I've distro hopped quite a bit over the last few years. I've realized recently that I tend to gravitate toward KDE Plasma as a desktop environment, but I don't take advantage of the customization as much as I could.

As I sit here looking through the KDE Plasma settings I'm curious to hear what are some favorite things to change in any DE. Please share what you like to do when you get a vanilla install. Do you have a favorite icon pack? Do you have a favorite theme? Any particular widgets that you would recommend?

I'm sure there is more out there than I can think of. Please share!

Edit: I can't respond to everyone, but this is a great discussion. So many good suggestions and ideas. Keep them coming!

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[–] 4 points 2 months ago (8 children)

kde plasma

Mouse: increase pointer speed to 0.8

Sound: change volume increment to 2%

Sound: mute notification sounds


Colours:

Breeze Dark

Material Black Blueberry Icons

Oxygen Neon Cursors

KDE-Story-Blue-SDDM (login screen) with a different background


Screen Locking:

Never


Power Management:

When inactive: Do Nothing

Dim automatically: Never

Turn off screen: Never


Session:

Ask for confirmation: Deselect

On login: Start with an empty session



Panel:

Long date

Date beside time

Modify system tray settings to show what I want



Widgets:

On panel:

Thermal monitor (1 for cpu, 1 for gpu)

Memory Usage

Desktop Folder

Folder View (set to a folder where I keep docs and spreadsheets)

Wastebin

Shutdown or Switch

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  • [–] [S] 3 points 2 months ago (3 children)

    Love this. Thanks for the breakdown! Some of these options are things that I only set if I happen to pass them. I don't always comb through every option during a fresh install

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago (2 children)

    I have distrohopped a couple of times, so the settings only take me a minute. It is possibly what drew me to kde plasma in the first place, the settings are very accessible.

    Planning on going back to xfce though, since they are (I assume) much less likely to embrace ai crap.

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  • [–] [S] 1 point 2 months ago (1 child)

    I do love the idea that a desktop environment covers most of what you interact with. I feel like DE and package manager are like 90% of what makes me choose a distro

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  • [–] 2 points 2 months ago

    basically the same for me, although after a while (for me at least) the package manager gui is just mainly for updates. I rarely add new programs.

    The operating system isn't meant to be the feature/focus, it is just meant to work, and stay out of the way. Choosing a de you like is the best way to start distrohopping/finding a distro.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago (3 children)

    What do you use for the thermal monitor?

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  • [–] 2 points 2 months ago (2 children)