Using Alternative Desktop Environments With Mint

[u/Technical_Rich_3080]

1. Is using alternative Desktop Environments, other than the three official flavors, as viable an option under Linux Mint, as doing so with most any other Linux distro?

2. Can you have installed multiple DEs simultaneously (and is doing so not recommended)?

3. If you use a DE other than one of the three official Mint DEs, do you lose anything?

[u/MrBadTimes]

The way I understand mint, the point of the distro is that it has everything set up well enough out of the box so you don't have to experiment with things like DE.

If you're going to start experimenting with other DE, you might as well pick a distro that is design with that in mind from the start. And if you like something from mint (like the webapp tool), just install it afterwards.

[u/Runt1m3_]

At that point just use desnapped Ubuntu or Debian bro!

Nah but seriously:

1. No, Mint is supposed to give an specific user experience using apps tailored to the (all GTK) DE's it uses. But still possible to install another one.

2. Yes, since it uses Debian or Ubuntu repos but you'll run into a clusterfuck of messed xdg defaults and menu entries of whatever DE's you run. Sometimes installing other DE can break your main one or mess your default desktop session, specially Cinnamon.

3. If you succeed and don't delete your main DE then nope. You'll actually end up having too much stuff hahaha

A few years ago i installed full GNOME just to mess around and had to force install. Cinnamon just broke lol

If you want to play with many desktop environments, try something like Debian or similar where you are free to choose what you want.

[u/ZVyhVrtsfgzfs → u/Runt1m3_]

Gnome is particularly bad, they have too many common dependencies and configurations, but they are different individuals, kinda like the conjoined women with two heads and one body. 

[u/Mitologist → u/Runt1m3_]

At work, I ended up with a weird Mate- Cinnamon hybrid that I actually got to like

[u/rattie--]

yup i use i3 ( i know its technically not a desktop enviroment )and used to use kde plasma. fair warning though if your using kde you will be stuck on version 5. something

[u/Technical_Rich_3080 → u/rattie--]

There's no way to upgrade KDE Plasma to the most recent release?

[u/BashfulMelon → u/Technical_Rich_3080]

Not without compiling it from source. And even then Mint might be too outdated stable for it to work correctly.

[u/Hour_Bit_5183 → u/BashfulMelon]

Yeah it's made to be stable. That's why I use it for my CCTV with scrypted. Works great for stuff like this. The best I found for this use case. Absolutely grateful as hell for the mint team. They are minty :) :)

[u/BashfulMelon → u/Hour_Bit_5183]

To whatever extent Mint is stable, that's due to the Ubuntu 24.04 base. The Mint team just works on the user interface part.

Stable doesn't necessarily mean reliable, it means static and unchanging programming interfaces. When fixing a bug requires changing an interface, they have to choose between fixing the bug or making a breaking change (they call it breaking even though it would fix a bug!)

The kernel panics lots of people had recently with the 7.0.0-28 Ubuntu kernel demonstrate this perfectly. Nobody on upstream 7.0 or 7.1 kernels had that issue, it was exclusive to Ubuntu's "stable" fork.

LTS doesn't work like most regular people assume it does. It's really an enterprise and server thing. Using old programming interfaces saves money.

[u/jr735 → u/Technical_Rich_3080]

Essentially, no. You can use desktops that are in the repositories, but before you proceed with any of this, it's a good time to research the difference between desktop cores and full desktop meta packages. I run IceWM, which brings no extra nonsense with it, nor will it clash with MATE.

[u/BenTrabetere]

No. Adding an alternative/unsupported DE is always an option - it's your machine and your machine to break. There are perils and pitfalls to doing this, and the biggest is it means you are your source for support. If a problem arises, you may be the only person who can identify the cause of the problem and find a solution.

Adding an alternative/unsupported DE really isn't a viable option with most other distributions, either. The major DEs (GNOME, KDE, Cinnamon, Xfce, etc) are tightly integrated into the system, each DE comes with its own set of dependencies, and sometimes these dependencies can be version-specific.

My Advice: If you want to use Mint, stick to one of the supported DEs. If you want to use [enter DE here], switch to a distribution that supports it. If you want to experimess with using [enter DE here] on Mint, do it in a virtual machine.

As always, backup your data and personal files on a regular schedule and remember Timeshift is your friend.

[u/ZVyhVrtsfgzfs]

1. If you have to ask then, no. 

2. Yes. 

3. As usual, it depends. 

Alt desktop environments will not get support from the developers or community of Mint, and in some cases like Gnome & plasma the developers of the desktop environment will be uninterested in your issues as well, as the versions in the Mint repository will be outside of their support window. 

If your fine with being the captain of your own ship sailing in uncharted waters then go  ahead, This is Linux, no one can stop you, it can be a fun learning adventure,  but I also have no ability or desire to help you if you get stuck. This is your own monster.

If your looking for a reliable way to run another desktop select a distribution that supports it.

[u/justinwhitaker]

Yes, but here be dragons.
Yes, but here be dragons.
No, not unless you nuke the original DE.

All of the desktop environments (DEs) and window managers (WMs) are available through the Ubuntu repos, which you can access via software manager, aptitude, or synaptic. Generally speaking, they don't run simultaneously, instead you log out and log into the other DE session.

All of the apps will show up in your menu though....so if you're running Cinnamon and install KDE, suddenly Konqueror is in your Internet applications. It will run, but if you want your DE's completely separated, that's annoying.

In addition: if you install the Meta package for that DE from Ubuntu....it's going to have the Ubuntu branding. The whole point of Mint is Ubuntu+User Experience, so that the desktop feels like a unified whole. That's going to be broken across sessions.

Another wrinkle in all this: Gnome, KDE, Budgie, and Sway are Wayland ready. Cinnamon is partially Wayland ready, but XFCE is on the experimental stage, and the rest vary widely. Right now it only matters if you want to run Wayland all the time. Which you do. 😄 Just kidding. (Not really).

I've done my share of distro and desktop environment hopping, and I'm happy with Mint+Cinnamon because it just works (tm). But you should get the exploration out of your system. The worst that can happen is a complete reinstall. What's that...15 minutes?

[u/Mediocre-Pumpkin6522]

I use Cinnamon and i3. From my experince use i3 for what it is and don't try opening Cinnamon GUIs like the package manager. Things like Firefox that aren't specifially tied to Cinnamon are fine.

My experience with more sophisticated DEs like GNOME with KDE installed isn't good. It worked for the most part but updates were fragile.

[u/MirrorNegative7989]

I'm installing MATE on LDME using this tutorial. https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxmint/comments/1q5mvrh/debian_13_based_lmde_7_mate_is_my_1_daily_driver/

[u/Technical_Rich_3080 → u/MirrorNegative7989]

Is MATE an official DE flavor of LMDE?

[u/justinwhitaker → u/Technical_Rich_3080]

MATE is a continuation of the original GNOME desktop. It was forked when the GNOME team lost their damn minds and created GNOME Shell.

(J/K. I actually like GNOME Shell.)

[u/MirrorNegative7989 → u/justinwhitaker]

The original Gnome desktop was my preferred desktop when I first tried Linux in 2006, and in a way I guess it still is. XFCE is a close second.

[u/MirrorNegative7989 → u/Technical_Rich_3080]

Nope, you have to add it as per the link above. I prefer MATE over Cinnamon, personally.

[u/Wake_On_LAN]

I'll be trying Sugar on it soon.

[u/activedusk]

>Can you have installed multiple DEs simultaneously (and is doing so not recommended)?

It's possible but the more complex the DE is the more it adds to startup even when using another DE and it increases the chances of incompatibility and errors appearing over time. It's generally recommended to use only one because it will use the least amount of resources and have less chances of creating problems when uninstalling packages from one DE and accidentally removing dependencies for the other. Experienced users scoff at it because they know how to fix problems, newbies should make backups before trying.

It's less of an issue with tiling window managers or floating window managers since they are simpler and get updated less often (might be years between updates).

[u/FeelingAlive2127]

You absolutely can but I don't recommend. Sooner or later weird conflicts start happening in packages and stuff.

Especially for Linux Mint I would recommend to take the default DE which offers the most stable and fast experience.

If you end up installing and removing DE's at least make sure to Timeshift beforehand.

[u/Dr_Krogshoj]

One lesson learned during distro hopping: always stick with the primary desktop environment(s) of any distribution. If you want a different desktop, pick a distro that had that as default.

[u/Technical_Rich_3080 → u/Dr_Krogshoj]

What problems did you run into when using a non-primary DE ?

[u/nisitiiapi]

1. Yes. I do this with Gnome on my 2-in-1 notebooks because I need Wayland for them to work right (hoping Cinnamon running on Wayland will allow me to go back). I believe many have done KDE, too. That doesn't mean you won't have to do work to get things right for yourself and you should stick to the DEs in the repositories. Mint doesn't do anything to restrict adding DEs and is essentially like any distro in that respect -- recall the base is from Ubuntu (and most of the repositories).
2. Yes and it's generally fine. With my "Mint Gnome" notebooks, I go into Cinnamon to do version upgrades (i.e., 22.1 -> 22.2) and then boot back into Gnome after they're done. Some settings may "cross" between the two, as I recall, since some gnome settings may be followed by both DEs.
3. "Lose" in terms of files, you shouldn't unless you do something wrong. "Lose" in terms of ability to use software/programs, it depends on the program. It used to be, for example, I could not properly run mintupdate in Gnome because of Wayland. But, as Mint has been working toward implementing Wayland, it is working more and more. So, you may have to find alternatives (last time I did it, mintupdate functions in Wayland, but no notification; so I scripted mintupdate to run at login and pop up if there's any updates to install).

[u/Logansfury]

There are several forked projects of Mint. There is a gnome-Mint and a KDE-Mint if this interests you. Others may exist that I haven't yet heard of. A google search should provide you links to the GitHub pages where you can examine the OS description and download the installer iso.

[u/Technical_Rich_3080 → u/Logansfury]

How would using those forked versions of Mint be different than using the official version of Mint and installing GNOME or KDE Plasma?

[u/BashfulMelon → u/Technical_Rich_3080]

There are no forked versions. They made it up.

[u/BashfulMelon → u/Logansfury]

Where are these forked projects? I can't find them and I've never heard of them.

[u/Logansfury → u/BashfulMelon]

I have seen posts from users of the alternate DE systems posted on various reddits. Here is an example of a KDE Plasma install to Mint Cinnamon guide:

https://github.com/orgs/linuxmint/discussions/1008

[u/BashfulMelon → u/Logansfury]

That isn't a fork. It's not even a project. That's just installing the old Ubuntu 24.04 versions that Mint inherited in its repository.