kaOS

[NickStone]

I am just asking if anyone has tried kaOS http://kaosx.us/

It is an independent distribution that has been inspired by Arch but is not based on Arch. It is a rolling release distribution and only uses one desktop (KDE), one toolkit (QT) and one architecture (x86-64 bit).

I've not tried it yet but am thinking of checking it out. But if anyone here has tried it, what do you think of it?

[Jimmy.P]

It is just like Chakra, one of the developers from Chakra that left and started Kaosx. .....I tried it once but removed it directly since to me it is Chakra with a diffrent branding.....

[NickStone]

Well I've never tried Chakra so I cannot compare KaOS with that.

I had been trying to download the iso using Firefox and it stopped downloading at 1.1GB (the file is 1.7GB). The download utility in Firefox is ****! This is not the first time that a file failed to download completely and there is no option in Firefox to resume failed downloads (like there is in Opera), I wish they still developed Opera for Linux.

I am now downloading from a torrent. Once I've downloaded it I'll burn it to a disk and try it out.

[Jimmy.P]

Try it and tell us what you thing. I used to have flashgot plugin installed in firefox with that plugin i could chose kget. Worked fine, don't know if that plugin is stil working with firefox 29?


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[NickStone]

I had finally downloaded both KaOS and Chakra. It took me four attempts to download KaOS successfully on one attempt I downloaded the torrent but when it stated that the file was completed and should have been in my Downloads directory it wasn't there.

Anyway, having now both KaOS and Chakra on DVD's I booted my pc using the live disk to have a little play. Both distros appear to have been created very well and I like the fact that both use KDE/QT apps exclusively but with KaOS allowing the user to download and install some GTK apps such as Firefox, GIMP and LibreOffice to name a few. Chakra does not give you that option, their philosophy is that they only package QT apps.

Both distros use the pacman package manager but do not have access to either the Arch repository or the AUR (Arch User Repository) but have their own repositories and their own version of the AUR.

I was thinking of installing one or possibly both of these distros but as I am already using Manjaro I cannot see any real benefit to replace or use alongside Manjaro. At the moment Manjaro still has access to AUR whilst using it's own repository but I think Manjaro will have it's own version of AUR just like KaOS and Chakra.

If you are wanting to try a rolling release distro that uses the KDE then either of these two are very good. That is providing you have a 64 bit PC as neither distro builds for 32 bit PC's.

[Jimmy.P]

I think chakra has some gtk apps if you enable the extra repo


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[NickStone]

I've just taken a look at the extra repository and yes you are right it does contain GTK apps like Chromium and Firefox (to name but two).

So why then does it state on their home page that "Chakra is a GNU/Linux distribution with an emphasis on KDE and Qt technologies that focuses on simplicity from a technical standpoint and free software." when it also gives users the option to install GTK apps?

[Jimmy.P]

I can recommend you if you like the Pacman based distros, that you could try this!. It is Arch Linux sort of....With a Graphical installer. It actually install a pure Arch linux on your computer. It is easy as mint to install.

[NickStone]

Thanks for the advise but I'll stick with Manjaro on my 64 bit tower for now at least.

[SteveRiley]

So why then does it state on their home page that "Chakra is a GNU/Linux distribution with an emphasis on KDE and Qt technologies that focuses on simplicity from a technical standpoint and free software." when it also gives users the option to install GTK apps?

Because "an emphasis on KDE and Qt" doesn't mean "to the exclusion of Gtk+."

Chakra used to rely on a mechanism called bundles to keep Gtk applications and their libraries separated from the rest of the system. That's been replaced with a different approach. Packaged Gtk+ applications and libraries install from the extra repository. For a while, these applications were packaged to install everything into an /extra subdirectory, separate from the rest of the file system hierarchy. This became problematic and now Gtk+ applications and libraries will install to their normal locations.

[otisklt]

I am also trying out KaOS and it seems decent to start with...

[oshunluvr]

I have KaOS in a VM. Seems nice and very quick/smooth - even in the VM. Lack of apps is always my issue. I value variety and choices more than I value cleanliness. I can "clean up" an overloaded install, but I can't (won't) compile a couple thousand packages.

[GreyGeek]

+1 oshunluver
Also, I know nothing of "pacman" and how it compares to apt or dbkg. To me, the package manager is one of the most important apps in a distro and in my experience no pkg manager works as well as apt/dpkg.

[NickStone]

+1 oshunluver
Also, I know nothing of "pacman" and how it compares to apt or dbkg. To me, the package manager is one of the most important apps in a distro and in my experience no pkg manager works as well as apt/dpkg.

You should try pacman it is a very powerful and easy to use package manager (once you've learned all the switches such as pacman -S <package-name> to install a package or pacman -Syu to update the repositories and upgrade any new versions etc.)

[GreyGeek]

You should try pacman it is a very powerful and easy to use package manager (once you've learned all the switches such as pacman -S <package-name> to install a package or pacman -Syu to update the repositories and upgrade any new versions etc.)

Any pacman GUI? I'm getting too old to remember a bunch of switches.

EDIT: I downloaded the 1.6GB KOS ISO and installed it as a guest OS in VB.

The install was very clean and fast (since I ran it directly from the ISO on the HD and nnot as a DVD)
I changed to the Oxygen style and the desktop and Dolphin look more like what I like. However, when I later restarted the guest OS and logged in I got a black screen instead of the Plasma5 desktop. I used Alt-F2 to open a command line and ran System Settings. Resetting the style back to Breeze and Medina, logging out and back in, restored my desktop. Still some bugs.
System settings in KaOS aren't as populated, especially at the detail level (the tabs) as Kubuntu's is.
Octopi is a nice GUI package manager. It didn't take long at all to understand it and get used to it. However the number of packages available is very low. Too low, IMO.

Using their own source and kernel they should be able to integrate the desktop to the devices and drivers more tightly. Will be testing to see if that is a valid assumption.
Basing on their own source and kernel puts them in the same category a Debian. Staying in the stable release and rolling it forward as bugs are worked out should keep one on a stable platform. The big question is can they operate with the offerings available in the repository.

Final analysis: I see no reason to use KaOS since KDE is available on Debian's Jessie and their repository is well populated. Also, most third party suppliers make deb versions of their packages.