{"slug": "trinity-desktop", "name": "Trinity Desktop", "category": "os", "category_name": "Operating systems and desktop", "description": "", "recommenders": 4, "commenters": 4, "warners": 1, "score": 1.636, "rising": -1.31, "first": "2025-12-01", "latest": "2026-07-26", "why": "I run Trinity Desktop [1] on Linux. It's basically KDE 3 kept up to date", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 5, "neutral": 0, "compare": 0, "warn": 1}, "spark": [0, 2, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "I run Trinity Desktop [1] on Linux. It's basically KDE 3 kept up to date", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": "trinitydesktop.org", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://www.trinitydesktop.org", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Trinity Desktop", "Trinity"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 770580784, "item_id": 48161299, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48161299", "by": "anthk", "date": "2026-05-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "you can try it under almost any distro (and BSD) with Trinity Desktop.", "excerpt": "In case of KDE3 Slick icons and the .Net theme, you can try it under almost any distro (and BSD) with Trinity Desktop. https://wiki.trinitydesktop.org/Icon_Sets", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Classic 7 is a Windows 10 LTSC mod to look 1:1 to Windows 7"}, {"id": 759389488, "item_id": 47461843, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47461843", "by": "pdonis", "date": "2026-03-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I run Trinity Desktop [1] on Linux. It's basically KDE 3 kept up to date", "excerpt": "I run Trinity Desktop [1] on Linux. It's basically KDE 3 kept up to date (and has been around as long as I've been running Linux), and has a more or less similar look and feel to Windows from the 98/XP days. I run it on Ubuntu (currently 22.04), but it works with most distros. Many Linux users seem to like upgrading (if you can call it that) to the latest eye candy every time Gnome or KDE or whoever puts out a new re", "context": "long-time Linux user", "use_case": "Linux desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "Our Commitment to Windows Quality"}, {"id": 745789105, "item_id": 46611819, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46611819", "by": "LargoLasskhyfv", "date": "2026-01-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "If everything else fails, there is still https://www.trinitydesktop.org btw.", "excerpt": "Bad compilation options, and/or bad driver/firmware interactions. I'm using it on CachyOS with on old intels(Kaby Lake Core i5-7500t/Core i7-7700t) with old intel integrated graphics(HD630), and it never did that. Since early Plasma6/late Plasma5 times. Cant recall exactly anymore, for about 2 years now. In fact, since Plasma6 it reminded me of the good old KDE3 days, again. Except for the memory usage maybe. OTOH th", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Windows 8 Desktop Environment for Linux"}, {"id": 740125760, "item_id": 46257860, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46257860", "by": "pdonis", "date": "2025-12-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Trinity Desktop on Linux because it's basically the same as the Windows 95-XP taskbar interface", "excerpt": "I use Trinity Desktop on Linux because it's basically the same as the Windows 95-XP taskbar interface, and has no plans to change.", "context": "", "use_case": "Desktop environment on Linux", "switched_from": "", "story": "Are we stuck with the same Desktop UX forever? [video]"}, {"id": 737777393, "item_id": 46111087, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46111087", "by": "mghackerlady", "date": "2025-12-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "a similar fork of KDE 3 called trinity that you might want to check out", "excerpt": "MATE is specifically a fork of GNOME 2, and works pretty much exactly like it did. there's a similar fork of KDE 3 called trinity that you might want to check out", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "KDE Plasma 6.8 Will Go Wayland-Exclusive in Dropping X11 Session Support"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 785004483, "item_id": 49062780, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49062780", "by": "LargoLasskhyfv", "date": "2026-07-26", "stance": "warn", "quote": "It feels like it flies at first, but then the thing about pulling in the equivalent dependencies anyways comes into play again.", "excerpt": "IceWM i can understand. Fluxbox not so much, because always unstable in whichever option, with the ability to take the whole X-Session down, or crash the whole system. That aside, how are they 'faster'? On some obsolete system with outdated graphics system maybe? On current systems with somewhat mature, but not bitrotten drivers it feels like the opposite of that. Memory usage maybe? Not really when you're mostly usi", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Nothing works and everyone is euphoric"}]}], "who": [{"by": "pdonis", "context": "long-time Linux user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47461843", "date": "2026-03-20"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["linux desktop environment", "desktop environment on linux"], "compared": [{"slug": "kde-plasma", "name": "KDE Plasma", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [{"id": 783887888, "item_id": 48992993, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48992993", "by": "tr1plefault", "date": "2026-07-21", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I prefer it much more to any other public tool for this purpose. If you're into Java RE, give Trinity a try.", "excerpt": "Hey, I've been working on this project for two years by now - I took a long break, but now I'm returning back to developing it. I prefer it much more to any other public tool for this purpose. If you're into Java RE, give Trinity a try. You won't regret it. It's still very much in-beta, but I'm going to be maintaining it much more now. I'll be waiting for any feedback!", "context": "", "use_case": "Java reverse engineering", "switched_from": "", "story": "A (nice) Java reverse engineering tool"}], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49033004", "title": "Nothing works and everyone is euphoric", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48992992", "title": "A (nice) Java reverse engineering tool", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48132030", "title": "Classic 7 is a Windows 10 LTSC mod to look 1:1 to Windows 7", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47459296", "title": "Our Commitment to Windows Quality", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46588132", "title": "Windows 8 Desktop Environment for Linux", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46256834", "title": "Are we stuck with the same Desktop UX forever? [video]", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-01": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {"warn": 1}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {}}, "quotes": [{"id": 785004483, "item_id": 49062780, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49062780", "by": "LargoLasskhyfv", "date": "2026-07-26", "stance": "warn", "quote": "It feels like it flies at first, but then the thing about pulling in the equivalent dependencies anyways comes into play again.", "excerpt": "IceWM i can understand. Fluxbox not so much, because always unstable in whichever option, with the ability to take the whole X-Session down, or crash the whole system. That aside, how are they 'faster'? On some obsolete system with outdated graphics system maybe? On current systems with somewhat mature, but not bitrotten drivers it feels like the opposite of that. Memory usage maybe? Not really when you're mostly usi", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Nothing works and everyone is euphoric"}, {"id": 770580784, "item_id": 48161299, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48161299", "by": "anthk", "date": "2026-05-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "you can try it under almost any distro (and BSD) with Trinity Desktop.", "excerpt": "In case of KDE3 Slick icons and the .Net theme, you can try it under almost any distro (and BSD) with Trinity Desktop. https://wiki.trinitydesktop.org/Icon_Sets", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Classic 7 is a Windows 10 LTSC mod to look 1:1 to Windows 7"}, {"id": 759389488, "item_id": 47461843, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47461843", "by": "pdonis", "date": "2026-03-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I run Trinity Desktop [1] on Linux. It's basically KDE 3 kept up to date", "excerpt": "I run Trinity Desktop [1] on Linux. It's basically KDE 3 kept up to date (and has been around as long as I've been running Linux), and has a more or less similar look and feel to Windows from the 98/XP days. I run it on Ubuntu (currently 22.04), but it works with most distros. Many Linux users seem to like upgrading (if you can call it that) to the latest eye candy every time Gnome or KDE or whoever puts out a new re", "context": "long-time Linux user", "use_case": "Linux desktop environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "Our Commitment to Windows Quality"}, {"id": 745789105, "item_id": 46611819, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46611819", "by": "LargoLasskhyfv", "date": "2026-01-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "If everything else fails, there is still https://www.trinitydesktop.org btw.", "excerpt": "Bad compilation options, and/or bad driver/firmware interactions. I'm using it on CachyOS with on old intels(Kaby Lake Core i5-7500t/Core i7-7700t) with old intel integrated graphics(HD630), and it never did that. Since early Plasma6/late Plasma5 times. Cant recall exactly anymore, for about 2 years now. In fact, since Plasma6 it reminded me of the good old KDE3 days, again. Except for the memory usage maybe. OTOH th", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Windows 8 Desktop Environment for Linux"}, {"id": 740125760, "item_id": 46257860, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46257860", "by": "pdonis", "date": "2025-12-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Trinity Desktop on Linux because it's basically the same as the Windows 95-XP taskbar interface", "excerpt": "I use Trinity Desktop on Linux because it's basically the same as the Windows 95-XP taskbar interface, and has no plans to change.", "context": "", "use_case": "Desktop environment on Linux", "switched_from": "", "story": "Are we stuck with the same Desktop UX forever? [video]"}, {"id": 737777393, "item_id": 46111087, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46111087", "by": "mghackerlady", "date": "2025-12-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "a similar fork of KDE 3 called trinity that you might want to check out", "excerpt": "MATE is specifically a fork of GNOME 2, and works pretty much exactly like it did. there's a similar fork of KDE 3 called trinity that you might want to check out", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "KDE Plasma 6.8 Will Go Wayland-Exclusive in Dropping X11 Session Support"}]}