFS,
http://packages.ubuntu.com/trusty/thunar, as soon as GVFS is installed
external green drives spin up and down and up and down and ... GVFS is
good for absolutely nothing. It supports the trash can and that's
quasi all. For mounting and automounting devices there are far better
ways to do it, then installing GVFS.

>> 2. For some WMs there are unlikely meta-packages.
>
>As I understand it, the OP asked for other desktops, not other WMs.

  On Sun, 30 Aug 2015 15:49:04 -0400, Scott Blair wrote:
  >>By desktop I mean how the windows looks. I have all
  >>the icons on the left side of my left monitor running top to
  >>bottom and a bar across the top on all three monitors. I
  >>have been hearing about KDE, xfce, Gnome and a few
  >>more. Maybe my terminology is wrong. I am currently
  >>using the default and looking for a change.

IOW an easy to configure window manager like openbox, without a desktop
environment, but perhaps with a desktop provided by e.g.
spacefm --desktop might be interesting for the OP too.

>Right, I didn't think of a VM - that's of course another option to
>avoid playing with the current system.

And IIUC the OP already has experiences with VBox, so he's likely aware
about the disadvantages when testing software using a VM.

>I suppose there are only very few people who would first install a 
>minimalist system and then add a desktop which is probably bloatware
>in your view. :)

;)

OTOH desktop environments have got advantages too. The OP needs to
decide what fits best to his needs.

Regards,
Ralf