[Wylug-help] What is the Gnome & KDE difference??

[Yiannis Gatsoulis]

Quoting Anne Wilson <cannewilson at tiscali.co.uk> on Wed 29 Mar 2006 12:21:45 BST:

> >
> I'm a kde user.  I think that the answer to that is that most 'geeky' distros
> default to gnome, so people coming from a unix background would naturally
> settle there.  Distros that set out to be newbie-friendly tend towards kde
> because it is so extremely configurable, that if someone wants it to look
> very much like windows it can do.
Hahaha ('geeky distros'), I am coming from a dos background. And I thought that
unix people prefer runlevel 3 so no bother with graphical desktops. But I kind
of I have to disagree with you... According to a few reviews and general
recommendations the most friendly distros tend to be Ubuntu, Fedora, Suse and
Mandrake. The first two default to Gnome while the latter two to KDE.
Furthermore, you can also customise Gnome to the point that you want and look
like windows... However, I agree with you that KDE behaves more like a windows
desktop but this doesn't mean  that it is better or more user friendly...

>
> For me, the configurability is the attraction.  I could have all the
> eye-candy
> I want, but mainly I choose not to, apart from a seasonal wallpaper.  I do
> like the centralised control panel.
I accept your opinion but for me the attraction lies on the configurability in
terms of having everything I want and all the information that I want as fast
as possible without any distractions... I also like the centralised control
panel of KDE (or yast in suse, drake on mandrake) BUT gnome has moved towards
that direction too in their few latest releases in terms of a single menu as I
said in my previous email. The gnome philosophy is to have different
applications that do well one thing in contrast to have one for everything...
although this is also changing when a feature is considered to be a vital bit
of a program. For eg. check nautilus and konqueror as file browsers...
konqueror gives me the impression and i thing has 10 million options which in
my case they distract me and i hardly use them... i prefer nautilus by miles
(although i like the tabbed feature of konqueror).

>
> As you say elsewhere, choosing either does not stop you using packages
> designed for the other.  I use a mixture, according to purpose.
So am I. And some KDE ones are better of course than gnome and vice versa...

>
> But then, as James pointed out, both are heavy on resources.  They are no
> problem whatsoever on newer hardware, but a lighter desktop helps older
> hardware.  FWIW I installed FC4 with kde onto an old Packard Bell 700 laptop
> with only 128MB RAM, to use for a temporary mail server.  It was too slow for
> general use, but it got me by.  I've now doubled the memory and it doesn't
> seem to bad at all, although I wouldn't use it for anything needing heavy
> processing.
Fullstop I also agree with that... And I will have a few nightmares when I will
have to search for embedded linux as I want to install it on a pc-104 (266MHz
with either 64 or 128 MB of RAM).

Also answering Dave's email...
> I use KDE.

> I tried to use Gnome some time ago, and found it clumsy, probably
> because I think on the command line
Ehm, not sure what you mean there.... Gnome is a desktop environment... If you
mean about the terminal (the shell of gnome) it is pretty much the same as the
konsole (kde shell). It is up to you to use it or not... Personally, I always
have one open (if not one per virtual desktop).

> - I like to look back at the command
> line to see the details of my mistakes.  I have found that KDE works for
> me.  I probably use 1% of its capability, but what I do not know does
> not hurt me.
Good, cause safety comes first :). Btw, I would say that you use it 100% if you
do what you want to do...

Just to say my last bit on that... I think both are great, user friendly and
using heavy resources. There are other alternatives equally good and probably
better in terms of performance... but 1) I can't be bothered right now to start
working on a new environment. 2) I am quite happy with my system at the moment.
So I have to agree with the general perception there is no point discussing
which one is better... as long as it does the job it's just fine.