Linux Mint 12 KDE Review - Linux Distro Reviews

[JohnWesleyMethodism]

At 7:37 Infinitely Galatic complains that he can't click on the desktop to close the panel configuration menu. With a Gnome perspective he treats this as a negative thing, but is it? Right now I am working on an application and typing this comment into Youtube with the Calendar open. In Gnome if I were to do that the Calendar would close and I would have to keep reopening the Calendar to check dates. KDE doesn't do everything the way Gnome does, and that's not always a negative thing.

[JohnWesleyMethodism]

I have the final KDE 12 release, and the Software Center is still not working for me, even after updates. The solution is to install "muon-installer" in Synaptic and use that in it's place.

[DancingMadRB3]

The reason why I use KDE is that its productive unlike the default gnome shell or unity.

You dont have to use keyboard commands all the time and everything is at the simple click of a mouse.

[UnforgivableMen]

Software manager still hasn't been fixed

[JohnWesleyMethodism]

@UnforgivableMen The simple solution is to install "muon-installer" in Synaptic, for those who don't know.

[UnforgivableMen]

@JohnWesleyMethodism Will try that, thanks man

[simon726]

Greetings from Canada. Although I have full experience with Windows, I've really like the Linux Mint OS. I have yet to tried the KDE version of it. What I don't like about the release is that I have a Toshiba Satellite A100 laptop and sometimes the trackpad often freezes, so I have to resort using a mouse (either directly connected to or wireless).

Other than those issues, it's a great OS!

[tom60259]

dos it play netflix

[JohnWesleyMethodism]

@tom60259 Netflix isn't supported on Linux. That's why I keep a dual-boot with Windows for those odd times that something doesn't work in Linux.

[cc11rocks]

@JohnWesleyMethodism This is because of the DRM for the SilverLight plugin that is used in Windows (and probably Macintosh too). Linux does have SilverLight, but the stupid DRM is not supported (I hate DRM, not Linux).

[Stadiumhere]

Pretty nice, though I personally prefer Ubuntu.

[Hi675445]

the problem I having is that not every thing you download from the download manger work I downloaded Google earth but when I tried to run it i would not work then i tried the ubuntu/Debian one from the site same thing i also try downloading and running desktoprecoder this did not show up on the menu and minecraft dose not work because Java dose not add to rite click menue

[jtdiomond1]

Have you thought about maybe doing a review on Linux Mint's Cinnamon environment? Or were you waiting until it came out as Mint's main desktop environment on LM13? (if it does become the main desktop environment)

[Hi675445]

i taking a bout the screenrecerder app in my video i used screenr which never faild ne

[sjz272]

thanx for the review

[dubbac77]

Now I will disagree on one thing: being a person that works on Windows almost daily, Cinnamon Shell feels much more like Windows then KDE. Looks, yeah that goes to KDE but feel and how you work, Cinnamon gives you that familiar "XP" vibe. I run it flipped with a dock (Mac style) though.

[InfinitelyGalactic]

@dubbac77 I definitely agree with you. I've only just started playing around with Cinnamon, and it is just what the Win XP user would be looking for. KDE has more customization therefore shooting for more Windows power users...I'm guessing. Fair point for sure.

[dubbac77]

@InfinitelyGalactic I would agree with that, KDE does seem to be the choice of the power user but is not as newbie friendly as Cinnamon. The one thing I've found funny since switching over, the power users think very little (or with blinders on) about user friendliness. Unfortunately, I'll be removing LM KDE, it does not play nice with my music player of choice. :-(

[dubbac77]

I've been using this for the past 3 days (4.8 KDE) and I came to the same conclusion, nice but not for me (things felt out of my way). I didn't use the menu but used krunner (alt+F2 but I changed it to Meta+Z) but you do have to type more then vs. gnome (Unity/Cinn.). The menu is better then the dash/activities/ etc but I never use the menu (I know what I have) and it has some nice widgets that I don't use.

[Linux4UnMe]

good review Ig. Although you are wrong about not being able to push enter after searching in the kde menu for launching apps, you can also close the bottom panel without clicking the cross by pushing the esc button.... and you can set keyboard shortcuts to launch the menu and just about anything else you want

[Linux4UnMe]

Just noticed you mentioned "if there is more than 1 result for the searched title in the menu" I missed that somehow... but isn't it the same with unity / gnome-shell if there are 2 results or more where you have to use the mouse to click the application anyway? i'll have to check that next time i install gnome-shell/unity

[InfinitelyGalactic]

@Linux4UnMe Yup, I know what you're talking about. Before I recorded the video, I was playing around with the menu, and whenever I searched for something that had more than one result (for example 'terminal') I couldn't just press enter to launch the top result. I had to choose the result I wanted with the mouse. (KDE 4.8 works fine though). Unity or Shell you can type and then press Enter for the first result or toggle through with the arrow keys for the other result. Krunner does this now too!

[Linux4UnMe]

@InfinitelyGalactic

ahhhh I didn't know it didn't work prior to 4.8. cool cool :)

[harvesterofsorrow111]

Kubuntu is the main KDE distro I use and this is extremely similar to it, can't see too much difference and not enough to make me switch to it. I prefer Mint Gnome anyway.

[PCWarrior55]

Just an FYI, the linuxdistroteamspeakcommunity.­blogspot.com has been removed. Not sure what was up with that. Btw, love the channel, keep it up. Best demos to help convince my friends to just try out Linux. Already have had 5 switch and they all love the distro's they wanted to try, again, thanks to your videos.

[sonicspeedstar]

Which one is faster KDE 4 or Gnome 3?

[InfinitelyGalactic]

@sonicspeedstar tough to say...maybe Gnome 3? Anybody else care to comment??

[BelaFleckFan]

@InfinitelyGalactic Gnome2x ;)

[johnanth]

@InfinitelyGalactic KDE4 from my experience, especially on Mint :) but not a huge difference to be fair, just some 50 MB difference in memory usage.

[pschamp723]

@InfinitelyGalactic I would have to say lxde I know you asked which one gnome 3 or kde 4 but lxde more lighter although I have to say I like the gnome 3 look

[UberSquirrelUnite]

@InfinitelyGalactic With my experience, GNOME 3 boots up and works much faster. KDE is alright too (I have it on my Arch Linux laptop), but KDE doesn't really hold up to GNOME 3's speed.

Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one who likes GNOME 3...

As far as Mint goes... eh... it depends. I'd imagine the KDE one might be a little faster, since GNOME 3's performance on Mint was not very good IMO. Haven't tried Mint KDE, but I'll probably see how it is later.

[rumanbsl]

@InfinitelyGalactic mate. gnome3 is faster all the way, i m with both environment Gnome is much easier to use as well. cheers

[mjgpw]

@InfinitelyGalactic Well I asked this once before and most "pro's" told me that they thought KDE was faster. I like KDE better any way so it doesn't matter to me. In my opinion, i think that XFCE is probably faster than that. It doesn't look as nice though, but i currently run xubuntu.

[NetraAmorosi]

@InfinitelyGalactic I don't know about KDE 4.7 but Gnome 3 tends to have a smaller foot print, I personally prefer Cinnimon, which I think is faster then Gnome 3.

[Xaahu]

@sonicspeedstar gnome 3. definitely gnome 3.

[RobLoach]

@sonicspeedstar If you want performance, you want Xfce.

[sollidsnake]

@sonicspeedstar gnome 3 is faster. For me at least. It flies on my laptop :)

[Hi675445]

ifound out what it is it not a wallet progam thing installed lolololl that has to be desabled and then you have to make the internet atomatic

[Hi675445]

i installed it propaly now i having nothing but proplems and error on this and kubuntu every time i tune it on i have to reconect to the internet

[notahater554]

how did you make it blue

[Hi675445]

windows people dont mined clicking a round becouse that what we do in window but i mite use kubuntu in stead it takes less ram

[calhaus]

The mint 12 first distro is better in my oppinion

[chingmichaellee]

I like Linux Mint but, there are some things that is not build well there. I cannot run Ailurus there and Google Earth is not working there. But for all its practical uses, it is still a great distro.

[marcuspbaird]

ok liking this so much thinking it could be one of the better kde's this year Have it as distro of choice which is good for a rc

[notbryant]

I hate to be one of those guys who comments about something unrelated to the point of the video, but is that Switchfoot you're using for the intro music?

[InfinitelyGalactic]

@notbryant No don't be sorry, it's a valid question to be sure...anyway, no it's not Switchfoot, it's simply a loop called 'Pendulum' that is included in the iLife suite.

[MicroHelper]

@notbryant Dude, I love Switchfoot! Glad you're a fan :D

[InfinitelyGalactic]

@MicroHelper That makes three of us...beautiful letdown???

[MicroHelper]

@InfinitelyGalactic Well, I like Hello Hurricane the most. But they're awesome (:

[JaminFernandez]

exelent

[dubbac77]

I'm going to have to fool around with the krunner, I've become so use to Unity, I feel like life moves at a snails pace when I mess around with KDE. Nice video once again.

[destroyerdestroy87]

hi im new to linux and been trying all the latest releases of the top distros and this one seems the most awesome so far for my netbook. when i booted it it started with the netbook layout though i was wondering what your thoughts are on it? you can switch to it with desktop settings under layout. oh and what is a RC mean? that this distro isnt finished? thanks!

[MetalShreader]

it's nice. at this point though, I just want to see a distro with it's own original DE, package base (with support with the others I guess), and just ONE standardized official version, no other DE's and all that. Good review btw.

[You0wnAStore]

Hey, now that I've found out about Smooth tasks I'm considering switching back to KDE from XFCE. Thanks for mentioning it.

[FeelItRising]

@You0wnAStore check out icon-tasks. It seems to be replacing smooth tasks.  It is really good.

gotbletu did a good video on it.

[You0wnAStore]

@FeelItRising It looks nice. I'll try it out. Thanks.

[westiesworld4u]

Nice review. Being new to linux i decided on ubuntu after researching. I think i will give this version a go. Seems to run well of a usb stick. Thanks for uploading

[OmenX13]

Great Review as always IG - Thanks.

[DLiberator78]

Another great and thorough Linux distro review. Many thanks for all your reviews they have really helped me to choose a distro and what desktop to use. I am kind of leaning towards KDE as I am not in love with Gnome 3 I preferred Gnome 2. This KDE distro looks promising and it is good to see Mint making a KDE desktop version I will check it out. KDE also has some nice KDE specific apps which are really good.

[miasmablk]

i hope the stable release comes out soon im sick of kubuntu it's buggier than windows :/

[DLiberator78]

@miasmablk I agree there. Tried it and didn't like it. This distro looks promising. I hope they iron out that Software Manager bug though that would annoy me.

[TeruMikami5432]

one of my favourite distro with one of my least favourite desktop

[TheHackerCrab]

@TeruMikami5432 One of my least favorite distros but my favorite desktop.

[TeruMikami5432]

@TheHackerCrab I honestly can say i prefer unity over KDE (Unity isnt bad in actuality)

[Hi675445]

u did this when you sow my video lolollol but for me some times the ram gone over a 1 GB

[InfinitelyGalactic]

@Hi675445 Actually I found out about the RC through RSS, and jumped onto my laptop to download it...and went onto my YouTube inbox and found your video response. Never the less, you beat me to it so...respect :-) lol. Nice vid BTW.

[Hi675445]

@InfinitelyGalactic i liked it my pc has 3gb

[Hi675445]

@Hi675445 ram

[perfectgyroscope]

So, basically it's stock KDE with some added applications? Or does have Mint KDE have anything unique going for it?

[foxyd3]

@perfectgyroscope Yeah, branding.

[InfinitelyGalactic]

@perfectgyroscope Not anything too unique, except for the Mint tools, and a prepackaged KDE system...as in...not a lot of tweaking required.

[ZellBlitz1]

Can you make a Review of Lubuntu?



[FeelItRising]

kruunner (alt f2) is far more powerful than any keyboard commands in unity or Gnome shell

[iwanteveryting]

You could use krunner as a substitute for Unity's and Gnome Shell's search function... Bind it to super+space (like Synapse) and configure it a bit to your liking (I like to disable some plugins and set it to free floating mode). One thing I noticed though is that it doesn't "notice" newly installed applications, so you have to reboot whenever you install something; until you do that you can only launch them with the full command.

[InfinitelyGalactic]

@iwanteveryting KRunner is my lifeline when I'm using KDE. I do exactly that 'super key + space' keybinding and launch everything through that. Changing that keyboard shortcut is usually the first thing I do on a new KDE install. lol. Great minds think alike.

[avalanche8700]

Great review, which becoming your specialty, but i feel you could have dug deeper in the distro.

[InfinitelyGalactic]

@avalanche8700 Point taken, sir. Thanks for the feedback, I really do appreciate it. May I ask if you have any particular areas you'd like to see expanded on for the future? Thanks again.

[avalanche8700]

@InfinitelyGalactic I have nothing in mind (not a specialist in this field). but i feel that you could have showed us around a bit more, nevertheless, your reviews are top notch, creme de la creme. Thanks.

[Laoch111]

KDE looks great but I find most of the widgets to be of little use.

[Laoch111]

Do you find KDE buggy and laggy?

[FeelItRising]

@Laoch111 no



[foxyd3]

@Laoch111 Yeah. Every time I try KDE I end up with it being laggy and with somewhat frequent crashes.

[Laoch111]

@foxyd3 Yeah, it is a shame. If we could only combine the look of KDE with the quickness and smoothness of LXDE or Xfce.

[456thevineeth]

you kidding ? ? Mint has a KDE flavor ? 

[Linux4UnMe]

btw... I've been using Kde 4.8 rc2 the last day or so... and all the bugs I found in 4.7xx have been fixed.... so far so good.... seems fast and havn't had any instabilities as of yet.... I probably shouldn't speak so soon but 4.8 looks like a winner

[Linux4UnMe]

you beat me to it yet again.... damn you ;)

[InfinitelyGalactic]

@Linux4UnMe Okay, okay, but I was actually beaten by Hi675445. I found out about the RC through RSS, and then checked my YouTube inbox and found a video response request for the Mint 12 Review for his Mint 12 KDE review. At least viewers get different perspectives. lol.

[Linux4UnMe]

@InfinitelyGalactic

indeed indeed :D

[Hi675445]

@Linux4UnMe Linux Mint listen to the communality so i would still speak up if i was you i think this is not much different from kubuntu and there was no real reason for them to remake it with there back ground and then they get the credit if you add a new pannnal you will get the origanal bar with the k and in the menue there a button that takes you to kubuntu page

[AlavHar]

Hope to see an XFCE version of Linux Mint 13!

[DLiberator78]

@AlavHar Agreed. XFCE is my desktop of choice. I am using it on an older laptop with a Pentium M processor and it runs lovely. The desktop is simple and functional, I use Xubuntu and to be honest I am really pleased with it. Mint does have an XFCE desktop but only under the Linux Mint Debian distro.

[AlavHar]

@DLiberator78 Have you tried LMDE XFCE? I can guarantee it's much better than xubuntu, I have tried them both, lmde may be a little bit difficult to set up, but once you do, it's a beast! :D ... I end up with a system using less than 200 megs of ram, lightning fast, and minty super-cool looking... I think xfce looks best in mint... If you don't want to use lmde, I recommend switching to isadora's xfce version, in my humble opinion it's much better than xubuntu...

[DLiberator78]

@AlavHar I did try LDME as a Live CD but not as a full install but I might re-visit it. I think the slightly harder set-up put me off but I will try again. Isadora? That is Mint 9 isn't it? I will check that out and download the ISO. Many thanks for the advice, I really appreciate your tips and like I said I really like the 'no-fuss' XFCE desktop. I was also investigating the LXDE desktop as I hear that is even lighter and easier on the CPU. Thanks again. :)

[AlavHar]

@DLiberator78 You definitly should re-try it! :) I forgot to mention that it's a rolling release, so you don't need to reinstall it every once in a while :) Yes, Isadora is the 9 LTS release of Mint, it's super stable, yet another great choice... Smth about lxde... yes it IS lighter than xfce, however, in my opinion, it's still a non-finished DE, it doesn't have a keyboard layout tool, and other tools you might need, but if you want to try one, your best bet is Katya's lxde :)

[DLiberator78]

@AlavHar Thank you so much for your detailed answer. I am dipping my toes back into Linux again as I have had it with Windows atm (My laptop came with Vista and I hate it.) I appreciate the additional info and I am pleased to hear that the LMDE XFCE is a rolling release this saves will mean I am always up to date. Also thanks for the heads-up on LXDE, I will avoid using it becomes a more complete DE. Your advice has really helped me a lot, many thanks. :)

[AlavHar]

@DLiberator78 I'm pleased to hear I could help you anyhow :) Please feel free to ask me anything, if you ever need to :) I'm not a Linux power user at all, and I don't try to be one.. This is what I like in linux, the community, people care for each other, I helped you today, smb helped me then, smb will get help from another one :) I like this so much, I completly switched to linux, although I'm hardly getting comfortable in it, I feel like it's what I wanted :) Happy computing :)

[DLiberator78]

@AlavHar Thanks for the offer of help. Yes I am finding the Linux community very helpful indeed to noobs like me and visit a few forums to bolster my knowledge. Hopefully one day I would have gained enough knowledge to pass on and help someone else. Many thanks. :)

[AlavHar]

@DLiberator78 you're always welcome

[waynefoutz]

The Mint Software Manager was buggy in Mint 9 KDE as well. My old machine is still running it. Also, KDE can be tweaked to be just as usable as Unity or Gnome. I have found it's extremely customizable, and I was a Gnome user from 2006 up until about 8 months ago.

[BelaFleckFan]

good review, cheers dude

[bamdadkhan]

by the way, the annotation with the link to the podcast seems broken.. can't find it on your blog either. could you put it in the description?

[bamdadkhan]

you tend to use the term 'modern desktop' a lot. what exactly do you mean by that? aesthetics? the underlying logic? honestly, i'm not trying to dwell on words, i'm really curious..

i don't like kde, plain and simple, but this has nothing to do with that.

[InfinitelyGalactic]

@bamdadkhan Modern meaning mostly aesthetically, in that it doesn't look like Windows XP, but also technologically, in that the development tools and techniques used for creating KDE are not very antiquated at all. Qt is very versatile and widespread. Does that help? :-)

[bamdadkhan]

@InfinitelyGalactic it does. thanks. :)

[ChocosoftPC]

I like KDE! but I hate the file manager, therefore I use Gnome! Because of that and many other reasons!

[bamdadkhan]

i liked it better when it was black.. ;)

[ashkot]

There is no review about Zorin os in your channel. I wonder what is your thoughts about that OS

[InfinitelyGalactic]

@ashkot I used Zorin OS in a Windows vs. Linux 2011 video that I did back in July last year. I really like Zorin OS and it will be interesting to see what they do with future releases.

[RandomNewblet]

I noticed your audio kept changing a bit. Keeps getting an echo.

[InfinitelyGalactic]

@RandomNewblet Sorry bout that...not really sure what's wrong there, sounded okay from this end -- maybe too much noise cancellation.

[RandomNewblet]

@InfinitelyGalactic It's not that big a deal just something I noticed.

[MrMoneyboy4567]

how are you doing this in virtualbox vmwear and whats your main os?

[InfinitelyGalactic]

@MrMoneyboy4567 Ubuntu 11.10 is my main os. But I was running this one off a live usb. :-)