KDE as first class citizen

[oLdsk3wL]

I am a big KDE fan and I was constantly disappointed about Kubuntu and the integration of KDE (the look & feel is not really polished). I know you can customize nearly everything, but I want a polished version out-of-the-box. So I had at look at the current top distros (distrowatch), but it seems that nearly every distribution uses Gnome as standard.

Am I missing some big distros which use KDE as default?

[yatt]

I am a big KDE fan and I was constantly disappointed about Kubuntu and the integration of KDE (the look & feel is not really polished). I know you can customize nearly everything, but I want a polished version out-of-the-box. So I had at look at the current top distros (distrowatch), but it seems that nearly every distribution uses Gnome as standard.

Am I missing some big distros which use KDE as default?SUSE, Mandriva, and PC Linux OS all use KDE as default.

[SupaSonic]

I think Sabayon uses KDE too.

[sstusick]

SUSE probably has the best looking KDE out of the box.

[SirThom]

openSuSE was the first linux that I played with. I think I recall it giving options at installation. I had read short descriptions on each in a linux book, and not really knowing much about either, happened to choose GNOME.

[awakatanka]

mepis
But best kde version is opensuse atm
Also i love mandrake

[sstusick]

I do like the options SUSE gives you prior to install, nice if Ubuntu had something similar to this as an option.

[oLdsk3wL]

SUSE, Mandriva, and PC Linux OS all use KDE as default.

Yes and No. I think that Suse has the best KDE integration, but they dropped KDE as standard and now offer Gnome/KDE both. However, Novell is focusing on Gnome (although Suse is important for KDE because of their roots and so on).
As far as I know PCLinuxOS started with KDE, but now offers both equal.

I have never been interested in Mandriva, but you are right: they use KDE.

Maybe, I didn't make myself clear. It is not really about that both desktop systems are offered, it is more about are there distros that only use KDE and spin-offs use Gnome. Like Ubuntu would use KDE and then there would be a Gubuntu (Gnome version). It seems that all distros offer Gnome and some also KDE, but never the other way.
I don't want to discuss KDE vs. Gnome, I am just interested if this is the situation and why. Thanks

[oLdsk3wL]

I think Sabayon uses KDE too.

Yep, looks like they use KDE too.

[p_quarles]

Moved to Recurring Discussions.

[vishzilla]

OpenSuse without a doubt esp. version 11 beta 2

[yatt]

Yes and No. I think that Suse has the best KDE integration, but they dropped KDE as standard and now offer Gnome/KDE both. However, Novell is focusing on Gnome (although Suse is important for KDE because of their roots and so on).
As far as I know PCLinuxOS started with KDE, but now offers both equal.

I have never been interested in Mandriva, but you are right: they use KDE.

Maybe, I didn't make myself clear. It is not really about that both desktop systems are offered, it is more about are there distros that only use KDE and spin-offs use Gnome. Like Ubuntu would use KDE and then there would be a Gubuntu (Gnome version). It seems that all distros offer Gnome and some also KDE, but never the other way.
I don't want to discuss KDE vs. Gnome, I am just interested if this is the situation and why. ThanksWell, I have been somewhat out of the Distrohopping loop after getting quite settled with Debian some many months ago. So I wouldn't be surprised if what I say is somewhat dated. Also, I interpretted the thread as, you wanted to try a top notch KDE distro.

While Novell is focusing more on Gnome, openSUSE is still the top polished KDE. They are also the only ones offering both KDE3 and KDE4. As far as I know, no one else is doing that.

Mandriva has always been more KDE focused than Gnome. Even when they tried to have both as first class, their KDE just felt better.

But I think PCLOS is somewhat close to the Ubuntu situation in reverse. The official is KDE, but the spinoff PCLOS Gnome, has Gnome for default.

As to why. Ubuntu. Up until it hit the seen, most had KDE and Gnome was butchered. Then Ubuntu crushed, killed, destroyed, and got Gnome usage finally to surpass KDE usage for the first time ever. Now everything uses Gnome, and KDE is starting to get neglected.

[randcoop]

Interesting discussion, but I'd caution against accepting people's prejudices as some sort of objective analysis. Gnome and KDE are both used quite extensively in the Linux world and I doubt that anyone knows who has more adherents. Distrowatch's admittedly unscientific statistics indicate that the popularity of the two desktop managers is fairly equal, given the popularity of Ubuntu and PCLinuxOS.

I think the OP has also misstated the issue by claiming that somehow KDE is often the stepchild of the Gnome distribution. That's no more common than the reverse. While it's true of Ubuntu, it's the reverse for PCLinuxOS.

As to which gets more "attention,", that again is very difficult to say. At the moment, KDE is transitioning between versions 3 and 4 and so is getting a huge amount of attention. Gnome is making smaller changes, but certainly gets plenty of attention. I would expect that when Gnome moves to the next full version number, it will experience attention similar to what KDE is getting now.

There's a healthy competition between these two majors (and many happy niche playing minors) in the window manager world.

[oLdsk3wL]

thanks for the interesting comments

[cardinals_fan]

Sidux is a good KDE distro.