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I'm interested in installing multiple desktop environments, however I am also worried about possible conflicts between different desktop environments. I can't seem to find any information about what specific conflicts that exist between specific desktop environments.

The desktop environments that I'm interested in are KDE Plasma, Budgie, Xfce, LXQt, Trinity, and Gnome which is already installed.

For fairly obvious reasons, I don't expect to be able to install all of these at once, but I do want to know which specific ones have incompatibilities.

I'm using Ubuntu 19.10.

mickmackusa
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MichaelB
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    What OS/release are you starting with? Issues where the do exist, relate to specific releases. My own Ubuntu has LXQt (Lubuntu), XFCE (Xubuntu), MATE (Ubuntu-MATE) added and also had LXDE (legacy Lubuntu) so regularly do it, but impacts differ from one release to the next... – guiverc Dec 10 '19 at 21:53
  • @guiverc Ubuntu 19.10. – MichaelB Dec 10 '19 at 21:54
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    As I don't have, nor have ever added Budgie/Trinity to anything - I can't speak to those. In my experience when you add the second you'll be unlikely to have problems, the chance of problems increases as you add more. I had problems with KDE & MATE on my box (LXDE & XFCE & GNOME already there), but if [all] my other desktops weren't installed KDE & MATE went perfectly together. I also found the order they are installed matters; I played with what I wanted (decided to drop KDE & just use MATE; if re-doing today I'd go the other way & keep KDE) – guiverc Dec 10 '19 at 21:59
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    As I mentioned the KDE/MATE clash - this was back in 17.10 (pre-release; but existed in 18.04 cycle too when setting up my current box which is now on 20.04). I couldn't find the clash (to raise bug report) as I loaded KDE/MATE combinations easily in testing with any other base desktop; the issue only occurred with my wanted desktops... ie. the more you have the more problems you should expect. I use many boxes, and nearly all have multiple desktops; I'd expect very minor problems only when adding >2, and more as the number increases. – guiverc Dec 10 '19 at 22:05
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    Would suggest instead maybe messing with your primary OS, to set up a copy on a VM or maybe a second partition and dual boot. Can play with installing different desktops and see if any combinations break stuff. – crip659 Dec 10 '19 at 22:31
  • @crip659 Maybe, I'm a tad worried that my computer is a bit weak for VMs but I might try that. – MichaelB Dec 10 '19 at 22:34
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    If you have some space you can free up on HD/USB stick, can also dual boot, 30 or 40GBs be plenty to fool around with. – crip659 Dec 10 '19 at 23:42
  • @crip659 I have plenty of space, But my computer sometimes struggles with one OS. – MichaelB Dec 10 '19 at 23:48
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    Dual booting only uses one OS at a time. You won't lose any more resources, because it will just be the second OS using resources. Maybe try installng Xubuntu(for XFCE ) for second OS if your computer is weak. – crip659 Dec 10 '19 at 23:55
  • @crip659 oops, that last comment was in regards to VMs, as for dual booting it's a maybe. – MichaelB Dec 11 '19 at 00:10
  • Does this answer your question? Is it possible to use multiple desktop environments on same system? – DK Bose Dec 11 '19 at 02:31
  • There are several closely related questions on the right-hand side of your screen. Re. "But I cant seem to find any information about what specific conflict exist between what specific desktop environments.", quite a few of the official flavors of Ubuntu have limited resources and depend on people who are volunteering their time. For this reason, it's quite understandable that the focus is on each distribution meeting its own objectives. Ensuring that their desktop environment can or can't co-exist with another isn't really a priority. – DK Bose Dec 11 '19 at 02:35
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    What issues users face when installing more than one desktop environment will, more or less, depend on their expectations and their abilities to deal with situations that may arise. – DK Bose Dec 11 '19 at 02:36
  • And another possible duplicate: https://askubuntu.com/questions/266224/will-i-have-problems-installing-multiple-desktop-environments – DK Bose Dec 11 '19 at 02:38
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    Does this answer your question? Will I have problems installing multiple desktop environments? – karel Dec 11 '19 at 03:00
  • @JusticeforMonica and karel , I don't believe this is a duplicate as this question ask a far more specific (and thereby different) question, with regards to why info on conflicts is hard to come by, I understand why inter-desktop compatibility isn't a priority. – MichaelB Dec 11 '19 at 21:30
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    @michaelB I understand that you don't think this is a duplicate question, I'll leave that to others to determine, it IS however, too broad. The vast number of DE's available make the number of combinations your vaguely worded question covers far too high for anyone to completely answer. My best advice to you is to backup any critical information and run your own tests, secure in the knowledge that whatever happens you can go back to square one with more knowledge than you started with. If this question is still open, feel free to share your results in a self-answer here. Cheers! – Elder Geek Dec 11 '19 at 21:45
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    Budgie and Cinnamon may not work together, after installing Budgie I got graphical issues on Cinnamon side. – JoKeR Dec 12 '19 at 12:00

2 Answers2

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My own Ubuntu started with Ubuntu 17.10 (pre-release) where I added LXDE (Lubuntu), XFCE (Xubuntu), MATE (Ubuntu-MATE). It's now been release-upgraded a few times and am now on 20.04 with the LXDE being replaced by LXQt.

As I don't have, nor have ever added Budgie/Trinity to anything - I can't speak to those.

In my experience when you add the second desktop you'll be unlikely to have problems, the chance of problems increases as you add more.

I had problems with KDE & MATE on my box (LXDE & XFCE & GNOME already there), but if [all] my other desktops weren't installed KDE & MATE went perfectly together.

I also found the order they are installed matters; I played with what I wanted (decided to drop KDE & just use MATE; if re-doing today I'd go the other way & keep KDE)

On the KDE/MATE clash, I couldn't find the clash (to raise bug report) as I loaded KDE/MATE combinations easily in testing with any other base desktop; the issue only occurred with my wanted desktops... ie. the more you have the more problems you should expect.

I use many boxes, and nearly all have multiple desktops; I'd expect very minor problems only when adding >2, and more as the number increases.

guiverc
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GNOME shell, KDE Plasma, MATE, XFCE should cooperate without conflicts.

I don't know about Trinity and i have never tested LXQt + KDE Plasma. GNOME Shell and Budgie use the same configs so conflicts often happens.

If you install KDE Plasma you can have visual problems with QT and GTK themes.

BTW i think 19.10 is the most stable release for installing multiple DE.

Jeryosh
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  • What types of conflicts can Gnome and Budgie having the same config have?If they have the same config wouldn't that just mean they share settings? – MichaelB Dec 10 '19 at 22:17
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    Well GNOME and Budgie can cooperate but for example if you disable minimise and maximise buttons on GNOME, it will be activated the next time you start Budgie (in both DE) wich can be a little annoying. Of course that's not big issues but it doesn't appears with Plasma/MATE/XFCE. – Jeryosh Dec 10 '19 at 22:23