Ubuntu or Kubuntu?

[1Cheap2Crazy]

I'm thinking of installing a Linux distro on my 2nd PC, 1GHz, 256MB clean FAT(32?) HD. I'm not a programmer. I'm thinking of installing Ubuntu or Kubuntu. What is the difference between Gnome and KDE?

TIA

 

[phisrow]

They are both desktop environments that run on top of X11 on the various unixlike OSs. Each one has a diffirent look and feel and diffirent included apps(file managers and whatnot). It is largely a personal choice which one you go with. As far as I remember, Gnome is said to be somewhat cleaner and a bit more Mac-like than KDE, but less configurable; while KDE feels a touch rougher; but gives you more options. I don't really fancy starting a flame war, though, so I'd recommend the following: Get two liveCDs, one that uses KDE, the other that uses Gnome(say the Ubuntu liveCD and the Kubuntu liveCD(if that doesn't exist, use a Knoppix liveCD). See which one you like better. Either one can do pretty much anything that the other one can, and in certain situations where one is nicer than the other(e.g. I run a Gnome desktop but like K3B) you can install the app in question without too much trouble. There'll be a little overhead; but not dreadful.

Mostly a matter of taste, try both.

 

[drag]

Gnome is as configurable as KDE, it just tries to keep everything as simple and consistant as possible... That's all. Much of the stuff is a bit hidden.

You can swap out window manangers and this and that, do themes, change nautilus from 'spatial mode' to 'browser mode', pick and choose which applications are used by default. Change the look and feel of it and all that happy stuff. Get rid of those panels or get rid of nautilus and replace it with a different file mananger if you want.


But either way its just a matter of taste. Personally I like Gnome, but a lot of people like KDE.

Try both, and if you want to check out minimalist setups using things like Fluxbox or IceWM. Be sure to check out Window Maker and that GNUStep stuff. Those types of things are very nice for people that want to get good desktop performance out of older hardware. They use up very little resources compared to the porkers that Gnome and KDE are.

Lots of people are partial to XFCE, too.

All of these would be able to you if your using Ubuntu, and probably Kubuntu (I am guessing).

You have lots of choices.. Normally it takes a person a few different installs and trying out this distro or that distro until they find something they like a lot. Although Ubuntu seems to be the current favorite for lots of people.

edit:

BTW Linux distros use their own file system.. Not Fat32 or NTFS, but like ext3 or xfs. I use ext3 personally. Just pretty much let the installer do it for you. It's a lot easier if you don't have to dual boot with Windows, too.