From: bowman@montana.com   
      
   On Fri, 30 Jan 2026 08:28:09 -0000 (UTC), RonB wrote:   
      
   > Cinnamon is Linux Mint's own so, I'm guessing, it's probably got the   
   > best integration. But I like what Linux Mint has done with Mate and Xfce   
   > — all three look and feel pretty much the same. A lot of people use Xfce   
   > for older machines because it's lighter. But it's not hard to move from   
   > one to the others. I think this is rare in the Linux distribution world.   
   > It may only be Linux Mint that does this with three different desktops.   
      
   My original LM install was MATE. The library laptops used Cinnamon and I   
   wanted to see the difference. I didn't use either as daily drivers but   
   from casual use they were pretty much the same.   
      
   I added Xfce and that was a bit of a surprise. My Debian box had Xfce but   
   LM definitely tweaked it a lot. I didn't thing Xfce was that much lighter   
   on a netbook with 4GB.   
      
   When I replaced the HDD with a SSD I did the Cinnamon install. It works   
   okay. I also have i3 and that's what I use for Arduino along with   
   arduino_cli, Vim, and minicom.   
      
   Most distros can support different DEs although it can get weird when   
   updating or mix'n'matching between GUIs. I stick to i3 or sway as an   
   alternate. Even then it's best not to launch some of the Cinnamon GUIs   
   from i3 or you get stuck in some half-assed world that needs a reboot.   
      
   The EndeavourOS installer does it right. If you select the offline   
   installation you get the default KDE. The online installation allows you   
   to select the DE. That seems more sensible than the 4 different LM isos,   
   the various Fedora spins, and the *buntu derivatives.   
      
   I'd previously had Lubuntu on the netbook, which is LXQt. That's another   
   long story. Originally it used LXDE which was based on Gtk 2. The   
   developer didn't like Gtk 3  and started using the Qt toolkit. Both   
   projects coexisted for a while but eventually split and Lubuntu went with   
   LXQt. LXDE is still around as an alternate on Debian, Fedora, and Arch.   
      
      
   Just as well Mint doesn't have a LMDE LXDE flavor.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)