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Anyone thinking about using Linux on their desktop or laptop should give latest KDE a try. Rolling release distros like Arch or OpenSuse Tumbleweed should be go

Anyone thinking about using Linux on their desktop or laptop should give latest KDE a try. Rolling release distros like Arch or OpenSuse Tumbleweed should be good options. Reasons you may like it - no new paradigm bs to learn just your plain old customizable desktop, it’s stable(they’re fixing stuff like crazy every week), if you don’t like something they are making contributing to / building KDE components very easy, HiDPI support is about the best - partial scaling, per desktop DPI works great at least on X11 and finally they are making running GTK apps a great experience with Plasma 5.18.

azangru 7y ago
> Rolling release distros like Arch or OpenSuse Tumbleweed should be good options. KDE Neon is perfect. It has the simplicity, familiarity, and stability of the latest Ubuntu LTS, on which it is based, combined with the evergreen KDE desktop.
marcosdumay 7y ago
> no new paradigm bs to learn just your plain old customizable desktop Oh, there are plenty of new paradigms you can configure into your KDE desktop. It's a good thing that most distros come with a same-old behavior, but if you want, you can change it.
brabel 7y ago
After years using Ubuntu 16 I upgraded to 19 as I heard it was really good and fast. It wasn't either... lots of things just didn't work anymore, like function keys (switching languages takes like 5 seconds and it's a known issue they just won't fix) and shortcuts changing or just not working anymore in several applications I use. So I decided to install KDE Plasma, and I couldn't be happier! Everything works exactly as I expected. And it's a beautiful desktop environment, especially after I installed a dark theme. I also use a Mac, and now I honestly don't know which desktop experience is better! Which is a huge compliment to Plasma, as MacOS is actually quite polished. I can't recommend Plasma enough to anyone who wants Linux on desktop/laptop.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
aruggirello 7y ago
Yeah! BTW let's not forget the (probably) best filesystem browsing experience (Dolphin), the Event Calendar add-on, and: KDE Connect!
- kingofpandora 7y ago
  Which project is the Event Calendar you referred to? I found this: https://github.com/Zren/plasma-applet-eventcalendar https://github.com/Zren/plasma-applet-eventcalendar
  - aruggirello 7y ago
    Exactly.
agumonkey 7y ago
I've been tring and eyeing KDE since 4. There's always something that is not right in the UI foundation. I've heard how lean to WM/GUI code is, low mem usage .. but I always end up in XFCE.
- simion314 7y ago
  >There's always something that is not right in the UI foundation What is fundamentally broken with their UI that a competent person can't change?
  - agumonkey 7y ago
    the whole
    - simion314 7y ago
      Thank you for your thoughtful and intelligent response, I think there is a DE that is more for your level, is safe it has all big and rounded widgets and most of the features were removed to make place to even more white space to look professional but be basic.
      - agumonkey 7y ago
        thanks, it's always easier when questions are that thoughtful
  - ubercow13 7y ago
    Often with newer UI frameworks like that used by plasma, basic interactions with familiar widgets just don't work as expected. It's the same argument levied against any non-native app whenever this comes up, whether it's QML or Electron or whatever. As a concrete example, the KDE application menu will close whenever you move the cursor off of it onto another window, unlike any menu in any other desktop UI widget toolkit [1]. So from some users' perspective, things like the move to plasma can seem like little more than a series of UI regressions. The basics just don't work so well any more, and the only upside is maybe slightly prettier graphics. It can be disheartening. Here is an application menu from KDE 1 in 1999 which I am sure worked just fine [2]. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/kde/comments/9a41si/possible_bug_application_menu_closes_when/ https://www.reddit.com/r/kde/comments/9a41si/possible_bug_ap... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K_Desktop_Environment_1#/media/File:KDE_1.1.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K_Desktop_Environment_1#/media...
chinesempire 7y ago
I remember trying KDE before it reached it's first public release in 1997. I went back and forth with it for 20 years, but 2 years ago I tried plasma to address an issue with XFCE4 and my 4k monitor and I never looked back. It's stable, rock solid, lightweight and has the best support for scaling I've seen on Linux until now. It still has some glitches on GTK apps and with theming, but overall is my DE of choice right now (XFCE4 is still my favourite, but KDE just works)

azangru 7y ago

> Rolling release distros like Arch or OpenSuse Tumbleweed should be good options. KDE Neon is perfect. It has the simplicity, familiarity, and stability of the latest Ubuntu LTS, on which it is based, combined with the evergreen KDE desktop.

marcosdumay 7y ago

> no new paradigm bs to learn just your plain old customizable desktop Oh, there are plenty of new paradigms you can configure into your KDE desktop. It's a good thing that most distros come with a same-old behavior, but if you want, you can change it.

brabel 7y ago

After years using Ubuntu 16 I upgraded to 19 as I heard it was really good and fast. It wasn't either... lots of things just didn't work anymore, like function keys (switching languages takes like 5 seconds and it's a known issue they just won't fix) and shortcuts changing or just not working anymore in several applications I use. So I decided to install KDE Plasma, and I couldn't be happier! Everything works exactly as I expected. And it's a beautiful desktop environment, especially after I installed a dark theme. I also use a Mac, and now I honestly don't know which desktop experience is better! Which is a huge compliment to Plasma, as MacOS is actually quite polished. I can't recommend Plasma enough to anyone who wants Linux on desktop/laptop.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

aruggirello 7y ago

Yeah! BTW let's not forget the (probably) best filesystem browsing experience (Dolphin), the Event Calendar add-on, and: KDE Connect!

kingofpandora 7y ago
Which project is the Event Calendar you referred to? I found this: https://github.com/Zren/plasma-applet-eventcalendar https://github.com/Zren/plasma-applet-eventcalendar
- aruggirello 7y ago
  Exactly.

agumonkey 7y ago

I've been tring and eyeing KDE since 4. There's always something that is not right in the UI foundation. I've heard how lean to WM/GUI code is, low mem usage .. but I always end up in XFCE.

simion314 7y ago
>There's always something that is not right in the UI foundation What is fundamentally broken with their UI that a competent person can't change?
- agumonkey 7y ago
  the whole
  - simion314 7y ago
    Thank you for your thoughtful and intelligent response, I think there is a DE that is more for your level, is safe it has all big and rounded widgets and most of the features were removed to make place to even more white space to look professional but be basic.
    - agumonkey 7y ago
      thanks, it's always easier when questions are that thoughtful
- ubercow13 7y ago
  Often with newer UI frameworks like that used by plasma, basic interactions with familiar widgets just don't work as expected. It's the same argument levied against any non-native app whenever this comes up, whether it's QML or Electron or whatever. As a concrete example, the KDE application menu will close whenever you move the cursor off of it onto another window, unlike any menu in any other desktop UI widget toolkit [1]. So from some users' perspective, things like the move to plasma can seem like little more than a series of UI regressions. The basics just don't work so well any more, and the only upside is maybe slightly prettier graphics. It can be disheartening. Here is an application menu from KDE 1 in 1999 which I am sure worked just fine [2]. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/kde/comments/9a41si/possible_bug_application_menu_closes_when/ https://www.reddit.com/r/kde/comments/9a41si/possible_bug_ap... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K_Desktop_Environment_1#/media/File:KDE_1.1.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K_Desktop_Environment_1#/media...

chinesempire 7y ago

I remember trying KDE before it reached it's first public release in 1997. I went back and forth with it for 20 years, but 2 years ago I tried plasma to address an issue with XFCE4 and my 4k monitor and I never looked back. It's stable, rock solid, lightweight and has the best support for scaling I've seen on Linux until now. It still has some glitches on GTK apps and with theming, but overall is my DE of choice right now (XFCE4 is still my favourite, but KDE just works)