kubuntu or ubuntu? please help!

Hi eveyone...
I know, this an ancient subject, but i really need orientation here, i'm thinking of try linux on my XPS m1530 and my principal choices are kubuntu and ubuntu.

I've cheked both on live cd, still i'm not shure about wish one should i pick, i have notices that kde has more options and stuff it reminds me of windows, gnome it's more elegant and simple in my opinion.

So what do you people think? why kubuntu, why ubuntu, both in version 8.04 of course

 

This is a very broad question. Could you narrow it down a bit by telling us what you like and what you want to do and what is your background with Linux?

Basically if you like the Gnome desktop environment then go for Ubuntu if you like the KDE desktop environment go for Kubuntu.

Personally I like KDE 3.5.x a lot more than Gnome and find it easier to use, so I choose Kubuntu. I distro hopped a lot in the beginning; started with Redhat, then Slackware, then went to Suse and then Kubuntu. Kubuntu has served me very well for all my needs and I have stuck with it for about 3 years. I tried Ubuntu for a while and wanted to like GNOME but I found it very frustrating to use and customize(both appearance themes and functionality) and switched back to Kubuntu. Some of your decision will also be based on your familiarity/liking of certain apps. What I mean is that I like K3B, Kaffine and other K programs, so I like KDE. I would say you install one and try it for a while. See how you like it and if you find it fits your needs., if not switch to the other You will find out quickly which you like and which you don't. Provide us with more info and we can give you more info/opinions.

Check out these links....

Gnome home page

KDE home page

 

Well, i have a little experience with SuSe 10.2 and KDE since i used it for programming in java for distributed software with Kate, i probably have to again in college so i'm interested in good development capabilities.

Plus, i really like the compiz effects and the high personalization options they offer.
As the first post said, i got used to KDE, but i kind of liked Gnome too, can you or anybody throw some differences or opinions on it please?

 

Install Ubuntu, then apt-get install kubuntu-desktop, and log into both KDE and Gnome and see which one you like better.

There's no reason to choose before you install, especially when you can have both and it costs nothing more.

This ain't like the decision between Vista Home and Vista Professional. With Linux, you can have your cake AND eat it, too

 

That's good advice. I got xubuntu-desktop that way (my preference ), but that way it would be easier than switching distros.

 

Jajajaja nice analogy!!

I guess it can be done, but how can i do it? need some explanation, noob here...

 

He did explain.
After installing ubuntu, in the terminal (applications -> accessories -> terminal), type: sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop

Of course you need an internet connection. (Just covering my basis here ).

 

So basically the only difference between ubuntu and kubuntu is the way it looks?
Everyhitng else works the same between the two? like programs, compiz, (if something says its an ubuntu version it'll also work with kubuntu?)

Im curious about trying that code as well, after i install it then i will have kubuntu? How do i switch back if i dont like it?

 

At the login window, there's an option to select Gnome or KDE as your default desktop environment.
Programs will work for either, they're both based on the same code.

 

All right, so, the aplication compatibility is not an issue, it means i can use Kate and Konsole and my laguage if i want to regardless of the desktop, right?

And what about aerowinged's question? only difference between ubuntu and kubuntu is the way it looks?

 

One word of warning to installing both DEs; your application menus will be crowded with both KDE and GNOME programs. Other than that, it is a good solution.

 

That is true.

 

i dont get it. what do you mean it will be crowded?

 

If you don't end up with two Office submenus in a row, you'll have all the office programs for GNOME and KDE pooled together under Office; OO and KOffice or whatever. This aspect of installing multiple DEs is pretty annoying since your menus will become very cluttered. Same goes for every submenu; all the apps will be pooled together.

 

No. KDE and GNOME use different graphical toolkits and different libraries. KDE uses the Qt toolkit and kdelibs, while GNOME uses Gtk2+ and gnome-libs. The respective toolkits cause each DE to look differently, but that's not all of it.

Each DE has a group of applications that use the same (shared) libraries. KDE apps all depend on kdelibs, and GNOME apps depend on gnome-libs. This setup makes the DE more efficient by itself because the shared libraries need only be loaded once, and all the DE-specific apps can use them.

The problem is that using GNOME-specific and KDE-specific apps alongside each other means the shared libraries for each DE have to loaded, and those libraries are huge, potentially causing a big performance hit.

 

In ubuntu, I downloaded kopete (prefer it to pidgen), and although it did download a lot of kde libs, I notice no performance difference at all. I think even those with more powerful computers (mine is ancient lol), the difference wont be noticeable.

 

OK, so let me ask this question. I installed Ubuntu to experiment and make sure i could get everyhitng working this time around. (sound, cpu frequency scaling, certain programs, etc.). After i get everyhitng working and am satisified i am going to reformat and reinstall.

If i choose to reinstall with Kubuntu this time, will all the same fixes and codes that i used in ubuntu still work? Programs?

Does kubuntu have compiz?

 

All the fixes will work, and the command line terminal will be exactly the same. However, you should look for KDE alternatives to whatever GNOME apps you may have used.

P.S. Compiz will work with KDE, but the process will be different than with GNOME.

 

What do you mean by codes and fixes? i need to remind that i'm a newbie in this

How different? will it have the same efects?

 

aerowinged has a rather obscure machine, and he faced some obstacles concerning hardware support under Ubuntu. The record of his adventures can be found here.

You shouldn't have those problems since your machine is relatively well-documented.

The Compiz effects should be exactly the same, but the installation process is a bit different under KDE than under GNOME. You shouldn't be worried about it, though. I'm almost certain that Kubuntu will automate that task for you.

 

so am i. i had and still have some hardware issues that i had to solve through editing some config files and stuff. thats all i meant by codes and fixes

 

I don't know. I wouldn't mix Ubuntu and Kubuntu. I have done it before and it just turned my whole install into a big mess. If you have the harddrive space I would run them in separate partitions and dual boot between the 2. If you don't have the space just use one distro for a while and see if you like it. If you don't like it just install the other distro. I don't mind trying other windows managers like openbox, enlightenment, and fluxbox in either Ubuntu or Kubuntu, but I don't like the result of mixing Kubuntu and Ubuntu(i.e Gnome and KDE).

 

I'm starting to think these weird problems I'm having lately is the result of mixing desktop environments. Things like suddenly wvdial/ppp not working, or not having desktop effects enabled because it can't enable them, weird things like this.
I'm going to reinstall soon, and not install/use any other DE and see if my problems magically disappear or not.

 

Blackbox ftw!

 

I won't mix DE's...gets messy IMO

 

Kubuntu for sure (though I'm using Gentoo now). GNOME is extremely frustrating to use, mainly due to its overly restrictive nature.

 

I have to agree with that, I definitely noticed the difference when I installed ubuntu. <s>Like vista's annoying UAC</s>. Have to do sudo with everything.

 

I end up doing everything via terminal.
Mainly with my half done arch installs lol.

 

So terminal commands will be different between ubuntu and kubuntu?

.... From what i was understanding before, the difference is just the desktop environment... as in the appearence. so thats not correct?

 

I've found that the best way to take care of system maintenance (i.e. system updates) is to drop down to runlevel 3 and log in as root. I totally agree with the idea that root should never log into X, and that if you need root access in X it should be done via sudo, or a terminal emulator.

 

The terminal environment will be exactly the same: BASH and the same set of GNU tools.

 

So what did Talin mean by

What does sudo do or mean anyway. everytime someone gives me a code it has sudo in front of it.

 

Sudo means Super user do and it is an important command that gives you root account/admin-level privileges while being at user level.
It's a very important command that you should really understand and it's much much better explained on this Ubuntu help page
Cheers.

 

No, the commands are the same.

 

Let me preface this by saying that I think compiz is very badly engineered. So now you can decide with what size grain of salt you want to take what follows.

I used compiz in Gnome. It was crashy.

I used compiz in KDE 3.5. It was even worse. To the point of making KDE unusable.

My opinion for people who want compositing in KDE is to use kwin's compositing. That is, either go with KDE 4.1 now (and realize that it is not as functional as KDE 3.5) or wait for KDE 4.2. I've been using KDE 4.1 since it's been released in Lauchpad's PPA and I've had no issues with compositing at all. (There are other issues like the fact that as shipped in the PPA, the final look of 4.1 looks like a mix of 4.1 and 3.5.)

I've read what the kwin developers had to say about how compositing should be done to integrate with a DE properly and I have to say they do know what they are doing. I don't get the same feeling at all from the compiz developers.

 

My next system, I'm definitely going to try Looking Glass.

 

Compiz-fusion functions rather nicely as a standalone window manager . Of course, it's only logical that a DE's native window manager will achieve much better stability and integration, but I feel that compiz-fusion is a worthy endeavor in its own right.