Move to KDE?

[Mongo5000]

Just thought I would throw this out for some advise.

Since moving to linux full time, I've been a happy user of Gnome. But lately its occurred to me that the majority of apps I use and like are for KDE.

Amarok, K9Copy, Ktorrent, and a few others.

I have tried the Gnome versions or equal but just finding i keep going back to the KDE apps.

Now I realize that there is no real issue running KDE apps in Gnome, but thought it might be a sign that I should give KDE a fair shot. So I installed Kubuntu Hardy and installed KDE4. So far I like it, but it just seems ... meh. Keep rebooting back to my Gnome disk when I need to do something other than playing.

So I guess im asking for advise of people that are in the same boat as I am.

You finding KDE4 is worth the investment of time and learning or just use KDE apps in gnome.

[shawnrgr]

Personally I get the same feeling when using KDE .... meh. I always go back to gnome. If you'd rather use KDE, there is nothing wrong with running KDE apps in Gnome. Its really preference. I run a few kde apps, I'd admit, I think hands down the best music player is amarok, even though im using sonota+mpd right now. If i wanted something heavier it would be amarok.

[CloudFX]

You can install Kubuntu within an Ubuntu installation.

sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop

When you log in, go to Options in the bottom left, select Session, and choose KDE. You can do the same thing to go back to Gnome.

The same thing works for Xubuntu.

sudo apt-get install xubuntu-desktop

[Mongo5000]

You can install Kubuntu within an Ubuntu installation.

sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop

When you log in, go to Options in the bottom left, select Session, and choose KDE. You can do the same thing to go back to Gnome.

The same thing works for Xubuntu.

sudo apt-get install xubuntu-desktop

Totally, done that earlier but I had the extra disk to install it alone.

Maybe its just the feel of KDE Im not able to get into

[Spaceman9]

KDE has more applets and apps and it has Krusader which makes it very easy to change permissions for files and folders and k3b which can do multi-session cd's and dvd's.

Gnome has a better menu set up, more themes and 2 panels by default. I always add a second panel to KDE because it's really handy to have 2 panels.

I've had Gnome and KDE installed in every distro I've used since last year. The more things I learn to do with the CLI the less I need KDE.

If there's anything that could make me only use Gnome it would be KDE4. After I learn enough UNIX commands I'll only use Gnome.

[buntunub]

That's really a thing of personal preference. Some people feel that KDE gives the user more fine grained control over their systems, but I think that's just bunk. Ubuntu is far more refined than is Kubuntu, IMO, especially Kubuntu Intrepid, but for the more bleeding edge, I think Kubuntu is definitely the way to go.

[jerome1232]

I guess I'm weird because I prefer rythmbox and/or banshee to amarok. And Kubuntu itself is meh, now why did I install this again?

That being said I did like KDE under OpenSuse 11 so maybe it's just the default look and feel of Kubuntu that I don't like.

So I say give it a shot.

[Corelogik]

Not to hijack, but I have a few noob questions about the whole desktop environment thing if you all don't mind.

What exactly is a desktop environment?
Is just a simple theme like thing or something much larger?
Will apps from one desktop environment run in another without issue?
For example if I am running Gnome, and want to use a KDE app without using the KDE environment, can I?
Is it possible to switch between the two environments without rebooting?
Is there any advantage to running one or the other, or both within the same Linux installation?

[jerome1232]

Not to hijack, but I have a few noob questions about the whole desktop environment thing if you all don't mind.

What exactly is a desktop environment?
Is just a simple theme like thing or something much larger?
Will apps from one desktop environment run in another without issue?
For example if I am running Gnome, and want to use a KDE app without using the KDE environment, can I?
Is it possible to switch between the two environments without rebooting?
Is there any advantage to running one or the other, or both within the same Linux installation?

1: Larger, it's a general look and feel, suite of applications and etc...

3: Yes they will, but say you run gnome, if you download a KDE app it will bring alot of K libraries and generally start slower than your gnome apps because it has to load those extra K libraries

4: Yes but you still have to logout then log back in

5: It's pretty much a whole lot of personal Preference. Which one you like better.

[Zimmer]

Not to hijack, but I have a few noob questions about the whole desktop environment thing if you all don't mind.

What exactly is a desktop environment?
Is just a simple theme like thing or something much larger?
Will apps from one desktop environment run in another without issue?
For example if I am running Gnome, and want to use a KDE app without using the KDE environment, can I?
Is it possible to switch between the two environments without rebooting?
Is there any advantage to running one or the other, or both within the same Linux installation?

Personal example: I was encouraged to use K3b which is a KDE app.
I downloaded it and it needed many KDE dependencies. But it worked from the Gnome desktop environment, I just added it to the menus.

I then had a lot of space on disk taken up by KDE libs that were only required by one application, K3b. No problem if you have the space (which most do) but probably 'untidy' in the eyes of the Linux purist or lean machine fans.

Loading the KDE desktop will fatten your Linux partition and allow you to experience both desktops and a larger choice of applications.
I, personally, am looking to install a KDE distro on a separate partition .
I use (yet another ) partition to store my data files anyway in case I have to reinstall Ubuntu.