Enlightenment is the desktop environment that has been quietly pushing the boundaries of what a Linux desktop can do since 1997 — predating both GNOME and KDE. Version E20, released in late 2014, was a refinement of the E19 rewrite that had modernised the codebase around EFL (Enlightenment Foundation Libraries), adding a proper compositor, improved multi-monitor support, and the kind of visual polish that made people stop and ask “what desktop is that?” Enlightenment occupies a unique niche: it is lighter than XFCE in memory usage, more visually sophisticated than any other lightweight desktop, and entirely built on its own rendering stack rather than GTK or Qt. If you ran Ubuntu 14.04 or 14.10 and wanted something genuinely different — not just another GTK-based desktop with a different panel layout — Enlightenment E20 delivered. This guide covers installing E20 from the community PPA, configuring the desktop, exploring its distinctive features, and troubleshooting the issues that newcomers typically encounter. We ran E20 as a daily driver on a netbook (Asus Eee PC 1215N) and a ThinkPad T420 — it was buttery smooth on both. For other desktop options, see our guides on Cinnamon 2.2 and KDE Plasma 5.
Why Enlightenment Stands Apart
Most Linux desktop environments are variations on the same toolkit foundation: GNOME, Cinnamon, Budgie, and MATE use GTK; KDE uses Qt; XFCE uses GTK; LXDE/LXQt use GTK or Qt. They all render through the same X11/Mesa/OpenGL pipeline with window managers that behave in broadly similar ways.
Enlightenment does none of that. Its entire stack is custom:
- Evas — a hardware-accelerated canvas engine that renders everything (windows, widgets, menus, animations) through a retained-mode scene graph. This means smooth 60 fps animations even on integrated GPUs from 2010.
- Edje — a declarative layout and theming system where UI elements are described in data files, not C code. This makes themes incredibly flexible — they can include animations, state transitions, and responsive layouts.
- Elementary — Enlightenment’s own widget toolkit (not to be confused with elementary OS). Buttons, sliders, lists, and other UI elements are rendered through Evas with full theme integration.
- Compositor — E20 has its own built-in compositor, so there is no need for a separate compositing manager like Compiz or Compton.
The practical result is a desktop that feels responsive on hardware where GNOME Shell struggles, looks sophisticated where XFCE looks utilitarian, and uses less RAM than either.
Prerequisites
- Ubuntu 14.04 LTS or Ubuntu 14.10 (64-bit recommended)
- At least 256 MB RAM (512 MB recommended)
- A GPU with OpenGL support (any GPU from the past 15 years)
- Internet connection for PPA access
Step-by-Step Installation
Step 1: Add the Enlightenment PPA
The Bodhi Linux team maintained a well-tested PPA with E20 packages for Ubuntu:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:niko2040/e19
sudo apt-get update
Note: despite the PPA name containing “e19,” it was updated to include E20 packages after the E20 release.
Step 2: Install EFL and Enlightenment
sudo apt-get install efl enlightenment terminology
This installs:
- efl — the Enlightenment Foundation Libraries
- enlightenment — the desktop shell (window manager, compositor, shelves, modules)
- terminology — the Enlightenment terminal emulator, which renders through EFL and supports inline media display, tabs, and splits
The download is approximately 100-150 MB.
Step 3: Log Out and Select Enlightenment
Log out of your current session. At the LightDM login screen, click the session selector and choose Enlightenment. Log in.
Step 4: Initial Configuration Wizard
On first login, Enlightenment presents a configuration wizard. Walk through the options:
- Language — select your preferred language
- Profile — choose “Desktop” for a full desktop experience or “Laptop” for power-saving defaults
- Window focus — “Click to focus” is the default and most familiar; “Focus follows mouse” is also available
- Compositing — enable compositing for shadows, transparency, and smooth animations. The hardware acceleration option should be selected if your GPU supports it.
- Key bindings — E20 has extensive keyboard shortcut support. The defaults are sensible; customise later via Settings → Input → Key Bindings.
Step 5: Explore the Desktop
The E20 desktop has several distinctive elements:
Shelves — the equivalent of panels. By default, a shelf appears at the bottom with an application launcher, task list, system tray, and clock. Right-click the shelf to configure it, or go to Settings → Shelves.
Virtual desktops — E20 supports a grid of virtual desktops. The default is 2x2. Navigate with Ctrl+Alt+Arrow keys, or use the pager widget on the shelf.
Gadgets and modules — E20 uses a module system. Settings → Modules lets you enable or disable functionality: connman (network management), mixer (audio), battery monitor, CPU frequency scaling, and many others.
Everything launcher — press Alt+Escape (or the configured key) to open “Everything,” a search-based launcher similar to GNOME’s Activities or KRunner. Type to search applications, files, settings, and more.
Step 6: Configure Terminology
Terminology is worth using even outside Enlightenment. It renders text through Evas, supports inline display of images and videos (hover over a media file path and it previews), and has tabs and splits:
terminology
Key shortcuts:
- Ctrl+Shift+T — new tab
- Ctrl+Shift+H — horizontal split
- Ctrl+Shift+V — vertical split
- Ctrl+Shift+N — new terminal window
Configure Terminology’s appearance (font, colours, background) by right-clicking in the terminal window and selecting Settings.
Customising the Desktop
Themes
E20 themes are .edj files (compiled Edje data). Install new themes by placing them in ~/.e/e/themes/ and selecting them in Settings → Theme.
The default theme is clean and dark. Several community themes are available that dramatically change the look — from glassy transparent to retro pixel-art to minimalist flat designs. The theming depth in Enlightenment is unmatched: themes can define animations, colour transitions, and responsive layout changes that GTK and Qt themes cannot express.
Wallpaper
Right-click the desktop → Settings → Wallpaper. E20 supports per-virtual-desktop wallpapers, animated wallpapers (via Edje), and slideshow mode.
Compositor Effects
Settings → Compositor → Effects controls window animations:
- Window open/close animations
- Shadow depth and blur
- Desktop show effect (Super+D)
- Alt+Tab switcher style
The compositor is fast enough that enabling all effects on even modest hardware was typically smooth.
Common Pitfalls
Enlightenment fails to start — blank screen with cursor. This usually means the compositor failed to initialise. Switch to a TTY (Ctrl+Alt+F1), log in, and check ~/.e/e/log.log for errors. Common causes include missing OpenGL drivers. Install Mesa drivers: sudo apt-get install mesa-utils libgl1-mesa-dri. If the compositor is the issue, disable it temporarily by creating a config file: edit ~/.e/e/config/standard/e.cfg (it is a binary format — the easier approach is to start Enlightenment without compositing from the initial wizard if possible, or delete ~/.e/e/ to trigger the wizard again).
EFL version mismatch after PPA update. If the PPA pushes an EFL update that is incompatible with the installed Enlightenment version, the desktop may crash on login. Reinstall both: sudo apt-get install --reinstall efl enlightenment.
GTK application fonts look wrong. Enlightenment does not set GTK font configurations automatically. Create or edit ~/.config/gtk-3.0/settings.ini:
[Settings]
gtk-font-name=Sans 10
gtk-theme-name=Adwaita
gtk-icon-theme-name=gnome
And for GTK2, edit ~/.gtkrc-2.0:
gtk-font-name="Sans 10"
gtk-theme-name="Adwaita"
gtk-icon-theme-name="gnome"
Network management is not working. Enlightenment uses ConnMan by default, not NetworkManager. If ConnMan is not installed, you have no network UI. Either install ConnMan: sudo apt-get install connman and enable the ConnMan module in Enlightenment settings, or start NetworkManager and use nm-applet in the system tray as a bridge.
Shelf (panel) disappears or moves. Right-click the desktop → Shelves → select your shelf to configure or restore it. If the shelf configuration is corrupted, delete the shelf settings from ~/.e/e/config/ and restart Enlightenment to regenerate defaults.
Enlightenment’s Place in the Desktop Landscape
E20 on Ubuntu 14.04 was a genuinely unique experience in 2015. No other desktop combined that level of visual sophistication with that level of resource efficiency. The trade-off was ecosystem: fewer applications were written natively for EFL, the configuration system was deep but sometimes opaque, and the community was smaller than GNOME’s or KDE’s. But for users who valued responsiveness, visual elegance, and an alternative to the GTK/Qt duopoly, Enlightenment E20 was — and remains — worth exploring.