I have read the FAQ of KDE Neon: it is well made and answers ground questions like “Is it a distro?” or “Can I turn Kubuntu into KDE Neon?”
…And yet I’m confused, because I’m just a newbie in the Linux world. For instance, when they say “on top of a stable base” I don’t know what’s meant as a “base”.
I think I understand that it isn’t a distro, but it fascinates me that it’s meant to be installed from an ISO or similar, just like a distro.
I wonder if any of you can explain:
- What is it, in different words?
- Why is it “implemented” as it is?
- Are there any other “quasi-distros” like KDE Neon out there?
- Do you use it? how has your experience with it been?
Cheers!
KDE neon is a distro. It’s the long-term support version of Ubuntu as the base with the latest stable KDE software on top.
I’ve personally used it for years because I love the KDE software suite and that is pretty much the sole focus here.
PS: they say “most other software is not supported”. Have you ever had any problem installing other programs? As examples, I’d prefer using Firefox to Konqueror, and other programs to KDE connect.
I daily drive KDE Neon.
Sometimes install scripts don’t work as expected, since things check if you’re on Ubuntu or Mint or whatever specifically and “Neon” doesn’t match their regex. It’s usually not a big deal and fairly trivial to solve.
Regardless, I’ve actually started to get away from the command line and have embraced the app store. Discover is actually pretty darn good and has lots of the things I want to install. I can choose if I want to install from Discover via Apt, Flatpak, or Snap.
I usually install Flatpak stuff. The Steam Deck has taught me that Flatpak is generally as good or better than actually installing via apt - you don’t need to wait on your distro to update sources, and you aren’t adding random PPAs. Sometimes you need to fudge the permissions with Flatseal, but it’s a one-and-done thing.
I use Microsoft Edge as my browser (yes, really - the Chromium version is just as good as Chrome, it has nifty vertical tabs, I get news on my “new tab” page, and all my settings are saved there). I use Thunderbird for mail, plus Steam, Zoom, Discord, etc. Surprisingly few KDE apps are preinstalled, to be honest - the only KDE apps installed are the ones I want anyway.
Very informative, thanks! Also for the heads-up about install scripts and the cause.
I think they refer to other desktop environments. I’ve never had any issues installing other software on my system, it works just like any other Linux distro.
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Thank you, very helpful! May I ask what you use now? Do you know if they add their software via snaps or flatpaks?
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Cheers! I’ve heard that one can install Debian and simply choose KDE there. I’m weighing my options… Undecided among Debian+KDE, Kubuntu, and KDE Neon. Although it also depends on how each deals with my machine. Will have to try some live disks…
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Advice much appreciated!
Both Flatpak and Snap are preinstalled but it defaults to debs/apt. Though through the command line they strongly recommend the pkcon command over apt itself.
Now I understand. Kubuntu instead makes modifications to the Ubuntu core. Although Neon must be somehow removing Gnome, I imagine.
OK I’m confused. They say it isn’t “quite” a distro. So what’s missing to make it a distro without the “quite”?
Thank you for sharing your experience! I love KDE’s customizability and that’s why I’m interested in KDE Neon too.
I think the meaning behind this is that the largest amount of work doesn’t go into the distro itself and mostly into the KDE software. The Ubuntu base is not developed or maintained by the KDE team, they basically just “borrow” it as a platform for their KDE suite.
Very helpful, thank you so much!
You’re welcome!