Question for the developers about Pantheon DE

Lounge EndeavourOS development
1

Hi,

Ever since I discovered EndeavourOS, I must say that I am in love with the Arch base and prefer to use it exclusively… BUT, I have a small confession to make about a predicament I am in. I am equally in LOVE with the Pantheon DE and cannot understand how this awesome distro has practically every DE except the eye candy gorgeous Pantheon? For me, Pantheon makes Gnome look like a joke. So what gives? I am ignorant to how things work behind the scenes, which is why I am making this post asking questions. I did read somewhere else that Pantheon is not as functional on Arch, I wonder to myself cant that be addressed by the Endeavour developers? I thought anything is possible with software?

Right now I have a dual boot going with ElementaryOS specifically to enjoy the Pantheon DE, but I really would prefer not to use ElementaryOS at all. I am not a fan of ubuntu/debian base.

So my question is:

#1. What are the odds of Pantheon making it to EndeavourOS as a supported DE?

#2. If the answer above is zero, can I install Pantheon on EndeavourOS as a DE and if so, how? Would it run as reliably as it does on ElementaryOS or would it be a frustrating experience?

2

Pantheon has historically been unreliable on Arch-based distros because it doesn’t target such a rapidly moving base. I think we would want to see both consistent reliability and significant demand before even considering if it should/could be added.

Yes.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Pantheon

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3

Can’t the unreliability be addressed by the Endeavour devs?

4

That would require maintaining our own copy of the code base or a patch set, ongoing management and testing of compatibility and managing all the packaging ourselves. The team isn’t nearly large enough for that.

5

I see. That’s unfortunate :frowning_face:

Am I likely to have an unpleasant experience installing pantheon on EndeavourOS?

6

There have been people who have reported success and others who have reported issues.

Why not try it for yourself and see how it goes for you?

7

I supposed I should. I’ve never custom installed a DE before, so I am a little intimidated.

8

Just make sure you have backups (=personal data) in order and up-to-date.
If all goes south, reinstalling is easy and fast.

9

Or simply test in a vm with virtualbox for example. When you install don’t have to choose a DE and start from there :slight_smile:

10

I almost never keep data I need on my main drive.

11

Wait, are you saying you can install EndeavourOS without a DE during install? And if so, are you suggesting in a VM, that’s the best way to go? I’m confused.

I might just first attempt this as a fresh, clean installation on a spare device connected to Ethernet.

12

Yes, that is one of the options.

13

Yes when you normally choose a DE you can also pick “no desktop” (from memory). One thing VM (virtual machine) do great is let you tried things without damaging your host.

14

I’m going to attempt this installation sometime today. Hopefully it goes well. I will report back.

15

What do you guys think of using this to install it?

16

I would not use that script.

What that script does is basically the same as:

yay -Syu --needed pantheon switchboard-plug-desktop epiphany pantheon-dock-git switchboard-plug-pantheon-tweaks-git ttf-opensans ttf-dejavu ttf-droid gnu-free-fonts ttf-liberation ttf-roboto
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17

Fair enough. Arch Wiki it is.

18

Alternatively, you could just run that command I posted which boils down the script into a single command.

19

That command alone will install the entire DE without any further action?

20

It does the same thing the script does. I haven’t tested it but it appears to install the packages you need including a couple from AUR.

You will still want to install and start a DM such as lightdm.

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