Linux Format (Magazine): Kubuntu second best KDE distro

[ErwinC]

I red in Linux Format Magazine this month: Right after Opensuse 11.2, Kubuntu is the second best KDE distro for this moment.

They tested and judged several distros: Slackware (5/10) Chakra (6/10) Sidux (7/10) Mandriva One (7/10) Kubuntu (8/10) Opensuse (9/10) Sabayon (7/10) and PCLinuxOS (6/10).

The Verdict for Kubuntu:"A solid desktop, brilliant packages (ppa) and a good stream of updates help make Kubuntu a serious contender"

For Opensuse they wrote: "A distribution where the KDE desktop gets the same amount of love as gnome does in Ubuntu".

So Kubuntu isn't that bad afterall...

[askrieger]

Re: Linux Format (Magazine): Kubuntu second best KDE distro

But think how good it would be if Kubuntu got as much love as Gnome does in Ubuntu.

[MoonRise]

Re: Linux Format (Magazine): Kubuntu second best KDE distro

But think how good it would be if Kubuntu got as much love as Gnome does in Ubuntu.

I agree. Kubuntu would blow the doors of any other KDE based distro. Not that it doesn't already for me IMHO!

[Telengard]

Re: Linux Format (Magazine): Kubuntu second best KDE distro

So Kubuntu isn't that bad afterall...

Call me a pessimist if you like, but I see the glass half empty. Why isn't our favorite distro #1? What shortcomings did the article cite?

[dibl]

Re: Linux Format (Magazine): Kubuntu second best KDE distro

Why isn't our favorite distro #1?

Mark Shuttleworth is a Gnome user?

Seriously. He's underwriting Canonical with his personal checkbook, and he's a Gnome user. So, where do you think the development $$$ are going to go?

I'm not bashing -- I totally accept the "Golden Rule" .... he who has the gold, rules.

[Qqmike]

Re: Linux Format (Magazine): Kubuntu second best KDE distro

All the more reason for Kubuntu to do it the old-fashioned way--through hard work. That would blow the socks off everyone. Dramatic success via contrast (gold vs no-gold). Easy for me to say, not being the programmer/dev. But if I were 30 again, or even 45, working 7x24 as I did obsessively with boundless energy and blind ambition, I'd be motivated to make it happen for Kubuntu ... just to see it happen. But then, do we really want 958,931 users over here at our forum asking questions?! What the h* am I talkin' about tonight!

[pansz]

Re: Linux Format (Magazine): Kubuntu second best KDE distro

@OP:

Would you please post a link to the original article?

I'd done a search and cannot found the article you refered to.

[ukchucktown]

Re: Linux Format (Magazine): Kubuntu second best KDE distro

But then, do we really want 958,931 users over here at our forum asking questions?!

I needed a good laugh tonight. The one thing I love about this particular forum is the old geezer vibe. :P

Favorite is so subjective. Kubuntu has its bugs. I appreciate the Debian heritage of (k)ubuntu. That' why I stick with it regardless of Canonical's focus on Gnome. I like Debian and KDE and if those are your favorites then Kubuntu is clearly #1 right now.

[Ole Juul]

Re: Linux Format (Magazine): Kubuntu second best KDE distro

But then, do we really want 958,931 users over here at our forum asking questions?!

I needed a good laugh tonight. The one thing I love about this particular forum is the old geezer vibe. :P

Favorite is so subjective. Kubuntu has its bugs. I appreciate the Debian heritage of (k)ubuntu. That' why I stick with it regardless of Canonical's focus on Gnome. I like Debian and KDE and if those are your favorites then Kubuntu is clearly #1 right now.

I totally agree with your reasons for Kubuntu being #1. Actually, regarding the article, Kubuntu would still be #1 because I don't consider Novell to be contender, regardless of their software.

Regarding 958,931 users: actually, the Ubuntu forums are pretty dysfunctional. A huge proportion of the questions are left unanswered - particularly the threads with two or three posts because they are typically by the same person. Big is a problem.

[speedygeo]

Re: Linux Format (Magazine): Kubuntu second best KDE distro

I tried many KDE distro.
I choose Kubuntu for the easy package manager behind debian distros, the attention for the desktop user typical for ubuntu family.
But I like sidux that I used for 1 year. It is a very clean debian sid distro with a lot of love on the hardware compatibility.
I like chakra to reduce the time consuming configuration of an Arch installation.
I like Pardus too, and Mepis. Mepis is for that user that have the debian stable patience to wait for software versions improvements.

But I never be able to configure yast on openSUSE.

[ErwinC]

Re: Linux Format (Magazine): Kubuntu second best KDE distro

Call me a pessimist if you like, but I see the glass half empty. Why isn't our favorite distro #1? What shortcomings did the article cite?

As I understood it has to do with the adaption of KDE to the distro specs, looks, colours etc...

[ErwinC]

Re: Linux Format (Magazine): Kubuntu second best KDE distro

@OP:

Would you please post a link to the original article?

I'd done a search and cannot found the article you refered to.

It is on paper...

[GreyGeek]

Re: Linux Format (Magazine): Kubuntu second best KDE distro

...
The one thing I love about this particular forum is the old geezer vibe. :P
....

Hey, I resemble that remark!

I have used several distros that were rock solid examples of Linux/KDE. Prior to Novell's purchase of SuSE I had purchased 22 boxed sets of SuSE and all were excellent releases. I quit using SuSE when Novell purchased them because Novell issued a EULA addendum that said users could only make one archival copy, a clear violation of the GPL which they later admitted and reversed their ruling, but I could see where the CEO's head was and I didn't like the direction he was going. Time has proved my suspicions true.

After SuSE I used Mandrake for a couple years. It was a good distro, too. I stayed with it a couple years. With so many flavors to sample I tried many free and commercial versions. MEPIS was very good and I switched to it for a year or two, then I ran PCLinuxOS .P93, which was stunning. They followed that with PCLinux 2007, which was an absolute barn burner. Awesome distro. Then a hurricane hit Huston and TexStar couldn't work on his project for over a year. His absence was telling, so I tried Mandriva 2009 PWP, which was excellent except for the fact that I couldn't get it to power my GM45 Intel video chip very well and give me fully accelerated video. Mandriva kept wanting to use the i810 driver. Other than that Mandriva was an awesome distro.

I was working with the xorg bugzilla site on resolving the acceleration problem. Last Feburary they found the fix and I expected it to filter down by this summer. At the same time the fix was announced I read of the release of Kubuntu Jaunty Alpha 4, featuring KDE 4.2.1, which was the reason it interested me so. Mandriva didn't plan to go to KDE 4.2 until this summer. So, I burned the ISO and popped it into my HD. I WAS STUNNED to see the LiveCD come up with fully accelerated 3D video AUTOMATICALLY! A really unexpected pleasure! Investigating, I found it was using the i915 Intel driver.

For me, Alpha 4 KJJ was rock solid and fast. It also used the deb packaging system, which MEPIS used for a while and which intrigued me because it seemed more reliable than the RPM system, i.e., less likely to get into dependency hell. I rarely used console commands (except for locate and vdir) so when folks on this site posted help messages using APT-GET I gave it a try. I still love my Synaptic, but APT-GET has grown on me.

Now, I have moved all of my laptops to Kubuntu Karmic with KDE 4.3.3. On this 64 bit dual core Sony VAIO the 64 bit version of Kubuntu 9.10 with KDE 4.3.3 is the best desktop I have ever used since I began using an Apple ][+ in the summer of 1978.

I believe I have found computing Nirvana. To put cream on the KK pie is this forum. While the other distros had excellent forums too, this one does not lack in any regard.

[ukchucktown]

Re: Linux Format (Magazine): Kubuntu second best KDE distro

I agree GG, this is the best Linux forum bar none. It's small so you see the same names, the users are polite and intelligent. I only joined it last March and it's already my favorite place online. It's one of the reasons I'm sticking with Kubuntu. I used Gentoo for many years before I decided to give Jaunty a try and stumbled across this forum. I'm glad I did.

[BigCityCat]

Re: Linux Format (Magazine): Kubuntu second best KDE distro

I like this forum too. I've learned a lot reading you guys posts, but still everybody has pretty much ignored me. lol