Which KDE distro?

Montala · 2 Nov 2013 at 22:42

Hi,

I know that Linux distros are a very personal thing, but having decided on the KDE desktop environment I have been looking at various offerings, and have come down to a short list of three.

In no particular order they are:-

1) SolydK (In the lead at the moment!)

2) Kubuntu (my initial favourite!)

3) SuperX (still can't really make up my mind about that one!)

It will be running on an Intel i5 based laptop, but has to look attractive and 'professional', be solid and reliable (as any Linux distro can be!) and be fairly 'noob' friendly as well as being easy to use.

Has anyone tried any, or all of these, and if so what are their thoughts on them?

Thanks!

Phantom Shadow · 2 Nov 2013 at 23:51

You don't need to limit yourself to a KDE distribution in order to use KDE, it is usually quick and painless to install different desktop environments.

Haven't heard of SolydK before, but being debian based it probably won't be that different to Kubuntu. Differences will mainly be the software and drivers etc that come bundled.

Any of the debian or ubuntu based distros should be good for a newbie.

With virtual machines or liveCDs you can easily give several distros a quick go and pick the one that feels best to you.

Woden · 2 Nov 2013 at 23:53

I am currently using Kubuntu and have stuck with it a while now.

But you can use any distro, KDE is just a software package, no different to any other.

deadite66 · 3 Nov 2013 at 08:53

i stick with kubuntu, debian/ubuntu based distributions are well supported with deb packages from many opensource projects on the web.
unless you want the fun of compiling everything yourself.

craptakular · 3 Nov 2013 at 10:33

I think opensuse has the best kde flavour, then Arch.

cb_linus · 3 Nov 2013 at 16:38

Opensuse has usually been my choice for KDE, recently at least

Montala · 3 Nov 2013 at 21:41

Thanks for the feedback guys!

Yes, I have been looking at quite a few live CD's which helped me to arrive at my 'short list'.

One thing which put me off Kubuntu a bit was the fact that the track-pad configuration program (sorry, can't remember the name!) wouldn't open at all, but it does tick most of the other boxes.

A couple of votes for Opensuse I see, which is one I haven't checked out recently, but I will probably wait until after the 19th November when the final release of the latest version (13.1) should be available.

There will also be a monthly update, together with a new iso file, released at about the same time for SolydK which, for those who don't know is a Debian based Linux distribution which uses a rolling update system and is a solid and very impressive distro, with a polished and smooth performance.

For those who haven't checked it out already, or perhaps haven't even heard of it, it is well worth a look, although it might be better to wait for the update which is due later this month. It is also available with a Xfce desktop (SolydX) for those who prefer that particular option.

pete910 · 4 Nov 2013 at 00:47

Mageia 3(My fav) is worth a look or opensuse like said above.

uvarvu · 4 Nov 2013 at 13:50

My favourite is Kubuntu followed by Fedora KDE spin. It doesn't matter what installation you go for in the end because you'll be able to configure KDE in the same way.

Wong-sensei · 4 Nov 2013 at 17:20

Admittedly, it may appear difficult, but I wouold definitely recommend installing Arch; there is a brilliant guide to installing it on the internet, and it is one of the fastest distros I have used, due to its barebones nature; anything which you want to use, you must install manually. This also makes it one of the most flexible major distros.

Angst · 4 Nov 2013 at 18:20

Another vote for open suse.

Woden · 4 Nov 2013 at 18:23

Wong-sensei said:
Admittedly, it may appear difficult, but I wouold definitely recommend installing Arch; there is a brilliant guide to installing it on the internet, and it is one of the fastest distros I have used, due to its barebones nature; anything which you want to use, you must install manually. This also makes it one of the most flexible major distros.

I used to run Gentoo for the same reason. They are not exactly ideal for newcommers though.

craptakular · 4 Nov 2013 at 19:52

I say opensuse then in a couple pf years of linux use move to arch, thats what i did.

OhEsEcks · 5 Nov 2013 at 15:59

KWheezy is the most recent one I've seen (KDE / Debian Wheezy 7.2). But as others have mentioned, Kubuntu and the Fedora spin are probably the best, followed by OpenSuSE. Out of those I prefer Kubuntu since I'm an apt guy.

Personally, I install Debian Wheezy from the netinstall and build KDE up myself without all the fluff that comes with Kubuntu / KWheezy / Fedora spin and OpenSuSE. But if I'm installing for other I usually go with Kubuntu since it's usually the least hassle.

biron_w · 8 Nov 2013 at 01:06

Open suse is pretty good.
My favourite KDE distro(when I used KDE) was Kororaa.