Hi
I've just this minute joined the forum. A message suggested I post my first question so here it is:
I'm using Kubuntu. I know it's Ubuntu with KDE , but I'm just wondering what others think: which is better - ordinary Ubuntu or Kubuntu? I know I can try them out for myself, but I'm just wondering what the consensus of opinion is.

Hi...

Welcome to the forum

It's simply a matter of taste and what works well for you.

For myself personally, I'm not a fan of the Unity interface and have always liked KDE's eye candy. However, I used Ubuntu 10.04 (during its pre-Unity days) for several years until a couple months ago when my hard drive went out.

Regards...

davverpacker,

Welcome to LQ.

There is a wealth of choice in "Linux World". There are hundreds of Linux distributions available.

See Distrowatch:

http://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=popularity


Some say that there is perhaps too much choice and that this can lead to confusion for a newcomer.

Putting that thought to one side, I suggest that you look at some excellent reviews by Arindam Sen on his Linuxed blog:

http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.co.uk...-contents.html

As ardvark71 says:

It would be a dull world if we all used the same distro.

Like ardvark71, I used to use the classic style of Ubuntu (pre-Unity).

In fact I still do, by using the MATE version of Ubuntu 14.04 LTS.

I also use Linux Mint 17.1 MATE.

It is down to individual choice and personal preferences, sometimes dictated by the hardware you are using.

As they say, it's a matter of taste. The KDE desktop is highly configurable, while Unity isn't. KDE is more geared to traditional computer use, while Unity (designed to be suitable for tablets and phones) is more suited to some-one who has a limited amount of software and doesn't often need to run several programs at once.

This site is a good introduction to the GUIs on offer, with links to their websites where you can read about their features and admire screen-shots:
http://www.renewablepcs.com/about-li...-gnome-or-xfce

I vastly prefer Kubuntu. Not a fan of Mate yet. Still looks too gnomish IMO.

I am not a big fan of KDE as a desktop environment--Indeed, I'm not a big fan of desktop environments; I usually use a window manager, such as Fluxbox--but I have always found myself preferring KDE applications to their Gnome equivalents or applications derived therefrom.

The list of KDE applications that I find I prefer include Okular (PDF viewer), Kate (editor), Ksnapshot (screenshots), Konsole (terminal program), and Kcalc (calculator). Those, plus Libreoffice, Seamonkey, vlc, the GIMP, vim, and mutt, comprise the bulk of the applications I use daily.