Whats your favorite KDE Linux distro?

[ShadowZERO]

Ever since an inspiring article on Toms about Ubuntu, I've tried about 7 Linux distributions. One thing remains a constant, and that is the fact that I love KDE, and need it to be seamlessly integrated.

I'd love to hear any input on what everyone's favorite KDE Linux distro is, and preferably why. So far I've tried Sabayon, openSUSE, Mandriva, Kubuntu, Mint KDE, Freespire, and am downloading MEPIS right now.

 

[Brazen]

I would go with Kubuntu, just because it has so much documentation, a good support forum, tons of packages in the repositories, and if not in the repositories you can probably find a deb for Debian or Ubuntu that would work. For me as a system administrator, Ubuntu is a very nice option also because I can use the latest version on my desktop/laptop and the LTS version on my servers.

 

[ShadowZERO]

One things that really been great about my experience with Kubuntu, Freespire, and Mint was the fact that they are based on Debian. With Debian, you get APT and all of the Debian stable repositories. That alone is reason for me to stick with Debian.

Problem with a lot of Debian based distribution is they use GNOME by default. Kubuntu is just Ubuntu with the KDE packages installed by default instead of GNOME. Kubuntu does a good job at integrating KDE but its not as good as openSUSE or Mandriva for example.

OpenSUSE and Mandriva are good, but they aren't Debian and don't have APT or the large Debian stable package repositories. Also, with debian based distributions, if you are familiar with the text commands, you can use them all on almost any distribution. This keeps you from having to re-learn everything.

That's why I'm trying MEPHIS right now, its Debian but not Ubuntu based. I don't think it has a server version but they tout it as being perfect for home or work use, and it's natively KDE. They also tout a excellent support forum, wiki, and manual/documentation. Quite frankly I wasn't impressed with the Ubuntu/Kubuntu forums or documentation. We'll see i guess.

 

[Netopia]

I really like PCLinuxOS 2007. It's based on Mandriva, but has apt (and Synaptic in the GUI) and is about as easy a transition from Windows to Linux as I've ever seen.

Joe

 

[xSauronx]

ive used gnome and xfce for the most part. i reinstalled the os on my server last week with CentOS and put KDE on for VNC purposes. im not sure that im a big fan of KDE yet, ill play around with it some more and may try kubuntu when the next release is out.

really id probably use XFCE if it had a few more of the nifty bells and whistles of ubuntu; but Xubuntu just seems like...xfce on debian, that installs easily ( i tried debian+xfce on my laptop, wasnt happy)

hell, maybe ill even try xubuntu again. i kind dont wanna fook up my install, since my disk is encrypted, but since the next release is a LTS and i dont intend to upgrade again after that, i just as well make sure ill be happy for a while.

 

[ShadowZERO]

Well I'm back to opensuse for now. Every Debian based distribution has been hell to get working properly with my 8800GT. And as far as good KDE integration, openSUSE hasn't met its match yet in my book.

There isn't anywhere near as many pages on the internet about opensuse as Ubuntu for example, but their official wiki and forums are extremely useful. I also think their custom system administration tool, YAST, is second to none.

I have yet to see if I can turn it into a fully usable home OS, but its very self-explanatory, even in Linux standards. For now I think they have, in my opinion, succeeded in one of their main goals:

"...leverage open source collaboration to make openSUSE the world's most usable Linux distribution and desktop environment for new and experienced Linux users"

I think its great for new users because it allows even a novice to have access to all the functionality of a full GUI. The experienced user will love the fact that just about every aspect of the OS is fully customizable and tweakable.

I will download the ISO for PCLinuxOS, as well as Momonga(for some reason I like the sound of their goals). We'll see how keeping opensuse on my linux drive goes for now.

 

[Netopia]

And I think I'll check out OpenSUSE!

Joe

 

[Brazen]

Originally posted by: xSauronx
i kind dont wanna fook up my install, since my disk is encrypted, but since the next release is a LTS and i dont intend to upgrade again after that, i just as well make sure ill be happy for a while.

You ought to just install a minimal server and put VMWare server on it, then you can mess around with different distros in a virtual machine without messing up your server install. That's what I did with CentOS 4 like over a year ago and haven't touched my server since. I'm also probably going to wipe it out after the next Ubuntu LTS comes out and when VMWare Server 2.0 releases a version that "supports" it.

It's really nice, though, that you can stick with the LTS releases and go for years without having to mess with your server any more than doing security updates.

 

[indigo196]

OK...

KDE is not my cup of tea, but if I were to choose based on the distros I have sipped using KDE it would be:

#1 Arch (you can have vanilla KDE or KDEMod which is a nice modified version of KDE that I find better than the complete overhaul that openSUSE gives KDE) (http://archlinux.org) - The documentation for Arch is superior and despite the rumored difficulty of getting it setup I found it easy)
#2 openSUSE

#3 Debian w/ minimal install + KDE install (though I think Arch/openSUSE make KDE much more palatable) - I had no issues getting my 8800GTS working with Debian (I did have to adjust some things with 'buntu variants though)

Personally I prefer Gnome right now (60/40) vs. KDE

 

[GundamSonicZeroX]

I would have to go with either Kubuntu or openSuse.

 

[unmerited]

The distro of choice for my personal desktop is Opensuse. It is easy to set up, fast, and has everything I need. Once you learn your way around rpm, rolling your own packages is fun and convenient. My wife and son also use it, preferring it over Windows.

Having said the above, I recently installed Vectorlinux SOHO on my laptop. A little more difficult to install than Opensuse, but not that bad. Install took about 30 minutes and I had a nice KDE desktop with mp3, dvd, and network (wired) all working first boot. It will be staying on my laptop, that's for sure.

 

[doog519]

Open Suse and PClinuxOS would be my choices for KDE.. Both are very polished.

 

[imported_MooseDog]

It may be boring to some, but I like Fedora 8 KDE. Only issue for some might be that it doesn't come preloaded with a lot of stuff you need for multimedia stuff like MP3, DVD, etc but once installed and set up the distro is rock solid.

 

[Markbnj]

I can't compare with many others, but I'm running two different versions of Debian here with KDE (Etch and sid) and I've been very pleased with it so far.

 

[indigo196]

Arch Linux with KDEMod would be my choice.