1

I started using Ubuntu at version 14.04 in 2014 with the default desktop called Unity I believe. In AskUbuntu I've seen references to other desktops such as Mate, Xfce, Gnome version x.xx. It piqued my curiosity and I would like to try these other desktops but don't want to set them up on a new partition along with another full copy of Ubuntu.

Is it possible to have alternate Ubuntu desktops in my base Ubuntu installation and then choose between them, either without rebooting or rebooting and using grub to select between them?

I could be asking the wrong question because basically I want to keep my Documents, Downloads, Conky, Xorg, cron and various configuration options as is without replication. Maybe multiple partitions of 8 GB or so containing various Ubuntu distros is easier multi-booting using Grub than multiple desktops.

WinEunuuchs2Unix
  • 102,282
  • You can also use Virtualbox to test drive a new DE, without any concern of inadvertently causing problems with the system you have and enjoy. – JustinMT Sep 04 '16 at 00:58

2 Answers2

1

Yes, you can have multiple desktop environments, as they are called. You'll need to get the package names for the ones you want to install, but switching between them is rather easy.

After installing a new DE, logout, and click the Gear icon near the password box. Choose the new DE and login.

You may have issues with incorrectly applied themes, but that's the risk of multiple DEs.

TheWanderer
  • 19,395
  • 12
  • 50
  • 65
  • Wow that sounds deadly simple thank you! Is there a list of available desktop environments and compatibility caveats such as don't use Gnome 3.18 with Mate 2.0, etc? (sorry I made up the version numbers). – WinEunuuchs2Unix Sep 04 '16 at 00:04
  • @WinEunuuchs2Unix well, you don't really want to do it in the first place, since there's almost always going to be some sort of theme conflict. Themes for one DE generally don't look great on another. – TheWanderer Sep 04 '16 at 01:04
0

Yes. Grub can boot as many Ubuntu Operating systems as you have room for. If you keep /home on a separate partition you can tell the installer to mount it at /home on your new installation (don't format it obviously). This will allow you access to your Documents, Downloads, Music, Videos and etc. from whichever Ubuntu OS you decide to install.

Note: With this approach you can still run into unintended consequences as mentioned by @TheWanderer in his multi-DE scenario when configuration files get updated in one installation in a way that's not wholly compatible with your other installation, but for the most part I've found this to work fairly well. Of course if something breaks you get an opportunity to learn why which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I've also used the Multi-DE approach with some resulting weirdness in startup and shutdown animations, And of course I've used numerous VM's under VirtualBox as described here. All of these approaches have their pros and cons and you get to decide which works best for you. There are other alternatives I haven't yet tried like qemu/kvm, but these options have always provided what I needed thus far.

Elder Geek
  • 36,023
  • 25
  • 98
  • 183