Looking at KDE

Discussion of software apps
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wove
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Looking at KDE

Post by wove »

I wanted to take a look at KDE again and have been using virt-manager to try out a couple distos in virtual machines. I tried Fedora Kinoite, the KDE counter part to Fedora Silverblue's Gnome. It does run very well, but KDE apps in flatpak are a bit sparse. Software can be installed directly with rpm-ostree, but if you need to do that for most everything it sort of defeats the whole idea.

I ran up KDE Neon. As I was waiting for it do download I saw a mention to check out KDE apps at the Snap Store. I very sort of surprised at how many there are. Left me wondering why KDE appears to favor Snaps over flatpaks. Falkon for instance is available as Snap, while not available as a Flatpak. Same can be said of Calligra and of host of other KDE software.
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crosscourt
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Re: Looking at KDE

Post by crosscourt »

Not surprising as Neon is based on Kubuntu and thus heavily favors Snap which Ubuntu has gone overboard with its selection of apps. Its not really about KDE but the distro its used with and what they decide they want to support.
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crosscourt
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Re: Looking at KDE

Post by crosscourt »

I use KDE most of the time but I really dont use many K apps, as I tend to pick and choose what apps I prefer to use.
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wove
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Re: Looking at KDE

Post by wove »

I have always preferred having all my applications being based on the same interface guide lines. I like everything looking like it belongs together. Firefox will always be installed, because it works when others will not, but my default browser will always be the browser developed by the DE. For me I think that comes from years on the Mac. That is why I like Gnome, they have a vision, they are executing it and they are enforcing it. It is far from flawless, but it does have a consistency in theme and operation. It is also why I really like Trinity. It does look dated now, but it is consistent in theme and operation. I really like the Plasma DE. Its underlying power and integration probably makes it the most productive DE you are ever going to find.

Plasma does have a complexity to it, that for me seems to require a good deal more user involvement than I really like to invest. I have no idea what the ideal balance is, but on one hand I want a DE that is all powerful, while at the same time being totally transparent in use. I suppose that is something the user has to decide and setup then work with long enough to have actions just become motor memory.
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crosscourt
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Re: Looking at KDE

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For me its about using the best possible apps that work well and suit my needs. Whether its integrated or not doesnt matter to me, particularly if those integrated apps are lacking and not worth using. I dont find KDE complex yet it does offer a level of customization I really enjoy. Having used over 30 KDE based distros over the years, there have been some rough patches with KDE, pushing me to other DE's but recently KDE is the best DE Ive ever used.
Right now Im using KDE,XFCE and Gnome Shell with Zorin 16.
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tlmiller
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Re: Looking at KDE

Post by tlmiller »

I've pretty much always been a fan of KDE, ever since the KDE 2.x days (even as long as I've been using linux, while I did USE KDE 1.x, I never really used it to any great extent since I never was able to get online while it was around). For the longest time if you wanted a fully functional desktop KDE or Gnome was pretty much your only choices, and I always felt Gnome was ugly (although perfectly functional until Gnome3) and required more work to make it look good than I was willing to generally put towards it. I did start looking for something else when KDE 4 was released as that release was a steaming pile of unstable garbage for at least a year, but eventually came back, and stayed with KDE 4 until WELL into Plasma 5's releases. And of course there's more choices than ever nowadays, with XFCE finally achieving a level of completeness that it's totally usable (it was actually released in the late 90's), LXQT becoming complete enough to use (although not very consistent), Mate continuing that Gnome2 paradigm, Trinity continuing the KDE 3.5 line, and Cinnamon trying to tame Gnome Shell to make it tolerable. Not to mention several smaller ones that are really just used by a single distro, or just aren't very popular (Enlightenment, Budgie, Pantheon, Lumina, etc.)
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crosscourt
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Re: Looking at KDE

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KDE 3 was my first experience and 3.5 was a favorite. KDE for me was enough like Windows that it made it easy for me to get use to and customize. Later I grew very fond of Gnome 2 but ended up back on KDE. Zorin's customized Gnome shell mimics the Windows feel as well so it was one of my early favorites as well. Ive used so many DE's that Im not as particular as I use to be.
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crosscourt
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Re: Looking at KDE

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I first looked at Trinity because I liked KDE 3.5 back in the day and enjoyed the retro look but since then Ive moved on. KDE offers such a great experience its difficult to bring myself to use Trinity. I actually enjoy XFCE more than Trinity presently.
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crosscourt
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Re: Looking at KDE

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Ive been using Mint XFCE for awhile and I have to say, I really enjoy using it. The customization level is much better than it use to be even though oits still not as extensive as KDE.
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