Welcome!

Note: this page is under construction.

• Linux is a free kernel.
• It does not come with a desktop.
• People wrote free desktops.
• Some of them work on Linux.
• Please explore and try them as shown below.

Desktops

GNOME, KDE, LXDE, XFCE, Etoile, Enlightenment

Widget toolkits

Tk, Motif, GNUstep, Qt, GTK, GTK+, Enlightenment

FAQ

What's the difference? Why so many? How do I choose?

Each of these desktops uses a different widget toolkit. If two desktops use the same widget toolkit, they may differ in the goals they set and in the means to add your code into the project, or their userbase.

Is it good to have a program work on all of the desktops?

This may be good for engaging many people into using your program. One good way to do this is a web app.

Once you have many users, it is better to dedicate some effort into writing the program interface for each of the desktops people use, they will feel easier this way! It would be more consistent with the look and feel of other programs on these peoples' desktops.

As an example, please see how Quassel does this.

As a program developer, do I develop a program for each of these desktops??

See previous question. Ideally, yes. If you have a few users, they may help you do this. :-) Start by splitting the backend and the frontend of your program into different directories.

Why do many programs provide a version 'for Linux'? Which desktop is it for?

Some programs provide a version 'for GNOME', for example, SMUXI. This is a good thing and this specification makes things much more clear for everyone.

Contact

To leave a comment or propose a change, please contact the authors of this site at ##linux-desktop live chat at freenode. Thank you!