Something most new Linux users often struggle to understand when first using Linux is the concept of desktop environments. What a desktop environment actually is I feel gets further clouded when users start exploring different "spins" of a distro. For example it is very common for a new user to think Kubuntu or Xubuntu is something entirely different from the well known Ubuntu.

The vast majority of Windows users in the world have never experienced the advantages that a multiple desktop computer environment provides. That is because most people use Microsoft Windows and that operating system only comes with a single desktop environment*.

Most of the Linux users should be familiar with Gnome and KDE since both of them are the most commonly used desktop managers in the various Linux distros. Now, if you are using an old PC with low hardware specs, you might find that the above two desktop environments are too heavy for your computer to handle.

Sabayon follows a rolling release development model, which means that once you install a new system, you may never need to re-install – ever.

After the success I had with my previous tutorial about how to run Windows and a Linux distribution together on the same computer (with a single monitor, keyboard and mouse and no other magic tricks required), I decided to improve the installation method with an extremely easy-to-use one. The idea is the same as in the previous guide, to obtain a single desktop with two completely different operating systems: Windows XP and Ubuntu Linux!

I have been recently been looking into desktop managers other than Gnome and KDE. Fortunately, with Ubuntu (and probably others) it is relatively easy to download and install several such desktop managers, and then choose between them on login.

Today I’m going to write about some of the most useful alternative desktop managers you should consider using on your operating system. To start off I have...

A few weeks ago, I wrote an article on How To Run Multiple X Sessions Without Virtualization, which demonstrated how you can run multiple desktop environments at the same time on the same computer, and switch between them at the push of a button.

Aside from the KDE, GNOME 3, LXDE and Xfce desktop environments, users also have the option of running the MATE and Cinnamon desktop environments. The only problem, and a very minor one, is that there are no separate installation images for MATE and Cinnamon.