Differences between LM KDE 12 and 13?

[RJim]

I posted this question in another topic which was discussing the Mint 13 RC, but it looks as though that thread was deleted for some reason because I can't find any traces of it anywhere... so I'm asking this outright:

For those who have used both Mint 12 KDE, and 13 RC, are there any major differences between the two?
Any compelling reasons to upgrade?

Right now I am using Mint 12 KDE, and everything is going well... but I don't want to be left too far behind the curve if there are some big changes in Mint KDE 13.

Opinions? Comments?

Thanks,

--Jim

[Oscar799]

This is a good place to start
http://www.linuxmint.com/rel_maya_kde_whatsnew.php

[RJim]

Thanks Oscar799!

Just out of curiosity, so I don't feel like a complete idiot in the future ( ), how did you find that page? I can't seem to see any way to navigate to it from the homepage?
Is there a hub for Mint KDE info that I am missing?

I am still interested in hearing from actual users of both, though... are the "KWin optimizations" noticeable in daily use?
What are the overall impressions of it from people who have used both versions? Is it worth the time and effort to upgrade at this point, or is it better to wait a while?


--Jim

[Oscar799]

On the front page of http://www.linuxmint.com/ is an announcement entitled "Linux Mint 13 “Maya” KDE RC released!"
I clicked on "Read more"
and arrived here http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=2081
Which offers the option to see “What’s new in Linux Mint 13 KDE“.

[BubbaBlues]

I can't speak much for the 32 bit versions but I used Mint 12 KDE 64 since it was released and it was the best system I ever used bar none.
Now I've been using Mint 13 KDE 64 RC since it came out and other that some minor font problems (tiny font in synaptic that you can't change
in the settings) it seems to be every bit as good. This rc is smoother running and more polished than 95 % of final releases. As for differences,
nothing really noticable. It's hard to go from near perfection to near perfection and see a lot of improvement. But at least you have the latest
of everything.

[RJim]

Thanks, BubbaBlues... I just saw your reply.

I use 64-bit Mint 12 KDE as well.
Did you upgrade from 12 to 13? Or did you do a clean install?
I am thinking about upgrading, but I don't really want to format my partitions again.

Things I'm looking out for are regressions -- like some have posted about a freezing problem in 13... although that might have been just for the Main Edition, I'm not sure.
Also I read a few posts about HDMI not working in 13 although it worked in 12. Is the font problem the only issue you have had? Have you found a fix for it yet?

Also do you use LibreOffice? I'm somewhat hopeful that the KWin updates have fixed the freezing issue. Can you do me a small favor and see if LibreOffice Writer still lags and freezes after you perform a suspend/resume cycle while a document is open in Writer?

Thanks for posting your comments... if I decide to install the RC, can I simply update to final release without much trouble? I've never done that before.

--Jim

[Rudemeister]

Mint 12 was running Ubuntu 11.10, kernel 3.0, KDE 4.7.1. Mint 13 is Ubuntu 12.04, kernel 3.2 and KDE 4.8.1. 13 is a more complete and polished implementation of KDE than 12 also. KDE 4.8.1 is faster, bug fixed and more stable than 4.7.1. I had a few problems with 12 that went away in 13. Chief problem I could not fix in 12 was the software manager. I tried everything to no avail. Now it just works. I had intermitent problems with the wireless driver on my laptop using 12. All fixed now!

I actually gave Kubuntu 12.04 a chance. I think it was also a more complete implementaion. It was okay. Mint 13 is much better. I just works PERFECT. But Mint KDE is not based on Kubuntu either. I like this better than the Cinnamon 13 I have too.

[RJim]

Thanks Rudemeister.

Right now I am deciding whether to upgrade or fresh install. I'd liketo be able to just upgrade with apt, but there seems to be a stigma around doing that--such as it never seems to work.

Maybe I should wait a bit longer, I'm really not sure at this point. I suppose there is no rush, at least until 12 is no longer supported at all.

--Jim

[Rudemeister]

Right now I am deciding whether to upgrade or fresh install. I'd liketo be able to just upgrade with apt, but there seems to be a stigma around doing that--such as it never seems to work.

I have tried the upgrade path and they never seem to work as well as a fresh install. I would backup all the stuff in you home directories and just do a fresh install of 13 KDE. It really has alot more polish than 12. The 4.8 version of KDE is a big improvement too.

[Jaws]

Just think of it like you're moving to a new distro, which is exactly what I'm doing.

A fresh install takes less than half an hour except for your personal settings. And depending on the defaults or features changing, it could be better to fresh install instead of upgrading in the long run.

Installed and been running the KDE 13 RC for a couple of weeks and it's been flawless. Going to nuke my previous distro do a fresh install with the KDE 13 final release.

[RJim]

I really appreciate all the replies.

One more question I have:

Do bugs/regressions in the Main Edition typically also affect the KDE edition? There is some discussion about a bug with the new kernel relating to Nvidia drivers and also HDMI (which I use both), posts are here for reference

Now I realize that the kernel probably affects all editions, but I'm not so sure about other things such as HDMI.

--Jim