In Linux, What is a Desktop Environment for? KDE vs Debian?

Question

I just setup Pardus (distro of Linux), and it uses KDE (K Desktop Environment), I had used Ubuntu before and that uses Debian (I am right?)

So what is the difference between Debian and KDE and does this limit me from using certain applications(programs), does it make anything harder/easier

What are the cons/pros of KDE and Debian (Why are there different Desktop Environments?)

is there a reason for me to switch to Ubuntu (I want to start with a good OS, and Pardus seems to be easier to use, but its easier to find documentation on Ubuntu)

Thanks,

Answer 1

Actually, the standard Ubuntu uses Gnome, although KUbuntu is an Ubuntu distro that uses KDE. Most distros allow you to run both KDE and Gnome apps, so it's not a big deal. There are other window managers out there as well, but KDE and Gnome are the two biggest ones. I personally prefer KDE - for a while it was less popular because it's built on the QT library, which was proprietary but later released under GPL.



If you're interested in the subject, check out the wikipedia articles:



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kde

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desktop_environment

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNOME



As for distributions, I've been happy with Red Hat/Fedora for years, but am also experimenting and happy with Ubuntu. The community support for Ubuntu is really great, and may be helpful for you as a newbie.

Answer 2

The key to a good distro is how little customization you have to do to get what you want. Me I'm a fellow KDE fan. So I tend to prefer distros that work and play well with KDE. I'm personally using Ubuntu LTS because for me reinstalling every year or two is intensely painful. It takes me six months to customize a distro just the way I like it. Once I do I want to run it till the hardware dies. I don't want to spend more time working on my machine than doing stuff with it. I want those hours invested to return hours saved over the coming years. I've run the same install for as many as 5 years before. I had it how I liked it and that's the way it stayed till the MB died. The best integreation with KDE I've seen was Fedora but the short lifecycle of Fedora really irked me. Fedora as has much more primitive support for proprietary formats but has the best driver base of any distro. If you can't install on a machine with Fedora you prob can't install out of the box with any distro. I use CentOS for most of my server apps. My file server and backup servers use CentOS. It has good LTS but seriously lacking in user apps and support for proprietary formats is abysmal. It's a server oriented distro, not a good choice for a desktop but a great choice for a machine you install on and see only to update. The rest of the time my interactions with those servers are automated. My advice is go to distrowatch. Download the live CDs of a dozen promising distros. Play with them as a live distro and get a feel for them. Then install a couple of the best prospects. Everybody will want different things out of Linux. That's one of the big draws of Linux. Your not handed a one size fits all solution and told to live with it. You choose what most closely fits your needs then customize it to fit your needs like a glove. With Linux you have an OS that truly reflects what you want out of a computer and meets your needs.

Answer 3

i bet u must be using gnome on ubuntu... both kde and gnome are desktop environment on linux... kde i s more smooth ... gnome more supprted n old.... u must be having kde on ubuntu...

If u r looking for good linux distro... i'll recomend opensuse .... have tried fedora, ubuntu, opensuse etc and opensuse is best... Personaly, i am using Gentoo but probably u wont be able to compile that... so just try opensuse... its free and robust... supports almost all hardwares