Simple question: I want to know what you guys consider to be the best KDE distribution. I want an up-to-date, well-implemented KDE 4.2. I'm sick of all those half-assed attempts at a decent KDE desktop these days.
Oh, and please no distributions only used by three men and a cow. And I'm using an NVIDIA card, so it has to have the latest NVIDIA driver, easily installable.
Fire away.
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Member since:
2005-07-24
I'm probably not saying anything that you do not already know. And I'm not a fan of the distro myself. But if I were going to go way out of my way, changing distros to give KDE4 its best chance of not being too horrible, I would go right to the latest OpenSuse. Unfortunately, they are only midway through their development cycle, and the stable version still has 4.1.3 (according to Distrowatch). So you'd have to run the development version to get 4.2.1. But in KDE4s perpetual world of "all the older versions were admittedly lacking, but this latest point release is really it", that's probably unavoidable.
Member since:2005-07-13
The KDE desktop for the factory version of openSUSE is also available for current and previous release versions, as are the Qt 4.5 libraries that improve performance somewhat.
I'm using openSUSE 11.1 with KDE 4.2.1 and Qt 4.5, and combined with the improvements in the recent nVidia drivers, it's a very stable and responsive system.
Because the DE is being developed for factory, the devs will generally respond to bugs as well, even though it isn't "officially" supported for 11.1.
Member since:
2006-12-28
Member since:2006-12-28
Member since:2005-06-29
I downloaded the 2009.1/Spring RC KDE live CD and it didn't boot. NVIDIA logo pops up, and that's it. The machine doesn't crash, but since ctrl+alt+backspace is disabled, I CAN'T KILL X. Grumble.
The exact same thing happens on the Fedora 11 beta, just without the NVIDIA logo. Again, since ctrl+alt+backspace is disabled, I CAN'T KILL X.
Retarded.
Member since:2005-07-24
Member since:2007-02-17
You can actually re-enable the ctrl+alt+backspace if you X is working by ... oh wait.
You are correct. Retarded.
Meanwhile, it appears that Nvidia are still fixing their Linux driver.
http://news.softpedia.com/news/New-Nvidia-Video-Drivers-for-Linux-B...
· Repaired KDE 4.x Plasma issues with OpenGL 3.0;
· Repaired various OpenGL issues/crashes;
· Repaired various Xid issues;
· Repaired various X server crashes;
· Repaired the Autodesk Maya issues;
· Repaired H.264 handling in VDPAU;
· Repaired WMV handling in VDPAU;
· Repaired Valgrind crashes;
· Repaired the decoding of VC-1 streams on the 64-bit architecture."
Perhaps this very latest Nvidia driver, version 180.44, is what you might need to run KDE 4.2.x well on Nvidia hardware.
Good luck. Nvidia have been doing a LOT of updates to their Linux driver recently, amounting to about five new releases last month (March 09). Maybe this spate of updates is finally settling down by now.
Member since:
2007-02-17
Requirements:
(1) the best KDE distribution.
(2) an up-to-date, well-implemented KDE 4.2.
(3) distribution not only used by three men and a cow.
(4) it has to have the latest NVIDIA driver, easily installable.
This is a tough ask. AFAIK, there have been as yet NO mainstream KDE distributions released since KDE 4.2 became available.
Mandriva 2009.1, Fedora 11 and Kubuntu 9.04 are all due to include KDE 4.2, and hence will be up-to-date, but at this stage I wouldn't yet call any of them "well-implemented".
I recently tried the Kubuntu 9.04 beta release, and it wouldn't install properly. Exactly the same story for Fedora 11 beta.
So I myself have gone for Arch Linux, because it has a "rolling release" policy, so it is up-to-date.
In order to get Arch easily installed with KDE 4.2, I used the experimental Chakra project installer, found here:
http://chakra-project.org/download-iso.html
It works, but it has some "gotchas", as this installer is still only alpha software. I would recommend NOT using the "find the best repository" option, but rather manually choosing a mirror yourself after install. Be wary of the ext4 filesystem with KDE4 ... not (yet) recommended. The CD/USB installation images are a little behind the times, so if you update to current after installing there is an initial large download to bring the system up to date.
Arch is a pretty "cutting edge" distribution, and as a consequence it lacks some polish. Be prepared to spend some time reading on the Arch forums and in the command line if you want to set it up really nice. It is not a mainstream distribution by any means, but I think it does perhaps meet your "more users than three men and a cow" requirement.
It is worth the effort though. It is blazingly fast.
Your mileage may vary. This distribution very well might not be what you are looking for. It certainly isn't for everyone.
Member since:
2005-06-30
Member since:2007-03-30
Member since:
2005-08-18
I'm just happy with Kubuntu. I've used it everyday for work and play since November and I see no reason (nor have the time) to change to anything else. Only thing that bugs me about it right now is the lack of any Koffice 2 packages.
Tried OpenSuse though. I guess it's a fine distro but I just cant stand Yast.
Member since:2007-03-26
Tried OpenSuse though. I guess it's a fine distro but I just cant stand Yast.
Kubuntu seems a little slow to update packages Arch had already mainlined 6 months ago.
But other than that, it's not a bad KDE4 distro.
Agree with Yast though. Horrid program.
Member since:
2007-03-26
Member since:
2006-01-04
.. are the best choices. But at the moment there is no Distro that will make KDE4 really shine. Maybe if you give it time Sidux will become one. They did a good job on KDE3.
KDE needs a billionaire that is willing to build a KDE distro with enterprise qualities.
No such thing currently exists.
Member since:
2007-02-17
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=NzE4Nw
Perhaps this version will do it?
Given that Nvidia has made no less than six releases of their Linux driver in just over a month, I'm not overly filled with confidence that this new version:
http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=1976912
will bring stability and correct performance just yet.
Member since:
2007-02-14
I've heard many people praise OpenSuSE for their KDE 4 implementation, but I haven't tried OpenSuSE recently with KDE 4.2.
However, I am happily running Fedora 10 With KDE 4.2.1. Fedora shipped with KDE 4.1, but when KDE 4.2 were released they updated the repositories with KDE 4.2
Also I have the Nvidia's driver installed, and running the KDE effects, such as transparent window, exposé, etc.
Previously I preferred Kubuntu, but I replaced it with my new acquaintance Fedora as it has a very nice KDE 4.2.
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