Newbie seeks advice: GNOME or KDE?

[daniel1948]

I am a soon-to-be new Linux user. I've decided to put Linux on an unused laptop so I can decide calmly and at my leasure, whether to switch my desktop from Windows at some future time. (The laptop is being repaired and I'll have it back in a day or two. It's an Averatec 2300.) I have bought SuSE Linux on DVD & CDs with book.

So my question is, should I install GNOME or KDE? Can I install both and choose between them when I start a given session? One person told me GNOME is more powerful, but as a newbie I think ease of use is more important than power.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

[hard candy]

KDE would be your best bet. Suse has a nice KDE desktop, has some nice programs to play with. Easier to configure (please don't read my post in /dev/random, I have two faces ) and I believe you would like it. BUT, the best thing of all, you canINSTALL them both and try one or the other, you can log into one and then the other, use them both for a while and then you'll probably end up using something else like Xfce or Blackbox.

[Parcival]

This question triggers the answer that most newbies get: try it out and decide what is best for you. Nobody can tell you what is best because what is the best depends on the person and the given situation. The power of Linux is that you have so many options that you can freely explore until YOU decide what is best for YOU (and not have some software company in Redmond do this instead).

I for my part can say that I gave Gnome a fair chance twice in my Linux career. It never rested on my Desktop for more than half a week. I use Gnome applications in KDE, however, that's no problem (as little as using KDE apps in Gnome).

Don't worry about it too much, just try it out.

[daniel1948]

Thanks to both of you for your replies. The fact that I can install them both, and don't have to pick just one or the other, is the best answer. And the fact that I can use each one's applications in the other is also good news. I am looking forward to trying this out. I'd really like to get off the Microsoft rat-race. Windows makes me feel like I'm a rat, and it's making me race. But on the other hand, I want a system I can set up and use; not one that would consume my time trying to get it set up.

I'm sure I'll be back here with more questions once I get the computer back and start using it. Thanks again.

[mrBen]

FWIW, I've been using GNOME for the past couple of years, and think it's come on leaps and bounds. I'm now using it under Ubuntu, and it feels really clean and simple, but powerful enough to do everything I need.

[Fu Manchu]

I like Gnome better for it's looks. KDE resembles early-'90's 16-bit grafix too much, at least to me. To be fair, KDE desktop can be customized to look fairly decent.

Where I would like some input from other Linux users:
OK, my experience with Gnome is mostly from Ubuntu. Mepis, my other main distro [in terms of hours of use] is running KDE. Yet despite preferring Gnome, I find Mepis easier to do a lot of things with [intentionally left vague to elicit comments] and I'm not certain how much of the difference is due to KDE vs Gnome, and how much is due to Ubuntu's peculiar approach to things. [By "peculiar" I don't necessarily mean "bad," just "not like other Linux."]

My grand topic for input:

Is KDE more powerful, in terms of giving the user more of the command-line functionality of Linux translated into a point-click GUI, than Gnome? And, part 2: what OTHER desktops do you all prefer to either of those?

And please include the "why," of course!

[Parcival]

Is KDE more powerful, in terms of giving the user more of the command-line functionality of Linux translated into a point-click GUI, than Gnome? And, part 2: what OTHER desktops do you all prefer to either of those?

For an indepth discussion of these topics, please refer to the main What Windows Manager / Desktop Environment thread.

[je_fro]

I don't use either one, and as time goes on you'll probably want to investigate other window managers like xfce or fluxbox...they are far less resource-intensive.
With that said, I probably should lock this thread

[NighttimePunk]

I must be missing something, i can log on to either so i use them both, but my prefrence of the 2 is kde, seems to be alot faster than gnome, at least on this system? 2.4.20-8 (Shrike)

[APwrs]

I've used KDE for many years, but recently decided to give Gnome a fair try. I used it exclusively for a week and I tried to stay open minded. After that week, I have moved to Gnome as my desktop of choice.

As has been pointed out before, this does largely depend upon the person using it and their situation. For me, KDE is more powerful, but also more cluttered and more graphically sluggish. Gnome is cleaner and clearer and more graphically responsive.

KDE is more mature in administrative applications. Gnome is still trying to catch up. When there is an administrative task that Gnome does handle, I prefer the way Gnome handles it.

Also keep in mind, despite the default setups of KDE and Gnome, with the panel and all the controls being along the bottom of the screen in KDE, and having the controls divided between the top and bottom of the screen in Gnome, you can configure either desktop to look just about any way you choose.

At the end of the day, the important thing is that it's Linux, whatever desktop you prefer.

[Parcival]

Also keep in mind, despite the default setups of KDE and Gnome, with the panel and all the controls being along the bottom of the screen in KDE, and having the controls divided between the top and bottom of the screen in Gnome, you can configure either desktop to look just about any way you choose.

Indeed. This is my current KDE desktop, but you could have it look just the same in Gnome using gdesklets.

[rocketpcguy]

karamba is tons better than gdesklets, only because gdesklets has an unfixed memory leak that eats half a gig of ram/swap if you leave it running for a few days

[APwrs]

A “typical” user doesn't have to worry about such things, as they tend to turn their computer off at the end of the day. Either way, whatever memory leaks there may be, I'm sure they'll be fixed in a future update.

Just the ability to put panels wherever you want, size them however you want, cause them to hide whatever way you want, and use various colors, backgrounds, and transparencies, allows you to customize things quite a bit without even having to use programs such as karamba or gdesklets.

[NighttimePunk]

as soon as i get hooked up with dsl again, server on 24-7!!,if ur going to corrupt my system, do it with some metallica

[Chess007]

For me, gnome seems to run faster. I say "seems to" because i've never timed it or tested it scientifically. Because my system specs aren't very modern - on any of my boxes but especially on my Ubuntu box - (an older Dell with 128mb ram, and a pentium 3) I want something lite. Kde with all its animated cursors and such is certainly prettier, but I prefer the simplistic look of gnome.