I have read many conflicting things, like always. Just wondering if there’s a safe way to use several DE’s on one distro without messing up my damn computer lol I’ve tried it several times and it always messed things up. I’m currently brand new to fedora workstation 38 too btw. Thanks alot

  • Crul@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    8
    ·
    1 year ago

    I’m an ultra-noob, so those who know more please correct me.

    I’m playing with Linux VMs and recently I installed Debian to check it out. When it asked what DE I wanted, I chose all of them :).

    The only hard conflict (AFAIK) is the [compontent / feature responsible for loging in] (I don’t know the technical term). Because each DE comes with a different one, you need to choose one.

    What I found very confusing in practice is that I could see some DE apps and configuration settings from other DEs. So, unless you know what belongs to what, it’s a bit of a mess (in my VERY limited experience).

    • qyron@sopuli.xyz
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      1 year ago

      Destop Manager (DM).

      There a couple of them. Gnome has it’s preferred, I’d risk KDE has its own (was never a user of KDE), there is LightDM, etc.

      And they tend to dislike eachother

      • Crul@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        1 year ago

        LightDM says it’s a Display Manager.

        I know that naming is hard but, oh my…, terms are so confusing when you’re starting:

        • Desktop Environment
        • Windows Manager
        • Desktop Manager
        • Display Manager
        • Tiling Window Manager
        • Compositing Window Manager

        … I’m still not sure which ones are synonyms, sub categories or independent components :/.

        • NotSteve_@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          4
          ·
          1 year ago

          I’ve used Linux for about a decade and I still mix them up sometimes if I’m not actively working with them

        • Gamey@feddit.rocks
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          1 year ago

          There are just too many terms, just give enough context and people will understand it regardless tho!

    • Tayphix [any]@hexbear.net
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      The program responsible for logging in and starting your window manager is called the display manager. Sddm is the default for KDE and GDM is the default for Gnome.

      Technically, you don’t even need a display manager as you could login and start the window manager manually directly from the TTY. That’s just mainly useful for when you break something in your display manager config though.