Hello everyone, my Endeavour OS install is around a week old, but I’ve been using Manjaro for about a year and a half. Before that, I was a Windows person though I’d had a few flirtations with Debian/Ubuntu based distributions over the years. I know enough to get into trouble, and I’m starting to learn enough to start getting out of trouble… sometimes.
Anyway, I remember reading somewhere that switching Desktop Environments was always better to do with a new, dedicated user account for the new DE so that applications specific to or included with each DE didn’t conflict or cause issues with each other. I’m currently using Plasma and like it. A week in and I’ve mostly gotten it looking and feeling the way I like, but I’ve also been seeing people using Hyprland lately. I realize it’s the flavor of the month and may or may not last, but I’ve never used a tiling window manager or a Wayland desktop either, so I thought it might be a fun thing to try out.
I’ve searched around to see if that advice is still true when using a Wayland Compositor instead of a more traditional DE like Plasma. Is it recommended to make a duplicate of my user account and use the new one exclusively for Hyprland?
If I do try out Hyprland, is there anything I should know (beyond needing to read their docs and wiki to learn to do all of the configuration myself, of course)? Should I be worried about using my existing applications on it because it’s using Wayland?
test several things, like Hyprland or XFCE (with labwc ofr Wayland); as Hyprland is a tiling window manager (which a am not very used to), I do not want this as my default working environment.
(maybe more important) to have a fallback-account, if something is wrong with the normal user account /for whatever reason)
So, from my point of view, there is no reason to not have an additional test/blah-account to play with.
First of all, welcome to EOS! I came here from Manjaro, too.
I wouldn’t even install two DEs/WMs on the same EOS instance, let alone the same user on that instance. If you don’t end up liking Hyprland, it will be a mess to clean up; if you end up switching, Plasma will be a mess to clean up.
Try installing Hyprland in a VM first, or if your machine is a wimpy one like mine, try installing it to a USB key and boot from that to try out the new alternative. EOS is quite fast from a USB key (in everything but updating).
Thank you everyone. I think what I’ll do is make a backup of my system first, then make a new user to try it. Worst case I just revert to the backup if something breaks. If I end up liking it, I can do a reinstall or find a better way to more permanently migrate.
I’ve never had luck trying 2 DEs at once. You never get the “true” feel of the DE you’re wanting to test. Plus, it just screws up the OS. Better to try in a VM. Or, if you have one, another PC or laptop.
For Hyprland it’s not necessary, Hyprland can coexist happily with anything because it’s just a compositor, not a full desktop environment which means it doesn’t create conflicting configurations for other environments.
There will beb some overlap though, for instance to keep your main environment from becoming a mess, use the same themeing on hyprland (it will probably do so by default for many applications because it’s already configured that way on your existing DE but there’ll be exceptions)
That’s about the only thing you gotta worry about.
The advice not to mix environments only strictly applies for full fledged DEs, the more modular types like i3, openbox, sway, hyprland, wayfire and so on can usually just be integrated with whatever settings that your existing DE uses happily.
Also for installing new environments just creating a new user for it may not be enough, just the act of installing a second environment can mess up your existing desktop environment configuration. But you only need to be worried about it on ocmplete environments like xfce, kde, gnome, cinnamon and such.
I am not prepared to write a nearly objective analysis. As opposed to the title I tested installing ML4W alongside EnOS Plasma with the above dotfiles.git. At SDDM login I opened a terminal window with CTRL+F3 just beacause of superstition.
Cloned it to ~/Downloads because the default folder will be ~/dotfiles. You will be asked to modify though. setup-arch.sh asks several questions and at the end you reboot.
Did not interfere with Pasma seemingly.
Of course make a backup before you start anything.
To start answering your question ML4W has the less steep learning curve IMHO.
I may be ignorant but if you do not like challenges like finding in Garuda-hyprland ~/.config/hypr/settings/monitor.conf the last parameter not to magnify the screen.
You are told that Garuda is not for the beginners but should you have a disk for it
it provides BTRFS Snapshots out of the box. Theming is opinionated in Garuda. Easy to change.
So let every hyprland bloom. Tried JaKooLit as well. I am a weak soul, I was not persistent enough.
So in my case the fastest success was with ML4W second place goes to Garuda hyprland.
Watch videos of Stephan Raabe
Thanks for the guidance, folks. After using it briefly on a VM, I found that Hyprland is so minimal on its own without downloading a config that you really don’t need to worry about it messing with Plasma on the same profile, so I made the switch.
Overall, I’m very happy with it and have been configuring everything from scratch myself as much as I can, while using others’ dotfiles to learn and get inspiration. I’m close to completing my setup now, with just a couple more small things to complete.
FWIW, I started with EndeavourOS and “No desktop” at install. Then followed the Hyprland wiki, breaking things and learning along the way. The ML4W stuff is a great setup for a lot of folks but I like to know why something is installed and how it works on a conceptual level. I may not go deep into the options but if something gets borked I can usually figure out where to look.
I came here from Manjaro, too.