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Linux Mint Is Killing the KDE Edition (betanews.com)
BrianFagioli quotes a report from BetaNews: While both the Cinnamon and Mate versions of Linux Mint are decent choices for computer users, there was one version that was always utterly bizarre -- the KDE Edition. Don't get me wrong, KDE is a fine environment, but Kubuntu already exists. Having a version of Mint using KDE was redundant and confusing. Thankfully, today, the Linux Mint team announces it is finally killing the KDE edition. "In continuation with what's been done in the past, Linux Mint 18.3 will feature a KDE edition, but it will be the last release to do so. I would like to thank Kubuntu for the amazing work they have done. The quality of Plasma 5 in Xenial made backports a necessity. The rapid pace of development upstream from the KDE project made this very challenging, yet they managed to provide a stable flow of updates for us and we were able to ship good KDE editions thanks to that. I don't think this would have been possible without them," says Clement Lefebvre, Linux Mint.
Lefebvre further says, "KDE is a fantastic environment but it's also a different world, one which evolves away from us and away from everything we focus on. Their apps, their ecosystem and the QT toolkit which is central there have very little in common with what we're working on. We're not just shipping releases and distributing upstream software. We're a product distribution and we see ourselves as a complete desktop operating system. We like to integrate solutions, develop whatâ(TM)s missing, adapt what's not fitting perfectly, and we do a great deal of that not only around our own Cinnamon desktop environment but also thanks to cross-DE frameworks we put in place to support similar environments, such as MATE and Xfce."
Lefebvre further says, "KDE is a fantastic environment but it's also a different world, one which evolves away from us and away from everything we focus on. Their apps, their ecosystem and the QT toolkit which is central there have very little in common with what we're working on. We're not just shipping releases and distributing upstream software. We're a product distribution and we see ourselves as a complete desktop operating system. We like to integrate solutions, develop whatâ(TM)s missing, adapt what's not fitting perfectly, and we do a great deal of that not only around our own Cinnamon desktop environment but also thanks to cross-DE frameworks we put in place to support similar environments, such as MATE and Xfce."
I am writing this comment from Linux Mint KDE and I am wondering why the derisive tone for this distribution in The Fine Article linked. It was marginally better than pure Kubuntu and I was anticipating the next version. Sadly I'm more inclined to KDE than Mint so if they part ways I'll look for another KDE distro.
Captcha: repelled - is there an AI in this? :-)
Since Canonical nor Mint really gave KDE much love, there's little reason for KDE Mint or Kubuntu to exist when KDE now have their own Ubuntu spin.
Yeah, I never really got why they bothered with KDE. The great thing about Mint is Cinnamon (and Mate to a lesser degree). It's meant to be a clean, stable, customized OS... but that also means it's using older packages from Ubuntu. KDE tends to be more cutting edge (sometimes bleeding edge), and I don't know that the KDE version was as well polished or customized as the Cinnamon one.
I tried to stay with Mint, but at one point, I needed a kernel it didn't offer for a feature I wanted... and then I couldn't get a newer version of VLC because the repositories had a much older one. Same for several other programs. Eventually, my system became unstable from all the modifications, so I just wiped it and went with Ubuntu with the Cinnamon DE.
Mint already has too many flavors imho -- and ones based off of ubuntu and directly off of debian as well. It's a small team, and I'd love it if they'd just focus on the Cinnamon DE and make an official Cinnamon flavor of Ubuntu (with Wayland support, too!). But, I understand they have different goals. I just think they bit off more than they can chew with all these flavors.... especially with KDE.
Very good! Keep using what works for you, as shall we.
As another mentioned, have a look at KDE Neon.
I have using KDE as my main driver for the last 10+ years. What makes KDE neon great is that you get a barebones installation of KDE (think I even had to install kcal).
This give you a bloat free edition of KDE where you can choose what you want rather than be forced to carry stuff that you are never going to need or want.
Neon is based on Ubuntu LTS so you get all of that goodness too, a stable solid OS where you can be productive without being stuck in the dark.
Yeah, I don't understand that sentence. Mint has Cinnamon and Mate.. how are they not "bizzare, redundant and confusing"? After all, doesn't Ubuntu have those too?
It's amazing how much some of the community still can't get over how KDE is a better, healthier project than any of their GNOME babies.
KDE Neon is your new friend. Built by KDE on a LTR Ubuntu core.
I love the geeks who complain about KDE's stability or being bloated.. as if you run a real time system and painfully notice every nanosecond. KDE is a well built, well designed desktop that has been on Linux from the very beginnings. If it weren't for some licensing issues in the early years of Linux, GNOME would never have gotten started.
The fact is, if you have a wonky KDE desktop, it's because the people who maintain your distro are biased towards GNOME and half-ass their KDE builds. If KDE is so bloated and terrible, why is it that it has never been forked (other than Trinity, which is just a continuation of KDE 3), yet there's what, 3? 4? GNOME forks going, most of which were sparked by GNOME being such a clusterf*** to build.
ONE KDE environment is "bizarre and confusing" but 4 GNOME environments are not? Biased much dude?
It's amazing how much some of the community still can't get over how KDE is a better, healthier project than any of their GNOME babies.
And Captain Picard would totally kick Captain Kirk's ass.....
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
KDE has been a bit disappointing, because I like their design sensibilities, but they tend to have more random glitches in various components. Specifically KWin is a fantastic window manager/compositor and I have little reason to complain there.
Meanwhile Gnome has tendend to be less glitchy, but I hate their design, and they lack flexibility. They settle for being marginally better than Microsoft Windows.
Meanwhile most other desktops fail to take advantage of compositing for producting fetures. Sure a lot of the compositing effects is shiny fluff, but it does provide useful views of data (which is one thing I like about KWin).
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
Well, it *can* be ok, for 'most users' is the hypothetical case among the general computing population.
Of course, the Linux desktop is more enthusiast centered, and I think we have to recognize that reality and accept it, instead of continuing to sacrifice enthusiast friendly flexibility and power for the sake of the mythical casual linux desktop user that is using a traditional linux distro rather than android or chromeos...
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
Maybe the Linux "Desktop" came in a form that nobody recognized.
While there are plenty who use an actual Linux Desktop, it is also a fact that Linux based systems vastly outnumber Windows to the point that Windows is really the strange incompatible orphan child. No wonder Microsoft's efforts to embrace open source and Linux in the last few years. The efforts to force everyone into Windows 10 subscription model is an admission that the monopoly desktop model is at an end.
Chromebooks have outsold Windows laptops on Amazon for years and years now.
Most people only need phones and tablets -- the vast overwhelming majority of which run . . . Linux.
While Microsoft has a solid business with its enterprise software, if they don't screw it up, it seems like their other efforts are to keep from falling into irrelevance. Linux owns the cloud space. Linux owns IoT. Everything from set top boxes to wristwatches to thermostats, digital cameras, car infotainment systems, so called "smart" TVs, and on and on and on. A mere 99% of supercomputers run Linux. The open source model has produced more software that is freely available for everyone else to use, instead of the locked up proprietary model, that it is no wonder Microsoft is starting to embrace this model.
Maybe the Linux "Desktop" came and nobody noticed.
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
I was a KDE lover back in the early 2000's. Until KDE 4. I had no choice but to switch to a desktop that actually worked, even if not as nice as KDE. Now, more than a decade later, I sometimes think of trying KDE again. Looking back fondly to KDE 3. How integrated everything seemed. But I just can't get over the inertia to even give it a try.
Now one of my favorite distros, Mint, that was the one that might have let me dip my toes into the waters of KDE, is abandoning KDE. Oh, well. It was nice knowing KDE. Like Apple back in its heyday (I mean the 1980's and early 90's) it was great. But things change.
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
Stuff Windows in a VM and live happily ever after. At that point, the choice of host OS becomes less relevant, so long as the system is stable. Almost entirely upsides to this, unless you're dealing with software that is dependent on hardware acceleration for tolerable performance. Being able to snapshot Windows instances is a godsend when you're doing non-trivial reconfigurations... a couple minutes to restore a disk snapshot, versus taking your chances with System Restore, or spending hours trying to pull down backups from 'the cloud'. Being able to migrate the VM to other hardware without a fuss is also huge.
There is no XUL, only WebExtensions...
I'd like to see mint go with TDE as an option.
I won't use KDE4/5 or Gnome but I still use TDE.
When I finally gave up Mandriva, I went with Ubuntu because TDE was an option.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
Like every modern laptop. Need a magnifying glass to get anything done on Chromebook Pro for example. With KDE, I can just change a setting and it works great.
Mint already has too many flavors imho -- and ones based off of ubuntu and directly off of debian as well. It's a small team, and I'd love it if they'd just focus on the Cinnamon DE and make an official Cinnamon flavor of Ubuntu (with Wayland support, too!). But, I understand they have different goals. I just think they bit off more than they can chew with all these flavors.... especially with KDE.
Oh good it wasn't just me - I wanted to end up at KDE for Connect alone https://community.kde.org/KDEC.... It's just KDE is so configurable and me new that I'd mess it up so badly I had to remove it.
I've landed on Cinnamon as my flavor of choice, Linux Mint is also my first, so not much experience with the others.
I'd rather watch Kirk tangle with a sticky situation, but I'd prefer Picard's solution
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"