this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2024
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The only thing "bad" about it would be that you'll need to start with a default KDE configuration (which is still very clean and pretty), but since KDE is very customizable, it should not be that much of an issue.
I love KDE (which has technically rebranded to "Plasma"), and it's a great experience. If you're worried, go find a distro like Bazzite or Garuda and install whichever version has Plasma in a Virtual Machine to see what it's like. That way, you can decide what you think about it.
15 years ago.
And people still call it KDE or KDE Plasma to this day. Rebranding is hard.
And Plasma is a stupid name XD
Just call it "KDE apps" and keep the name of the DE as KDE. It just makes sense.
[deleted] (Edit: I've deleted this part of my reply, because it's not really correct after thinking through this myself. But my point stands in Plasma not being a rebrand of KDE. Plasma is the desktop, KDE contains the Plasma desktop plus applications plus the underlying technology of it.)
To make that more clear, you can use KDE software without Plasma desktop in example. ... Yeah thinking of that, Plasma is probably just the desktop and all its functionality. KDE is way more than just the desktop.
Like for example KDE for Windows, where the system is not even Linux.
True, I forgot about that, since the original context is specifically DE's.
Or if OP wants to stay in the Debian/Ubuntu based branch: KDE Neon, Debian with KDE (+ LMDE repo), or Kubuntu 22.04 + Mint repos.
i'd rather not hop distros entirely, the way in understand it desktop interfaces like cinnamon and plasma run on top of the actual OS, so it's possible to swap them without having to reinstall. i could very well be wrong tho
Yes, that works. Just install some KDE plasma desktop metapackage of your choice and, if you like, you can remove cinnamon and related GTK packages afterwards by removing
libgtk.neat! gonna try in in a vm first
That's always a good idea
Yes, I would call the rest "base OS" which is also how the things are often called. As the Desktop contains tons of things that "operate" ;)
Yes, and no.
On Linux Distros everything is in a package. For example a package for Firefox.
Packages can be put into groups, and packages can have dependencies. For example I install Firefox and it will also pull in the language packs.
You could install a desktop by installing the group "KDE Plasma Desktop" or how it is called. Or there may be a package "kde-plasma-meta" (like on Arch) that doesnt contain anything but in its description has the list of packages it "requires" so these will automatically be installed.
The same way you can also uninstall your old desktop.
But the question is: what about configurations, and what does Linux Mint do here?
Linux mint is just Ubuntu, now also Debian, with the Cinnamon Desktop, some Mint-specific apps and a theme and custom settings.
These customizations are the reason why you would install Mint instead of Ubuntu Cinnamon.
(Also of course the fact that people dont know how distros work)
Now Desktop environments have different icons and apps, but may use the same method to define "this is the standard I use".
I.e. If you install KDE Plasma it may mess up your icons on Mint.
Packages have configurations and following the Unix philosophy "everything is a file", these configs are stored in config files.
The default ones are in
/etcwhile your own ones (which confusingly also include tons of stuff you didnt manually change) are in~/.configso your home directory.Different users on Linux have different home directories.
So if you just want to test a DE, you should create a different user and only use that DE with that user.
The issue is that these config files are not managed, at all. If you uninstall a package (or many, like the Cinnamon Desktop), the configs will stay there.
So even if you do it cleanly, uninstall the DE, only have a Terminal interface (TTY) left and install the new one, you may have conflicts.
That sucks a lot and I dont know a fix for it. Distros should put all their configs in something like
~/.config/kde(there is a feature request).This is why installing different desktops is always messy. Poorly.
Atomic Distros like Fedora Kinoite also dont change that.
I used Kubuntu and KDE Neon in the past. Cannot recommend them really.
KDE Neon maybe as they ship the modernized desktop, but people had tons of issues on the Plasma 6 upgrade, while on Fedora Kinoite literally nothing happened.
I second bazzite and add Aurora or just plain Fedora Kinoite.
Vanilla Plasma configs are fine, you may want to remove some things like the floaty floaty stuff and maybe remove the start screen (as it doesnt work and just delays system start).