Best KDE Distribution [Archive]

panickedthumb

November 16th, 2005, 02:13 PM

My opinion is that Kubuntu is the best just because of innovation, but there are some bugs waiting to be worked out.

After that, I really like SUSE's implementation of KDE. They've changed quite a bit, and you also get YAST if you're wary of system configuration.

After that, just plain KDE. It's hard to find sometimes. Gentoo, Debian and Slackware (if I recall correctly) have basically out-of-the-box KDE.

poofyhairguy

November 16th, 2005, 02:13 PM

If this has been posted before, please point me to it

But what is the best KDE distribution availible, is it Kubuntu? or is there another?

Just wondering

There is no certain best. In fact that applies to all of the Desktop Linuxs. There are not bests. Some just might be better for you.

darknuala

November 16th, 2005, 02:35 PM

I have found personally that Suse makes a really nice KDE desktop. I like Kubuntu, but it seems buggier than others for some reason. I'm a happy Ubuntu user, and I only use a few KDE apps, and the ones that I do use, I use from Ubuntu's menus.

MemoryDump

November 16th, 2005, 02:50 PM

Suse's KDE desktop is VERY nice. I almost completly switched to it when Suse 10 came out... but I'm still hanging around Ubuntu. :p I haven't tried Kubuntu yet.. probably won't.. I like the simplicity of Gnome ;)

DoeRayMe

November 16th, 2005, 06:47 PM

darknuala

November 16th, 2005, 07:22 PM

does Gentoo use apt-get and .deb files? are there any other OSes that use apt-get and .deb but with KDE as main DE

Gentoo uses an entirely different way of getting files. emerge. Gentoo is for the hardcore tweaker, myself I like to be productive, and Gentoo compiles the software before it installs it. A Stage 1 install will take several days to complete. I just don't have that kind of time, and Gentoo's KDE isn't any different than anyone elses. All debian and debian-based distros use apt-get. You can get apt-get for .rpm based systems as well now. When I used Fedora, I used apt4rpm instead of Yum. If you want bleeding edge, stick with Kubuntu, or even OpenSuse.

maddog39

November 29th, 2006, 07:14 PM

Kristen Lucas

November 29th, 2006, 07:29 PM

If this has been posted before, please point me to it

But what is the best KDE distribution availible, is it Kubuntu? or is there another?

Just wondering

I'm a KDE developer and I would say that OpenSuSE 10.2 is as good as it gets, it's still in RC atm though but as usual more stable than anything else.

Slackware is another alternative if you really need ultimate stability, out of fifteen other that i would reccommend, Kubuntu, Mepis or Gentoo are not even close.

Honestly, it depends on your approach though.

Desktop, definently SuSE
Server, Slackware if you need linux FreeBSD otherwise, if you seriously need it on your server, You could install it via pkgsrc in OpenBSD, the best server platform you will find.

So i would say that it depends on your need for graphics and use of the same.

Kristen Lucas

November 29th, 2006, 07:32 PM

I really want a KDE based distro but I hate Kubuntu. Its repository GUI is the main thing that bugs me the most. Adept is horrible compared to the GNOME add/remove applications and even synaptic. They should atleast have synaptic preinstalled with kubuntu. Also all the applications for gnome arent availible for kubuntu... meanwhile all the KDE apps in the repository are availible for GNOME/Xfce. This makes 0 sense to me what-so-ever. Well sorry for the rant but maybe things will improve in Kubuntu. Also im highly against SUSE, for obvious reasons. :/

Kynaptic will work fine in pretty much any distro, it's a shame the kubuntu people don't want it in their distro.

Otherwise, smart is great and works regardless of what distro you use, RedHat, SuSE, Debian, Ubuntu, Slackware all work with smart.

So try smart, Kubuntu isn't a bad distro.

Kernel Sanders

November 29th, 2006, 07:59 PM

IMO, Freespire :KS

maddog39

November 29th, 2006, 09:05 PM

Yea, I actually have a copy of the paid/enterprise version of Freespire (Linspire 5.0) and I think that its really over simplified. I'm a linux power user so I want something a little more extreme and has some more freedoms.

[Edit]
I am running Kubuntu 6.10 on VMWare atm. Really testing it out, found synaptic in the repo, happy about that.

Kristen Lucas

November 29th, 2006, 09:11 PM

Yea, I actually have a copy of the paid/enterprise version of Freespire (Linspire 5.0) and I think that its really over simplified. I'm a linux power user so I want something a little more extreme and has some more freedoms.

If you like KDE, there is nothing to stop you from changing the /etc files in the distro of your choice, although in distros like Ubuntu it can be a drag as the config files can reside in fifteeen different places.

Try Slackware, if you are a power user you will love it. :o)

maddog39

November 29th, 2006, 09:17 PM

Kristen Lucas

November 29th, 2006, 09:26 PM

I tried slackware but the installer wont work. I always get errors that it cant find any hard drives when I try to start fdisk/cfdisk even when I specify a specific location of the drive, still wont work. Been wanting to install slackware for ages. Was condsidering gentoo possibly.

[Edit]
FYI, I've been a GNOME user since I started using linux and only used 1 KDE distro before that now doesnt support my keyboard which renders it useless. But want to make the move to KDE again.

The installer does work if you know what you are doing.

It's apparent from your response that you didn't get the setup so use something else, HEY, slackware is not for everyone.

Gentoo makes little sense to me, following instructions and then watching code flying by for hours, what is the point of that? to get a firefox that starts one thousand of a seccond faster? and then you get to update your system, only takes 48 hours when you can hardly use your computer, bad driver hangs and you start over.

I would be glad to help you through a Slackware install if you can contact me in another way.

maddog39

November 29th, 2006, 09:30 PM

Kristen Lucas

November 29th, 2006, 09:39 PM

Okay, as far as I know I understand everything very clearly although not very familiar with command line disk tools. Well anyway, I have AIM and MSN, would love to have slackware working. I dont dual boot anymore so no problems there. Raw boot should be fine.

If you can use another machine, i will help you to do it via AIM or MSN. :o)

Slackware install on a fairly new PC takes about 5-15.

that is if you got space so you can use full install, that is about 800MB.

maddog39

November 29th, 2006, 09:52 PM

My PC is very new, custom builtm Pentium D 930 w/ 1GB RAM.

MSN: admin.maddog39 [(at)] gmail [(dot)] com

MSN is my primary.

Kristen Lucas

November 29th, 2006, 09:59 PM

My PC is very new, custom builtm Pentium D 930 w/ 1GB RAM.

MSN: admin.maddog39 [(at)] gmail [(dot)] com

MSN is my primary.

It's the almost 3 in the morning here and i'm going to bed soon so i hope you are ok with us doing this in the morning. :o)

With that machine it will take a good five minutes to get it done.

;o)

I'll contact you when i get up in the morning, then whenever you think you have time or heh, whenever, just acknowledge me and say hi. :)

maddog39

November 29th, 2006, 10:00 PM

Well i've got school so just add me to your buddy list and i'll contact you whenever your on and i am ready/have the time.

Kristen Lucas

November 29th, 2006, 10:04 PM

Well i've got school so just add me to your buddy list and i'll contact you whenever your on and i am ready/have the time.

I'll do that, just as a reference, what is the time where you are at and at what time would be a good time for you?

rsambuca

November 29th, 2006, 11:39 PM

I am new to linux, but so far I prefer to use gnome - perhaps that is because it is the first one I used (ubuntu). I have also just installed Sabayon linux 3.2, and it is based on gentoo, but does all of the installation for you in about 20 minutes instead of 2 days of compiling. The new 3.2 live DVD is pretty slick stuff and comes with KDE, Gnome, Xfce, something called Enlightenment16, and I think something else that I can't remember. It is an easy way to try them all out, and also to try a gentoo based system.

mips

November 30th, 2006, 02:26 AM

Try http://www.mepis.org/

It's based on Kubuntu but more polished. You also get to use the Ubuntu repos.

dbbolton

November 30th, 2006, 03:24 AM

nobody's down for knoppix ?

kuja

November 30th, 2006, 03:49 AM

I personally either go for a vanilla kde, or perhaps Kubuntu lately. I started off with (pre-Novell) SuSE and (pre-Mandriva)Mandrake a couple years ago. They had some interesting stuff going on, and I still think that Mandrake's DiskDrake, or whatnot, is probably one of the best tools around. Lots of their System Administration tools are really nice, as is the artwork. On the other hand, Kubuntu is lean and looks nice too, and it's getting there, though some things need some work (kdesystemsettings](*,), the installer(ubiquity-kde), QtParted (uggh](*,) )) I stick with Kubuntu mostly because of the very nice Debian base.

maddog39

November 30th, 2006, 01:13 PM

I've used MEPIS perviously (that was my 1 KDE distro that i've used before). Didnt really like it.

Also, this isnt a problem for these forums really but I just successfully installed slackware on my HD and LILO didn't overwrite GRUB, and now I have an unbootable comp... dangit. Posting from mac lab at school. :/

ComplexNumber

November 30th, 2006, 01:31 PM

oops. double post. PLEASE DELETE.

ComplexNumber

November 30th, 2006, 01:31 PM

the best kde distro is PCLinuxOS (IMO). why?
-among the most stable KDE implementations out there. plenty of bugs and frequent crashes, but it seems to do better than most.
-'clean' and easy to understand repos (there's only the main one and a minor additional one)
-plays videos etc out of the box
-uses the rpm format
-the slightly modified mandriva control centre. whilst still not perfect, it does better than most and enables the newbie to do virtually everything via the GUI
-nice-ish default theme
-very quick to install
-excellent hardware support

Castar

November 30th, 2006, 01:51 PM

the best kde distro is PCLinuxOS (IMO).
-uses the rpm format

Why is this positive?

ComplexNumber

November 30th, 2006, 01:54 PM

Why is this positive?
have you ever compared dpkg to rpm? then you'll have your answer. dpkg is crippled. rpm isalso supported by the LSB.

Lord Illidan

November 30th, 2006, 01:57 PM

Why is this positive?
I guess because you'll find more rpms than debs out on the net. Although this is rapidly changing.

IMHO, Kubuntu is a nice KDE distro. I hate Fedora's implementation of KDE.

Castar

November 30th, 2006, 04:09 PM

have you ever compared dpkg to rpm? then you'll have your answer. dpkg is crippled. rpm isalso supported by the LSB.

I really had dependency issues with rpms when I was using pre-Novell SuSE.

dpkg is great, unfortunately one cannot have the latest versions of programs...

ComplexNumber

November 30th, 2006, 04:35 PM

I really had dependency issues with rpms when I was using pre-Novell SuSE.

dpkg is great, unfortunately one cannot have the latest versions of programs...
thats nothing to do with rpm. thats to do with the make up of the repos
no, dpkg is crap. much less options than rpm.

rcgeary

March 19th, 2007, 12:31 PM

I'll take dpkg over rpm any day of the week.

karellen

March 19th, 2007, 12:40 PM

the best KDE distribution is the one you like the most ;). simple as that

koshatnik

March 19th, 2007, 06:52 PM

In answer to the orginal question, Slackware or DesktopBSD.

Both need a little configuring, but are *damn* quick.

metalkr

March 19th, 2007, 06:55 PM

kubuntu rules!!!

RAV TUX

March 19th, 2007, 07:03 PM

moving to the Other OS forum

454redhawk

March 19th, 2007, 07:17 PM

nobody's down for knoppix ?

Knoppix is desgined to be a live CD. Thats its primary purpose.

My vote would go for Mepis.

igknighted

March 19th, 2007, 08:05 PM

I haven't seen it listed yet so I'll throw Sidux out there as well. The KDE implementation flies and looks really good too. It is based on Debian Sid so the package selection is up to date as well.

mephisto786

March 19th, 2007, 10:12 PM

its not all that hard to add synaptic ( my personal favorite ) to a kubuntu desktop......
Unless you have no online access, theres a lot missing on kubuntu that can be remedied by apt get......if you have no net access tho, a large five cd distro or something KDE based like slackware do the trick.....there is aslo a sticky somewhere on how to get apps and deps downloaded on a cd when you have some limited access on another machine to take home a mini repo..........

at least kubuntu has office tools included, which is more than i can say for windows....
:-P

454redhawk

March 19th, 2007, 10:19 PM

at least kuuntu has office tools included, which is more than i can say for windows....
:-P

Why would microsoft include something that corporations and companies are willing to pay millions for? That would be poor judgement and I am quite sure the stock holders would be displeased as well.

Do you understand capitalism?

speedygeo

March 29th, 2007, 12:55 AM

SimplyMEPIS is really "SimpliX", it really WORKS!!!!
But Kubuntu is the best experience I ever had with linux!!

mgpower0

March 29th, 2007, 01:11 AM

Anther vote for mepis. Using 6.5 RC3 64bit and is lovely. Yeah sure, so its based on Ubuntu and only has a couple of people developing it but every thing works straight out of the box. 6.5 also comes with Beryl installed. Just seems to do everything a bit better than Kubuntu. Maybe Ubuntu should try and get these dudes to come and join the Kubuntu development team:confused:

RAV TUX

March 29th, 2007, 03:03 AM

rPath

http://www.rpath.com/rbuilder/project/rpath/

xmido

June 27th, 2007, 10:44 AM

1- pclinuxos 2007 (works out of the box, rpg packages)
2- simplymepis 6.5 (works out of the box, ubuntu deb packages)
3- kubuntu + automatix + synaptic

kubuntu is good but need some serious adjustments to make it work the way u want. pclinuxos 2007 is good, but has some minor problems in networking. but once u pass that, its the best kde distro. if u like kubuntu and dont like adjusting it then use simplymepis which is now based on ubuntu. so u can install all ubuntu packages and works out of the box. kubuntu is best if u want to tweak every inch of ur desktop.

swoll1980

June 28th, 2007, 01:12 AM

I think pclos has a very nice kde environement. The pclos control center(witch is the best control center in my opinion ever made for any os) is very easy to use and intagrates well into the whole scheme witch is very user friendly and also easy on the eyes (2 thumbs up)

SunnyRabbiera

June 28th, 2007, 08:55 PM

Uh huh, hands down PCLOS is the best KDE based distro I have used.
its simplistic, its smooth and pretty solid.
I dont think its unstable by any means, runs solid for me.

even if it is based on RPM it works a LOT better then most RPM based distros I have used as dependancy problems are very low, plus it has Synaptic plus apt... the best package managers eber!

justin whitaker

June 28th, 2007, 09:34 PM

For Linux, Kubuntu is pretty good. I am using it instead of Ubuntu these days. It's not as pretty, stable, or as KDE feature rich as openSUSE or PCLinuxOS, but it's still Ubuntu, so I guess I will help make it better in the few ways that I can.

Really, the best overall KDE implementation I have found has been PC-BSD. That's the way it should be done.

DreamcastJack

June 28th, 2007, 10:14 PM

i would say Freespire, its nice and good. Freespire 2.0 gets so many delayes i'm gonna give up. but my all time Fave KDE one is PCLinuxOS

VCSkier

June 29th, 2007, 02:15 AM

I'm surprised no one has mentioned arch linux with kdemod. From what I've seen of it, it looks amazing. Unfortunatly, I apparently lack the time and general competence to get it up and fully running properly. :( Hopefully I'll get it all sorted out soon, and I'll be able to better comment on it then.

gabhla

June 29th, 2007, 07:06 PM

PCLOS...the best KDE distro. Although, Mepis runs a close second.

SunnyRabbiera

June 29th, 2007, 09:54 PM

Yeh mepis is decent, if it had better management for 3d desktops I would vote it over PCLOS.
But beryl/ compiz under PCLOS is much better then it is on Mepis.

danielph

July 5th, 2007, 05:44 PM

My vote goes to Sidux for a very complete, fast and nice looking KDE distro

Extreme Coder

July 5th, 2007, 07:46 PM

IMO, Mandriva is the best KDE I've seen so far (PCLOS doesn't count, since it's a modified version of Mandriva only) It's a LOT faster than KUbuntu, and the Discovery Menu, which comes by default, is better than the ordinary menu. Compiz/Beryl/Metisse are easily activated and it has some proprietary drivers installed by default, to make it easier (ATI,nVidia, Wi-Fi drivers,dial-up modems)
Sorry Kubuntu, you don't stack up to Mandy and SUSE :)

RaiSuli

July 5th, 2007, 10:28 PM

As far as I can tell no one has mentioned Sabayon yet, so here it is: try Sabayon. It's basically a precompiled Gentoo distro which (at least for me) worked right out of the box. If you'd like to try Gentoo and its portage system without actually going through the hassle of installing Gentoo, this might be interesting to you.

NeoLithium

July 5th, 2007, 10:32 PM

davtaine

July 6th, 2007, 12:53 AM

Sidux. Simple as that..

pudgewack

July 6th, 2007, 04:25 AM

My favorite is Arch with KDEmod....this is my favorite variety of linux that I have tried. Just read the wikis at archlinux.org to setup. Base install is very fast, but installing a GUI can be time consuming the first time. But the wikis have great info on how to setup Arch with KDE or KDEmod (or any other WM or DE)...give it a shot, you will like it. Pacman and the AURs are great.
My would 2nd favorite would be Sidux.

Erunno

July 6th, 2007, 04:54 AM

Well, openSUSE has been my main OS for some months now and although I can't say if it's the best KDE distribution around I can honestly say that it's miles and miles better than Kubuntu for me. It has less bugs, it feels faster, the package repositories (especially the build service) give you access to bleeding edge versions of the most commonly used desktop applications, it has beagle integrated in a very natural way, it has yast and the kmenu replacement kickoff is great when using a mouse (less useful with keyboards). Plus, I enjoy the professional default look (except for the default mouse cursors).

The yast package manager is pretty slow to start but installation itself is pretty quick.

I'll stick to openSUSE for now as the openSUSE team seems to be working hard on many major problems for the 10.3 release.

SunnyRabbiera

July 7th, 2007, 03:38 AM

Extreme Coder

July 7th, 2007, 04:54 PM

actually I think PCLOS is an improved version of Mandy, at least when it comes to packages and stuff.
I find mandy lacking when it comes to getting new apps.
See http://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20070702&mode=15
Look for Adam Williamson's first post.

RebounD11

July 9th, 2007, 09:53 AM

Best KDE distros -- 4 me:
Mandriva & openSuSE

I didn't try that many KDE distros 'cause I find its latest releases quite unstable, that's why I turned to Gnome.

Although Sabayon Linux looks great and works better (at least that's the impression that the live DVD left me) so I might switch back to the roots and reinstate KDE on my computer :D

mips

July 9th, 2007, 10:26 AM

Although Sabayon Linux looks great and works better (at least that's the impression that the live DVD left me) so I might switch back to the roots and reinstate KDE on my computer :D

Sabayon is releasing a business edition that only uses stable packages & none of the beryl/compiz crap. The 3.4 release will also do away with all the duplicate packages and you will now have a option for selective install. You could do a Core install with no gui for servers and the like an build on it or you can install the Core + DE. Pretty neat if you ask me.

notwen

July 9th, 2007, 12:09 PM

Only distro running KDE in this household is sidux on my file server. I myself prefer gnome. =]

Storm Rider

July 14th, 2007, 01:33 AM

Sabayon is really nice. I've had it installed since version 3.2. It's really stable but as with Gentoo, package management is a long slow compile.

OpenSuse is really good also but rpm package management is too damn slow.

smartboyathome

July 14th, 2007, 01:57 AM

I haven't dabbled into KDE much, but out of the two I have used (Kubuntu and Freespire) I find Freespire quite nice. Too bad I couldn't get it to install. :(

Sabayon is really nice. I've had it installed since version 3.2. It's really stable but as with Gentoo, package management is a long slow compile.

OpenSuse is really good also but rpm package management is too damn slow.

I tried Sabayon, it was a pain-in-the-butt for the first few boots. I uninstalled it half in hour after I installed it.

Liquid Punk

July 14th, 2007, 02:41 PM

have you ever compared dpkg to rpm? then you'll have your answer. dpkg is crippled. rpm isalso supported by the LSB.

Although I don't use Debian anymore, I would have to disagree with you there. DPKG doesn't loose its database every few runs. For some bizarre reason, I find the RPM system in Redhat/Fedora to be slower and less reliable than the RPM system in (open)SUSE. Perhaps the only advantage of RPM is that it can do multi-arch properly.

As for best KDE distro, openSUSE always has the latest KDE automatically built and has an integrated KDE desktop with qt-based system administration tool vetted by professional QA. Plus it has a simple and elegant theme to it. Some of you will be suprised to know that the Novell-MS patent deal does not affect the quality of openSUSE or have any other substanial meaning to the end user. A trap door won't open up into hell for ignoring FSF FUD and childish stigma. To fix package management, uncheck 'Enterprise Software Management' at install time, the developers are dropping it for openSUSE 10.3 anyway.

Gudanov

November 27th, 2007, 02:26 PM

I used openSUSE for a bit, but the package management in 10.1 made me drop off the openSUSE wagon. My me at least, I think openSUSE is a better KDE distribution than Kubuntu, but I like apt and the Ubuntu community better. I might give openSUSE another try at some point, maybe when KDE4 is stable enough to switch to.

I tried GNOME on Ubuntu for awhile and it was fine, but I like KDE better and synaptic works just fine in Kubuntu.

allstar1971

November 27th, 2007, 02:35 PM

I like both Suse and Kubuntu. Kubuntu has it's troubles but they seem to be getting fixed very soon. I do wish that adept would be replaced with something else.

As for synaptic, it is nice, but I like a stream-lined, slick gui. Gnome is ugly on KDE even if I change the gtk style to one I prefer.

I like Ubuntu and I applaud the group's work. They are #1 by a long shot (just look at the users on-line).

My biggest gripe against Suse is that it takes forever to install, UNLESS you skip the repository portion of the download. Then, it takes forever to add some of the files that you want from the start. Suse also has a cluttered menu with a lot of installed things I do not like.

That is why I like Kubuntu. I just reinstalled it two days ago after messing around with Suse, and I cannot believe how fast it is.

SomeGuyDude

November 27th, 2007, 04:31 PM

As I've said before, Mandriva is fantastic. Just a shame it was buggy on my system. Looked nice enough that I considered converting to it entirely.

Incense

November 27th, 2007, 04:59 PM

I can't believe this thread is still around. OpenSUSE has my vote for best KDE distro. Although I've been using Kubuntu for the past week on my notebook, and 7.10 it's actually pretty good. Much better then the past couple releases.

j.miller565

November 27th, 2007, 05:53 PM

Sabayon's KDE desktop is quite nice. I like it quite a bit. Only problem with it is that I find it to be a tad bloated

regomodo

November 27th, 2007, 09:53 PM

knoppix

saying that kubuntu gutsy has converted me from the gnome-side

samwyse

November 29th, 2007, 11:04 AM

What bugs me in Kubuntu is the way Konqueror was made worse by "simplifying" the normal three view buttons into one slow unmanageable view button (the hack also broke Konq view in another way http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=3841242&postcount=7). Also D3lphin is far from ready to be the default file manager. It doesn't have a tree view like all other file managers, it crashes often and generally performs badly. I hear Strigi is awful (I removed it without bothering with it), but it was included as default. Also the Gutsy Kubuntu artwork is one of the worst I've seen.

What I like is the one toolbar configuration of Konqueror (except for the view button) and the idea of System Settings. Suse and Mandriva have their separate huge administration apps where as everything is in System Settings (or KControl) in Kubuntu (excluding package manager). Though I guess the administration tools work better in OpenSuse or Mandriva.

anshuljain

November 30th, 2007, 06:09 AM

In my opinion, the best KDE distro can be classified on best stable KDE distro and bleeding-edge KDE distro...

And for the most stable one I would hand the crown to PCLinuxOS which is surprisingly stable with even the 3.5.8 version..

The prize for the best bleeding-edge distro is none other than openSuSE 10.3, followed very closely by Mandriva 2008. Suse trumps Mandriva by its weekly KDE4 snapshots. I had Mandriva and Suse on my Thinkpad R60 for a week (my development tool, Labview requires either one of these...) and Mandriva lost out to Suse for the lack of kernel module support for Thinkpads (not a KDE thing, I know..but nevertheless...:) )

I personally find the MCC to be the most user friendly Control Center out there and YaST a complex version for the same.

Different strokes for different people!

-Anshul

Sain

January 5th, 2008, 06:11 PM

I've just started to play with KDE (after using Gnome for some time), and I must say that openSUSE seems better that Kubuntu in many ways...

One thing I don't like on Suse is Yast, but then again, I don't like Adept aswell.

Kubuntu needs more attention from Ubuntu developers! :mad:

Ozor Mox

January 5th, 2008, 08:59 PM

It's a shame to see so many people say that Kubuntu is a bad KDE distribution, but I suppose seeing as how Ubuntu is primarily Gnome, it's inevitable that KDE only distros will probably be able to do it better. I hope the developers focus a bit more on Kubuntu though, because I was thinking of installing KDE, XFCE and/or others to my Ubuntu installation and getting the best out of all the desktop environments. I don't really want to install a below par KDE though. Nor to I really want to switch away from Ubuntu.

On the subject of best KDE distribution, I have tried sidux, and it's fantastic.

mips

January 6th, 2008, 04:49 AM

My favorite is Arch with KDEmod....

+1

I'm new to Arch and KDEmod, haven't even been using it for a week but I reckon it's the dogs nads.

KDEmod is what KDE should have been in the first place.

Sain

January 6th, 2008, 08:04 AM

It's a shame to see so many people say that Kubuntu is a bad KDE distribution,...

Well, it's not bad KDE distribution, but it definitely isn't on the same level as Ubuntu. I'm using Kubuntu right now and it's OK, but there are better KDE distros out there like Suse IMO.

But I'm used to Ubuntu and I now I can always get support here if I get stuck, so I'll stay with Kubuntu :)

Ozor Mox

January 6th, 2008, 09:51 AM

Well, it's not bad KDE distribution, but it definitely isn't on the same level as Ubuntu. I'm using Kubuntu right now and it's OK, but there are better KDE distros out there like Suse IMO.

But I'm used to Ubuntu and I now I can always get support here if I get stuck, so I'll stay with Kubuntu :)

Yes those are my thoughts exactly, if possible it would be nice to stick with the Ubuntu environment, mostly cause of the great support. If I had to change, it would be to something else Debian, I just could not live without apt-get :)

Still, I was pondering this and searching around in Synaptic... If I installed the package 'kde' or 'xfce', would that give me the default KDE or XFCE desktop and applications, as opposed to 'kubuntu/xubuntu-desktop' which would give me Kubuntu/Xubuntu's specific desktops? And what about window managers like Fluxbox and Enlightenment? If I installed them, how would I use them? Do they become selectable in GDM?

Incense

January 6th, 2008, 11:33 AM

Yes those are my thoughts exactly, if possible it would be nice to stick with the Ubuntu environment, mostly cause of the great support. If I had to change, it would be to something else Debian, I just could not live without apt-get :)

Still, I was pondering this and searching around in Synaptic... If I installed the package 'kde' or 'xfce', would that give me the default KDE or XFCE desktop and applications, as opposed to 'kubuntu/xubuntu-desktop' which would give me Kubuntu/Xubuntu's specific desktops? And what about window managers like Fluxbox and Enlightenment? If I installed them, how would I use them? Do they become selectable in GDM?

If you install kde-base then you will have a basic KDE desktop, not the kubuntu one. To select it, you click on sessions in GDM, and select KDE. Some people run this way, and say that it is much more stable then Kubuntu. I have yet to try it though.

Ozor Mox

January 6th, 2008, 02:50 PM

Sounds interesting, I think I might give it a go. :popcorn:

Weird thing is, Gnome and XFCE both just provide meta packages for the entire DE...KDE gives one big meta package that is about half a gigabyte, and then also kdebase and kdecore. I guess the big kde package would install an absolute boat load of stuff to my computer? If so, I'll try your suggestion of kdebase.

VCSkier

January 7th, 2008, 01:12 PM

Those of you that have expressed disappointment in Kubuntu, don't lose hope! The developers are aware that in many areas, Kubuntu is several steps behind Ubuntu. One of the primary goals of 8.04 is for Kubuntu to catch up with Ubuntu.

It's obvious that in the past Kubuntu has been getting less attention, but I'm excited to see how things will fall out over these next three and a half months of development. Assuming everything goes as planned, I am going to dual-boot with Ubuntu and Kubuntu (and finally ditch openSUSE) upon the release of 8.04.

Hopefully Kubuntu will soon be the best KDE disribution, just as Ubuntu is IMHO the best Gnome distribution, for the majority of users.

mips

January 7th, 2008, 01:23 PM

Hopefully Kubuntu will soon be the best KDE disribution, just as Ubuntu is IMHO the best Gnome distribution, for the majority of users.

I'm not holding my breath but in al fairness Kubuntu has minimal resources allocated to it compared to Ubuntu.

Someone should port KDEmod to ubuntu.

maybeway36

January 7th, 2008, 02:29 PM

Depends on preference. I use Debian personally.

VCSkier

January 7th, 2008, 03:47 PM

I'm not holding my breath but in al fairness Kubuntu has minimal resources allocated to it compared to Ubuntu.That is what I'm hoping will change, particularly if KDE4 takes off.

I'm not saying that Canonical necessarily needs to split their efforts 50/50 between Ubuntu and Kubuntu, but if our efforts directed toward Kubuntu could someday at least match what openSUSE/Novell is directing toward KDE, I think Kubuntu would eventually surpass openSUSE's prominence with KDE. Ubuntu's foundation in Debian is a huge asset, and gives us a particular advantage over RPM based distributions. Canonical just needs to follow through with the rest of the polish, development, and advancement, which requires resources.

Someone should port KDEmod to ubuntu.
This would be interesting.

SomeGuyDude

January 7th, 2008, 03:50 PM

That is what I'm hoping will change, particularly if KDE4 takes off.

I'm not saying that Canonical necessarily needs to split their efforts 50/50 between Ubuntu and Kubuntu, but if our efforts directed toward Kubuntu could someday at least match what openSUSE/Novell is directing toward KDE, I think Kubuntu would eventually surpass openSUSE's prominence with KDE. Ubuntu's foundation in Debian is a huge asset, and gives us a particular advantage over RPM based distributions. Canonical just needs to follow through with the rest of the polish, development, and advancement, which requires resources.

I'd just worry that the GNOME focus of Ubuntu proper would be lost. I enjoy the fact that there's one awesome GNOME-centered distro. If I want KDE I've got some damn fine options (my current fave OpenSUSE, Mandriva, Sabayon for those who like it...), but there's nothing that works so well as Ubuntu in the GNOME department.

VCSkier

January 7th, 2008, 10:05 PM

I'd just worry that the GNOME focus of Ubuntu proper would be lost. I enjoy the fact that there's one awesome GNOME-centered distro. If I want KDE I've got some damn fine options (my current fave OpenSUSE, Sabayon for those who like it...), but there's nothing that works so well as Ubuntu in the GNOME department.You have a very good point. It would be a terrible shame if Ubuntu lost its strength in Gnome, I see no reason that Canonical cannot have top-quality distributions centered around both Gnome and KDE.

Ubuntu has some excellent qualities, and is a very strong project with good leadership and goals. I hope that in the future Ubuntu's strengths will be displayed fairly in the market of a competitive KDE distribution, and it seems to me that that is the direction that Kubuntu developers are trying to go,

Linuxratty

January 8th, 2008, 12:48 AM

IMO, Freespire :KS
MEPIS7, Klikit

mips

January 8th, 2008, 04:37 AM

This would be interesting.

There is an open invitation to port it to other distros. They even have a KDE4mod RC2 out.

sujoy

January 8th, 2008, 07:57 AM

slackware is also a very stable and solid distro that comes with a lot of DE/WM and KDE is one of them

beast2k

January 9th, 2008, 04:51 PM

If this has been posted before, please point me to it

But what is the best KDE distribution availible, is it Kubuntu? or is there another?

Just wondering
In order the top 3 are, In my opinion.
1 PC linux OS
2 Mandriva
3 Kubuntu
I put kubuntu at #3 because of great support from these forums there are many better than kubuntu but kubuntu has the best forum and that (imho) can make or break a distro.

SomeGuyDude

January 9th, 2008, 08:35 PM

Gasp, no SUSE? Are you MAD, man? C'mon, if you like KDE then openSUSE is friggin' awesome. Only KDE distro I've seen that doesn't look all cluttered, and has a way slick menu system.

beast2k

January 10th, 2008, 05:28 AM

Gasp, no SUSE? Are you MAD, man? C'mon, if you like KDE then openSUSE is friggin' awesome. Only KDE distro I've seen that doesn't look all cluttered, and has a way slick menu system.
I haven't seen suse for ages so I can't judge.

mips

January 10th, 2008, 06:51 PM

[QUOTE=beast2k;4104751]
3 Kubuntu
/QUOTE]

I'm sorry to say this but KDE on Kubuntu suck big time. I will never endorse it. There are way better kde distibutions.

stefcep

January 11th, 2008, 06:02 AM

In order the top 3 are, In my opinion.
1 PC linux OS
2 Mandriva
3 Kubuntu
I put kubuntu at #3 because of great support from these forums there are many better than kubuntu but kubuntu has the best forum and that (imho) can make or break a distro.

I was using PCLinuxOS for a while and in the beginning, everything worked fine. But as I went on I had more and more problems. Turns out that as a meta-update distro you MUST continuously update your system and all apps that you have installed: newer versions of system files are added to the repos all the time, but the the dependancy checks don't check everything and eventually you end up with a mixture of new and old system files, which are not necessarily compatible.

The thing they always say first at the forums is: hit "mark all upgrades" in synaptic before installing ANYTHING. Great... 500 MB of updates to use a 500k chess program..Thing is the developers don't tell you this at the start..they wont make it a sticky and its only when things fail that you learn this, and if you say something about it..well they advise to go elsewhere if you don't like it. They would be so much better off with 6-monthly or yearly updates but they want to be a rolling-update distro. So here I am.

happysmileman

January 12th, 2008, 01:57 PM

mips

January 12th, 2008, 02:10 PM

I want ti KDE, and as far as I can tell OpenSuse looks like it's the best KDE distro, Mandriva also loooks good, but I've tried it and never managed to get my graphics card driver working. Is OpenSuse a good KDE distro in the opinion of tose here who've used it (preferably who've used a recent version, 10.2 or 10.3)

Are you going to like the package manager in Suse though?

happysmileman

January 12th, 2008, 02:24 PM

Are you going to like the package manager in Suse though?

No idea... but I've been in Gentoo for the last 4-5 months and therefore have been compiling everything from scratch, so I doubt it can be much worse than that.

Incense

January 12th, 2008, 02:36 PM

Ok so I've been thinking of switching distro from Gentoo, since I completely messed up the permissions on everything in my root partition :(.

I want ti KDE, and as far as I can tell OpenSuse looks like it's the best KDE distro, Mandriva also loooks good, but I've tried it and never managed to get my graphics card driver working. Is OpenSuse a good KDE distro in the opinion of tose here who've used it (preferably who've used a recent version, 10.2 or 10.3)

Personally I love the way OpenSUSE does KDE. You can download a live CD if you want to see what it's all about and test everything out. I would use 10.3 as it is the most recent verson, and houses many improvments over 10.2. I have not used Mandriva since it was Mandrake back in the day, so I have no comment on it.

As far as package managment goes, if you find YaST is too slow, or you're having dependency issues, use the SMART package manager. It handles dependencies alomost as well as synaptic, and it is very fast.

happysmileman

January 12th, 2008, 02:43 PM

Ok i'll try it, should I use the LiveCD or the DVD to install it, if I don't like it I'll just end up probably switchig to Kubuntu anyway, so i was thinking DVD might just be handier to have, so that if I wanted to give it to someone they could choose between Gnome and KDE.

Are there any big advantages of either, other than the way you install and that you can use one as a LiveCD, such as packages contained?

RS3York

January 12th, 2008, 04:01 PM

OpenSUSE 10.3: Test with the LiveCD but install with the DVD.

More packages, more options, less quirks (liveCD/install is newer for openSUSE than it is in other distros such as Ubuntu).
Also the CD has a notably reduced number of printer drivers available. If you have internet available that won't matter since you can download the extra drivers from repos. However, if you have to do an offline install, that could be a major annoyance.

r4ik

January 12th, 2008, 04:16 PM

[QUOTE=Incense;4122480]. I have not used Mandriva since it was Mandrake back in the day, so I have no comment on it.

I tried to install 2008 on my external and the installer faded out just after partitioning
never seen that before :)

LinuxGuy1234

January 12th, 2008, 07:26 PM

Debian + KDE or Arch + KDE.
Debian + KDE way:
1. Boot a Debian CD.
2. Use at the boot: prompt:
install tasks="standard, kde-desktop"
Or Arch + KDE way:
1. Install Arch.
2. Boot into Arch.
3. Log in as root.
4. pacman --sync --refresh
5. pacman -S kde xorg
6. startx

mips

January 13th, 2008, 06:13 AM

Debian + KDE or Arch + KDE.
...
Or Arch + KDE way:
1. Install Arch.
2. Boot into Arch.
3. Log in as root.
4. pacman --sync --refresh
5. pacman -S kde xorg
6. startx

I find it hard to believe that an arch user would use kde over kdemod.

Incense

January 13th, 2008, 07:12 AM

I find it hard to believe that an arch user would use kde over kdemod.

I was thinking the same thing when I read that. I really wish we could get a port of kdemod on Ubuntu or SuSE. It looks really sweet.

mips

January 13th, 2008, 09:45 AM

I was thinking the same thing when I read that. I really wish we could get a port of kdemod on Ubuntu or SuSE. It looks really sweet.

If I knew anything about programming or compiling stuff I would have given it a go. There is an open invitation to port it for anyone interested.

lzfy

February 20th, 2008, 05:17 AM

I would use openSUSE if the package manager wouldn't suck that much. I haven't used smart so I can't say if that makes any difference. The only reason why I'm using Kubuntu is because of the community and the amount of available packages. But I'm thinking of switching to Arch+KDEmod. I hear many good things about it.

tdrusk

February 20th, 2008, 08:54 AM

I liked Opensuse, but I prefer PCLOS.

It's much faster and feels more stable. It also installs packages a lot quicker than Opensuse.

sujoy

February 20th, 2008, 11:08 AM

i tried arch with kdemod, but it seems like changing themes in kde is way too much complicated than gnome :confused:

so i just brought myself back to ububtu again

mivo

February 20th, 2008, 03:41 PM

I generally prefer Gnome, but used KDE for a few months. Of the distros I looked at and tried out, I thought that Arch + KDEMod and OpenSuSE were the most appealing ones. It's still a matter of individual preference, though.

maybeway36

February 20th, 2008, 04:14 PM

I usually like KDE better than GNOME, but I hated openSUSE's K Menu. :(

cacycleworks

March 16th, 2008, 02:29 AM

This is an awesome thread! Thank you all for the great info! I'm going to have to investigate arch+kedmod or opensuse based on your posts.

Has anyone tried vectorlinux? I threw it onto my backup laptop, a sony dualcore intel (the older, 32 bit kind, not the spiffy core-duo 64bit) and I was amazed at its performance. They use KDE desktop as standard and it seems everything is installed and works out of the box.

On that 1.6GHz dual-core, powered off to desktop was 30 seconds. !!!

I wish I had time to devote to messing around with OSs. I'm stuck in kubuntu land ... i like my KDE and won't go back to gnome ... but i can't afford to be without my work laptop: too much is perfectly configured on it.

I ended up putting xubuntu on my sony backup laptop... I found that i had to read and learn to make better use of vector linux and with some 6 or 8 ubuntu based computers, I decided to stick with what I know. And i wanted to try ubuntu and xubuntu. ubuntu lasted about 2 days then i went to xubuntu, which i enjoy somewhat.

The thought of Ubuntu install then apt-get kde-core seems the way to go. Something got broken lately with kubuntu and the updates. And my work computer, a Dell D630 laptop with core-duo 2 GHz and 4M of ram is amazing at compiling. I'm using x86_64 version.

I wonder if I could pull off the kdemod port? My current install is so buggy, I wouldn't mind apt-get'ing every package under the sun to do a compile. I tried compiling the kernel a few times (even got it to succeed ;) and it would do the kernel in about 20 minutes. Or is there a LOT more to kdemod than a compile?

:)

Chris

Castar

March 16th, 2008, 12:13 PM

I was also thinking of trying out Arch + KDEmod since it so so beautiful! But then I went in the Arch webpage

http://www.archlinux.org/about/

and the first paragraph kind of scared me away. I would suggest openSUSE if you want to setup a solid KDE system quickly. It might not be as pretty as KDEmod, but it's not that ugly either and there's always KDE-look.org. :)

mips

March 17th, 2008, 07:47 AM

I was also thinking of trying out Arch + KDEmod since it so so beautiful! But then I went in the Arch webpage

http://www.archlinux.org/about/

and the first paragraph kind of scared me away.

If you follow the wiki it really is not that hard:
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beginners_Guide
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Official_Arch_Linux_Install_Guide
http://kdemod.ath.cx/

NightwishFan

March 17th, 2008, 07:48 AM

I would say OpenSUSE. This should have been a poll.

Castar

March 17th, 2008, 09:21 AM

If you follow the wiki it really is not that hard:
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beginners_Guide
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Official_Arch_Linux_Install_Guide
http://kdemod.ath.cx/

Not that hard? Seriously? :D

RAV TUX

March 18th, 2008, 12:19 PM

1. PC-BSD
2. Sidux

kazuya

March 18th, 2008, 03:41 PM

1. MEPIS - simply unmatched in features and ease of use.
2. ARCH KDEMOD
3. Kubuntu/ Pclinuxos/

EDIT:
There maybe others I am overlooking. Vectorlinux's kde used to be one of the best and most polished looking. To answer a question posted, vectorlinux is fast due its KISS attitude and one app per task. It is slackware based and runs like a champ. Its kde DE has that spiffy look and feel.

mivo

March 18th, 2008, 04:34 PM

Not that hard? Seriously? :D

Arch really isn't so hard if you follow the Beginner's Guide. :) It's a good learning experience, too, and once it is set-up, it's very easy to maintain (over time easier to maintain than a cyclic distro where you basically re-install every X months).

PrivateVoid

March 18th, 2008, 07:25 PM

I personally like Arch for a KDE-centric distro. They have KDE-mod which is not over-done like the openSUSE implentation.

mips

March 18th, 2008, 08:17 PM

Arch really isn't so hard if you follow the Beginner's Guide. :) It's a good learning experience, too, and once it is set-up, it's very easy to maintain (over time easier to maintain than a cyclic distro where you basically re-install every X months).

Thats what I've been trying to say all along. If you can read english and follow the wiki you will be fine, seriously. And you will probably never look back :)

Castar

March 18th, 2008, 09:08 PM

mips

March 18th, 2008, 09:15 PM

I just don't want to get into a Gentoo-style system, not really worth the extra effort.

Arch is nothing like Gentoo and I have tried both ;)

uberlube

March 18th, 2008, 09:18 PM

I'd have to go with Linux Mint KDE CE.

danielph

March 19th, 2008, 03:22 AM

Since this thread is still kicking I feel I should update and change my original vote of Sidux to my current distro and for the last 6 months which is Archlinux with Kdemod.

Fast, modular and very easy on the eye.

JawsThemeSwimming428

March 21st, 2008, 11:31 AM

Mepis 7

cardinals_fan

March 23rd, 2008, 04:27 PM

I don't really like KDE, but Slackware is by far its best execution. KDEmod for Arch looks interesting.

theZoid

July 25th, 2008, 08:47 PM

Mandriva Spring KDE and Kubuntu in that order to bring this up to date. Problem with MEPIS is hardware support, or lack of it...same problem with PCLinuxOS.

exploder

July 25th, 2008, 10:14 PM

I prefer Gnome to KDE but if I were to start using KDE, Sidux or Mint KDE CE would be what I would choose from. Mint KDE is out of the box ready to go and Sidux is just plain fast.

theZoid

July 25th, 2008, 10:15 PM

I prefer Gnome to KDE but if I were to start using KDE, Sidux or Mint KDE CE would be what I would choose from. Mint KDE is out of the box ready to go and Sidux is just plain fast.

Yep, those are good ones too !! agreed.

tel93

July 26th, 2008, 01:47 AM

Debian Testing KDE

Or maybe Arch with KDEmod

theZoid

July 26th, 2008, 02:02 AM

Debian Testing KDE

Or maybe Arch with KDEmod

Where can I download the install disks for debian lenny, and which disks do I need? thanks.....btw, I have an intel 4965 and no cable connection....problem? thanks !

chucky chuckaluck

July 26th, 2008, 03:53 AM

Not that hard? Seriously? :D

i'm not known for my expertise, nor my willingness to read documentation thoroughly, and i installed and use arch very easily. it's more detailed than ubuntu, but not harder. if anything, the documentation is vividly clear and not too tl/dr.

tel93

July 26th, 2008, 04:30 AM

Where can I download the install disks for debian lenny, and which disks do I need? thanks.....btw, I have an intel 4965 and no cable connection....problem? thanks !

For all the package discs:
http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/daily-builds/testing/current/i386/iso-cd/

Download CD1 only, set up wireless + install your packages manually.
Don't pick the netinst; wireless is not autoconfigured.

enlightenment now

July 26th, 2008, 05:39 AM

Actually the best KDE Distribution is NOT Linux at all but BSD, specifically PC-BSD (http://www.pcbsd.org/).

ryaxnb

July 26th, 2008, 02:51 PM

tel93

July 26th, 2008, 06:59 PM

The best KDE 4.1 is unquestionably Opensuse, but for KDE 3.5, I'd say it's a toss-up. MEPIS, OpenSuSE and Mandriva 2008.1 all have nice implementations. I'd recommend, due to the control center, Mandriva.
Why? Those are the worst KDE distros IMO. Why would you recommend a distro that has screwed KDE like Ubuntu has screwed Gnome?

beast2k

July 26th, 2008, 08:53 PM

[quote=beast2k;4104751]
3 Kubuntu
/QUOTE]

I'm sorry to say this but KDE on Kubuntu suck big time. I will never endorse it. There are way better kde distibutions.

articpenguin

July 26th, 2008, 11:04 PM

I also agree Kubuntu Sucks. Its one of the worst kde distros. I Use mandriva. I also have ubuntu but in virtualbox.

cacycleworks

July 27th, 2008, 01:02 AM

Wow, such love for kubuntu! :) not...

hey - it makes me happy. I just ran through a few different distros and none would install on my notebook. While, technically, not even kubuntu did, it was only lacking sound, but as shown in my sig, installing ubuntu first fixed that.

I couldn't get more than a command line in Arch, because there was no way to run KDE in 64bit when I tried ... the devs broke the dependencies and there was no way I would have been able to hack around it unless I was an Arch guru. I tried OpenSuse but wow, that was sad. I tried to run updates and it was over a minute from beginning that until I found something I was searching for. I ran pclinuxos on my other laptop, but it wasn't as stable as ubuntu->kubuntu.

I didn't know about sidux the last time I tried the above distro's out... I'll have to hit up this thread again.

:)
Chris

mips

July 27th, 2008, 05:55 PM

I couldn't get more than a command line in Arch, because there was no way to run KDE in 64bit when I tried ... the devs broke the dependencies and there was no way I would have been able to hack around it unless I was an Arch guru.

When was this? I've always run kde on arch64 and it was never an issue or involved hacks.

cacycleworks

July 27th, 2008, 06:22 PM

When was this? I've always run kde on arch64 and it was never an issue or involved hacks.

It was in may... was a "Tpctl not found" issue. I searched all over and the only thing I gathered from it was that ArchLinux and KDEmod users are too self absorbed to lend a hand to anyone trying to get Arch running.

The 32 bit people were having a time of it to begin with and I could find no way to get it working in x86_64. My google-foo is pretty string, but no one in that world writes about what they've done to fix problems, so there are nearly no references.

Since using the computer is how I earn my income, I can't afford more than about a week's worth of R&D where my computer isn't at least able to run my normal work flow.

Every time I've had an ubuntu problem, google has either given me an answer or at least enough info that I could get resolution. So I'm left in a place where I crave the speed of a lightweight linux but require the hardware & install friendliness of ubuntu.

:)

gjoellee

July 27th, 2008, 07:28 PM

I have heard PCLinuxOS is a very good distribution using KDE

gabhla

July 27th, 2008, 07:35 PM

Now I'd say sidux. Been using it for a few months and it's great. NO package manager, just the command line (and scripts). Stays very current and bleeding edge.

chucky chuckaluck

July 27th, 2008, 11:39 PM

I have heard PCLinuxOS is a very good distribution using KDE

it's pretty easy to use, for sure.

Mr. Psychopath

July 28th, 2008, 10:30 AM

OpenSUSE is great with KDE4.

The only bad thing about it is that I can't get my ATI Radeon x800 working with it. Meaning I'll either have to:

a.) Go buy an Nvidia card.

OR

b.) Go install Windows and use Wubi, as the ATI drivers seemed to work just fine with that one.

But, I digress. OpenSUSE is a wonderful KDE4 distro, with a lot of stability and polish.

67GTA

July 28th, 2008, 11:05 AM

Opensuse KDE3. It doesn't get any better.

Vorian Grey

July 28th, 2008, 12:06 PM

sidux. It's fast and rock stable.

Anurag_panda

July 28th, 2008, 12:08 PM

opensuse kde3. It doesn't get any better.

+1

chris4585

July 29th, 2008, 02:09 AM

I just tried the openSUSE KDE4 alpha 2, and for a guy who *HATES* KDE with a deep passion, I thought it was pretty good.

namegame

July 29th, 2008, 02:51 AM

I'm not a big fan of KDE, but the best implementations of KDE I have seen were with openSUSE and Mandriva.

Arch with KDEmod is pretty good too...

NightwishFan

July 29th, 2008, 01:32 PM

Now I think Debian and Kubuntu just because Debian base is great, I can make kde to my custom specification.

tel93

August 1st, 2008, 07:03 AM

Now I think Debian and Kubuntu just because Debian base is great, I can make kde to my custom specification.
Kubuntu has modified KDE.

mips

August 1st, 2008, 02:12 PM

I can make kde to my custom specification.

The best option for that would be KDEmod on Arch.

chucky chuckaluck

August 1st, 2008, 03:06 PM

i wonder if there's a significant difference between the recommendations by people who love kde and the people who loath it.

ryaxnb

August 1st, 2008, 07:20 PM

Why? Those are the worst KDE distros IMO. Why would you recommend a distro that has screwed KDE like Ubuntu has screwed Gnome?

Well I admit I'm mostly a GNOME user...

I really don't care which desktop I use, but the KDE in Mandriva & SuSE seem to be the only ones approaching the quality of GNOME in Ubuntu.

cacycleworks

August 1st, 2008, 09:04 PM

Well I admit I'm mostly a GNOME user...

I really don't care which desktop I use, but the KDE in Mandriva & SuSE seem to be the only ones approaching the quality of GNOME in Ubuntu.

:-D

I do care which desktop I use ... I always feel lost in gnome. I tried it a few times, too! Normally on my laptop at home. Once with xubuntu and once with ubuntu. Back to kubuntu I always go. :)

:) chris

L815

August 1st, 2008, 10:17 PM

OpenSUSE + Mandriva get my vote. Both are done very well.

Kdemod on Arch I thought was OK, but not as good as the 2 above.

Growbag

August 2nd, 2008, 07:16 AM

openSUSE just released KDE4.1 a few days ago and I updated to it. I didn't expect much because of all the problems it has had to date.

But the first thing I said when I saw it was "Wow!" They have done a lot of work on it, and fixed a few major problems.

You can try the KDE4.1 liveCD from kde.org, it is actually an installable version of openSUSE 11 with KDE4.1. I thought it was actually nicer than the standard openSUSE 11 DVD to be honest :).

Also PCLinuxOS is probably my 2nd favourite, very nice theme, especially the cursors. It's a branch of Mandriva concentrating on giving the end user all the good stuff, and is not as "stuffy" as Mandriva. More bleeding edge I guess is the term.

If you want a "pure" KDE, then you could always download the sources and compile it yourself.