Gnome vs. KDE

[corpsehacker]

I am currently running normal ubuntu 8.10 ( which uses Gnome) and am completely satisfied with it. Recently I started wondering whether I should use KDE or even XDE. I dont want to have to go through all the trouble of downloading them, installing them, and then doing it again if i dont like it, so I decided to ask the forum which is better. All I want is to know which one is fastest and has the best feel to it. Thank you all.

[calvinps]

To be honest, I think GNOME is better.

KDE is a little bit tacky. Most distros that use KDE have a "Launch" Menu, and it's pretty difficult to use.

Xfce is a little bit like GNOME, but it's lighter. So if you wanted to use a different desktop environment, I would personally recommend Xfce.

[gjoellee]

It is all about what YOU feel is the best. KDE is not better then GNOME, and GNOME is not better then KDE, but maybe GNOME is better for YOU then KDE. Understand?

To be honest, I think GNOME is better.

KDE is a little bit tacky. Most distros that use KDE have a "Launch" Menu, and it's pretty difficult to use.

Xfce is a little bit like GNOME, but it's lighter. So if you wanted to use a different desktop environment, I would personally recommend Xfce.

1. You can easily modify the menu, or just change the type of menu in KDE
2. Xfce is in fact GNOME. What the Xfce developers have done is modifying GNOME to be more lightweight by removing a lot of features.

[AllenGG]

K I S S
Gnome.
KDE seems more advanced, and you can use many KDE apps/files/programs/routines/etc under Gnome.

[wersdaluv]

Haha. This thread will be moved to where?

[gjoellee]

K I S S
KDE seems more advanced.

I said that before I gave KDEmod 4.2 a REAL try.

Haha. This thread will be moved to where?

Maybe to "Desktop Environments"

[Simian Man]

2. Xfce is in fact GNOME. What the Xfce developers have done is modifying GNOME to be more lightweight by removing a lot of features.

That is not true at all, it is a completely independent project. They just both use GTK+ as the underlying toolkit. I can see how you might get that idea using Xubuntu though. Xubuntu hacks Xfce to look like Gnome.

Installing and running all three is simple and fun (assuming you have decent internet connection). Run:

apt-get install kde xfce

And grab a snack. After that, just logout and try all three.

[gjoellee]

That is not true at all, it is a completely independent project. They just both use GTK+ as the underlying toolkit. I can see how you might get that idea using Xubuntu though. Xubuntu hacks Xfce to look like Gnome.

Installing and running all three is simple and fun (assuming you have decent internet connection). Run:

apt-get install kde xfce

And grab a snack. After that, just logout and try all three.

I did not mention Xubuntu at all...! (Xubuntu is by the way the worst example I've heard when it comes to a lightweight distro). I use Arch Linux and all the desktop envirnments are "vanilla" excpept for KDEmod. I know what Xfce is!

I see I didn't write the same as I thought...
A lot of Xfce might be written from scratch, but some some applications in Xfce are actually taken from GNOME and modified to be light.

[3Miro]

I have never used Xfe, I heard its main goal is to be lightweight, but I guess that comes at the expense of features, since I have friends that recently moved to Gnome to get more features.

Gnome is great, I have it on my Laptop and am very happy with it. However, I personally prefer KDE. The biggest difference for me comes from the applications, yes you can run KDE apps under Gnome and Gnome apps under KDE, but it is better to run them under their own environment.

1. Kaffeine and Amerok are better than any media player under Gnome (they only lack the totem option to play streaming videos form Youtube)
2. I have found no analog to Ktorrent.
3. Okular has more options when working with pdfs (such as esily saving part of a .pdf file to an image file).
4. I guess Gimp is a plus for Gnome, but I don't do image editing so it makes no difference for me.
5. Compiz runs better on Gnome than KDE, however, the KDE native kwin work at least as well. Compiz has overall more "effects", however, kwin can do things that compiz cannot (preview of minimized windows for example). Also kwin under KDE runs "smoother" than compiz under Gnome.
6. Konqueror has more functionality then Firefox, also some extra security features (depending on your level of paranoia you may find those annoying). One issue is that Flash works better under Firefox than Konqueror (it works for Konqueror, but has more bugs).

Those are some of the things that come to mind.

BTW, if you want to try KDE, make sure to get KDE 4.2, 4.1 and earlier are very unstable.

[gjoellee]

I have never used Xfe, I heard its main goal is to be lightweight, but I guess that comes at the expense of features, since I have friends that recently moved to Gnome to get more features.

Gnome is great, I have it on my Laptop and am very happy with it. However, I personally prefer KDE. The biggest difference for me comes from the applications, yes you can run KDE apps under Gnome and Gnome apps under KDE, but it is better to run them under their own environment.

1. Kaffeine and Amerok are better than any media player under Gnome (they only lack the totem option to play streaming videos form Youtube)
2. I have found no analog to Ktorrent.
3. Okular has more options when working with pdfs (such as esily saving part of a .pdf file to an image file).
4. I guess Gimp is a plus for Gnome, but I don't do image editing so it makes no difference for me.
5. Compiz runs better on Gnome than KDE, however, the KDE native kwin work at least as well. Compiz has overall more "effects", however, kwin can do things that compiz cannot (preview of minimized windows for example). Also kwin under KDE runs "smoother" than compiz under Gnome.
6. Konqueror has more functionality then Firefox, also some extra security features (depending on your level of paranoia you may find those annoying). One issue is that Flash works better under Firefox than Konqueror (it works for Konqueror, but has more bugs).

Those are some of the things that come to mind.

BTW, if you want to try KDE, make sure to get KDE 4.2, 4.1 and earlier are very unstable.

5. Compiz is quite unstable, and therefore it is better to run the native window manager. In KDE Kwin has a lot of built in effects...even cube in KDE 4.2!

6. GNOME does not run Firefox natively. GNOME runs Epiphany nativly. Epiphany is not any better then Konqueror. Both Epiphany and Konqureror should be abandoned in my opinion. Firefox FTW!

Programs like "lxappearance" lets you theme GTK+ apps under KDE. I have added a KDE gtk theme so even GNOME apps look like KDE.