Manjaro Linux Budgie 21.1.2 Released.
♞ Coming up on 9TO5Linux ♞
Budgie is an elegant and simplified desktop environment that integrates very well with
Manjaro. Budgie is developed and maintained by the Solus team. This article will delve
into the details of everything you need to know while installing the Budgie Desktop on
Manjaro.
Linux-based operating systems have several desktop environments. Some shipped with Manjaro
include KDE Plasma, GNOME, XFCE, Mate, LXDE, Cinnamon, Budgie, and LXQt. The list is not
exhaustive, though.
Among these many desktop environments, Budgie is included. Also, note that you can easily
access and download the community-based version of Manjaro with the budgie desktop.
If you already have an installed version of Manjaro OS, there is no need to re-install
it. Essentially, it is not a viable solution to re-install your PC because you want to
change the desktop environment. This is the foundation for this article and the main reason
we will illustrate installing the Budgie desktop environment.
The beauty of Linux is that you can have a variety of multiple desktop environments installed
and available for you to choose from at the login screen whenever you wish.
These diverse desktop environments have different window managers at Manjaro Linux’s disposal.
Each of the latter comes with style specific to its features and interfaces that make it
stand out.
Also, note that by no means are you tied down to the windows manager or the desktop environment
that came pre-built into Manjaro. You can always change to your liking.
About desktop environments Desktop environments are a collection of various
components that harmoniously work together towards a common goal. It is not a single
entity as many people have always assumed.
The standard components that make up most desktop environments include:
Settings or Configuration Manager lets you make changes to your desktop environment’s
look. The file manager is essential for visual browsing,
accessing, and copying files. The panel is responsible for menu provision
and, consequently, displaying information, such as the time and date.
The window manager is essential in resizing, moving, and displaying various application
windows. Background provider is responsible for wallpapers’
display. The list herein is not exhaustive by any chance
because some components are specific to certain desktop environments.
Besides, quite a several desktop environments come with inbuilt applications of their preference,
addons, additional widgets, and extensions which are essential for the provision of the
extra features. So, sometimes when downloading a desktop environment, there is the option
to select from several components provided what applies to you.
Alternatively, there is also the option to install a desktop environment fully. This
usually means that you install the desktop environment alongside its recommended applications,
file manager, among others.
In most scenarios where you have additional components available for you to choose from,
commands to run on the terminal are usually provided. It is optional for you, though!
Budgie Desktop Environment The Solus project led to the development of
Budgie, which has now become one of the most famous and most sort after desktop environments.
The GNOME stack integrates tightly with Budgie. In fact, Budgie is GNOME’s fork but has
advantages of simplicity and is very lightweight.
Note that canonical has Ubuntu Budgie Variant, a separate release altogether. Further, Budgie
is available for the primary distributions, including Manjaro, Arch, and Debian. What
stands out about Budgie is the overall ecstatic user experience and is easy to use.
Are there any risks of using multiple Desktop Environments?
The idea of having multiple desktop environments installed in your machine is exciting. However,
it has its risks. This section will look at some of the challenges that arise from running
more than one desktop environment.
There is an overlap in the packages’ settings; thus, only a single desktop environment is
pre-configured for Manjaro. Consequently, you will apply to theme manually to the rest
of the desktop environments. There are chances of ending up with several
instances of the same applications. A good case is one involving the presence of several
Bluetooth managers. You can still manage it by tweaking your preferred manager among the
multiple installed. We have witnessed in the past case of more
than one desktop environment sharing configurations. In cases of theming, you could experience
strange things transpiring. A workout around we would vouch for as an
alternative is having different desktop environments for other user accounts, especially if you
find the above risks difficult or hectic to deal with and still wish to use multiple desktop
environments.
In essence, it is workable to have multiple desktop environments running at any given
time on your personal computer. However, you have to be willing to troubleshoot to sort
out compatibility and other minor issues that could arise.
All hope is not lost, though. You can opt for different user accounts, each with a different
desktop environment. If none of that is flexible enough, you may have to install the desktop
environment closely meets your core needs.
What you need to know about Manjaro settings packages
The packages in Manjaro settings have themes and settings that will ensure the desktop
is similar, just as in Manjaro ISOs. The files are shared; thus, you can only have one installed
at any given time.
The naming convention in the Manjaro desktop is as follows:
manjaro--settings For example,
manjaro-xfce-settings It is recommended to do away with meta-package
manjaro-gnome-assets when making a transition from the gnome. Do this before installing
the settings package for a different desktop environment.
Budgie Features Raven is a central location for virtually
everything. The contents consist of notifications, media integration, and applets. Rhythmbox
and VLC controllers are also found in Raven for easy and centralized control for most
applications that we run. You can access the “Applets” section by using the shortcut
Super + A. Alternatively, you can click on the applet indicating status.
Budgie Menu has its innate menu with type-as-you-search kind of customization as well as filtering
based on category.
Run Dialog is the source of quickly finding an application in the windows popup. This
can easily be triggered using the ALT + F2 shortcut on your keyboard. As a result, keyboard-driven
facilities for launchers are at your disposal.
The notification center is elegant with capabilities for alters that can be done visually, both
passive and actionable supporting modes. You can access the “Notifications” section
by using the keyboard shortcut Super + N
This section deals with the installation of the Budgie desktop environment. We will also
look at other additional components whenever there is a need. Remember that we will be
using Manjaro Linux in all our tests.
Configuration of Budgie Desktop The sidebar is essential in the configuration
of the Budgie desktop environment. Also, the gnome-control-center is critical for any settings
needed to be done on the system.
Alter button layout It is easy to change the layout of the button
using dconf, settings, or dconf-editor, as shown below:
gsettings set com.solus-project.budgie-wm button-layout 'close,minimize,maximize:appmenu'
gsettings set com.solus-project.budgie-helper.workarounds fix-button-layout 'close,minimize,maximize:menu'
What do you need before installing Budgie Desktop in Manjaro?
– Have a running Manjaro Linux – Have sudo permissions
– Have a stable and active internet connection. This will come in handy to download Budgie
Desktop and subsequently install it on Manjaro.
Different ways to install Budgie Desktop Environment on Manjaro
You can use two different ways to install the Budgie Desktop Environment on Manjaro
successfully. The first option uses the graphical user interface, while the second option involves
using the terminal.
Budgie desktop environment is available in the Pacman repository that exists on Manjaro
already. All that is needed is an internet connection that works for you to install Budgie
Desktop on Manjaro.
Choosing to install the Budgie desktop environment via the terminal or the graphical user interface
is just a matter of preference.
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