Killer Looks of KDE in Kubuntu Entices a Long Time GNOME User!
I had been a KDE user for more than 3 years at one time and those were my early days with GNU/Linux operating system. Once I felt comfortable enough with GNU/Linux to start trying different window managers, I evaluated a few and finally settled down with the GNOME desktop environment as my primary desktop manager, mainly for its simplicity and ease of use. It was less cluttered than KDE and more featureful than XFCE. Above all, I personally preferred the sleek look of GNOME to that of KDE. I tried my best to stay clear of all the KDE vs GNOME flame wars but got really frustrated my the insolent remark made by Linus that GNOME developers treat the users like noobs. Incidents like these might have converted me from being ‘just another fan’ of GNOME desktop to a loyal user of it, but that was not to be. Enter the newly released Dapper Drake version of Kubuntu.
amaroK: Media Player for the KDE Desktop. Strongly recommended to give it a try.
The look and feel of the Kubuntu operating system totally blew me away! For the first time I have understood that no other distribution had put enough effort in customising the look of KDE targetting the casual users, barring Kubuntu and SuSE. Perhaps the fact that Kubuntu(all Ubuntu family of distributions) ships with minimal set of essential applications(only one application for any given job) did the trick for me. I hated to see multiple text editors, web browsers, media players, and even terminal emulators, being installed for KDE by most of the popular distributions. It was abused in GNOME too, but only to a limited extent. The main menu of KDE always used to contain many more items present than the GNOME menu for the same distribution. Its different with the Ubuntu family of distributions.
Hold the mouse over a file and it will display all the information related to that file in a nice popup window.
Using Kubuntu for less than 3 days was compelling enough to convert a long time GNOME user to a KDE fan! Though I have become used to a lot of GNOME applications over time and can’t imagine living without any of them, or having to always install them separately on the KDE desktop, I will surely be using the KDE environment more regularly from now. The fact that a lot of KDE applications in Kubuntu are crash-prone isn’t helping me if I want to consider a complete shift to the KDE environment - its only good for fun as of now. (This is a Kubuntu specific issue, not related to KDE, that too only on my hardware; I haven’t seen too many Kubuntu users complaining about the stability issues that I am experiencing.)
Edit programs in MS Windows-like Kate editor or in the powerful emacs editor.
So shall I take this as a sign of more fierce competition between KDE and GNOME desktops in the Ubuntu family of operating systems in the coming months or will the GNOME desktop remain the undisputed king for still a very long time to come?
Below are some screenshots of KDE desktop on Kubuntu operating system.
Akregator: RSS Feed Aggregator for the KDE Desktop
Kopete: Instant Messenger for the KDE Desktop
Adept: Package Manager for Kubuntu Operating System
K3B: A CD/DVD burning application for the KDE Desktop(I use it in GNOME too)
Hold the mouse over one of the Workspace tabs in the taskbar and it will list all the Windows in that Workspace in a popup balloon.
Sticky note taking application that supports rich text editing and various background colors. I love this tool.
Kontact: Personal Information Manager for the KDE Desktop.
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Hmmmm. I like you, started out with KDE and then switched to GNOME when I installed Ubuntu and found GNOME to be less cluttered. Now you got me thinking about trying KDE again. Surely I can just install KDE on to my [G]Ubuntu system?
QuoteCan I have a nice GUI for switching between GNOME and KDE in case my wife and I prefer different ones?
Comment by Marc — June 11, 2006 @ 6:12 pm
Sure you can. Just run the following command(or search and install through Synaptic):
You will then get the option of entering into the KDE desktop or the GNOME desktop by selecting one of them from the ‘Session’ menu at the login time(yes, using the GUI interface). When you want to switch from KDE to GNOME or viceversa, just logout from your current environment, select the other desktop manager from the ‘Session’ menu and relogin.
QuoteComment by tabrez — June 12, 2006 @ 12:10 pm
Béranger on June 12, 2006 at 1:13 pm said:
The “GUI for switching between GNOME and KDE” is gdm (or kdm, I was about to forget).
Quote*yawn*
Comment by Béranger — June 12, 2006 @ 1:13 pm
And that way you can also have E17, Xfce, Fluxbox and whatever other de that suits your needs :)..
Gdm for Gnome, Kdm for Kde :)
QuoteComment by Kattekiksen — June 12, 2006 @ 8:13 pm
Hi! I want to upgrade my current installation of KDE to the most current version (3.5.5), but the computer it’s going on only has dialup access, and obviously it would take an EXTREMELY long time to get all of the necessary components.
I have decided to attempt to install the program manually, downloading the pieces I need onto my laptop, then transferring them over to my XP machine and copying them to the Suse 10.0 installation, which can read NTFS partitions. yes, it sounds kinda Rube Goldberg-ish, but the laptop has wireless access, but no CD/DVD burner.
Anyways, what components are required to do just a bare-bones install? Thank you)
QuoteComment by Den — November 3, 2006 @ 7:48 pm
Humm, well let me put some words here too.
QuoteGNOME is very much clutter free, and KDE does have a little. But the system Integration from users point of view stats that GNOME is easier and faster (not system speed, but users act speed)… but KDE got lots of eyecandy and cool look, that gnome certainly lacks. GNOME doesnt have a good features (rather than basic) in its File Manager, while KDE Konqueror has.(It shows the mouseover bigger preview). But filemanagers are slow, where Nautilus is much slower (also has the bug reported in bug tracker).
So, its not the KDE nicer than the GNOME or vice versa. Its all upon the user which customized its system. I have my system looking so bright and clear like mac-osx, due to its theme, fonts and icons.. and it gives me a little satisfaction towards my desktop. Anyway, if i dont go for look, LInux is BEST :)
Comment by Ravi — March 29, 2007 @ 1:16 am
Hi,
Recently I switched to KDE from GNOME.
I am trying to setup my desktop.
One thing that I am still not able to configure is “Sticky Notes”.
I don’t know, what command is used to launch this and how to create a button in the panel for this?
Also, I have few sticky notes in my GNOME desktop and I want to use them here.
Can you please guide me with this?
Thanks,
QuoteNarendra
Comment by Narendra — October 8, 2007 @ 5:06 pm
I recommend using Tomboy Notes tool to create your sticky notes. Though a GNOME application at the core, it can be installed and used in KDE too. Tomboy also has a plugin which can import notes from GNOME Sticky Notes application.
If you want a native KDE sticky tool, then most KDE based distributions already come with one - KNotes, KJots, BasKet Note Pads are some examples. KNotes is the popular one and BasKet Note Pads can import the notes from GNOME Sticky Notes application. You can read a nice review of BasKet before deciding to install it.
QuoteComment by tabrez — October 8, 2007 @ 9:08 pm