KDE or Kubuntu

[forrestcupp]

Is there a difference performance-wise between installing kubuntu and installing ubuntu then installing the kde metapackage? I know if I do the latter, I'm going to have a lot more software installed, but I'm asking about performance here. I have heard kubuntu is slow, and I wonder if it's the same no matter how you install kde from the repos.

[dreadlord_chris]

Is there a difference performance-wise between installing kubuntu and installing ubuntu then installing the kde metapackage? I know if I do the latter, I'm going to have a lot more software installed, but I'm asking about performance here. I have heard kubuntu is slow, and I wonder if it's the same no matter how you install kde from the repos.

:popcorn:
You've heard KDE is slow from GNOME/xfce/blah blah blah users. My truth is - I've found KDE to be just as fast, on my system, as either GNOME or Enlightenment. To me, KDE feels like a more complete & modern desktop environment then GNOME. In my opinion, KDE is much more intuitive (read: easier to use out of the box) then Enlightenment.

I started out in Edgy with GNOME and added the kubuntu-desktop metapackage (and just about all the other DEs) - never really noticed a performance hit. And that was with only 256MB RAM. From there I rode the feisty beta train. By the time feisty officially hit the streets running I'd settled on KDE as my prefered DE - so I did a fresh install with Feisty Kubuntu. Honestly, it really didn't seem to effect performance.

Matter of fact, the only thing that's had a noticeable effect on performance is that new 1GB stick of RAM I added :p

Since then I've reinstalled GNOME (had to see "the new stuff" - wasn't impressed with "the new stuff") & E17 (beautiful DE if I could just 1: get it to run for longer then 5 minutes w/out seg faulting. 2: take the time to actually sit down and RTFM).

Oh ya, and Sun's Looking Glass DE - that was...... interesting.... I might have played with it a bit more, if my mouse didn't jump around on the screan like an epileptic frog on speed.

[vexorian]

I found KDE and gnome to almost have the same interface and same performance, thus you get to like a couple of KDE apps, I noticed gnome is more ubuntufied than KDE so after using Kubuntu for a while I decided to download the Ubuntu CD instead of Kubuntu CD for no actual reason, I just keep gnome and I added a couple of KDE apps that I liked.

[dptxp]

I normally use Gnome, I have kde-core installed, I sometimes use it for a change.

[Erunno]

I've been using openSUSE for a while now and from my personal experience I can say that in contrast Kubuntu seems awfully slow although I haven't the faintest idea why. Plus, Kubuntu has always been undermanned and it shows in the development rate and annoying bugs which never get fixed so you'll probably get a better KDE experience from another distribution.

[mips]

I've been using openSUSE for a while now and from my personal experience I can say that in contrast Kubuntu seems awfully slow although I haven't the faintest idea why.

I like KDE but I think Kubuntu is dog slow but then again I think the same of Ubuntu.

Where the people complaining about Kubuntu doing so from a ubuntu perspective or from a other kde distro. If they were coming from a Ubuntu perspective then I don't agree as they are both dogs.

[kotek_14]

If it weren't for Ubuntu I would still be another Windows user but I always had a willingness to try Linux, I tried Mandrake some time ago but I couldn't get it to work right so gave up on Linux. Then about a month ago I heard about Ubuntu through surfing the web so I downloaded the Ubuntu ISO and gave it a try, well a month later I use Ubuntu 99% and Windows only for PalTalk. I tried Kubuntu and on my machine it does seem to be a little slower than Ubuntu but not much. I like some aspects of KDE but I always seem to come back to Ubuntu. BTW I also tried PC Linux and Linux Mint, but there's something about Ubuntu that keeps me coming back. So Ubuntu is now my primary OS. When someone finds a way to run PalTalk seemlessly on Ubuntu then it will be a complete bye-bye to Windows.

[Bungo Pony]

I don't really find KDE/Kubuntu to be slower, just more glitchy. I have more apps crash and pieces of text bubbles sticking around on the screen than in Gnome. Although I found Gnome to be much cleaner and more stable, I REALLY like quite a few apps that come with Kubuntu. A lot of the Gnome apps seem to be lacking something, although I'm not sure what. Maybe a personality or uniqueness. They all seem so "bla".

[justin whitaker]

I don't really find KDE/Kubuntu to be slower, just more glitchy. I have more apps crash and pieces of text bubbles sticking around on the screen than in Gnome. Although I found Gnome to be much cleaner and more stable, I REALLY like quite a few apps that come with Kubuntu. A lot of the Gnome apps seem to be lacking something, although I'm not sure what. Maybe a personality or uniqueness. They all seem so "bla".

I agree. I switched to Kubuntu after trying to figure out why Ubuntu kept leaving me cold. There is just something nice about Kubuntu, and KDE, despite it being a bit buggier than it's Gnome sibling.

[reyfer]

Maybe I'm an alien then, because I use Kubuntu and it is fast and responsive, and I've had no problems or gltches whatsoever. My machine has been on since November last year, and it went through the upgrade to Feisty without a problem, and my KDE desktop works better than ever.

[a12ctic]

I always feel like KDE is just really cluttered and bloated compared to gnome which seems swift and smooth.

[DeadSuperHero]

I have both installed on my machnie. However, I like the huge icons of GNOME, but KDE is pretty nice, too. The only reason I don't use it is because I'm not quite used to the settings of it (but I'm willing to re-try as often as I need to)
The only one I'm really not comfortable with yet is Fluxbox...it's nice, but it's a very different experience.

[vexorian]

I dunno about ubuntu "being a dog" it is fast at my computer and faster than windows so it is enough for me, I also did not have the time to test MSLinux so I guess I can't compare it, does MSLinux have a live-cd or something? I don't think I can save space to try it.

[forrestcupp]

I don't think anyone really understood my question.

I don't care about KDE vs. Gnome or anything like that. I don't care about Kubuntu vs. some other KDE distro.

What I'm asking is, is there any performance difference between installing Kubuntu and installing the KDE metapackage on a plain Ubuntu install?

[vexorian]

Just like everything else, it would depend more on your own experience.

When I tried the KDE package over an ubuntu install, all was kind of fine, the only issue I had is that gnome and KDE living together used much more hard drive and they conflicted with each others with things like the font settings... But performance-wise I didnt' have complaints.

[plb]

I don't think anyone really understood my question.

I don't care about KDE vs. Gnome or anything like that. I don't care about Kubuntu vs. some other KDE distro.

What I'm asking is, is there any performance difference between installing Kubuntu and installing the KDE metapackage on a plain Ubuntu install?

Of course if you only install the kdecore package and nothing else. It would use less resources.

[AdamG51172]

I have that setup, with KDE installed over Ubuntu, but other than drive space, the only resources I see effected are human (mine). I have multiple users on my system, and it's nice for them to have the option of which flavor they would like to use. KDE is alot easier for my brother, for instance, because it more resembles *******. :guitar:

[vexorian]

I really thought both of them had pretty much the same interface, of course not the same default interface, The other day out of boredom decided to give gnome that windows like look, but then I regreted it and went back to the other one for some odd reason.

[blackspyder]

I asked this same question a few weeks ago. I tried KDE on my xubuntu setup and liked it enough to reinstall with Kubuntu. Which runs about the same speed, maybe a little faster since there arent alot of GTK apps on it now.

As far as another distro i dont know the last time I used KDE was back with FC3.

[maniacmusician]

I don't think anyone really understood my question.

I don't care about KDE vs. Gnome or anything like that. I don't care about Kubuntu vs. some other KDE distro.

What I'm asking is, is there any performance difference between installing Kubuntu and installing the KDE metapackage on a plain Ubuntu install?
I doubt it. There may be more services enabled on one than the other, but I don't think it would be anything that would have a significant effect. if you installed kde-core instead of kde/Kubuntu, then you would see more of a difference.

[luca.b]

I have decent PCs (not at the top) and I don't really perceive the full KDE in Kubuntu as slow.

[bobbocanfly]

I use GNOME and KDE (using KDE-Core, not kubuntu-desktop) and even though i dont like the KDE GUI as much as GNOME, it is a fair bit faster. Might just be because i run Beryl on GNOME though.....