Gnome or KDE?

It's about time I get Linux back on my HEL80. I like Slackware, but the laze (laze being the noun form of 'lazy' of course) in me is pulling pretty hard towards Ubuntu. If I do choose Ubuntu, I get to choose between KDE and Gnome (I could do that in Slackware too, but it defaults to KDE, so I'd stick witih that probably).

So which do I choose? Real reasons only please. ;P

(A real reason is "Gnome is hot." -- an imaginary reason is "Gnome is blazing fast because I think it is because some idiot told me it was once." err... I'll try to not rant any more )

 

Use what you feel most comfortable with.

 

Linux is all about choices as I'm sure you know. Personally, I prefer KDE just because things are where I expect them.

 

KDE doesn't bother me, and I use both. However, if you're going to be using Ubuntu, I would recommend that you stick with Gnome. Kubuntu just doesn't offer all the features and applications that I like in Ubuntu (it tries to stay a pretty pure KDE OS). If you want to use KDE, go for something else like Slackware, PCLinuxOS, or something comparable. Just my opinion.

 

I've tried them both a bit and don't really have any strong impressions either way. Thus, this thread.

 

KDE vs Gnome, there doesn't seem to be much of a difference? You can customize the interface in so many ways it hardly matters which you go with.

 

That's not helpful!

How about this: will I get the same experience as kubuntu if I install ubuntu and then kde on top of it? How about vice versa?

 

You'll get the best experience if you install Ubuntu and then install kubuntu-desktop on top of that. It will basically transform your Ubuntu install into a Kubuntu install, but you'll have easy access to things such as Ubuntu's update manager (rather than Adept, which is confusing IMO), the Add/Remove Applications program, and apps like Gaim.

 

hm i didnt like kubuntu..... i guess thats bcoz I am used to Ubuntu already.
i heard ubuntu is more stable.

 

I don't really see how that could be true. Kubuntu is Ubuntu, just with KDE thrown on top of it and some stuff removed from it. The only way Kubuntu would be less stable is if KDE were less stable than Gnome, which, from what I hear, things are probably the other way around.

But anyhow, I agree that Kubuntu is odd... especially coming from Ubuntu. If I had started out with it, it may not have been so bad. But I got used to all the things that Ubuntu offered, and Kubuntu doesn't offer all those things.

 

When I started with Fedora Core 4 about two years ago it is now, I started with Gnome and found that I did not like it. I can't really give any reasons, but I suppose that I was just so used to the way Windows laid out the screen that Gnome was too much of a change for me. I quickly installed KDE on top of it and have come to love it.

When I got sick of Fedora destroying itself whenever I ran system updates, I decided to try to move over to Ubuntu. After trying out Ubuntu, I found I still could not adjust to Gnome and so I reinstalled with Kubuntu (not realizing at the time that KDE could be installed on top of it). I've been on Kubuntu ever since.

I ended up installing Gaim Beta (now Pidgin IM) by downloading the .deb and installing with dpkg and installing Gimp from the repos, and have a decent amount of the Gnome libraries installed for an obscure program I use a lot that required them to compile. I had no problem downloading all the Gnome applications and libraries I needed.

- Trip

 

I tried both on this computer, and personally, Gnome feels more comfortable for me. It's weird i guess because KDE is supposed to be more like Windows, and I have been using Windows most of my life, but I don't know. Gnome justs feels easier to maneuver for me, and I feel I know more about what I am doing with it. Although I never did try any other KDE based distros like PCLinuxOS, etc.

 

Well, as far as Ubuntu goes, the Canonical devs have a strong history as Gnome devs and such. The base is designed with Gnome in mind, and the people who work on Kubuntu do it more as a hobby. I don't know any details of it, but it wouldn't surprise me if Kubuntu had stability issues. I say if you like KDE and Ubuntu, get Mepis.

If you like Slackware, but find yourself too lazy for it, give Arch a try. It's going to take more effort while you learn it, but once you get accustomed to it everything will be much easier with it's package management (and imho, it's configuration model).

KDE vs. Gnome... personally I'm not a huge fan of either. I think Gnome ties my hands a little too much, but KDE is much too cluttered with advanced functionality. If I had to choose one of the two, it would be Gnome, but I can just never stick with it. I much prefer Xfce, and some of the smaller WM projects. I generally see Windows power users preferring KDE, and people with strong command line skills and Mac users preferring Gnome. But then, Linus uses KDE, so go figure. You really can't make these generalizations... but that doesn't stop me from trying

 

Linus knows good programming when he sees it He's an engineer both by trade, and just his personality. As I've said before, GTK+ is a horrible toolkit. Gnome is built on GTK. Draw your own conclusions. That's what Linus did.

 

I didn't check Kubuntu, but you still can do KDE in Ubuntu. You can have pretty much every lib support from KDE while you are using GNOME. Or the other way around.

To me, the KDE somehow looks much closer to Windows. And that's the only reason I don't use it.

 

A good toolkit does not a good UI make.