We are not going to talk about politics but, as in any event, yesterday we took advantage of the day of the Spanish general elections to carry out our own elections on the best graphical environment of the Ubuntu family. It was like a joke, a grace, but there was a lot of participation and it seemed like a good idea to write this article. First, because a complaint that we read is true: although we explained that there are only 4 gaps in the Twitter polls, 1,5 graphical environments were left out, since we did not include LXDE and MATE did not have its own gap.
As it seemed to interest you, today's survey will be more complete. Ubuntu is available in 8 different flavors, which are Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Xubuntu, Ubuntu Budgie, Ubuntu MATE, Ubuntu Studio, and Ubuntu Kylin. Studio and Kylin use a GNOME graphical environment, Ubuntu Studio is also available in Xfce version. For that reason, instead of 8 options there are 6, because this survey is about graphical environments, more specifically the environments in which the main operating system of this blog is available.
The best Ubuntu graphical environment is ...
Another thing I have to say is that yes, KDE's graphical environment is called Plasma, but whoever wrote that tweet (a server) has yet to shake off the mania of having met it when it was still called KDE (which comes from Kool Desktop Environment). It was renamed "Plasma" in its fifth version, the current one. And now we are going to talk a little about the graphical environments of the Ubuntu family.
GNOME
I don't know if it needs an introduction. Ubuntu have used GNOME half its lifetime, using the other half Unity. What happens is that the current version (3.x) is not the same one that it used in its origins. The current one is a slightly custom version that they have inherited from Ubuntu GNOME, a version that was discontinued when Ubuntu 18.10 was released. Until then, there were 9 flavors of the Ubuntu family. GNOME is used by many Linux operating systems and it is a favorite, but I think it is because it is also well known.
Plasma
Upon reaching its fifth version, KDE Community changed the name of its graphical environment to plasma 5, name that I imagine will be the definitive one. I want to be objective and tell the facts: this is a very customizable and beautiful OS by default, but it has been a disaster on some computers for years. With the arrival of the latest versions, this has changed and it is much more reliable and fluid. By default it has neither a dock nor a top bar, which can be strange for users accustomed to one or both of these bars. It includes many tools by default, which is good or bad depending on the user's point of view. It is the graphical environment that you use Kubuntu.
LXDE
Lubuntu it is the lightest graphical environment of the Ubuntu family, or at least in theory. I must admit that I have not tested it thoroughly, simply because I LXDE It seems to me that it is little customizable by default. When I have tested it I have done it on computers with limited resources and yes, they have made them work decently. It is a system that anyone looking for an official lightweight Ubuntu version has to try, although I think it doesn't hurt to do tests to find the perfect system for our computer, for whatever reason.
Xfce
I have read user comments complaining that Xubuntu It is no longer what it was. Use the graphical environment Xfce which in theory is lightweight, but in recent versions they have been adding improvements in terms of functions that have been weighing on other things. It could be said that now there is a greater balance between functions and fluency. It is also more customizable than Lubuntu.
MATE
Ubuntu MATE came to the Ubuntu family in 2015. Its developer was not happy with Unity and decided to create a distribution based on Ubuntu that had the image and graphical environment it had before the controversial change. Canonical saw it, liked it, and added it to their official flavors. I have to say that I used Ubuntu MATE for a long time on my computers, also on a limited 10.1 ″ one, but that I was experiencing a crash (I can't remember exactly which one) that made me return to Ubuntu, at least on my 15 ″ laptop . MATE it is very customizable, something that must also be taken into account.
Budgie
The younger brother of the Ubuntu family is Ubuntu Budgie. I'm not lying when I tell you that I tried it a long time ago, I don't know if before it became an official Ubuntu flavor, and I got very good feelings. It's nice and fluid, but I didn't use it by default because it was missing things that are essential to me. One of them, put the buttons on the left. But i tried Ubuntu Budgie 19.04 and I have verified that in terms of customization it has improved somewhat, although it is still far from Plasma or MATE.
I have tried not to mention too my personal impressions so as not to influence your decision, although it has been difficult for me. What is your favorite graphical environment of the previous six?