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One of the main features of Linux is choice, and nowhere is that more evident than in the graphical desktop world. There are a plethora of different types of graphical desktops available in the Linux world. If you're not happy with the default desktop in your Linux distribution, it usually doesn't take much effort to change it to something else.

When the GNOME desktop project radically changed its interface in version 3, many Linux developers who preferred the look and feel of GNOME version 2 created spin‐off versions based on GNOME 2. Of these, two became somewhat popular.

 Cinnamon—The Cinnamon desktop was developed in 2011 by the Linux Mint distribution in an attempt to continue development of the original GNOME 2 desktop. It's now available as an option in several Linux distributions, including Ubuntu, Fedora, and openSUSE.

 MATE—The MATE desktop was also developed in 2011 by an Arch Linux user who disliked the switch to GNOME 3. However, it incorporates a few features of GNOME 3 (such as replacing the taskbar) but maintains the overall look and feel of GNOME 2.

Figure 1.5 shows the Cinnamon desktop as it appears in the Linux Mint distribution.

The downside to these fancy graphical desktop environments is that they require a fair amount of system resources to operate properly. In the early days of Linux, a hallmark and selling feature of Linux was its ability to operate on older, less powerful PCs that the newer Microsoft desktop products couldn't run on. However, with the popularity of KDE Plasma and GNOME 3 desktops, this has changed, as it takes just as much memory to run a KDE Plasma or GNOME 3 desktop as the latest Microsoft desktop environment.

FIGURE 1.5 The Cinnamon desktop from Linux Mint

If you have an older PC, don't be discouraged. The Linux developers have banded together to take Linux back to its roots. They've created several low‐memory–oriented graphical desktop applications that provide basic features that run perfectly fine on older PCs.

While these graphical desktops don't have a plethora of applications designed around them, they still run many basic graphical applications that support features such as word processing, spreadsheets, databases, drawing, and, of course, multimedia support.

Table 1.3 shows some of the smaller Linux graphical desktop environments that can be used on lower‐powered PCs and laptops.

TABLE 1.3: Other Linux Graphical Desktops

DESKTOP	DESCRIPTION
Fluxbox	A bare‐bones desktop that doesn't include a Panel, only a pop‐up menu to launch applications
Xfce	A desktop that's similar to the GNOME 2 desktop, but with fewer graphics for low‐memory environments
JWM	Joe's Window Manager, a lightweight desktop ideal for low‐memory and low‐disk space environments
fvwm	Supports some advanced desktop features such as virtual desktops and Panels, but runs in low‐memory environments
fvwm95	Derived from fvwm, but made to look like a Windows 95 desktop

These graphical desktop environments are not as fancy as the KDE Plasma and GNOME 3 desktops, but they provide basic graphical functionality just fine. Figure 1.6 shows what the Xfce desktop used in the MX Linux distribution looks like.

FIGURE 1.6 The Xfce desktop as seen in the MX Linux distribution

If you are using an older PC, try a Linux distribution that uses one of these desktops and see what happens. You may be pleasantly surprised.