I have used a few distros so far, I like trying them out.

Unity - okay 3.5/5
Cinnamon - best organised 4.5/5
XFCE - not liking 3/5
LXDE - thumbs up 4/5
KDE - all time favorite , man those customs are to swoon over, hats off 5/5
Gnome 2 - thumbs up 4/5
Gnome 3 - thumbs down 2/5

Now straight to my question, I love Cinnamon and KDE (specially Plasma), former for everything, later for customizations and looks. But I prefer the softwares provided with Cinnamon a lot more. And most of all I don't use much of whats provided, some command-line tools (C and Java programming for college mostly), a text editor (KWrite my favorite), image viewer and Vlc. And rarely a office document in Libre, and at times pdf which opens in Document Viewer. I am interested in getting to know the insides of Linux. Is there a way to use KDE with all the rest bloatware (no offense to those who use them) swiped clean; also I have been thinking of using a Window Manager. And I am reading up on Arch, they say you can make it your own to the very last thing imaginable, so quite interested in doing my homework before trying to install that beaut. It would be great help if you can sort out my KDE issue along with how to use a WM without a DE or however they are supposed to be used and advice me on my Arch expedition, specially how I should gear up !!!!

Thanks all in advance.

First off, Arch is for experienced users, leave that until later.

As you are beginning to get familiar with Debian, use that. Do a minimal installation & then add the programs that you want, far easier than trying to remove what you don't want.

KDE is a DE, a desktop environment, a WM is just a window manager, basically, what that means is that you get a lot of extras when you install a DE like KDE over what you would get if you installed Fluxbox, a WM.

I'm afraid your question is far too vague for me to offer any advice. It might help to list what programs you consider to be "bloatware" and then you might receive some helpful suggestions.
jdk

- jdk

Bloatware as there are at times quite a few media players included, Amarok, Clementine, Rhythmbox, no need, for me VLC is enough, disk burning tools, Photo editing gimp, then also there are like 5 different consoles you get with some distros, Xterm, Term, Konsole, Terminal, etc etc.
I meant these.


- fatmac

Actually no, I have to yet change my profile. now I am using Netrunner, I have used Fedora, Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Puppy, Bodhi, Deepin, Elementary, Kali (Couldn't do anything, just installed used like a normal day to day; :P , excitement issues), Debian, Mint and others I have forgotten.So as for Arch, I didn't say I want to install it right now or tommorow, my question was what do I have to " Gear up " , like you said I have to be an " experienced " user. I don't think you will mind describing me what I should be able to do to call my self that. And I am always eager to learn. And a little more description on how can I have a WM without a DE would be helpful

As jdkaye said, a certain amount of applications come with a desktop environment. I commonly install KDE to whatever distro I'm using because I really like a number of KDE applications (konsole, konqueror as a file manager, kate, ksnapshot, kolourpaint, just to mention a few of my favorites), though I seldom use the KDE desktop itself. Given the size of today's hard drives, I generally just ignore the applications that I'm not interested in using. They do no harm lying there quietly on the hard drive.

I agree with the advice about sticking with Debian, at least for a while. Plus Debian is a fine distro and rock-solid stable.

This link should give you guidance on how to install the lightest possible KDE footprint on Debian.

frankbell, thanks a lot for that link, I didn't know you could do that.

How all my Debian installs are done. Minimal installation to start out with, install kde-plasma-desktop, then install all my other programs I need. Takes a bit, but you get a lean(er) desktop with only what you want.

Arch is trivial; i managed to install it after some three weeks of Linux experience. If you can read, you can very well handle it: just follow the documentation.

Or you could use Debian. Or Ubuntu Server. Or just about any distro that allows you to install it without a desktop environment and then to build upon that.

Guess a lot of people have KDE as their favorite. Thanks all. And specially Captain Pinkeye, thank you specially for your honest unbiased reply.

Experienced, in this context meaning familiar with the command line and programs available in a base system.

After having installed a base system, you would install the X graphical environment (which usually comes with an old fashioned WM called TWM, standing for Tabbed Window Manager).

Most people, however, have their own preferred WM, mine is Fluxbox, so I would then install Fluxbox. TWM comes with Xterm which can be used in any other WM. Then you just install the programs that you want.

My basic setup is to add firefox, mc, mpg123, xmms, mplayer, & PySolFC (a games compendium).

Hope that helps.