Debian 12 released

[wove]

I have not used Aquemu before either. For the last few years I have been using GTK based desktops. Virtmanager is GTK based while Aqemu is QT based, so since I installed Plasma which is QT based I figured I would look at Aqemu. I am hoping that I can just bring my configured VMs over from storage and they will just work. If that is not the case then I will probably go back to Virtmanager (although using a GTK app on a QT system will no doubt vex me so much, I will need to switch to a GTK system.)

For whatever reason it is my nature to just be fussy about using software based on toolkit it is developed on. My browser is Epiphany on GTK systems and Konqueror on QT systems. I did very detailed work my whole life and the work was very much judged on my attention to the details. Looking back I can not say if I gravitated in that direction because I am fussy, or I became fussy because of work I did.

Overall Debian is running very well. KDE and Plasma seem to go through spells of adding lots of features that show up a bit "half baked", then go into a spell of polishing it all up. I have always found KDE to be very well engineered and very nice to work with, however it does go through spells where the implementation feels dodgy.

[dai_trying]

Ah I see now, maybe Aqemu won't be a good fit for me then as I pretty much only use Xfce (GTK).

I don't use KDE mainly due to its history of creating a pretty good desktop experience and then messing it all up. I guess that's one of the reasons I choose Debian (with Xfce) as my base distro, once it becomes stable you know exactly where you stand and failures are extremely rare (IME).

[crosscourt]

KDE for the most part with the 5.xx series has been very good and didnt suffer the many issues that occurred with the 4,xx series. I still use it with MX Linux and it works very well. That said I mainly use Zorin and Mint right now so Im using Gnome Shell and Cinnamon which have been a great experience overall.
For most users, not advanced users necessarily, MX Linux will be a better Debian experience, with better features, easier and simpler access to downloading it and a much better installer, plus access to non-free firmware and software support, out of the box. It also has XFCE as its main DE but also offers KDE. Through MX package manager you can get a variety of software/kernels that are more up to date and a one click install.

[dai_trying]

I have to agree that the 5.x series of KDE has been reported pretty much everywhere as being very good, and I hope it doesn't go and do the same as it has done in the past and mess it up.

I also agree that MX Linux is a pretty good starting point for anyone embarking on a Linux journey, and as often seen, many of their users once more comfortable with Linux seem to want to switch to "the mother distro" which is kinda how my journey went really, I started using Linux full time with Ubuntu as it was the easiest (at the time) distro to get installed and running properly, it was only after using it for a good while and being more comfortable with it that I started leaning towards Debian. Obviously I tried a heck of a lot of distro's in between before finally realising that Debian (for me at least) was the optimum choice.

[bin]

I had something of a love hate relationship with MX for a long time. Having spent a few months kicking the unattended upgrades side into how I want it to work I've moved over to it full time. My wife's laptop was running Sparky (Buster) and so she is now on MX as well. Probably wait a while till they've got the next version out of the door to move on to Bookworm, thought the beta is very stable under VM already.
What I like is the provision of upstream packages in a well curated and supported environment. I have no axe to grind with systemd or the sysv-init debate, but the fact that you have a choice is to a good sign.

[crosscourt]

Mepis was one of my favorites and when I heard about MX I tried it and liked it immediately. Its still my main distro using KDE even though I continue to experiment with Zorin and Mint. MX has had some ups and downs with various versions but overall, theyve done a good job making needed changes and correcting problems while adding excellent features all users can benefit from, plus the community is a great one to interact with.