If you have been a long-time Linux user, you probably are using your favorite distro, or a desktop environment that can improve your productivity. But what if you are planning to switch from Windows to Linux and you are not sure of which distro to use? To make thing worse, you do some research and find that there are a ton of desktop environments out there and each distro comes with more desktop environments. So, which one should you choose?

That is really a hard to solve problem, and that is where Hybryde Fusion comes into play. It is basically a distro that comes pre-installed with eleven different desktop environments so you can test out each and every one of them and see which one you like. Hybryde Fusion is great for testing and is not meant for live production use.

To get started, head over to the Hybryde site and download the Hydryde Fusion distro. It is quite large (1.6GB) so leave aside some time for the download.

Personally, I tested the distro in a virtual machine (with Virtualbox) and all the desktop environments work fine. I would recommend you to do the same to save you the trouble of creating a live CD (USB).

This is what you will see once it is booted to the desktop.

The whole distro is in French with a little mix of English. Don’t be too bothered by that, as it doesn’t really interfere with the testing.

Move your cursor to the bottom menu and click the “Hybryde” button. You can now see a list of desktop environments that you can run. As you scroll through each DE, it shows a screenshot preview of the DE so you have a rough idea of what each DE looks like.

Desktop environments that you can try out include:

  • Enlightenment
  • Gnome 3
  • Gnome
  • KDE
  • LXDE
  • Openbox
  • Unity
  • fvwm
  • XFCE
  • Mate
  • Cinnamon

To try Enlightenment (E17), simply click the E17 icon in the DE list. The Enlightenment desktop environment will immediately load.

Enlightenment is one of our favorite desktop environments, so it is great to see it included here. In case you are lost in Enlightenment’s user interface, you can click anywhere on the desktop to access the menu.

Once you are done testing this DE, click the “Back” arrow button on the right side of the desktop to return to the main Hybryde desktop.

Here are screenshots of some of the desktop environments.

FVWM

Openbox

KDE

Cinnamon

Conclusion

You probably won’t need Hybryde Fusion if you are familiar with the various desktop environments. However, for those who want to try out each individual desktop environment and see if it is better than the one you are using without installing a whole bunch of desktop packages in your system, Hybryde Fusion will be great for you. One thing, though: Hybryde Fusion is not suitable for live production use. Running it on your virtual machine is fine, but don’t install it in your computer.

Damien Oh started writing tech articles since 2007 and has over 10 years of experience in the tech industry. He is proficient in Windows, Linux, Mac, Android and iOS, and worked as a part time WordPress Developer. He is currently the owner and Editor-in-Chief of Make Tech Easier.

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