Desktop Environment / Window Manager Preference/Comparison Thread

[nsleiman]

Talking about KDE, well i love Konqueror and its multi functionality, Ctrl+T for a new TAB, Amarok is the best music player for me ever, yakuake the sweetest terminal emulator, Kopete for messenging, k3b for buring cds (and more)..

actually i also love gnome, i find it more robust and user friendly, but KDE has so many cool features...

[konungursvia]

Linus says kde is more configurable than gnome. I don't really see the huzzah.

[krussell]

Hello
I was a KDE user (on Slackware, its still one of the best distros). After installing Ubuntu gnome is my first choice for the moment. But I can surely say managing/copying/browsing files/folder takes lot less time in KDE.

[Fascination]

I prefer Fluxbox over Gnome and KDE, simply because I enjoy being able to make my desktop gui look exactly the way I want (and use the CLI for actual work). However, I do more server side work in linux and dont often get to see my gui these days anyway - generally I just remote in from whatever station or computer Im on.
I have to agree with the comments being made about KDE being too 'Windows' like, just as Gnome is too 'Mac' like. I would pick Gnome out of the two simply because it feels more comfortable to work in (very reminiscent of the Ubuntu philosophy) and it feels less like Im logged onto a Microsoft product.

[johndavid400]

one thing that keeps me on KDE is the configurability of the desktop.

Nice transparent taskbar:
Right click on the taskbar, select "configure panel" then click on "appearance", then click the box "enable transaprency".

Desktop widgets (weather, sensor monitors, cpu/memory usage, etc..):
$ sudo aptitude install superkaramba
to open: Kmenu>Utilities>Superkaramba
and add whatever themes you want.

Easily select/install/use desktop backgrounds:
right click on desktop, select "configure desktop", click "get new wallpapers"

Add to taskbar panel:
right click on taskbar panel, select one of the top two items "Add aplet to panel" or "Add application to panel". Select any application on your computer to add to the panel as a shortcut.

Just a few of the things that I like about KDE.

[rsambuca]

one thing that keeps me on KDE is the configurability of the desktop.

Nice transparent taskbar:
Right click on the taskbar, select "configure panel" then click on "appearance", then click the box "enable transaprency".

Desktop widgets (weather, sensor monitors, cpu/memory usage, etc..):
$ sudo aptitude install superkaramba
to open: Kmenu>Utilities>Superkaramba
and add whatever themes you want.

Easily select/install/use desktop backgrounds:
right click on desktop, select "configure desktop", click "get new wallpapers"

Add to taskbar panel:
right click on taskbar panel, select one of the top two items "Add aplet to panel" or "Add application to panel". Select any application on your computer to add to the panel as a shortcut.

Just a few of the things that I like about KDE.

KDE is definitely easier to configure, but every single thing you mentioned here is also easily done with gnome. Taskbar transparency, gdesklets, adding panels, desktops, all just right-clicks away.

[chakkaradeep]

KDE is definitely easier to configure, but every single thing you mentioned here is also easily done with gnome. Taskbar transparency, gdesklets, adding panels, desktops, all just right-clicks away.

I think KDE has so many places/options where things can be changed, but Gnome is straight forward and yes, Gnome is really slick when compared to KDE . What I love in Gnome is the menu system. I hate KDE bloated menu system

[Sunnz]

KDE is definitely easier to configure, but every single thing you mentioned here is also easily done with gnome. Taskbar transparency, gdesklets, adding panels, desktops, all just right-clicks away.

I think easier is debatable... not that I want to start one here!!

But I think all in all it just comes down whatever you are used to. If you are used to Gnome then you'll find Gnome to be easier to configure no matter what some great debater says.

[yigal.weinstein]

KDE is superior with its defaults in almost every way to GNOME.

file browser:
KDE - Konqueror: good at web browsing, ftp, samba shares, desktop file system
GNOME - Nautilus: has emblems but it can't deal with ftp/samba without stalling or with terrible problems. It can't surf the web

KDE - kmail handles mail almost as well as sylpheed-claws and is integrated into KDE
GNOME - Evolution: has needed to evolve for years but still hasn't. takes for ....ever to deal with mailboxes of a few thousand emails. It is the slowest mail program I know of.

KDE - amarok: need I say more? Stable, a bit ram intensive but a quality music player
GNOME - Rhythmbox: needs improvement, this is a euphamism. I would say it stinks to high heaven and crashes on me almost everytime I use it, but I just did and its the truth.

I could go on but I don't think I should have to.

Why pretend like these GUIs are on the same level? They aren't. KDE has quality, integrated applications installed by default and GNOME has inferior applications that at best one can say needs improving. I think that it is unfair to even talk about these two GUIs as comparable as one is still far better designed, KDE, to another that hides behind a centimeter thick make up of "simplicity" but is really a GUI falling apart. I am flaming I know but KDE is really so far better, to me than GNOME, at this stage that I don't understand why people support GNOME over KDE.

I use a P4 1.7Ghz processor with 512mb of ram with a 5200GeForce Nvidia card. Both systems work about as fast on this minimal hardware specs.. Note if you do $top when you enter KDE it will read 0% for xorg this is not true for GNOME. Note that there seams to be a small memory leak in KDE but after using it for a couple of days I simply restart KDM and I am happy for what I get with it over GNOME any day. Funding, putting time into an inferior project is a waste of time at best.

[ComplexNumber]

KDE is superior with its defaults in almost every way to GNOME.

really? . i'll have to bear that in mind from now on then. hehe.

some rather strange logic you have there.