Desktop Environments
The desktops Genesi offers, how to install another, and how to switch between them.
Genesi installs with KDE Plasma 6 as the default desktop, but the flagship, most-polished experience is Caelestia — the Quickshell shell running on Hyprland. It's the desktop the project recommends and puts the most work into; KDE stays as the batteries-included classic. The installer offers a range of desktops either way, and you can add more at any time.
Desktops offered at install
Picked in the Calamares installer's desktop step:
- Caelestia (Hyprland) — the recommended flagship: a Quickshell shell on a tiling Wayland compositor, the most-polished Genesi look. See Hyprland.
- KDE Plasma — the installer default; batteries-included and highly configurable. See The Desktop.
- Niri — scrollable-tiling Wayland compositor. See Niri.
- GNOME, Xfce, Cinnamon, Budgie, COSMIC, LXDE — see Other desktops.
Installing another desktop after setup
The easiest route is the Package Installer, which
has ready-made groups per desktop. Or install with pacman — for example:
# GNOME
sudo pacman -S gnome
# Xfce
sudo pacman -S xfce4 xfce4-goodiesYou'll also want a display manager if one isn't already set up (Genesi uses SDDM by default, which can launch any of them).
Switching between installed desktops
Log out, then on the SDDM login screen use the session menu (usually a small menu or gear icon near the username) to pick which desktop to start. Your choice is remembered for next time.
Installing several full desktops pulls in a lot of overlapping packages and can make menus messy. If you're just trying one out, consider a snapshot first so you can cleanly roll back.