NsCDE
Ranked 18 of 24 desktop environments by recommenders
Free FVWM-based desktop that recreates the classic CDE look on modern Linux; critics note it is effectively abandoned.
Free FVWM-based desktop that recreates the classic CDE look on modern Linux; critics note it is effectively abandoned.
9 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 7
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 78%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 7 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 3.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Recreates classic CDE look
“NsCDE is a great start if anyone wants to emulate some of the Solaris screenshots”
Comment from 12 May 2026 in “Screenshots of Old Desktop OSes” “Someone made a full cde style desktop with fvwm”
Comment from 16 Dec 2025 in “FVWM-95 (2001)” “You can use a CDE lookalike”
Comment from 29 Jan 2026 in “DECwindows Motif” Built as FVWM skin
“There is also a FWWM skin that doesn't require long time abandoned C code”
Comment from 27 Dec 2025 in “QNX Self-Hosted Developer Desktop” “Someone made a full cde style desktop with fvwm”
Comment from 16 Dec 2025 in “FVWM-95 (2001)”
Other desktop environments people recommend
The four most recommended other desktop environments, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KDE Plasma | 650 | 264 | 71% | 13 | 2 yrs79 owners | Approved |
| GNOME | 340 | 464 | 42% | 12 | 5 yrs29 owners | — |
| Xfce | 183 | 48 | 79% | 12 | 10 yrs29 owners | Approved |
| COSMIC desktop | 75 | 28 | 73% | 12 | 1 yr3 owners | Approved |
| NsCDEThis page | 7 | 2 | 78% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
8 of the 10 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“NsCDE also behaves very well.”
“There's always NsCDE which should run on modern Linux.”
“NsCDE is a great start if anyone wants to emulate some of the Solaris screenshots”
“You can use a CDE lookalike”
“NsCDE is effectively abandoned.”
“There is also a FWWM skin that doesn't require long time abandoned C code”
“some of the assets from NsCDE for GTK”
“Someone made a full cde style desktop with fvwm”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.