Linux – Shells and Desktop Enviornments

In Linux you can use numerous shells and Desktop Environments in order to interact with your system.

Shells and Desktop Environments 

• Shells are the software you use to directly interact with the operating system.
• Generally “shells” refer to command line shells.
• Desktop Environments are GUI shells with the added functionality and software that make up what users think of as a Desktop operating System.

Command Line Shells

• BASH is the default Command Line Shell.
• There are numerous other command line shells that offer functionality such as autocomplete that users may find more useful.
• A blog post on some different command line shells: https://www.tecmint.com/different-types-of-linux-shells/

XFCE

• XFCE is a very lightweight Desktop Environment that looks like something from the 90’s
• https://www.xfce.org

KDE

• KDE is a modern Desktop Environment with a large amount of resources and tools.
• https://kde.org

GNOME 3

• GNOME 3 is a modern Desktop Environment that is the default from some distributions.
• https://www.gnome.org

Mate

• Mate is the continuation of GNOME 2. Some users preferred GBNOME 2 over GNOME 3 and so kept maintaining it as Mate.
• https://mate-desktop.org

Ubuntu Touch

• Ubuntu Touch is an Ubuntu Distribution customized for touch devices.
• https://ubuntu-touch.io