this post was submitted on 05 Jul 2024
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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It's in the eye of the beholder, of course. But it would be great to see some solid recommendations.

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[–] [email protected] 65 points 4 months ago (7 children)

The distribution doesn't to too much, its mostly the desktop environment. I like the look of KDE Plasma the most. But usually I craft my own look after a while.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I like the look of KDE Plasma the most.

GNOME vs KDE gang fight has been summoned.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 4 months ago (7 children)

The look of GNOME isn't the problem of GNOME. ;-) I'm not a good citizen right now.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Absolutely. GNOME often looks better, but it just doesnt work. Basic things everywhere are removed or not added.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

One man’s “basic” things are another man’s clutter …

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago (3 children)

So you mean...

  • editing images (in the viewer, screenshot tool)
  • being allowed to customize the UI of any app
  • changing the login screen (gdm) background
  • creating a textfile from the filemanager
  • editing .desktop entries graphically
  • ...

?

Hahaha, I disagree

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago (4 children)

Agreed. I think it's not about distros we should have pay attention, but desktop environments.

And about "most appealing" DE I think it's subjective. Surely KDE has the most flexible structure and may be exactly what you want, but Gnome is also appealing for some people (myself included).

Again, there is no right or wrong, just personal preferences

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

I took it as a question of which distro looks nicest out of the box (like, which distro manager has made real effort to make something particularly nice looking).

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[–] [email protected] 64 points 4 months ago (5 children)

I don't think it's the distros job to look visually appealing. That's the job of the desktop environment. Seriously I wish distributions would just ship vanilla desktop environments. All of the themed variants always have some issues. Maybe I'm just old and stubborn but that's my opinion.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 4 months ago

Fuckin same. It took so long for me to realize a lot of issues I had wasn't because gnome was shit, it was because every distro fucks with gnome until it's unusable. I finally tried fedora and now gnome is my favorite DE and I love the workflow.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

Yeah, distros should, at most, change the default accent color and some pannel icon, but no more than that.

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[–] [email protected] 47 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (3 children)

Definitely OpenBSD's default fvwm

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

TempleOS received mostly "sympathetic" reviews.

😅

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Does OpenBSD really default to FVWM in 2024? Metal.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago

Yes, and not even the modern fvwm3, due to licensing issues.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago

A blast of the past.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 4 months ago (3 children)

Garuda Hyprland edition. All the neon-RGB styling of Garuda gamer on top of Hyprland's smooth UI.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Upvoted. I forgot about this distro. I don't like its neon style at all but it's something different and pleasing for some people.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

It's finally an opinionated distro I agree with. Of course you can get anything to look like anything but I just like how they picked a path and went so far down it to make their own unique out-of-the-box experience.

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 4 months ago (1 children)

You're asking about the desktop environment and its default settings, which may or may not be the same on any given distro.

But I have a tie between Plasma and Cinnamon (mint's DE). They both take only minor tweaking to get where I want them, and I can use them both out of the box with zero complaints.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago

Many distros customize the colour schemes and theming of their desktops. The out-of-the-box XFCE in EOS looks nothing at all like vanilla XFCE for example.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 4 months ago (2 children)

The new COSMIC desktop by System76 and Pop!_OS is very promising. I've been running the pre-alpha, and have been very impressed.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

The current pop_os dark is already pretty damn good, it's a very refined theme

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 4 months ago
[–] [email protected] 15 points 4 months ago

EndeavourOS has a pretty nice colour scheme and wallpaper going by default.

If I was forced to use a default distro look, it would be that or Linux Mint probably.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Fedora Workstation. Gnome is pretty great on the eyes, and there's a healthy Libadwaita apps ecosystem that is just *chefs kiss*

ElementaryOS also looks great for the system and core apps, although there's not really a third party app ecosystem that fits with the Pantheon theme, unfortunately.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago (4 children)

I second this but after getting Hyprland setup to my liking I don’t think I’ll ever go back to gnome or kde

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 months ago

I think GNOME looks very visually appealing with it's consistency. The Libadwaita library has a nice aesthetic and looks very clean with nice spacing for elements to "breathe".

I still prefer KDE since I can tailor the look to my needs and I prefer to have clutter over extra clicks. (I have top bar with "Opened programs", Launcher, System tray, Time and a global menu and KWin script for managing Activities)

I feel like modern era of design has gone a bit overboard with the "clean" direction. It can be contrasted with Windows XP where you click "All programs" and you literally get all programs in the start menu with options of how to run or open them. I prefer to do "Menu" - > "Submenu" - > "Thing I want".

Come to think of it I should probably make a launcher for KDE.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 months ago

Pop!_OS

Gnome with a bit of a macOS twist. I really like it. I'm excited for Cosmic!

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago

deepin or zorin

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 months ago

Linux Mint has a smooth, out-of-your-way look & feel to either MATE or Cinnamon that just makes me feel at home

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago

Honestly, whilst I would not recommend this at all, I find CutefishOS (you could argue it doesn't even need to be a distro) incredibly visually appealing.

Perhaps I will get downvoted for being a sucker for modern visuals, but the theme is consistent, simple and easy on my eyes.

Although I like GNOME, the consistency bothers me and some of the design choices are inconsistent and don't make for a great user experience, looking at Nautilus for example.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago

You mean Desktop?

Distro, I think Lubuntu does LXQt better than Fedora LXQt.

But LXQt is a huge mix of mostly KDE Theming.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago

Garuda Linux looks very nice

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

Pantheon desktop (Elementary OS)

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

As one comment mentioned, it depends more on the DE. But out of the box, I’d say Peppermint, Elementary, and Mint.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

LMDE (Mint Cinnamon)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago

Hmm there is stuff like Archcraft (maybe it has a different name now idk) that is made specifically for visuals. In terms of usable distros I'd say Xero is the best I know. It seems to be discontinued though. CachyOS has some nice WM setups too but the appealing visuals can't be consistent in that case because they are not full DEs and the unreasonably tiny calendar pop-up window from Xfce always ruins everything.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Really depends on the desktop but in terms of default desktops that are shipped with distros I'm picking Fedora's GNOME (pretty much stock) and MX Linux's XFCE.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago

Xerolinux. It's basically a heavily themed KDE

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

My favourite looking DE is GNOME with the WhiteSur theme and SF-Pro system font

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Distros aren't going to be visually appealing as they typically and just standard desktops or CLI

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