Is the enthusiasm gone on KDE/Plasma?

[thom_A]

Yeah. I think so. There used to be threads all over the place and some of them are in caps filled with excitement about the next release. Same sentiment here. I'd just rather use Cinnamon or Xfce. When everything works, you tend to just pick the better looking ones. This KDE simplification thing just made KDE look ugly. I'd just rather follow Cinnamon or Xfce from now on.

[Cobber]

I prefer KDE as my primary DE. Have Ubuntu Mate on another partition and it is like apples and oranges.

Ran KDE Neon for a few months, but rolling distributions drive me nuts. The Neon LTS version started causing me problems, so I upgraded my Mint KDE 17.3 to 18.1

I use the Oxygen theme and you don't get the flat look of Breeze. My 18.1 installation looks no different to the 17.3 one, apart from the splash and login screens. I customized the SDDM conf file to give me a background image and also added a .face PNG image to show my user image.

The loss of different wallpapers for individual desktops upset a lot of people, but I have three activities set up which do what I want. One is the default desktop, one is a plain background colour, the last is folder view with a plain colour background and showing icons on the desktop.

KDE is the most polished of all distro's as far as I'm concerned and gives me the ability to do the most customizations. The move to Plasma 5 was definitely unpopular until version 5.8.x, but after 5.8.5 it works very well. Version 5.9.3 brings even better features.

Neon is slowly climbing the ranks at Distrowatch, so I don't think KDE is waning in popularity. I think it is just a Mint thing. Either people are not willing to upgrade yet, or they have and haven't had any issues to post about. I certainly haven't had anything that warrants a support post yet.

[o-l-d]

The problems that came with KDE Plasma 5 in Mint 18 made a lot of users go back to 17.3. What very few understood was that Plasma was a whole different desktop environment than what KDE 4.xx.xxx had been.

Linux Mint is often criticized for "lagging behind" other KDE distros. I think this is a good idea because when Mint KDE is released they have given time for most of the bugfixes to be applied. I am eagerly awaiting the release of Mint KDE 18.2 as I know that when it is released the next version of Plasma 5 LTS will be included.

KDE (Plasma) is one of the oldest and easiest desktop environments to customize. Dolphin is THE BEST file manager in the way it offers features not found in most other similar programs. Some claim it is more resource hungry than other environments but I have found, in testing, that the difference is only <100mb which is nothing unless running <1gb RAM.

KDE was and will always be the ONLY desktop environment for this Mint user!!!

[rdonnelly]

Still using 17.3 KDE, how much enthusiasm do you want, it is just a great GUI. The OS lies underneath.

I must agree the latest KDE is ugly.

[skywolfblue]

Using Mint KDE 18.1 here and liking it!

There were 1 or 2 minor hiccups with 18.0, but those are gone in 18.1.

I actually like the Breeze theme. It's new and has room to grow (I do still prefer some of the Oxygen Icons), I prefer it over Oxygen overall.

[phd21]

Hi Everyone,

Is the enthusiasm gone on KDE/Plasma?

I do not think so.

I use Linux Mint 17.3 KDE and absolutely love it.

I have been testing Linux Mint KDE 18.x since it came out, but it was not really ready IMHO until Plasma 5.8+ which Linux Mint 18.1 has, and I have grown to love it as well, very stable now. I would prefer to have more themes like previous versions, which more will become available as always ... And, as with all KDE systems it is still extremely user configurable, the user can change the backgrounds, window styles, fonts, colors, cursors, buttons, etc...

[urdrwho]

Perhaps. I say perhaps because many, many people stick a Linux version on old computers to give them extended life and to have them run efficiently.
KDE/Plasma has taken a different fork in the road and want...no expect, new equipment for it to work. For years I've been playing with Kubuntu KDE/plasma and it can be a real PITA. Mostly video issues. Nouveau is always walking a tightrope and ready to fall to either side. If you have to install Nvidia -- it can be a real chore.

As my computer repairman son says - it (KDE/Plasma) will never be ready for prime time until it is stable. Move in Mint.

Mint is like something you would install on your grandmothers computer. It is ready to go out of the box and even on that 10 year old computer. I have Mint 17.3 installed on an old Acer and if you want to push Mint's video I guess I could go and start adjusting Compiz. On an old HP and an E-machine (has Kubuntu) I have all the video bells and whistles turned off and set compositing to use raster and xrender. Hm --- or is one OpenGl?

Anyhow ----- KDE/Plasma is nice eye candy but can be a PITA. There is an old e-machine in the kitchen that is the family comp. sitting there to look up weather, recipes, news, FB, etc. It has Kubuntu 16.04 with a unbuntu-desktop Gnome shell / Gnome Classic. Runs well with that desktop but the KDE with Plasma widgets --- forget about it.

Hi Everyone,

Is the enthusiasm gone on KDE/Plasma?

I do not think so.

I use Linux Mint 17.3 KDE and absolutely love it.

I have been testing Linux Mint KDE 18.x since it came out, but it was not really ready IMHO until Plasma 5.8+ which Linux Mint 18.1 has, and I have grown to love it as well, very stable now. I would prefer to have more themes like previous versions, which more will become available as always ... And, as with all KDE systems it is still extremely user configurable, the user can change the backgrounds, window styles, fonts, colors, cursors, buttons, etc...

[urdrwho]

I agree, Dolphin is good. I'm new to Mint do maybe Caja has it but I have yet to find how to do a split screen. Also there are a few more missing pieces but at the moment I can't remember, I just remember going --- well I could do this in Dolphin.

The problems that came with KDE Plasma 5 in Mint 18 made a lot of users go back to 17.3. What very few understood was that Plasma was a whole different desktop environment than what KDE 4.xx.xxx had been.

Linux Mint is often criticized for "lagging behind" other KDE distros. I think this is a good idea because when Mint KDE is released they have given time for most of the bugfixes to be applied. I am eagerly awaiting the release of Mint KDE 18.2 as I know that when it is released the next version of Plasma 5 LTS will be included.

KDE (Plasma) is one of the oldest and easiest desktop environments to customize. Dolphin is THE BEST file manager in the way it offers features not found in most other similar programs. Some claim it is more resource hungry than other environments but I have found, in testing, that the difference is only <100mb which is nothing unless running <1gb RAM.

KDE was and will always be the ONLY desktop environment for this Mint user!!!

[lmuserx4849]

...KDE/Plasma has taken a different fork in the road and want...

...it (KDE/Plasma) will never be ready for prime time until it is stable.

Best explanation... ever

Update:
From: Martin's Blog A typical day in bugs.kde.org