Not a big fan of KDE... but. ..

slackMeUp · 12-18-2004, 09:35 PM

I love Slackware... almost too much.

But I don't like KDE for desktop use, which is just my opinion and not what this thread is about.

Something odd just happened to me, while playing around in KDE (which is installed on my system for when I feel brain dead and don't want to use my current window manager) I triggered the 'Desktop settings' app which is launched when a new user starts KDE for the first time. I went through the wizard and did not change any setting beyond the default. It then changed around my desktop making all my settings for the look and feel change.

Was I mad? No, I was pleased. . . turns out that the default KDE desktop seems much better then my tweaked out, plastik based, themes.

Then I got a' thinkin.

Other distros that use KDE as their main desktop often change it to reflect their view. SuSE as an example looks nothing like the default KDE desktop. Thanks to Slackware and Pat's urge to keep things the way the developers want them I have had my first good opinion on KDE in a long time.

Now, don't get me wrong -- I still don't dig KDE much. . . but it's default theme and feel put a smerk on my face today. Distros like SuSE and RedHat (bluecurve) only made turn my head away from KDE (and onto Gnome and Windowmaker... hehe..).

While not for me... I find the K desktop environment to be a very strong point on using Linux.

Now, enough of this rambling and back to windowmaker for some work.

ringwraith · 12-18-2004, 10:12 PM

Feel free to use KDE. There seem to be a lot of people on here that like to see you have to use one of the lighter window managers. If your system can handle the overhead and you like it, use it. It sounds like Pat V. uses it.

tw001_tw · 12-18-2004, 11:02 PM

I seldom post to the threads that lean more twords opinions ('cause I don't think I'm
educated enough to keep up with some of you) , but I am glad to see someone
thinks as I do.

As ringwraith said, if your system can handle it, KDE is not a bad option if you like it.
My main computer has plenty power to run it and run it well. Just as one should not
be criticized for picking a different distro, one should not be criticized on their choice
of GUI.

Just my 2 cents.
-tw

Nikon01 · 12-18-2004, 11:08 PM

I dig KDE and gnome. Love em both and can never choose it just depends on my mood

. KDE is definitely a viable desktop. I have a so-so system and it handles KDE fine but for the most part I stick to my prompt

cadj · 12-18-2004, 11:24 PM

i just wish it was lighter. i find it to be very fast exept for the load times on firefox and other gtk apps.

Ninja Cow · 12-18-2004, 11:34 PM

Yeah, KDE isn't bad. (I prefer gnome, though. A shame it's going to be dropped.) My only problem with KDE is arts: Major lag occurs when I play sounds from GAIM or flash. I'm sure this is fixable, but I personally prefer XFCE4 in Slack.

Back to KDE: Have y'all tried SuperKaramba? Cool stuff.

carl0ski · 12-18-2004, 11:41 PM

I love KDE
and Sara O'Hare
but in very different ways

Kde is hotter :P

Mine doesn't even look like any template i have ever seen
everthing is transparent,
my KDE menu is transparent, theres no KDE button on the taskbar.
the clock is at the top corner on another transparent bar along with all 10 programs i ever use (like MAC OS X just at the top.) and the system tray.
Desktop Panel is where is is by default(lower right corner) but is transparant.
and i have a navigation bar on the right side.

icons all Zoom as the mouse hovers over them.
there is not one inch of plain Windows Colour taskbar around

.

Khotkeys are all set every program has a hotkey
and a hotkey to paste my system specs for forums is also there.

i can't imagine anyone liking my layout other than me though :P
but thats the point of KDE default it is pretty like Windows andeasy to navigate.
but still lets me massacre it with multiple panels colours and applets

slakmagik · 12-19-2004, 02:43 AM

I agree with your main point, slackMeUp. I don't like or have KDE, myself, but I do like that Slackware's essence is behind the scenes, in producing a solid no-frills distro and isn't an in-your-face branding machine. Part of this could be by necessity, in that there's not a Slackware, Inc. Marketing and Branding Division, but that's not really necessity at all in that Patrick's chosen to keep it simple to begin with.

Though it seems to have been edited out, I said in an LQWiki entry: "Slackware is a distribution of Linux and not a distribution "based on" Linux. It is a gateway, rather than an obstruction." Maybe not totally on but there is something in that that I was going for.

Transparency. As little between source and "product" as possible.

RoaCh Of DisCor · 12-19-2004, 03:41 AM

KDE is quite customisable...I love it. It's style changes with my mood.

iZvi · 12-19-2004, 02:15 PM

I really like KDE. Started with windowmaker, than fluxbox, but KDE is really powerful, and is not slow. Even low end computer with enough RAM can be usable with KDE. It is also customiseable and good looking. Something I don't like is the look of Gtk apps started from inside KDE, the fonts are too small,and the theme looks strange. I correct this with a component of Xfce in the background, but...

All of the wm have good and bad points, but for a desktop environment I prefer KDE and then Xfce. No offence to Gnome users though.

Ninja Cow · 12-19-2004, 05:37 PM

If you want better fonts for gtk in KDE without having to use xfce4, create a file called .gtkrc-2.0 in your user's home directory and add this to its contents:

Code:

include "/usr/share/themes/Qt/gtk-2.0/gtkrc"

style "user-font"
{
 font_name="Bitstream Vera Sans 12"
}
widget_class "*" style "user-font"
gtk-font-name="Bitstream Vera Sans 12"

Increase/decrease font as needed.

cadj · 12-19-2004, 07:51 PM

do you have some similar lines to change the theme? that would be great

Schrambo · 12-20-2004, 07:59 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Ninja Cow
Yeah, KDE isn't bad. (I prefer gnome, though. A shame it's going to be dropped.)

To my knowledge this has not been offically announced as of yet. Pat was thinking of doing so but I havent seen anything about the go-ahead with the idea.

slakmagik · 12-20-2004, 10:30 AM

From the changelogs, he's been updating KDE a lot; Gnome very little; and has been looking for ways to compile several common apps without Gnome dependencies. Like he was asking about AbiWord specifically, I think, which is no problem, as I build it myself. So I think it's likely to happen.

Quote:

Mon Oct 11 23:41:16 PDT 2004
xap/gftp-2.0.17-i486-1.tgz: Moved from /gnome. Apparently gftp
doesn't require any of the GNOME libraries. I've heard that
AbiWord can also be built so that it does not require GNOME
libraries but haven't had much luck getting it to work that
way. Does anyone know how to do that? How about a GNOMEless
gnumeric (I suspect that's not possible, but...)?

Mon Oct 18 23:48:13 PDT 2004
xap/abiword-2.0.12-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to abiword-2.0.12.
Moved from /gnome and compiled without GNOME dependencies.

Still, you're right that there's been no official announcement.

Wouldn't be surprised if Gnome was in the 10.1 he was talking about along with an announcement that it wouldn't be in 11, though.

Schrambo · 12-20-2004, 06:22 PM

I actually noticed that big KDE and little Gnome updates lately but didn't think twice about it. Whats annoying about this situation is that Dropline Gnome has now gone the way of 2.6 kernel support with HAL since v2.8 whereas Pats talking about sticking with the 2.4 kernel for as long as possible.