Raring Ringtail Impressions

**craig10x** · April 30th, 2013

I think it is supposed to be lighter, actually...that is needed since ubuntu is going on tablets, phones, etc...should make it better for the desktop too...

**llanitedave** · May 1st, 2013

QT is a very nice tool. I don't see how that would be a problem, unless its poorly implemented.

**codingman** · May 1st, 2013

An example of poor implementation is KDE. It's still a hefty beast compared to many of the DE's and WM's out there.

**oldos2er** · May 2nd, 2013

I know many people like to say KDE is bloated and slow, but that hasn't been my experience. Also see http://www.datamation.com/open-sourc...w-today-1.html

**llanitedave** · May 2nd, 2013

It hasn't been my experience either. Kubuntu is my system of choice, and I find it quite snappy on my laptop, as well as very stable and extremely customizable. I would not say KDE is a poor implementation of QT, not at all. Sure, it's "heftier" than Xfce, because it allows you a lot more options.

ETA: Prior to 12.10, I might not have disagreed so strongly -- KDE was a bit too buggy for my taste, even though the overall design was very attractive. For me, 12.10 has solved all the outstanding issues that I had, and it's a real pleasure to use.

**Zestypanda** · May 2nd, 2013

My experience with raring has been just fine, I've been using the betas since early February, and I have been surprised. It's rock solid, expect for the early march (I think) kernel snafu that left my test bed with a black screen, I just reinstalled since that its been running just fine. And most recently I updated to final without a hitch, except for the servers being overloaded for about an hour so it would error out on one PPA. Though, I view this as the windows 7 of Ubuntu. It just works, nothing wow or spectacular, though I while of liked to see those fine-grain security features in this instead of saucy, *glares at amazon search lense* but those can be fixed readily easily. What I'm trying to say is that, it just works, like what windows seven did (from a functionality standpoint) it took the experimental and slightly not ready for prime time features from vista and polished them and made a nice fast solid base. Which is what raring has done, I'm eager to see what saucy has in store. I'm almost tempted enough to get a daily of saucy, though its probably too early to see any, if all discernible changes from raring yet. So yeah, it's taken the features in 12.04 and 12.10 (don't remind me of 11.10..*shudders*) and smoothed them, and made them nice and glossy. I commend all those who worked on 13.04 it's awesome.

**codingman** · May 4th, 2013

What options? I'd like to have an example.

**DMGrier** · May 4th, 2013

Originally Posted by codingman

What options? I'd like to have an example.

I am a Unity user but have played with the latest KDE on openSUSE 12.3 and it does have more options out of the box. Large amount of pre-installed themes for the desktop, you can relocate everything from widgets to task bar, Dolphin seemed to have more features then Nautilus and you can go into a window manager and have it do many of the things I remember gnome 2 doing and a good example of this is can set up the exploding windows again. I am sure there is more options and I am just scratching the surface but I was amazed on all the default customization KDE provided out of the box.

I installed 13.04 and I have been in love, it reminds me of Ubuntu 10.04 with how fast and stable it has been. I am glad too since my experience with Ubuntu 12.10 was less then pleasant with dealing with constant error reports. I am also always for new icons, I was a little upset that Canonical only changed a select few where they should have been able to build and implement a few dozen new icons. I guess though it all cost money.

**llanitedave** · May 6th, 2013

Originally Posted by codingman

What options? I'd like to have an example.

Compared to Xfce? I'll give you two that count for me:

1. The dolphin File Manager. It's got more features than Thunar, one which I like is the ability to split the window to display two folders at once. Sure, I can always simply open two Thunar windows and place them side by side, but that just isn't as smooth for me.
2. The ability to place a different wallpaper on each desktop. KDE seems to be the only DE that lets you do this.

For the rest, just check the System Settings on each. Xubuntu opens a window with a page of options. Kubuntu opens what's basically a tome with a table of contents.

Don't get me wrong, I like Xfce quite a bit, and there's a lot you can do with it. But KDE is not costing any noticeable penalty for the extra customization it gives, and it gives you more than any other system that know of.