Mint parts company with KDE

[mick.kde]

I've used Linux Mint KDE since 2006. Fine distro and fine people. Last year, however, Clem announced that Mint would no longer offer a KDE version. I lingered, running version 18.3 with an older KDE, while I debated my course of action. I considered staying with Mint and changing interfaces but then installed KDEneon on a new partition and was gobsmacked. That ended any thoughts I had of moving to another interface. I love KDE and the new KDE is the best ever, in my opinion.

I've now installed Kubuntu and the results have been most satisfactory. I'm switching back and forth, Kubuntu one day, KDEneon the next, and there doesn't seem to be much difference to me. Perhaps there are significant differences for a developer but I'm just a KDE user and my migration to Kubuntu/KDEneon has been better than I could have hoped. To all the good folks who work on these two excellent distros, thank you!

Mick

[Don B. Cilly]

I tried Mint KDE years ago. It just looked to me like the Complicating Simple Things Department (a known branch of the Circumlocution Office ;·) so I switched back to Kubuntu very quickly.
If one needs some sort of proof they're not all that clever, the fact that they dropped KDE...

Kubuntu, I can recommend 20.04. Very nice. You can get it here.

Here you can find my trial-and-error installation from hard disk with no live medium.

[jglen490]

Old news, and actually no news. If you read Clem's blog, it makes perfect sense to stop using KDE, and in doing so reduce the complexity of Mint. Mint already supports Cinnamon, Mate, XFCE, and LMDE. Why support another desktop environment, dilute the product line, and try to compete with Kubuntu and other KDE-based distros that focus quite successfully on KDE.

Mint needs to refine what they have, and they are. And the fact is that by some measures, Mint has a pretty big chunk of the Linux market - much more than Kubuntu; sadly. I say, don't worry about Mint, they are fine, and are focusing on what is important to them. Kubuntu has the best KDE-based product in the Linux universe. Love what you have.

[mick.kde]

Kubuntu, I can recommend 20.04. Very nice. You can get it here.

Here you can find my trial-and-error installation from hard disk with no live medium.

Thank you for the links, Don. I suspect I'll be trying 20.04 soon.

[mick.kde]

Kubuntu has the best KDE-based product in the Linux universe. Love what you have.

No argument here.

[verndog]

...Kubuntu one day, KDEneon the next, and there doesn't seem to be much difference to me. Perhaps there are significant differences for a developer but I'm just a KDE user and my migration to Kubuntu/KDEneon has been better than I could have hoped. ...Mick

My thoughts too. I think 'neon' updates kde more frequently, but other than that I don't feel the difference. I like all the added programs that Kubuntu brings.

[claydoh]

KDE seems solid on most any platform. For Mint KDE users, Kubuntu is a no-brainer as it was almost literally Kubuntu with a different software store app and theming, as they were using Kubuntu's Plasma packaging directly. Under the hood, the Debian/Ubuntu/Mint family will all feel familiar.

[TWPonKubuntu]

My preference, on my 64bit system, is KDE/Kubuntu 19.04. On my two 32bit systems, I'm running Mint/XFCE.

Since 32bit is feeling the 'bite' of being deprecated on more OSs, my plan is to keep the last working version of Mint/32 when/if Mint drops 32bit support (not happening yet, but I plan on it).

Yes, I know I could (probably) run Kubuntu 18.04/32bit, but I had trouble with it, in the past, when I tried it on my 32 bit systems. Hence I now run two Linux versions. It works for me.

I'll migrate my 64bit system to 20.04 when it goes full release. Yes, that may be a two step process: 19.04->19.10->20.04. Not a problem from my point of view.

[oshunluvr]

My thoughts too. I think 'neon' updates kde more frequently, but other than that I don't feel the difference. I like all the added programs that Kubuntu brings.

Having been a Neon user since almost day 1. the differences are pretty much what they state: a rapidly updated version of KDE.

Kubuntu installs with more stuff as it's intended to be a whole OS. KDEneon installs a rather small subset of what Kubuntu offers out-of-the-box.
Kubuntu updates KDE a while after release and stops updating as the next release rolls out. KDEneon updates KDE as soon as the packages are built and continues to do so.

If you compare Kubuntu along side KDEneon for a two year cycle you start to see the progression. By June 2018, Neon's KDE was several steps ahead of Kubuntu 18.04 already. By the time Kubuntu 19.04 came out they were sort of even. At 20.04 I think KDE will be even but Neon's base will be well behind 20.04. Until, of course Neon rolls out a new base - whihc they may.

I prefer Neon because I use my computer every day and I really don't want to upgrade my base OS every six months, but I like getting all the KDE upgrades and fixes ASAP.

[TWPonKubuntu]

@Snowhog, thank for the fix. Fingers bad...

[claydoh]

Having been a Neon user since almost day 1. the differences are pretty much what they state: a rapidly updated version of KDE.

Kubuntu installs with more stuff as it's intended to be a whole OS. KDEneon installs a rather small subset of what Kubuntu offers out-of-the-box.
Kubuntu updates KDE a while after release and stops updating as the next release rolls out. KDEneon updates KDE as soon as the packages are built and continues to do so.

If you compare Kubuntu along side KDEneon for a two year cycle you start to see the progression. By June 2018, Neon's KDE was several steps ahead of Kubuntu 18.04 already. By the time Kubuntu 19.04 came out they were sort of even. At 20.04 I think KDE will be even but Neon's base will be well behind 20.04. Until, of course Neon rolls out a new base - whihc they may.

I prefer Neon because I use my computer every day and I really don't want to upgrade my base OS every six months, but I like getting all the KDE upgrades and fixes ASAP.

+101
Been using Kubuntu since it was first released in 2005, and Neon since the User edition was released. I do prefer not having to upgrade the whole OS, but getting regular Plasma updates.
Which brings me to a dilemma, as I am down to only my Kubuntu PC, likely for the foreseeable future, and I am not sure if I will be lazy and just keep Kubuntu on it, or install Neon on it.
Now, I could put Neon on my 11" touch screen Chromebook, but the thing is just too small, and it does not have sound support (and likely won't) , which is a bit too important a feature. I already have it running the Linux container as well as the Android one, so I am effectively triple-booted at all times.

[oshunluvr]

Currently, my Neon:

[claydoh]

My Kubuntu is not much different, other than that crusty old-ish cpu of mine
However, Qt is more important than people might think, as there are usually a number of Plasma bugs fixed between versions of this library, so this is another advantage for Neon.

My Neon laptop had the 5.3 kernel, but it was a very fresh install. Not sure why it comes with the hwe-edge kernel instead of the normal hwe one.

[oshunluvr]

Just compared it to a new 20.04 install. Same Plasma and Frameworks, Neon higher QT version, lower kernel version

[Don B. Cilly]