I feel lost (between GNOME & KDE)

[gingermark]

I'm a Kubuntu user who recently gave the Ubuntu Dapper RC release a go. And I have to say, I thought it looked excellent. I use a fair few gtk apps in Kubuntu, and I guess it goes without saying that they looked fantastic in GNOME.

And GNOME felt so solid, so "compact" - I don't how to describe it better, At any rate, it is a very polished desktop.

And then, as I started to use it, I remembered why I switched to KDE in the first place. I find GNOME an absolute pain to configure. Config options I expected to be there just weren't, indeed some the option dialogs didn't seem to justify their existance by the options available.

I guess I'm used to KDE, but if I want to configure the desktop (for example) I'd like all such options available via a GUI together - not just an option to change the bleedin' background. I know this is a result of GNOME's HIG, but I guess I'm not one of the humans that it's aimed at.

And so I went back to KDE, figuring as much as I like Ubuntu visually it is more important to have a useable (for me) desktop. I honestly found GNOME unusable. Yet back in KDE, I now miss it, and I'm having thoughts of putting the Ubuntu CD back in the drive and reinstalling it.

The point of this post? I can't believe I'm the only person who's felt this way, and I wanted to know if there was any way anyone could see me having the best of both worlds - that is Ubuntu's interface with Kubuntu's configurability.

Any suggestions or links would be most appreciated.

Best regards,
gingermark.

PS. I don't mean to start another Ubuntu vs Kubuntu thread here - I love that Linux afford me such choice, it's just frustrating when I really want elements of both options.

[banjobacon]

Maybe you should stick with Gnome for a more significant amount of time. I was a KDE user, and after using Gnome for a while, I realized I didn't really care about all the little things KDE let me configure.

[TrailerTrash]

Maybe you should stick with Gnome for a more significant amount of time. I was a KDE user, and after using Gnome for a while, I realized I didn't really care about all the little things KDE let me configure.


I agree!

[ComplexNumber]

Maybe you should stick with Gnome for a more significant amount of time. I was a KDE user, and after using Gnome for a while, I realized I didn't really care about all the little things KDE let me configure. i'm pretty much the same. i remember all the options in KDE and i think to myself "no wonder i don't miss them in gnome, because i never used them even in KDE. and those that i did bother to configure, i didn't need or want to anyway, in hindsight. KDE is like a virus coercing people into that mindset that people need all those options and that they are necessary, when they're not even remotely necessary. i was just configuring for configuring's sake". after a few years i used to think "i wonder how gnomes coming along". gnome was crap in the early days, and KDE was a lot better. i realise that it wasn't so much that KDE was good. it was just the only option then, even though gnome was always the more attractive desktop in terms of philiosophy, appearence, inventiveness, and originality. things have changed loads sinces then - KDE has stayed almost exactly the same with very little REAL progress, whilst gnome has come on in leaps and bounds. besides, i've been there lots of times - i just end up fiddling about with the configuration option....but for what? then i realise that gnome is better than that for me from the word go. i spent all but the last year on linux using KDE. every now and again, i would install gnome to see what i was missing. the reason why people do this (including me) is because we all wonder from time to time how green the grass is on the other side. for many people, KDE can offer things that gnome can't, and visa versa. its those things that "the other" DE can offer that tempt us to install "the other" every now and again. its also means that you are not totally sure that your current favourite DE really is your favourite. i've gone past that stage now.
although gnome isn't perfect, it comes damn close for my needs. i also now know that i am a gnome person at heart and i feel at home with it. i don't have KDE on my system anymore. in fact, i don't even have qt installed now. i've come to realise that there is something inherent about KDE which repels me and which has always repelled me from about 1998. "inherent" is quite a key word here because, these days with gnome, i don't have those twinges that make me wonder what im missing.

gingermark, one day, you will come to settle on one or the other.

[SeanTater]

solution
In Kubuntu:

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop

go to KDM -- switch to Gnome -- nope, KDE -- no -- how about gnome -- what about kde -- gnome -- kde -- aaahhh!

satisfy your whims and change desktops without resinstalling..

[henriquemaia]

Hi,

Before using Ubuntu, I was a total fan of KDE. I found Gnome... strange. Then I tried Ubuntu. For the first month or so, I just felt awkward. I just didn't quit because I read about Gnome and saw how much thought they put behind it in terms of usability. After that time I got really confortable with Gnome. Now I can't even imagine myself going back to KDE. Gnome made my desktop experience change for better.

[Iandefor]

You could stick with gnome for a while and see how it goes. I know I went through a similar 'phase' when I moved from KDE to GNOME, but GNOME works much better for me. Try sticking with it for a while, and if you find you still hate it, well... best of luck finding a middle ground. You could also try XFCE, which is more customizable than GNOME, but still uses GTK.

[RAV TUX]

I just tried xfce on Xubuntu today, while fun I still missed Gnome, I have tried KDE/Kubuntu in the past.

bottom line:

"I'm a Gnome Man"





.

[Orunitia]

I can't believe I used gnome for as long as I did. Ever since I started using linux I've been a KDE user, then I switched to ubuntu and used gnome for too damn long. >_> I love amarok (I know use it in gnome, BLEH!) and konqueror too much.

[Sammi]

I agree with every answer, exept the last one (ok amaroK is nice).

I remember that I dismissed Gnome just a month or so ago in a tread in this forums, saying something like that it was missing features and was just plain harder to configure than KDE.

Soon after my Dapper install got kinda borked and I reinstalled it. Out of general Linux interest I though that I should try to give Gnome a fair chance and not install Kubuntu over it, because I only had a Ubuntu cd. Had I had a Kubuntu cd I probably would never have tried Gnome at all and that would have been the biggest shame in the world, because I got hooked by just a few days of using it!

I have come to realise that the features I was so afraid to loose we're nothing but useless bloat and that Gnome let's you do much more that you think. And it's far more polished - especially with Ubuntu!

I love Gnome 2.14!!!

[gingermark]

Thank you all for your answers.

I really don't want multiple DEs installed, and was kinda hoping someone would say "hey, they've ported kcontrol to GNOME!!!" Alas, no.

The reason I didn't stick with GNOME (this time around) as long as I initially intended to was simply the realisation that if I couldn't do what I wanted with it then what was the point? No doubt some of the KDE options are bloat, but I still use many of them, and the idea in GNOME of not being able to do something (via the GUI) is pretty frustrating.

That said, I am tempted to try again. I'm not 100% sure why, because I love KDE, but I will give it another go. But I'll still be looking for that gnome version of kcontrol! :)

[Iandefor]

Thank you all for your answers.

I really don't want multiple DEs installed, and was kinda hoping someone would say "hey, they've ported kcontrol to GNOME!!!" Alas, no.

The reason I didn't stick with GNOME (this time around) as long as I initially intended to was simply the realisation that if I couldn't do what I wanted with it then what was the point? No doubt some of the KDE options are bloat, but I still use many of them, and the idea in GNOME of not being able to do something (via the GUI) is pretty frustrating.

That said, I am tempted to try again. I'm not 100% sure why, because I love KDE, but I will give it another go. But I'll still be looking for that gnome version of kcontrol! :) Good luck!

You can also try gconf-editor. It's not as user-friendly as kcontrol, but gives you a lot more control over GNOME than the configuration options in the menus will.
If you want to give it a go, hit alt-f2 and type "gconf-editor". Play around a little.

[vinodis]

Go Kubuntu Dapper.
You will love it.

[Sammi]

gingermark: Seriously, what specific option or feature are you missing?

Are you sure it's not just some kind mental block in your head that keeps you from taking Gnome serously? That was the case with me... but I found out that everything I wanted was in Gnome. And I use alot of things. I tinker alot.

[calx]

I found Openbox (http://www.icculus.org/openbox/about.php) was a good solution for use on my laptop. The interface is basic, but since all I ever seem to do is use firefox for the entire seission 90% of the time it is more than sufficient. The performance gain on older hardware is significant too.

Screenshots (http://www.icculus.org/openbox/screenshots.php)

Openbox: A lightweight window manager
Thursday February 02, 2006 (09:01 AM GMT)
By: Mayank Sharma (http://applications.linux.com/article.pl?sid=06/01/24/1611254&tid=13)

[hostilepenguin]

Callix has an interesting point. Maybe you can't decide because you ultimately don't really like either desktop. Speaking for myself I tried both KDE and Gnome when I began working with Linux (Back before the Y2K scare) and decided I didn't really like either of them. I still install them from time to time to look at the new features, but I'm very happy just using BlackBox.

(Though I did install Xubuntu-Desktop during my Dapper upgrade, and I really like it.)

As always: YMMV.

What are you looking for in a WindowManager and/or Desktop Enviornment that Gnome or KDE don't deliver?

[gingermark]

KDE delivers pretty much everything I want, and it'll probably be where I end back up at, especially when KDE4 comes about.

The reason I've gone back to Ubuntu is mainly aesthetic (I use a fair few gtk apps , and the gtk-qt engine in KDE doesn't seem to cut it), the fact it is better supported, and just cos I fancied a change. I will have to look into whether replacing metacity with something else would help, but that's for another day.

I'm getting on with it better, but the simplified interface still irritates somewhat. With applications, that's easy enough to fix (replace Sound-Juicer with Grip for example).

In answer to Sammi's question, I miss lots of small, niggly things. An example could be the panel properties menu - you can only set the height in pixels, not the width. Things like that.

But I will persevere for now.

Thanks again to everyone who has responded.

Best regards,
gingermark.

[ComplexNumber]

An example could be the panel properties menu - you can only set the height in pixels, not the width. Things like that. do you know why? its because the panel expands in relation to the number of applets on the panel. is there any reason for you to have empty space on the panel if you're not wanting it to be the full width of the screen?

[gingermark]

Well, there's lots of empty space on the panels in Ubuntu's default configuration. It seems conceivable that someone would want a panel of a certain length for aesthetic reasons.

Granted it's hardly life or death, but personally I'd rather have the option. And that was just an example. It is evident that being used to having such options in KDE it'll take some time to get used to being somewhat more restricted (in this respect) in GNOME.

But I'm reasonably happy with it this time around, and VLC looks great :) (it looked horrific in KDE).

[ComplexNumber]

Well, there's lots of empty space on the panels in Ubuntu's default configuration. It seems conceivable that someone would want a panel of a certain length for aesthetic reasons. you can place the panel at any location on the screen. for example, you can have it 1/4 of the way along, 1/2 way along, 3/4 of the way along, 45/89 of the way along the top or bottom of the screen, or even in the middle of the screen. just fill the panel up with applets to get it to that certain ideal size.