I just wish that i3 came with a gnome-like settings app for casual desktop users!

Definitely check out Regolith Linux. It’s a DE built on top of i3 and solves all the complaints I had. It’s been my daily driver for about a year now.

Settings panel? Check. Keyboard media keys? Check. Automatic display when plugging in monitors? Check.

https://regolith-desktop.com/

>Definitely check out Regolith Linux.

I was a BIG fan of Regolith, super sensible defaults and smooth onboarding experience. But with the V2 it seems the config is now split in 100's of files (ok not 100 but more than one). I loved the fact that with original i3(Regolith) I had to back up 1 file for my i3. I now moved to Manjaro-i3. Been happy so far.

The key (on Ubuntu at least) is to simply go with the standard Ubuntu installation and then switch to a custom .xinitrc-based X session that starts i3. That way, you can still fire up the usual Gnome dialogs (e.g. for printers) when you need to. (Obviously, some settings related to configuring your desktop – e.g. key bindings – will no longer work.)

Or use Regolith Linux. They've done a fantastic job integrating i3 with Ubuntu, including settings, etc

in case this thread becomes informational for interested folks:

fedora lists a page of images with alternative desktop environments baked in and i3 is one

https://spins.fedoraproject.org/en/

Fully agree!

I have mint, using the xfce-based version. I can open xfce-panel whenever I dont know what to call on the cli (and then promply close it :P)

You can actually use a desktop with i3 as the window manager and use the existing settings menu if you prefer. Not every desktop supports this but for example kde does.