Re: Newbie Question - KDE-Gnome-xfce
Randy Patterson wrote:
> I have only had Debian up and going for about two weeks. Had Sarge
> installed but had problems with my USB hardware so just did a clean
> install of Etch. Works great!! Since I am a new user I don't have a
> favorite windowing system that I prefer and was wondering if someone to
> point me to a good link that would describe the strengths and weaknesses
> or pros and cons of each system. KDE installed as default with Sarge and
> Etch so I assume they chose that for a reason and it is the only one I
> have used. I have looked but haven't been able to find a good comparison
> them.
>
> Thanks,
> Randy
I also use KDE and am a big fan of it. But let me correct one thing. KDE is
not chosen as default in Debian. The default with net install image is
nothing. Users are expected to install what they like.
Why KDE?
. Comes with almost everything that an ordinary desktop user can think of.
. Components of KDE integrate/communicate well within each other.
Ex :- clicking on a link in kmail will open it in konqueror etc.,
. The interface is consistent across all the KDE applications.
. Almost everything can be configured to your taste.
. Konqueror, konsole are just awesome!
Why not KDE?
. It is a memory hog, CPU intensive, slow compared to most other DEs.
. Lot of annoying warnings both on konsole and in .xsession_errors for which
no solution (AFAIK) exists. This is not a problem but is very inconvenient.
Use KDE only if you have a decently fast machine. Otherwise it wont be a
pleasant experience.
GNOME vs KDE
. Gnome's file picker is pretty bad compared to KDE's file picker.
. gconf spews all sorts of errors into log files.
Due to these two inconveniences, I completely stopped using Gnome and
shifted to KDE.
Xfce
. Well designed and useful if you have a slow machine.
. can be used as a backup, in case the big guys like KDE/GNOME fail to load
for some reason.
hth
raju
--
Kamaraju S Kusumanchi
http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/kk288/
http://malayamaarutham.blogspot.com/
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