Welcome to the Linux Customization Guide! This repository aims to provide comprehensive information, resources, and installation guides for various desktop environments, package helpers, file systems, and compositors. Whether you're a Linux beginner or an experienced user, this repository will help you explore and choose the best combination for your system, tailored to your preferences and needs.
- Desktop Environments
- Window Managers
- Package Helpers
- File Systems
- Compositors
- Common Combinations
- Installation Guides
- Additional Resources
- Contributing
- License
Desktop environments are graphical user interfaces (GUIs) that provide a complete user experience on a Linux system. They typically include a window manager, a panel, a file manager, and a set of default applications. There are many different desktop environments available for Linux, each with its own features and design.
Awesome is a highly configurable, next-generation window manager for X. It is designed to be very fast, lightweight, and extensible, using the Lua programming language for its configuration and customization.
GNOME is a popular, user-friendly desktop environment for Linux, providing a wide range of features and applications. It aims to be simple and easy to use while still being powerful and flexible.
Openbox is a lightweight, highly configurable window manager for X, which is popular among users who prefer a minimal desktop experience. It can be used as a standalone window manager or integrated with other desktop environments.
Budgie is a modern, lightweight desktop environment designed for the Solus Linux distribution. It is built using the GNOME stack but provides its own unique interface and features.
KDE is a powerful, feature-rich, and customizable desktop environment based on the Qt framework. It offers a wide range of applications and tools, making it popular among Linux users who prefer a more integrated experience.
XFCE is a lightweight and highly customizable desktop environment, designed to be fast and easy to use while still providing a full-featured desktop experience.
Cinnamon is a modern, elegant, and user-friendly desktop environment originally developed for the Linux Mint distribution. It is based on GNOME technologies but offers its own unique interface and features.
LXDE is a lightweight, fast, and energy-efficient desktop environment that aims to be easy to use and highly customizable. It is built using the GTK+ toolkit and is popular among users with lower-end hardware.
Deepin is a sleek, modern, and user-friendly desktop environment developed by the Deepin Technology Team, primarily for their own Deepin Linux distribution. It is built using the Qt framework and offers a unique and visually appealing interface.
MATE is a fork of the GNOME 2 desktop environment, aiming to provide a traditional desktop experience for users who prefer a more classic interface. It is built using the GTK+ toolkit and is known for its stability and performance.
Sway is a tiling Wayland compositor and a drop-in replacement for the i3 window manager, but with support for Wayland instead of X11. It offers a similar configuration syntax and feature set to i3, making it easy for i3 users to transition to a Wayland environment. Sway is lightweight, efficient, and highly configurable, providing a seamless and resource-friendly experience.
Bspwm (Binary Space Partitioning Window Manager) is a tiling window manager that represents windows as the leaves of a binary tree. It is highly configurable and scriptable, using a simple command-line interface to control window arrangement and behavior. Bspwm does not handle keyboard inputs or other features found in a full desktop environment, so it is often used with additional tools like sxhkd for keybindings and lemonbar for status bars.
XMonad is a tiling window manager for X11, written in Haskell. It is known for its minimalism, extensibility, and stability. XMonad's configuration is done using Haskell, allowing users to create powerful and flexible customizations. It also features a built-in status bar (Xmobar) and support for multi-monitor setups.
i3 is a popular, lightweight, and highly configurable tiling window manager for X11. It provides efficient window management with a simple and easy-to-understand configuration syntax. i3 supports multi-monitor setups, horizontal and vertical window splitting, and customizable keybindings. The i3status or i3blocks packages can be used to provide a customizable status bar.
dwm (Dynamic Window Manager) is a minimalist and dynamic tiling window manager for X11, developed by the creators of the suckless.org project. It is designed to be simple, fast, and highly efficient, with its entire source code being just around 2000 lines. Configuration of dwm is done by editing its source code and recompiling, which encourages users to understand and modify the code to suit their preferences.
Package helpers are tools that help users manage software packages on a Linux system. They can automate tasks like searching for and installing packages, managing dependencies, and updating the system. AUR helpers are a type of package helper that specifically deal with packages from the Arch User Repository (AUR).
Paru is a modern AUR helper written in Rust. It is a successor to Yay and provides similar features.
Yay is a popular AUR helper that allows users to easily search, install, and manage packages from the AUR.
Pacaur is a fast and minimalist AUR helper that aims to provide a simple interface for package management.
Trizen is a lightweight AUR helper with support for complex dependency chains.
Aura is a secure, multilingual AUR helper written in Haskell.
Picaur is an AUR helper designed to be simple and lightweight.
File systems are the underlying structure that manages how data is stored and retrieved on a Linux system. They determine how files and directories are named, organized, and accessed. Different file systems have different features and performance characteristics, making them suitable for different use cases.
Btrfs is a modern, copy-on-write file system for Linux that provides advanced features like snapshots, subvolumes, and built-in RAID support.
Ext4 is a widely used, stable, and mature file system for Linux that is the default choice for many distributions. It offers good performance and reliability.
LUKS (Linux Unified Key Setup) is not a file system but rather a specification for disk encryption on Linux. It is commonly used alongside other file systems like Ext4 or Btrfs to provide full disk encryption for protecting data at rest.
Compositors are an essential part of a graphical user interface in Linux operating systems. They are responsible for managing and rendering the graphical elements on your desktop, such as windows, menus, and icons. Compositors are typically responsible for providing visual effects, such as window animations and transparency.
Wayland is a modern compositor protocol that aims to replace the aging X Window System, which has been the default display server for Linux systems for many years. Wayland is designed to be more secure, efficient, and flexible than Xorg.
One of the biggest advantages of Wayland is that it eliminates the need for a separate compositor like Xorg. Instead, the compositor functionality is built directly into the Wayland protocol, making it more streamlined and efficient.
Wayland also provides better support for high-DPI displays and touchscreens, as well as improved performance for graphics-intensive applications like games and 3D modeling software.
Xorg (also known as X11) is an older, established display server and compositor for Linux systems. It has been the default display server for most Linux distributions for many years.
Xorg provides a stable and reliable display system, but it is not as modern and efficient as Wayland. It is also more complex and requires a separate compositor to provide advanced graphical effects and animations.
One of the advantages of Xorg is that it has a large and mature ecosystem of applications and drivers that have been developed over many years. This makes it more compatible with legacy applications and hardware.
Hyprland is a new compositor that is still in development. It is designed to be a hybrid of Wayland and Xorg, combining the best features of both systems.
Hyprland aims to provide better performance, security, and flexibility than Xorg, while also maintaining compatibility with legacy applications and hardware. It is built on top of the Wayland protocol but provides compatibility layers for Xorg applications and drivers.
Hyprland is still in the early stages of development, but it has the potential to become a popular compositor for Linux systems in the future. Hyprland is a newer compositor that aims to combine the best features of Wayland and Xorg, providing better performance, security, and compatibility.
There isn't a single "best" combination of desktop environment and package helper, as the ideal choice depends on your personal preferences, hardware, and requirements. However, I can provide some common combinations that are popular among Linux users, particularly Arch Linux users.
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GNOME + Yay/Paru: GNOME is a popular desktop environment for its user-friendliness and wide range of features. Yay and Paru are both widely-used AUR helpers known for their functionality and ease of use. This combination is suitable for users who prefer a feature-rich and easy-to-use environment.
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KDE + Yay/Paru: KDE is another popular desktop environment, known for its customizability and integrated experience. Like GNOME users, KDE users often choose Yay or Paru as their AUR helper for their extensive features and user-friendly nature.
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XFCE + Yay/Paru: XFCE is a lightweight and customizable desktop environment that is popular among users who want a fast and responsive system. Pairing it with Yay or Paru provides a good balance between performance and ease of package management.
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MATE + Yay/Paru: MATE is a fork of GNOME 2 that offers a traditional desktop experience. Users who prefer a more classic interface often choose MATE, combined with Yay or Paru for easy AUR package management.
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Cinnamon + Yay/Paru: Cinnamon is a modern and elegant desktop environment developed for Linux Mint. It has gained popularity among users who want a visually appealing and user-friendly experience. Like other desktop environments, Cinnamon users often choose Yay or Paru for their AUR helper.
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i3 or Awesome + Yay/Paru: i3 and Awesome are both tiling window managers that are popular among users who prefer a minimal and keyboard-driven desktop experience. As these window managers are highly configurable, users often rely on AUR helpers like Yay or Paru to manage additional software packages.