New minter

[steve2267]

New Minter here. Had been using Ubuntu 16 LTS, then tried Kubuntu. Loved Kubuntu 20 and KDE Plasma. Recently dual booted Kubuntu 22 LTS and... !#@$!##@!!! Snaps broke some of my Firefox customizations. Worse... after removing the Firefox Snap, the next time Firefox updated, it re-installed the Snap version. What a PIMA. Snaps look like a neat idea. And I can see their utility. But Canonical's approach is sooo heavy handed. Leave it up to the user. (Or don't break sh*t.) Good grief.

I read that while Mint dropped KDE as an option (sad really, I would hope Mint would add it back), I could add KDE via the KDE backports repository. So far (one whole day), I like what I am seeing.

[Termy]

Oh man, I am not a fan of Snaps! Canonical's obsession with Snaps is a big reason why I'm planning to eventually abandon an Ubuntu base for a Debian base. Anyway, welcome to the forums. If you find yourself wanting to distance yourself from Ubuntu, you might want to try LMDE, which is Linux Mint's formula but based on Debian instead of Ubuntu.

Oh, and yes, I was disappointed that Linux Mint dropped KDE, given how popular it is; that being said, KDE is notorious for bugs, so I certainly don't blame them for ditching it! I've no surprise you can install KDE on Linux Mint, because this is Linux! A world of modularity and flexibility. How well it would work, however, is another matter.

[JerryF]

Welcome!

[rossdv8]

I'll also say 'Welcome' and as another long time KDE user, I was disappointed when Mint dropped KDE support.
However, reading your comment about installing KDE/Plasma into Mint, there are a couple of things to be aware of.
Not all Mint, or even Linux 'Desktop Environments' are particularly friendly to KDE stuff. And you would be adding a LOT of bloat, although if you already came across from Kubuntu you should have plenty of drive space.

KDE is not Evil as some Minties will suggest. But it does inflict pain on theming/styling, because it stores a lot of stuff in the same folders in /home/ that Cinnamon, Mate and Xfce store that stuff in. It tends to do the same thing with configuration files for Apps, but in some cases they conflict directly because the App may be called one thing, but have different configurations for the Mint/GTK equivalent.

For some reason, there seem to be far less conflicts between Xfce and various other Desktop Environments when it comes to KDEing a Linux distro.
For that reason, if you are planniing to hit Mint with a Plasma beam, some of us who have already done it, strongly advise starting with Mint Xfce.

If you already have the Cinnamon or Mate release of Mint installed, it is easy to install Xfce4 from the Mint repos, although I would suggest asking here, to make sure you get as much of it as possible. From there, you can log out, choose Xfce from the Login screen, and Log back in - then, assuming you have added kubuntu backports repo, Install kde-plasma-desktop, and see what breaks. In my case, almost nothing breaks, and I can then log out again and log in to Plasma Desktop and start making it work.

Last time I tried that with Cinnamon and no Xfce, I ended up having to do a complete reinstall of Mint.
Since then I only ever try it using a fresh install of Mint Xfce as the jump-off point.

Not saying that Mint Xfce is the ONLY successful way - just that some people (probably depending a bit on the computer) have problems using Cinnamon and Mate. There are some though who seem to get away with it.

So - Welcome, and have fun. I'm sure some of us will be watching to see how you approach the KDE thing
If you do install KDE into Mint Xfce, let me know. I have a couple of simple changes that might interest you. Like a one click switch from Xfce to KDE and back again without logging out.

[rossdv8]

I'll post this as a separate reply, rather than editing my reply above.

One of the only problems I have if I install KDE into Mint Xfce, is that sometimes, because of the Theme and Style conflicts mentioned above, where they are all saved in /home, is that I can be using Xfce, and after a while, my Right Click menus will change from one theme to another without logical reason. Realistically, either I have used an App or a background program that uses a KDE style/theme, or a background program that uses it has been invoked. Whatever it is, it simply means suddenly fonts are different and window decorations (Title bars and Borders) are different.

The Fonts thing is simply a matter of changing QT settings usually. The Window Decorations usually return if I log out and back in. It is a minor thing, and I imagine someone wanting to Install KDE into Mint in the forst place, is doing it because they want Mint to Look and Act like KDE. You Can however install and use just about ALL your Kubuntu Apps without installing KDE anyway if those are all you are missing.

[deepakdeshp]

Welcome to the Linux Mint Forum