Parrot Linux Desktop Environment: KDE vs MATE vs LXQt

Choosing a Parrot Linux desktop environment is the first real decision you make after picking an edition. In the current 7.x releases, Parrot OS ships KDE Plasma 6 as the default desktop, while MATE, LXQt and Enlightenment are offered as separate spins. Each one changes how the system feels, how much memory it idles at, and how well it behaves in a virtual machine or on an old laptop. This comparison looks at KDE Plasma, MATE and LXQt side by side, explains what Enlightenment is for, and shows you how to switch desktops on an existing install without reinstalling.

Parrot Linux desktop environment options at a glance

	KDE Plasma 6	MATE	LXQt
Status in Parrot 7.4	Default desktop	Separate spin	Separate spin
Toolkit	Qt 6	GTK 3	Qt 6
Display server	Wayland and X11 sessions	X11	X11 (Wayland sessions experimental)
Feel	Modern, highly configurable	Classic two-panel layout, GNOME 2 heritage	Minimal, fast, traditional
Typical idle RAM	Highest of the three	Middle	Lowest
Best on	Recent hardware, dedicated GPU or modern iGPU	Mid-range and older laptops, VMs	Very old hardware, small VMs, Raspberry Pi

The “typical idle RAM” row is deliberately not filled with numbers. Memory use depends on your installed services, your graphics driver and which widgets you enable, so measure it on your own machine with free -h right after login instead of trusting a figure from someone else’s setup.

KDE Plasma 6: the default desktop in Parrot 7.x

Plasma is the default in the current 7.x releases, taking over from MATE, which was the face of Parrot for many years. If you download the main Home or Security ISO today, this is what you get (the Parrot Linux download guide explains which ISO carries which desktop).

What you gain

A Wayland session alongside the classic X11 one (you pick at the login screen), which means proper fractional scaling on high-DPI screens, smoother multi-monitor handling and per-window screen sharing permissions.
KDE’s application stack: Dolphin as file manager, Konsole as terminal, KDE Connect for phone integration, and System Settings with far more switches than any other desktop here.
Activities and virtual desktops that work well when you juggle a browser, a terminal, Burp Suite and a notes app during a lab session.
Native look for the many Qt-based security tools and for Parrot’s own Qt utilities.

What you pay

The heaviest memory footprint and the most background processes (Baloo file indexing, KWin compositing, Plasma shell).
Some older X11-only tools and screen recorders behave differently under Wayland. You can always pick “Plasma (X11)” from the session menu on the login screen if a tool misbehaves.
Inside VirtualBox without guest additions, Plasma can feel sluggish because software rendering is doing the compositing work.

Plasma is the right choice if your machine is from the last several years and you want the most complete desktop experience. It is also the desktop that receives the most attention in current Parrot releases, so new features and fixes land there first.

MATE: the classic Parrot desktop

MATE continues the GNOME 2 design: a top panel with menus, a bottom panel with the task list, and a traditional desktop with icons. For years it was what people pictured when they thought of Parrot OS, and the MATE spin keeps that layout alive with the familiar Parrot panel configuration.

What you gain

Predictability. Every window, menu and panel applet behaves the way desktops did fifteen years ago, which is exactly what many long-time users want.
Low friction in virtual machines: MATE renders well with basic drivers and does not need compositing to feel responsive.
GTK applications, including Firefox and most Python-based tooling, look consistent without theme tweaking.
Caja, the MATE file manager, is lightweight yet still supports extensions such as “open terminal here”.

What you pay

No Wayland session. If you rely on fractional scaling or a mixed-DPI multi-monitor setup, MATE on X11 is noticeably clumsier than Plasma.
Fewer built-in integrations: no phone pairing, no activity system, basic notification handling.
Because it is no longer the default, release notes and screenshots increasingly assume Plasma. The Parrot 7.4 release notes are a good example of where the project’s focus sits.

Pick MATE if you have an older laptop, you run Parrot mostly in a VM, or you simply prefer the classic layout and dislike change.

LXQt: the lightest full desktop

LXQt is a Qt-based, modular desktop built for low resource use. It gives you a panel, a desktop, a file manager (PCManFM-Qt), a terminal (QTerminal) and a settings centre, and very little else by default. It is the natural fit for Raspberry Pi-class boards and for machines that struggle with anything heavier.

What you gain

The lowest memory and CPU use of the three, which leaves more headroom for the tools you actually run: a browser with many tabs, a vulnerable VM in the background, a packet capture.
Fast login and fast window operations even on spinning disks and 2 GB of RAM.
Qt theming shared with KDE applications, so Qt security tools look native.
Simple, text-file friendly configuration that is easy to back up and restore.

What you pay

Fewer polish features: no built-in search indexer, basic power management, a plain lock screen.
Wayland support is still maturing; expect to use X11 for daily work.
Some settings you take for granted in Plasma (advanced keyboard shortcuts, per-application rules) require editing config files or installing extra tools.

Choose LXQt when hardware is the constraint, or when you want the desktop to stay out of the way entirely. It is also an excellent choice for a dedicated lab VM where every megabyte of RAM you give the desktop is a megabyte you cannot give your targets.

Where Enlightenment fits

Parrot also offers an Enlightenment spin. Enlightenment is less a conventional desktop and more a window manager with its own compositor, animations and a distinctive look. It is light on resources, visually unusual, and loved by a small, dedicated group of users. If you have never used it, try it in a live session before committing; its workflow is different enough from the three above that it is not a drop-in replacement. For most readers the realistic decision is between Plasma, MATE and LXQt.

Which desktop should you choose?

A practical way to decide is by hardware and by use case rather than by taste alone:

Modern laptop or desktop with 8 GB of RAM or more, high-DPI screen: KDE Plasma. You get the default experience and the best display handling.
Virtual machine on a host with limited RAM, or a 5-to-8-year-old laptop: MATE. It stays responsive without 3D acceleration and still feels like a full desktop.
Very old hardware, Raspberry Pi, or a minimal lab VM: LXQt. Nothing else here idles as light.
You want to experiment or you like unusual interfaces: Enlightenment, after a live test.

Check the Parrot system requirements page before downloading; the minimums listed there assume the default desktop, and the lighter spins run comfortably below them. If you are also undecided about the edition, the comparison of Parrot Home vs Security edition pairs well with this article, because the desktop choice is independent of the edition choice.

How to install a different desktop environment on Parrot Linux

You do not need to reinstall to try another desktop. All of them are in the repositories, and you can keep several installed at once and pick a session at the login screen. First bring the system up to date:

sudo parrot-upgrade

Then install the desktop you want to test. Parrot provides metapackages that pull in the desktop plus its Parrot-specific theming and panel layout; list them to see the exact names on your version:

apt-cache search parrot-desktop

Install one of the results, for example the MATE or LXQt variant, with sudo apt install PACKAGE_NAME. If you prefer the upstream desktop without Parrot’s layout, the plain Debian task packages work too:

sudo apt install task-mate-desktop
sudo apt install task-lxqt-desktop
sudo apt install task-kde-desktop

During installation apt may ask which display manager to use. Keep the one that is already active (SDDM on the Plasma images, LightDM on the MATE and LXQt images) unless you have a reason to change it. After the install finishes, log out, click the session selector on the login screen and choose the new desktop.

Removing a desktop you no longer want

Removing is where people break their system, so be careful. Remove only the metapackage and its unique components, and read the list apt proposes before you confirm:

sudo apt remove task-lxqt-desktop
sudo apt autoremove

If the proposed removal list includes parrot-core, your display manager, or anything you recognise as a tool you use, answer no and remove packages individually instead. Shared Qt or GTK libraries used by both desktops are kept automatically. The project’s own overview of desktop environments documents the official metapackage names if you want to cross-check.

Tips that apply to every desktop

Use the same user account across desktops. Settings live in separate directories under ~/.config, so switching does not scramble your preferences.
If the login screen shows no session chooser, the display manager may be auto-logging into the last session. In SDDM the selector is a small icon in the bottom-left or top-right corner, depending on the theme.
When a desktop fails to start and you land back at the login screen, switch to a text console with Ctrl+Alt+F3, log in, and read ~/.local/share/sddm/wayland-session.log or ~/.xsession-errors for the actual error.
Virtual machine users: install the guest tools before judging any desktop; without them even LXQt feels slow because the virtual display is unaccelerated.

FAQ

What is the default desktop environment in Parrot Linux?

KDE Plasma 6 is the default in Parrot 7.4 for the main Home and Security images. MATE, LXQt and Enlightenment are offered as separate spins you download on purpose.

Can I switch from KDE to MATE without reinstalling Parrot?

Yes. Install the MATE metapackage with apt, log out, and choose the MATE session from the login screen. Both desktops can stay installed side by side.

Which Parrot desktop is best for a virtual machine?

MATE or LXQt. Both run smoothly with basic virtual graphics, while Plasma benefits from a guest-additions-accelerated display. If you run Plasma in a VM, prefer the X11 session.