Preparing for Mint to drop the KDE distro

[Arch_Enemy]

I do hope it's here for the long term.

That's not a problem for everyone, but it's a big problem for me. Until they announce some permanence or provide more information on exactly how they see the product's future I am reluctant to invest time in loading, customizing, and acclimating to a system that I might have to give up. I may not find a truly long-term Linux combination that I favor, but I'm going to keep looking until there are simply no more possibilities. I really dislike getting all "comfy" with a computer environment just to have the provider jerk it out from under me.

Kubuntu is the closest to Mint KDE you'll find. The jump is pretty much straightforward.

I agree. I was prepared to go that route until I found out what KDE is up to. Already (with Kubuntu) - as well as in the near future for most other distro's that I could run KDE on top of - some of the KDE functions I use frequently have been removed. Once again, I really dislike getting "comfy" with my computer's software then have the software provider make substantial changes that have a LARGE and VERY NEGATIVE impact of my "quality of computing life".

You must just LOVE the folks at Gnome...

[AZgl1800]

there is a plan ahead to keep KDE,

it was just mentioned a few minutes ago

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=265991&sid=32a4e06d ... da4cc80afa

[tovian]

there is a plan ahead to keep KDE

No, there isn't. You are confusing the situation at Mint. There is no plan to keep the Mint-KDE (edition) distro - there is only a plan to produce scripts to assist in installing KDE over the Xfce edition distro. Because there have been a number of people who have referred to the possibility that Mint would reverse its decision and continue to offer a KDE edition your comments unnecessarily and erroneously confuse the basic issue.

Also, the announcement from xenopeek that he would be developing/providing scripts to assist in the addition of KDE to the Xfce edition occurred quite a while back. For you to say that it was just mentioned a few minutes ago is further misleading.

Your efforts to contribute meaningful information to this discussion are always appreciated. But if you have not followed the history of this issue carefully you may not realize that you are injecting some confusion.

[tovian]

In case you have not seen it xenopeek has prepared packages and posted instructions for installing KDE on top of Mate or Xfce.

Refer to THIS THREAD

[thunder422]

I don't think that procedure will be an option once Mint 19 is released - there will probably not be a mint-meta-kde package to install since the Mint team is not going to be doing anything with KDE.

[tovian]

I don't think that procedure will be an option once Mint 19 is released

I may be wrong, but I think that is the whole point of the packages. Read back through this thread from the beginning and you will understand that the Mint-KDE distro will disappear with Mint-19 and this is (probably) the way KDE can still be run with Mint. I am assuming these packages are offered in place of the script(s) xenopeek had originally been planning to release. I'm sure we will have a definitive answer before long.

* With Mint-18 there is no need for these packages as there is still a Mint-KDE distro that bundles Mint and KDE without any additional requirements.


EDIT: The packages from xenopeek noted in the link (above) are not about Mint-19. They are for adding KDE to another desktop in order to run multiple desktops in Mint-18.3. There is still no (automated) method for installing KDE on top of another distro after Mint-19 is issued.
Apologies for the premature misdirect. I'm sure the tool(s) will be ready when the time is right.

[BG405]

there will probably not be a mint-meta-kde package to install since the Mint team is not going to be doing anything with KDE

It seems there are a number of people who think this. However, these packages are not just used in Mint KDE; as there are other distros with KDE using the Ubuntu repos, it's highly unlikely that KDE libraries will disappear from the repos in the foreseeable future.

[thunder422]

I didn't say there would not be KDE libraries packages, but that specifically there would probably not be a mint-meta-kde package.

[o-l-d]

I understand why Linux Mint is dropping KDE and concentrating on development of their own Cinnamon desktop. I have enjoyed using the KDE version since it was first introduced in Mint. My choice of "new distro" is going to be Neon for the simple fact that is it as close to Mint KDE as I have tested over the past year. I like the lack of preinstalled softwares so it is truly "user configured". I have tried SUSE, Arch, Fedora, Kubuntu, and Manjaro. Personally, I prefer to stay with a Debian/Ubuntu base at this stage of my "linux experience" as well as the Plasma/KDE desktop.

[sdibaja]

I understand why Linux Mint is dropping KDE and concentrating on development of their own Cinnamon desktop. I have enjoyed using the KDE version since it was first introduced in Mint. My choice of "new distro" is going to be Neon for the simple fact that is it as close to Mint KDE as I have tested over the past year. I like the lack of preinstalled softwares so it is truly "user configured". I have tried SUSE, Arch, Fedora, Kubuntu, and Manjaro. Personally, I prefer to stay with a Debian/Ubuntu base at this stage of my "linux experience" as well as the Plasma/KDE desktop.

I don't see Debian on your list. Maybe you should try that too.

[banjo]

Take a look at Mageia too. That distro is KDE centered, and is fairly stable. It is based on Red Hat, so there is some learning curve there.

[tovian]

Take a look at Mageia too.

Hey, Banjo... I know you think a lot of Mageia so I wanted to give it a try. I downloaded the ISO from their site and loaded it onto a flash drive. I used Rufus which I always use to create flash-drive bootable live sessions.

It would not boot. It went as far as the Logo/splash screen then hung. I kept expecting it to offer a logon dialog, or auto-logon like most live sessions do, but it just hung (once I let it sit for half a day while I was out). I tried a lot of different keys (like F1, Ctrl+Alt+Del, etc.) but nothing made any difference. Then, I decided I might have a bad download so I downloaded it again. I went through the entire process a second time and the result was EXACTLY the same.

I went back and checked and from all I could find this was supposed to run a live session, but it wouldn't. I must have tried booting, between the two bootable distros, at least two dozen times and could never get past the splash screen. I also tried to PM you to see if you had any thoughts or suggestions but you must not have received that PM.

Anyway, after a LOT of frustration I finally moved on.

My next tasks include asking xenopeek (and any of the developers who will answer my PM) if there are any finite plans to scrap Mint-Mate. I starting to think that I like Mate well enough to stick with it for a while.

[banjo]

tovian,

Wow. I have never had an issue like that with Mageia. The live DVD has always booted for me first time. Hanging up is not normal behavior. Odd. What kind of hardware are you installing on?

I have stuck with Mageia mostly from familiarity with it. My first Linux distro was Mandrake 9, and then it was Mandriva after they got sued by the comic book over the name "Mandrake" ( I am not making that up) ..... and then they sold it off to the Russians and it went to pot. Mageia was a fork of Mandriva done by the technical staff who were fired by the Russians after they bought the distro, so I went to Mageia for a while. So it is like going home again. Like putting on an old shoe.

I moved to Mint when I was having unsolvable problems with some of the packages on Mageia 5. They worked fine on Mint, and I really needed the apps, so I moved. Mint seems like a nice distro, and I was going to stick with it until they decided to dump KDE.

I don't have much to offer to help you with a bad Mageia install. You should probably stick with what works on your equipment. I don't think that any particular distro is a magic bullet for everyone. I have had similar installation problems with Ubuntu and Debian.

Banjo
(_)=='=~

[BG405]

I didn't say there would not be KDE libraries packages, but that specifically there would probably not be a mint-meta-kde package.

I see what you mean, hadn't thought of that one. That could well be bad news as I would certainly like to continue with Mint as my primary OS after Mint 18.x reaches EOL.

[tovian]

Has anyone tried NixOS ? I found an announcement for it on the home(front) page at Distrowatch and it sounds interesting...

"Although NixOS started as a research project, it is now a functional and usable operating system that includes hardware detection, KDE as the default desktop..."

Read more HERE - then check out their site if it interests you.

[banjo]

Nix sounds expensive with regard to disk space. They never delete any version of anything.

The old PDP-11 (yeah..... I'm that old) had a file system that did the same thing with files; when you saved an edit, the system simply flagged the old file as a numbered backup and made a new file. After about a week, the disk was full and we had to purge it. Pain in the neck because we never used the backup files ever. It sounds like Nix does the same sort of thing with packages. I wonder how long it would take to fill up a disk drive.

I might put it on a thumb drive and take a look.

Banjo
(_)=='=~

[sdibaja]

for the KDE fans... I suggest you try Siduction. Debian Sid based. A simple installer, user friendly.
I am now testing the Mate desktop version, not bad at all.

https://news.siduction.org/

[kc1di]

I've installed Kubuntu 18.04 and it's very good. Not as pretty as mint of course but non the less very good and quite stable Distro.
I would say it's a good sub for Mint KDE.

[acheronuk]

I've installed Kubuntu 18.04 and it's very good. Not as pretty as mint of course but non the less very good and quite stable Distro.
I would say it's a good sub for Mint KDE.

Good to hear.

[tovian]

The old PDP-11 (yeah..... I'm that old)

1134's and 1170's ?

Did you work for a "phone company" ?

Bellsouth (Southern Bell + South Central Bell) had tons of PDP-11's (1970's, 80's, 90's). A major application, designed and maintained by AT&T, required a heap of DEC micro's.

I haven't been around that environment for a long time, so I don't know what they are doing today.