Once you’ve completed an CachyOS Installation,
with an selected Desktop Environment . .
Can another Desktop Environment - be Installed as well ?
So that you can select either DE at Log-in ? that is.
Technically, that is possible, yes. But it is not really recommended, because it might lead to
- a totally bloated system
- conflicts in your config files
- strange and non-reproducable issues
If you still want to try it, I’d recommend a thorough backup of your current system (maybe even a real clone, eg. with clonezilla) and a btrfs snapshot to come back to.
An eternal question, and very mixed answers from ‘Sure you can’ to ‘Don’t even think about it’.
Not only in terms of settings, but the BASE system that gets installed with the desktop - services that fight each other and all kinds of troubles.
If it’s something you’re determined to do, then backup and snapshot for easy rollback… but also create a new user for a completely new HOME directory…
The system, though, will be tainted with hidden issues - maybe you’ll have baloo running when you’re logged into XFCE or whatever, it’s just crazy. You have to know what you’re doing, and avoid installing any kind of meta-package, picking only the essentials for that desktop; but then you’re not getting the ‘full experience’.
It’s worth the hassle of clearing a 50GB partition and installing fresh, dual boot for a while. You can still import settings from your other installation as required - stuff like terminal configs/conky configs/software configs can plug right in.
If you like it, then you can snapshot/backup, and do a clean install on your main drive.
But sure, as the solution suggests - it’s really not worth the hassle.
Another option is running it in a virtual machine.