[Solved] Mint KDE 13 Release ?

[water spirit]

Kubuntu 12.04 should be released on April 26 2012. I am curious about the release schedule for Mint KDE 13.

[colyn]

It's released when Clem feels it is ready.

[olligod]

Short Version:
(1) r.b.y.p.
(2) Netrunner-OS!


Long Version

(1)
I don't want to be rude -- but a little research ("read before you post") would have given you an answer for a likely release date. Kubuntu is released April and October; the last Mint-KDE releases always came 3-4 months after that. You can see that on the mirrors and in the forums... expect the same here. Note that Clem does NOT (ever) see KDE as prio-1 Desktop (poor little KDE; but most distros - for whatever reason - treat it as the "step child", as is well documented...)
==> FIRST, all work will be completed on Mint-13 MATE and CINANMON (the 2 Gnome offsprings).

(2)
A new factor in the equation may be the new KDE SPONSOR for Mint and Kubuntu though: Blue Systems company. They, by the way, release their own Kubuntu derivative: netrunner-os.
A VERY nice KDE distro. KDE IS THEIR BELOVED ONLY CHILD -- and not a step child.This is a POLISHED UBUNTU-BASED KDE distro.....when could you ever use these 4 bold words in the same context
KDE has NEVER been polished enough (including all Codecs and such) on ANY other Ubuntu/KDE based system, including Mint-KDE.
I had (quality wise, honestly) given up on Mint-KDE. clem and jamie-boo just didn't care enough. Simple as that.

==> SOO, now I am actually
- earning money with my 2 machines and
- running Netrunner-os (64-bit) on my production laptop
- and Mint-Debian (with Mate/Gnome-2-successor desktop) 64-bit on a dual-monitor production Desktop PC
- both with lotsa open, proprietary and even windows applications (running under wine) running perfectly fine. Don't want to miss it any more.

==> (while I have answered questions that weren't raised in this post to the best of my ability ) maybe this inspires one to keep looking as there are endless possibilities for good Desktop environments as well as badly polished ones -- even keeping your habits: KDE or Gnome-2 on a good Mint/Ubuntu or Debian based distro!

[water spirit]

1) So the real answer to my actual question, seems to be, that there is no release schedule.

2) I noticed that someone asked the same question at the netrunner forum,

Kubuntu release a new version, 12.04 LTS, on April 26.
Do you intend to release a corresponding version of Netrunner very soon after?

and got this answer,

Yes, we need 1-2 weeks for testing our different implementations.

quite civil I thought. So I will have a look when they do release.

[dist666]

@olligod

I would like to think that atleast oldschool, the finest linux usrs/devs likes/improves KDE and relating SW ?

[olligod]

1) So the real answer to my actual question, seems to be, that there is no release schedule.

Of course there is a release schedule: release when it's ready This is a Mint Trademark.
If I wanted to install it I would plan for Aug-1st week.

2) I noticed that someone asked the same question at the netrunner forum .... "Yes, we need 1-2 weeks for testing our different implementations".

Great news indeed! Thanks for asking them - didn't know they are that far. If true, I will upgrade soon as I am very happy with their work. The current netrunner-os is 4.1 and I do not hesitate to recommend it to anyone interested in a KDE/Ubuntu based system. The upgrade procedure will be the last major thing for me to test on their distro. But given the overall quality of it, I am not worried right now.

[olligod]

@olligod

I would like to think that atleast oldschool, the finest linux usrs/devs likes/improves KDE and relating SW ?

I would have thought so, too. But It turns out it is a lot of legwork each time, every time to get the *polish* right. My hopes have almost always been dashed each time, every time since KDE-4 on a Ubuntu/Mint based system.

I am a person that just wants my machines to be my reliable companion that Just Works (tm) and not my experimental lab. Is that a wrong attitude? After all, somebody must give feedback to them....I did give a donation to Linux Mint twice though. That's my contribution. I may do it another time, soon, since I am very fond of Linux Mint Debian, latest release (I am running clem's project "Mate" on it though i.s.o. KDE)...

One example of "non-polish" On Mint-KDE, when you double-clicked a PDF, then GIMP opened (w.t.f ??)
Is that still the case? if so, then let that be the next bug that I file. And it shows that the makers of linux-mint (clem and jamie-boo until 2011) never actually USED the system they were trying to offer (my experience up to Mid-2011, y.m.m.v.).
Is that wrong reasoning? I don't think it is.

There are lotsa little things like that.

OK, I stop to ramble now........all will be well in the future, somewhere, someplace!

[dvhenry]

I'm running mint kde, and I like it, I agree it's not polished, but the suggestion here is that the kde desktop itself is to blame, I believe it has more to do with the manpower available to produce that polish, perhaps a few more kde experts offering to assist would help.
openSUSE with kde gives a good example of a polished desktop (don't get me wrong, openSUSE has its issues too), a properly setup kde can be impressive and very reliable.

[olligod]

I'm running mint kde, and I like it, I agree it's not polished ..... I believe it has more to do with the manpower available to produce that polish...

Absolutely d'accord. This is of course a result of KDE being the "step child" of the mint makers

openSUSE with kde gives a good example of a polished desktop (don't get me wrong, openSUSE has its issues too), a properly setup kde can be impressive and very reliable.

I absolutely believe you that KDE in openSUSE is just great -- since SuSE has been *the* KDE distro ever since KDE began...of course SUSE is an all-different distro, so not an option for many of us.

... that the kde desktop itself is to blame ...

To give a distro polish - whatever desktop environment is used - takes resources - each time, every time, every release.
The fact that the openSUSE makers can do it -- that Netrunner-OS can do it (see comments above in this thread) -- doesn't that prove that KDE (i.e.; upstream) is NOT to blame for the problems but the distro makers?
I think that the Mint partnership with BlueSystems (the netrunner-os makers) is their last good shot for a d-e-c-e-n-t KDE release. If it doesn't work out (I hope it will, though), THEN it means you can only ever have 2 out of the three things listed below at the same time
- a polished distro -
- a Mint distro
- a KDE desktop

[dvhenry]

I don't understand the anty KDE sentiment here!!!!
The way I see it KDE fills a gap that Gnome can not, to suggest that mint can't equal openSUSE with KDE seems defeatist, so do you believe no point in trying? ?

[olligod]

I don't understand the anty KDE sentiment here!!!!
The way I see it KDE fills a gap that Gnome can not, to suggest that mint can't equal openSUSE with KDE seems defeatist, so do you believe no point in trying? ?

Dear friend, please keep it cool; I respectfully state that you got my post wrong. Of course, *if* the necessary manpower (can you help?) is acquired somewhere, Mint could do equal (or better!), as the foundation is Debian/Ubuntu which has a very impressive infrastructure by now. And the "minties" are very bright people, too. I've been with their Distro (on and off) since Bianca.

The point is, the Ubuntu Chief M. Shuttleworth **downgraded** his KDE project (he retrieved paid personnel from it) -and also the Mint "Chief" clem essential made it clear that his priority continue to be the Gnome-offsprings -- so they *could* do a better KDE but they *don't* right now. These were their respective decisions. "Step child" of course means "child that is *just as much worth* as any other but does not get the love from its parents that it deserves". That is the case here.

If you are a good C++/QT programmer / distro packager -- by all means, chip in and help them.

And as I also said in that post: There is the "netrunner-os by BlueSystems" option. Both Ubuntu and Mint seem to hand over their KDE version to that company. So one could dream up a linux Mint KDE in netrunner-os quality, powered by BlueSystems ...and that is the best hope right now.

Cheers,
olligod

[kindofabuzz]

what's your hurry? 12 is great!

[BubbaBlues]

For the life of me I can't figure out why people constantly rag about Mint KDE. I use Mint KDE 64 bit, and I tell you that it is more polished and
usable than anything else I've tried. AND i'VE TRIED ALMOST ALL OF THEM. 95% of other distros aren't even in the same league when it comes
to speed, polish and ease of use. And that includes open suse which is a complete caotic mess. You people should go and try using some of that other
stuff a while and maybe you'll learn to appreciate just how good Mint KDE is.

[JonesKS]

A new factor in the equation may be the new KDE SPONSOR for Mint and Kubuntu though: Blue Systems company. They, by the way, release their own Kubuntu derivative: netrunner-os.
A VERY nice KDE distro. KDE IS THEIR BELOVED ONLY CHILD -- and not a step child.This is a POLISHED UBUNTU-BASED KDE distro.....when could you ever use these 4 bold words in the same context
KDE has NEVER been polished enough (including all Codecs and such) on ANY other Ubuntu/KDE based system, including Mint-KDE.
I had (quality wise, honestly) given up on Mint-KDE. clem and jamie-boo just didn't care enough. Simple as that.

Oh NO, NO, you're all speaking from memories! I've no idea how it was in Jamie-Boo's time as I'd never had a reason to try KDE until Gnome2 was axed, but I can tell you Mint 12 KDE is quite possibly the best Mint release ever (well, since Ellysa that I can recall). I truly hope FredG & Clem read this and you lot should take it for a spin before bashing Mint KDE. Mint 12 KDE has to be one of the most underrated distros of its time. And so's the effort of those who put it together...

Have it on a little usb ssd, booted on over ten different machines at home and school (I like having the same environment regardless of the room I teach in) and never a glitch. Also, faster than many other so called "lightweight" distros. True, I do have all desktop effects turned off.

As for Suse and other almighty names, I've tried everything KDE+kernel3 under the sun last fall after making the mistake of going Sandy Bridge and therefore needing kernel 3 for video. Total disaster. OpenSuse 12.1 made my 3 month old i5 rig crawl slower than the 6 year old Athlon64 I'd just given away. Made "the W OS" look real snappy and that's rare for any modern linux distro. Mint 12 KDE runs so smooth on my wife's Acer One (n.b. from usb) it almost seems the bas***d is anticipating my thoughts! Now, if that's not polish (and quite a bit of work...) I don't know what is. Fair is fair.

And should the same hands take the time to knead and bake a 13 KDE LTS release I'd be very sorry for anyone who'd miss it.

[JonesKS]

For the life of me I can't figure out why people constantly rag about Mint KDE. I use Mint KDE 64 bit, and I tell you that it is more polished and
usable than anything else I've tried. AND i'VE TRIED ALMOST ALL OF THEM. 95% of other distros aren't even in the same league when it comes
to speed, polish and ease of use. And that includes open suse which is a complete caotic mess. You people should go and try using some of that other
stuff a while and maybe you'll learn to appreciate just how good Mint KDE is.

...like I says, bubba!

++1

[Fandangio]

I'm still on Mint 10 KDE and absolutely love it.

I've been searching for something better for a long long time and just cannot find anything. Tried OpenSuse, LMDE with KDE, PCLinuxOS and even Mint 12 KDE (but the upgrade was not a big enough step to bother with IMHO) but nothing seems to work as well. Currently tyring Chakra, Arch based (rolling) and dedicated to KDE with up to date apps (KDE 4.8.something).

So far it seems pretty awesome and now that I'm at the end of support for Mint 10 I am linking the idea of moving to a rolling distro.

As you may note since moving to KDE many moons ago there has been no DE to compete (I currently am also trying Cinammon on a live USB, actually as I write this). To be honest nothing really compares to it's power and customisability.

[water spirit]

I am linking the idea of moving to a rolling distro.

Sabayon 9 is due for release next Thursday, it is a rolling distro that I have had installed on one Laptop since August 2010, well worth a look.

[ldvalle]

I can't agree more with "olligod".
In fact I was analazing alternatives form Mint KDE. I'm waiting for NET-RUNNER 4.2, and try CHAKRA (it's an only KDE distro), but this one is ... well a bit pour for my taste.

I've Mint 10 KDE, I didn't try 12 KDE, someones tell us here, it's the best KDE version he ever seen. May be that's true, but all of we remember how long we had to be waiting for it.

Well but late, isn't a solution.

Mint, in my opinion, in general terms is the best distro, but KDE version is absolutely uncared.

[Jose Manuel]

I agree. I hope that Linux Mint 13 KDE, is really excelente (like versions Linux Mint 9 and Linux Mint 10 of KDE), because it really Linux Mint 12 KDE despite being visually very nice, was pretty ugly errors. We hope you pay attention, deserves KDE (but be installing Kubuntu 12.04 or Chakra). - Greetings.

[XuJinNet]

Please release the KDE Version，we need it , we love it

We love Mint ! ! ! !