Start looking into desktop environments, everyones quick to suggest distros, but de imo is more what matters day to day, most distros just work and will help you grab the same stuff in different background ways and/or with different terminal commands.
They should all have de options or have community alternatives of them that come with a certain de like kde or gnome.
Close to windows, minimal customization (still more than default windows
Cinnamon
Iphone + cydia, opinionated base experience with extensions that can completely change the look and add stuff like panels/dock
gnome + extension store
Windows but ultra customizable, tons of settings and directly customizable from the ui itself by right clicking
kde plasma
Keyboard user, hand always on it, like shortcuts and code editor based customization with documentation
And remember that “DE hopping” is much easier than distro hopping, as you can install multiple and try them out without reinstalling your system.
Personally I’m a shill for Plasma, as I think that their motto “simple by default, powerful when needed” is very true. Out of the box, you get a grandma-ready UX that’s pretty intuitive to any Windows or Mac user, but once you start to dig in there’s so many “power user” features. Now every time I’m on a different system I instantly miss all the little QoL that I never even think about, and almost everything is neatly packaged in the system settings or context menus, without having to install extensions or set up a dozen different components
Imo plasma settings/options can be a bit overwhelming, cinnamon can be underwhelming lol, as a former cydia user, I really like toggleable extensions with indidual settings that can be as complex/basic as they need to be.
My main issue with plasma is I cant stop tinkering with my theme/ui because the settings are so easily accesible. I get distracted easily. Gnome with a few curated extensions helps me focus, realized on accident using it because davinci resolve had issues on kde plasma using the global menu (didn’t resolve after removing the menu)
Start looking into desktop environments, everyones quick to suggest distros, but de imo is more what matters day to day, most distros just work and will help you grab the same stuff in different background ways and/or with different terminal commands.
They should all have de options or have community alternatives of them that come with a certain de like kde or gnome.
Close to windows, minimal customization (still more than default windows
Cinnamon
Iphone + cydia, opinionated base experience with extensions that can completely change the look and add stuff like panels/dock
gnome + extension store
Windows but ultra customizable, tons of settings and directly customizable from the ui itself by right clicking
kde plasma
Keyboard user, hand always on it, like shortcuts and code editor based customization with documentation
hyprland
Solid advice!
And remember that “DE hopping” is much easier than distro hopping, as you can install multiple and try them out without reinstalling your system.
Personally I’m a shill for Plasma, as I think that their motto “simple by default, powerful when needed” is very true. Out of the box, you get a grandma-ready UX that’s pretty intuitive to any Windows or Mac user, but once you start to dig in there’s so many “power user” features. Now every time I’m on a different system I instantly miss all the little QoL that I never even think about, and almost everything is neatly packaged in the system settings or context menus, without having to install extensions or set up a dozen different components
Imo plasma settings/options can be a bit overwhelming, cinnamon can be underwhelming lol, as a former cydia user, I really like toggleable extensions with indidual settings that can be as complex/basic as they need to be.
My main issue with plasma is I cant stop tinkering with my theme/ui because the settings are so easily accesible. I get distracted easily. Gnome with a few curated extensions helps me focus, realized on accident using it because davinci resolve had issues on kde plasma using the global menu (didn’t resolve after removing the menu)