KDE vs Gnome Questions

zoomiest · #1 30th April 2009, 03:18 AM

I am checking out Fedora and installed KDE with the Fedora 10 install. I was surprised with what I saw, and installed Gnome afterwards. Can you validate my conclusions, before I really go very far configuring this laptop...

1) There didn't seem to be very many applications for KDE, where Gnome seems to have a lot. After the install I couldn't get any applications to come up in my searches. (was it busy downloading patches?
2) OpenOffice wasn't available for KDE - only Gnome. (Is KOffice comparable?)
3) The KDE remote desktop was awesome and could connect to WinXP remote desktops. Is this available for Gnome.
4) KDE has more eye-candy, but Compiz isn't available for KDE.

Is KDE more for home use?

Loki1950 · #2 30th April 2009, 03:41 AM

1)The apps are there it's just a matter of getting used the the menu categories being different
2)If you installed from the KDE LiveCd it is not installed to big for the CD image but it is available through KPackageKIt
3)There is remote desktop support for Gnome
4)Compiz can be installed for KDE but why bother

Mind all these questions could start a KDE vs Gnome flame war

Enjoy the Choice

#3 30th April 2009, 03:43 AM

There should be a kde-integration package for openoffice either installed or in the repo...

Wayne

BrillianceLin · #4 30th April 2009, 04:06 AM

Since someone bring up this question. I wanna ask one extra:
Does KDE demand more resource than Gnome?
I found F11 preview KDE liveUSB(Ram used: 505/512, GPU demand: very high since cooling fan keep running like crazy) VS. F10 stable Gnome local(Ram used: 235/512, GPU demand: relative low, stable at 60C)
Is there a problem on liveUSB or a bug in preview? Or Plasma really a resource hunger monster?
I recalled the KDE use as much resouce as Gnome back in FC6.
Cheer!!

Loki1950 · #5 30th April 2009, 08:21 AM

That may be because you are using a LiveUSB image as then everything runs in RAM not from the hard drive so the installed version should have about the same resource usage as Gnome.But yes KDE is a touch more resource hungry all that eye candy ain't cheap

Enjoy the Choice

rookcifer · #6 30th April 2009, 08:51 AM

My experience has been that Gnome might have a few more apps in terms of numbers, but I think KDE has the better apps. You cannot beat Amarok for music, K3b for CD/DVD burning, or K9Copy for DVD ripping/encoding, imo. I find Kmail about equal to Thunderbird and find Kopete as good or better than Pidgin. It seems the KDE team focuses more on a complete desktop (with integrated apps) than the Gnome team does, but that's only my impression.

It really comes down to personal preference. I think KDE does take slightly more RAM on average, but it is negligible on modern desktops that almost always ship with at least 2 gigs of RAM.

And yes, you can install any Gnome app in KDE and vice versa. You just have to install GTK and the gnome libraries (and KDE libraries if using Gnome). And compiz-fusion works just fine on KDE (though I admit it is a little buggy on the newer KDE4 builds). However, KDE has its own composting now, something which Gnome lacks.

#7 30th April 2009, 08:58 AM

Quote:

KDE has its own composting now

Wow! I didn't know KDE could do that

Wayne

#8 30th April 2009, 09:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rookcifer

However, KDE has its own composting now, something which Gnome lacks.

Gnome has compiz an compiz-fusion which has many more plugins than Kwin offers

rookcifer · #9 30th April 2009, 09:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wayne

Wow! I didn't know KDE could do that

Wayne

LOLZ, yeah I typically have KDE on the back of my lawnmower for this task! Get with the times, man.

steelaworkn · #10 1st May 2009, 06:03 AM

One thing I did was go to the KDE web site and browse the different apps. A lot of the main kde apps can be installed by the yum command.

I like the KOffice Suite. I don't like using the update engine that comes with KDE. I just use yum update from the command line. It's faster and more efficient.

#11 1st May 2009, 06:07 AM

http://kde-apps.org/

Wayne

stevea · #12 1st May 2009, 06:23 AM

Gnome IMO seems to be getting very bloated, but so is Linux generally.
My "feeling" is that KDE has a lower processing load, but that's a guess/feeling.

There is definitely a push toward Gnome on Fedora and you find a lot more help for Gnome on this forum. OTOH my personal opinion is that Gnome has gone way overboard in treating users like idiots. They also seem to have a questionable grasp of the correct place for a desktop wrt security and filesystems.

Loki1950 · #13 1st May 2009, 08:36 AM

You thinking about Policy Kit there stevea

a good idea but the current implementation seems a bit of a clunky.

Enjoy the Choice

JK3MP · #14 1st May 2009, 08:52 AM

They both have ups and downs, all just trying out, deciding, and going for it.

stefan1975 · #15 1st May 2009, 09:10 AM

Quote:

my personal opinion is that Gnome has gone way overboard in treating users like idiots.

ah well they are in good company there, xorg zapping and root logins being disabled also pushes the distros in that direction. Give it another few years and we'd all be running ubuntuish distros and have Mark make all of us sudo :-)