I read somewere that Unity is a DE, is that true or not?
Ubuntu – Is Unity a Desktop Environment
desktop-environmentsunity
Related Solutions
Xubuntu
You may also want to have a look at Xubuntu that comes with the lightweight Xfce desktop. This also includes a customizable launcher (here shown at the bottom) that can also be moved to the left side like in Unity:
I have them both installed right now. I just logged out and back in on both DEs. I have KDE, XFCE, Gnome fallback, and Unity installed for testing purposes. Aside from occasional cluttered menus and file associations, it works fine for me.
Related Question
- Window Manager – Lightweight Window Manager/Desktop Environment Similar to Unity
- Install XFCE Alongside Unity Without Affecting Unity
- Unity Desktop – Why Unity Is a Slow Desktop Environment
- Fix Unity Desktop Environment Not Loading After Fresh Install in Ubuntu 16.04
- Ubuntu – Are Unity desktop environment and device convergence tied together
- Ubuntu – What’s going to happen to the Unity desktop environment and default Ubuntu version
Best Answer
It depends on definition of desktop environment. But I think Unity is not a DE -- there are no "Unity applications" (Ubuntu mostly uses Gnome applications), window manager is Compiz (not "Unity-specific"), desktop manager is Nautilus (from Gnome) etc.
I think Unity is just of user interfaces for Gnome Desktop Environment.