Arch Linux’s pkgstats data provides one of the few large-scale, opt-in snapshots of how real users configure their systems. While not a perfect census (participation is voluntary), the long-running dataset offers a clear picture of how desktop environment and window managers’ preferences have shifted across more than a decade.
At the same time, the data (to some extent) also reflects a broader trend for one key reason: as you know, a default Arch installation gives you only a base system, and you build everything else according to your own needs and tastes. In other words, there’s no predefined desktop environment that users are locked into, unlike most other distributions.
That means these statistics give us a very accurate look at which desktop environments and window managers Arch users actually choose to install and use. But enough talk, let’s move on to the data.
Niri. I know it’s not a DE, but it’s currently my fav.
from my limited time using it I found niri to be actually so good. will switch over from hyprland eventually i think.
Do you happen to know how it is with a multi-monitor setup?
I finished setting up Hyprland 2years ago, then learned about the shit community literally the day after being “ah, finally done!” and haven’t found the energy to switch since.
I’m not really fussed about the community as long as the tool is good, which Hyprland is there’s no question about that.
Like I said I have very limited usage using niri after seeing a bunch of youtube videos praising it I decided to give it a try but I haven’t had time to fully configure it and move over just yet. On my dual monitor setup it worked fine. Really loved how you can expose all open windows with a simple multi finger swipe and how each monitor has its own space.
I was the opposite. I stopped using hyprland because I found it utterly broken (Ctrl-X rant here). Didn’t find out about the community until after I left. User of i3, sway, and niri. Thanks to Lemmy for first mentioning niri to me. :)
I use Niri on triple screens with different sizes and refresh rates, it’s all seamless. Plus per-monitor scroll up/down left/right. I have an Nvidia GPU, they seem to have worked out all the problems with Wayland support.
yup. I was tempted to give Hyprland a try but noped out for political reasons.
political reasons?
deleted by creator
Most projects have codes of conduct, even if it’s something as simple as Wheaton’s Law.
The original creator of hyprland behaved in a way that made people leave the project (the “political” part comes from the creator’s discrimination). It was basically a good example for why projects should have codes of conduct.
There’s Hypr, which is the X11 version of it (of which I tested a bit on my own time).
I am also loving Niri