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!
They take Ubuntu LTS and add their software on top of it. Ubuntu is the base. It’s stable because it’s unchanging, you only get security and bug fixes, no new versions except the Neon additions. It’s implemented like it is because starting with a complete and freely available distro like Ubuntu is a lot less work than building from scratch.
I think it qualifies as a distro by any current definition, but maybe not one they expect to be in general use. It seems to be quite popular despite that. I’ve never used it though so I can’t comment on how it is.
Thank you for explaninig what they mean by “base”! But then what’s the difference with Kubuntu? In the FAQ they say “as there is vast overlap in the base offerings of both Kubuntu and KDE neon”, but what do they mean with “base offerings”?
They are both based on Ubuntu so they mostly offer the same software. Neon has a more up to date KDE stack but you can get something similar by adding the backports ppa to Kubuntu although it may not always have the latest version.
Don’t forget that Kubuntu is an official Ubuntu flavor while KDE Neon is not. Being an official flavor means that they have to follow certain rules for their design.
Yep. I’m running Neon instead of Kubuntu for this reason. I didn’t want the hassle of dealing with snap, and I wanted the latest KDE stuff, so it’s perfect for me and I’m enjoying the experience. May not be for everyone, though.
Also, KDE Neon only has versions built on the latest Ubuntu LTS, which (I think) only gets a distro upgrade every 2 years. So you’re missing out on all of the interim releases.
OTOH, the longer support and less bugging about upgrading might be a positive to some.
Good to know, cheers.
KDE Neon is new KDE with old Ubuntu. Kubuntu is old KDE with new Ubuntu
That’s a neat description.
Is KDE Neon really based on Ubuntu? I seem to remember that it at least used to be based on debian stable!?
Edit: Just looked it up: It’s based on Ubuntu LTS.
Everyone else has answered your other questions, but let me just say that I’ve used KDE Neon (while distro hopping) it’s both beautiful and functional. The latest KDE developments are really solid and intuitive, and based on their development updates I’ve seen on Mastodon and elsewhere, it seems like they’re really starting to understand their userbase.
I.E. they understand that most people want to double click icons to launch them even though almost the entire development team prefers single click. They’re not doing the tunnel-vision dev thing where they force what they love on users even though the vast majority of the userbase prefers the opposite.
Edit: It looks and feels gorgeous, and even similar alternatives like Kubuntu kind of feel a little worse to me. Then again, I’m a serious Cinnamon / KDE fan, so other peoples’ mileage may vary.
Thank you! I was hoping to hear about this kind of user experiences.
The fact they they listen to users’ preference is a great plus for me.
KDE is a Desktop Environment.
“KDE Neon” is the latest Ubuntu LTS, but with fresher KDE packages and support straight from the KDE team.
Usually the KDE version would be a few releases older than what the KDE Neon distro offers.
Thank you. By “KDE version” you mean Kubuntu? or am I misreading you?
No, the Desktop Environment (KDE, DE stands for Desktop Environment).
Kubuntu is a separate thing, it’s Ubuntu with KDE preinstalled.
KDE Neon on the other hand, is an ubuntu based distro from what I understand, I’ve never used it though.
No, I mean the version of the KDE software. Like how Windows 7, 8, and 10 are different versions, Desktop Environments also have different version numbers.
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Ubuntu with newest version of KDE stuffed into it. In short it’s more for developers to test latest KDE versions in a relatively stable and easily maintained environment but gained popularity since it’s newer than Kubuntu and doesn’t enforce snaps.
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By “stable base” they mean Ubuntu. The package systems (apt and snap), the kernel choice and configuration, the background services are what make the “back end” of a distro and Ubuntu is an example where this backend is given LTS (long term support) maintenance and thorough testing, even if that also means using older versions of the backend software in question. KDE Neon uses this because if something goes wrong with the distro it’s likely their fault and not some backend stuff unrelated to KDE. Ubuntu is also good for building spinoff distros as most of the work is done for you - You just make your tweaks to a “minimal” ubuntu ISO and share it!
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GnomeOS is probably the main example of a distro designed for testing rather than daily use. It’s maintained by GNOME for testing their changes and can also be used for daily stuff if you want. Not sure what else “quasi distro” could mean, but there are a bunch of Ubuntu-based distros (And spinoffs to other big distros) that exist on a spectrum of “almost identical” to “completely redesigned”.
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I used it for a few months. It’s pretty good! You get brand new KDE features on top of a familiar ubuntu system. It gives you the feeling of a bleeding edge UI experience but you don’t risk the software driving that new UI being super buggy or breaking things. That being said, some users (like myself) prefer different software managers or don’t like Ubuntu for other reasons. KDE-Neon as a distro in itself is a pretty solid choice, though.
Thank you for such a thorough and informative answer! And for sharing your user experience too. I had not heard about GnomeOS. As soon as I have some days to experiment, I’ll give Neon a try.
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KDE Neon was designed for someone who wants Kubuntu but with the latest KDE features. Just stick with Kubuntu if you’re a noob, or better yet, go with Debian and choose the KDE version. Your experience will be better and it will be more stable.
If you want to get the latest and greatest, go with Arch, but that requires (or at least should require coughManjaro*cough) the ability to read technical documents to fix random issues that will occasionally pop up when you are using the freshest and newest software.
Great advice, thank you! I’ll give a first try to the first three through live disks :)
I use Debian+KDE but I’d love there was a KDE Neon Debian Edition, à la Mint.
It was good. Never had an issue with it. I’ll generally stick with Plasma desktop centric distros because of the features that they offer that Gnome desktops don’t. I switched to Manjaro KDE not because I had an issue with Neon, I just simply was bored and wanted to learn new console commands for the basics after years and years of apt.
Exploring and learning are the essence of life :)
It’s Ubuntu LTS, but with the latest KDE stuff. Can’t break it down further.
I’ve used kubuntu and neon in the past. The issue I ran into was kubuntu not having the latest KDE software, and it wasn’t available in back ports. I tried switching to neon but it’s based on the LTS version of Ubuntu so the kernel was pretty old, it didn’t have great support for my hardware.
I switched to tumbleweed and have been loving it since.
Thank you for sharing your experience. May I ask which machine you’re using? (I’m on a Thinkpad.)
I was using it on my older Asus and ran into wifi issues. I actually replaced the laptop before switching to tumbleweed. I’m running it on 3 computers so far, a Dell G15, custom built desktop, and a framework laptop.
I’m really liking it, it’s a rolling release so it always has the news versions of everything, it’s been really stable but also has a built in rollback feature in case there’s a bad update
Thank you for sharing this! Yesterday I was searching online for Tumbleweed user experiences on Thinkpad, but I only found info about older Thinkpad models. I’ll try it from a live disk. I might also switch to Framework later on…
Give it a shot! I did try running it on a live disk last week, the performance was really terrible (couldn’t even move the mouse), don’t give up on it immediately if that happens to you
Thanks for the encouragement, I will! I’ll report here in case anyone is curious.
How long ago was it? Latest LTS is 22.04, don’t think just one year would make cause any major compatibility issue (but well, if it did, just one year for 24.04LTS).
This was a few years back, maybe on 20.04 but could have been 18.04. The wifi card was a niche realtek that wasn’t well supported.
The issue is more that neon and kubuntu both have trade-offs, using either means you will be using older software releases. Doesn’t mean it will affect everyone, but for some people a rolling distro will be better.
You can use distros like Arch or Debian as a base and install KDE to it as a desktop. Many distros based on Arch or Debian come with a desktop pre-installed. Like KDE. My favorite distro with KDE is Garuda KDE lite (it removes the visuals from regular Garuda). It uses Arch as a base, just like Steam OS and works well for me to game on. Steam OS for desktops is something I think will become popular once the official release from Valve comes.
Never heard about Garuda, cheers!
Imo Kde neon serves as a test bench for whoever want to try the latest KDE DE directly from the kde team, it is not maint for daily driver use though I tried it for a while and it was pretty reliable.
Kubuntu is an ubuntu with kde that is maint to be used for daily driver usage.
Thank you for sharing your experience with it. Good to hear from many people that it was reliable.
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.
For that part, they’re just saying that other desktop environments are unsupported. Back when I used KDE Neon I had no problems using it as a daily OS, it is technically less stable (in terms of the system changing with updates, not in terms of crashing) since all the KDE software is updated regularly, but the rest of the software is the same as regular Ubuntu LTS.
I’d say the best way to think of KDE Neon is “Ubuntu LTS, with the latest KDE software directly from them, with less guarantee of stability” imo.
Edit: They also say they’re not “quite” a distro, it is by full definition a distro, but their goal is different. The only intent of KDE Neon is to have a stable base with up to date KDE stuff, while a “distro” as they are saying will have a goal of being a fully fledged OS (or similar). Neon can be used as a full distro, but that’s just a side effect rather than the intent.
Thank you, very helpful! May I ask what you use now? Do you know if they add their software via snaps or flatpaks?
I use Debian now. And for kde neon they add their software via debs as regular packages, but you can add either snap or flatpak to it if you want (or both), can’t remember if they preinstall flatpak or not.
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…
Hope they work out for you!
Also, I’d say of the three, if you want the one that will “just work” the most, I would go with Kubuntu, mainly because you’ll be able to search for stuff and problem fixes easier since there’s a lot of info online for it, because it’s the most commonly used of the three I believe. The other two are still perfectly fine options though, but I think Kubuntu would be the smoothest experience, as you said you were still a bit new to Linux in your post.
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.
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.
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!
Off topic, but according to Kbin this thread has 22 upvotes and 0 downvotes.
Thank you for the info. From what I understand, one only sees up/downvotes from one’s own instance (lemmy.ca in my case). When I posted it I saw it going down to -3 in a couple of minutes, so I was wondering if my question was really dumb…
I got lots of great advice in this post!
I’ll delete my edit :)
