That post made me go full nostalgia - I started on Linux with KDE 3.5, and Trinity preserves its “feel” rather well.
It probably would for me too, if it didn’t become my default DE.
…it’s weird to think about it. When that trainwreck of the initial KDE 4 release kicked off, I switched to GNOME 2, so I didn’t give Trinity a chance; but when the trainwreck of GNOME 3.0 kicked off, I simply couldn’t be arsed - instead I kept using it as MATE.
I was so glad when we slipped out of the bulbous silver aesthetic.
Everything looking like a Tonka toy Geiger.
And now I look at it and it seems like home.
Truly is the Kool Desktop Environment.
Much better than modern minimalist look.
Currently I sport Oxygen theme with GNOME icons which is good enough, but it’s not quite there.
Only modern Ui trend I’ve enjoyed is dark mode, I remember using WindowBlinds back on Win7 to make my own dark mode but it still keeping the Aero look.
KDE with Volatile + Avalon icons have been the closest I’ve gotten to the look I really want on modern systems.
I actually went back to a light gray theme for my new Linux machine after I’ve been stuck with Windows’s options of “flat pure black with hairlines” and “flat bright white with hairlines” for too long.
I don’t actually need dark mode that much (except for coding) if a bright mode theme is easy enough on the eyes. Windows 10 is just so ugly that only the dark mode is halfway palatable.
If only the old themexp.dll hacks still worked I could have a decent looking desktop on all of my machines…
I’ve not tried them personally but I’ve seen quite a few aero themes for KDE and I think XFCE too if you want an aero look. Or if you just want a glassy texture you can adjust your blur settings in your compositor and add translucency/transparency. I have a very nice-looking matte frosted glass look on my Hyprland laptop.
Oh, hello late 1990s and early 2000s 😍 I love it! Nostalgia deluxe 😌
![[Trinity] The K Desktop Environment(lemmy.ml)](https://lemmy.ml/pictrs/image/0a3eec8d-4689-4e47-b149-0b829569a368.jpeg){kind=link}