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Documentation

  • Screenshots
  • Introduction
  • Installation
  • Quick Start

Core Features

  • Desktop Environments
  • Installer
  • System Management

Tools & Commands

  • ANIX Profiles
  • TinyPM
  • Abora Commands

Configuration

  • System Config
  • Update Channels
  • Flatpak Setup

Advanced

  • Recovery & Rollback
  • Building from Source
  • Contributing

22 Desktop Environments

Choose your interface from full desktop environments, lightweight options, tiling managers, or even console-only installs.

Real Screenshots

These are genuine screenshots from Abora OS v3.14 DENALI running in a VM.

COSMIC desktop environment on Abora OS 3.14 DENALI with space wallpaper

COSMIC 1.0.0 — Wayland, 1920×1080

GNOME 50.1 desktop on Abora OS 3.14 DENALI

GNOME 50.1 — Mutter Wayland, 1920×1080

Qtile tiling window manager on Abora OS 3.14 DENALI

Qtile — Python 3.13, Wayland, 1024×768

Openbox floating window manager on Abora OS 3.14 DENALI

Openbox 3.6.1 — X11, right-click context menu

Choose During Installation

When you run the Abora installer, you'll select your preferred desktop environment. This selection determines your default interface after first login.

Don't worry about choosing wrong—you can switch desktops anytime using ANIX commands without reinstalling:

abora config set desktop hyprland

Full Desktop Environments

GNOME

Full DE

Modern, polished, user-friendly. Great for beginners.

Display Manager: GDM

KDE Plasma

Full DE

Feature-rich, highly customizable. Powerful for power users.

Display Manager: SDDM

COSMIC

Full DE

System76's modern desktop. Fresh and innovative.

Display Manager: COSMIC Greeter

XFCE

Full DE

Lightweight yet fully-featured. Fast and traditional.

Display Manager: LightDM

Cinnamon

Full DE

Familiar and easy to use. Linux Mint's desktop.

Display Manager: LightDM

MATE

Full DE

GNOME 2 continuation. Lightweight and stable.

Display Manager: LightDM

Budgie

Full DE

Clean and elegant. Modern but minimal.

Display Manager: LightDM

Pantheon

Full DE

Elementary OS desktop. Minimalist and beautiful.

Display Manager: LightDM

Lightweight

LXQt

Lightweight DE

Extremely lightweight. Best for older hardware.

Display Manager: SDDM

Wayland Compositors

Hyprland

Wayland Compositor

Modern tiling Wayland compositor. For advanced users.

Display Manager: SDDM (Wayland)

Sway

Wayland Compositor

i3 replacement for Wayland. Keyboard-driven.

Display Manager: SDDM (Wayland)

Niri

Wayland Compositor

New Wayland compositor. Layout-driven compositing.

Display Manager: SDDM (Wayland)

River

Wayland Compositor

Wayland compositor. Dynamic window manager.

Display Manager: SDDM (Wayland)

MangoWM

Wayland Compositor

Experimental Wayland compositor.

Display Manager: SDDM (Wayland)

Tiling Window Managers

i3

Tiling WM

Keyboard-driven tiling. Minimal and fast.

Display Manager: LightDM

AwesomeWM

Tiling WM

Highly configurable Lua-based tiling manager.

Display Manager: LightDM

Qtile

Tiling WM

Python-based tiling window manager.

Display Manager: LightDM

BSPWM

Tiling WM

Binary space partitioning window manager.

Display Manager: LightDM

Herbstluftwm

Tiling WM

Manual tiling with focus on scriptability.

Display Manager: LightDM

Floating Window Managers

Openbox

Floating WM

Lightweight floating window manager.

Display Manager: LightDM

Fluxbox

Floating WM

Minimal and fast. Based on Blackbox.

Display Manager: LightDM

IceWM

Floating WM

Small, fast, and native-looking.

Display Manager: LightDM

Console Only

Console Only

TTY

No GUI. Pure command-line interface.

Display Manager: TTY

Quick Recommendations

For Beginners

GNOME or KDE Plasma. Both are polished, user-friendly, and widely supported.

For Power Users

Hyprland, i3, or Sway. Modern, keyboard-driven, highly customizable.

For Old/Slow Hardware

LXQt, XFCE, or IceWM. Minimal resource usage, still fully functional.

For Wayland Enthusiasts

Hyprland, Sway, Niri, or River. Modern Wayland-native compositors.

For Servers/Headless

Console Only. Run Abora with no GUI, perfect for servers and minimal installs.

Switching Desktops After Installation

Changed your mind? You can switch desktops without reinstalling using two methods:

Method 1: Using abora config

abora config set desktop gnome
# Reboot or logout and select at login

Replace `gnome` with any desktop: kde, hyprland, i3, xfce, etc.

Method 2: Manual Configuration

nano /etc/nixos/configuration.nix
# Find the desktop section and modify
anix switch
# Apply changes

Multiple Desktops

Want to try multiple desktops? You can install multiple desktop environments and select which one to use at login. Check the advanced configuration guide for details.

Want more details? Check the System Configuration guide.