Looking for a normie KDE distro that works out of the box and is stable without issues.
Kubuntu is most normie. Its just Ubuntu but with KDE instead of Gnome. KDE Neon has the latest KDE but the update process is a mess so I can’t recommend it.
Personally I use EndeavourOS with KDE and find it very easy. Updates are literally just typing
yay. But I understand that Arch based distros aren’t for everyone.
Does Plasma on EndeavorOS include Discover? For those that want GUI updates
- bdonvr ( @bdonvr@thelemmy.club ) 33•1 year ago
OpenSUSE Tumbleweed, great KDE defaults - up to date - stable. Does things a bit differently than most distros but it’s pretty easy to get used to.
That what I use, and it’s perfect
openSUSE Tumbleweed. It’s rolling and reliable.
I’ve been using this for a few months now. It’s really good. A normie might want to look in to Slowroll though for extra stability. Is Slowroll even out yet?
It’s available, but still experimental I think.
Fedora kde
I highly recommend Kubuntu. I don’t use any snaps though. And I always install the LTS version. Been using it for over a dozen years.
I don’t use any snaps though.
Oh sweet summer child…
Rolling release: openSUSE Tumbleweed Semi-annual release: Fedora KDE Spin LTS: Kubuntu (3 years), Debian (5 years), AlmaLinux (10 years)
I personally think semi-annual is where it’s at. You get packages that are mostly up-to-date (and with Flatpak user-facing software is up-to-date anyway), and you don’t have to fear that something will break/be incompatible with every small update.
I’m running TW and it’s great. If you don’t want a rolling release, OpenSUSE created Slowroll, that is supposed to release major updates every one or two months, which would probably be my go to if I were to start over.
Everyone is waiting for Slowroll I think.
Kubuntu is also semi-annual, but LTS releases only come every two years. Regular releases have a year and a half of support.
Fedora Kinoite, specifically the version from universal-blue.org.
It comes with all codecs (and even baked in Nvidia-driver if you want!).
Why that and not the normal (mutable) Fedora Workstation KDE spin?
- Very simple by default. You basically only “own” your home directory, the rest is indestructible and taken care of.
- Has less bugs due to better reproducibility, and if something major should break, you can easily roll back without any waiting time (as opposed to Tumbleweed)
- And you can even rebase to Bazzite, a gaming distro, that’s based on the uBlue KDE version, or any other spin it you want cleanly
This. Or, nowadays secureblue Kinoite!
Its a hardened Variant of ublue kinoitr, but I tested it and especially using the “userns” variants, a lot works
- flatpak
- virtual machines
- fingerprint sensor
“userns” means user namespaces, a technology used by browsers, flatpak and Podman/Docker/Toolbox/Distrobox to create Sandboxes, isolating processes. It is used by default on Fedora, so these variants are pretty much like regular Fedora.
Dont think a secure Distro is user-unfriendly. It works pretty normal, but is simply way more secure.
If you want to use Firefox or Torbrowser, install their binaries.
https://github.com/trytomakeyouprivate/Recommended-Flatpak-Apps
Fedora Kinoite is the first time that I felt at home (besides Arch). It feels so stable and I never have to mess with it. KDE is also at the point now where it feels genuinely better than Windows or Mac
You’re going to get a million answers, mostly people saying to use which distro they’re currently using. In my experience, KDE works just fine on any distro that allows you to install it out of the box, so I would choose based on other attributes of the distro, such as:
- Package manager: which are you used to?
- Update cycle: KDE 6 is out soon, so you want something which updates often enough to get it fairly quickly (at least semiannual).
- Stability: unless you want to have to manually maintain your system and learn how it works, avoid arch and arch-based distros. I have run it, its fine, but it’s not “normie”, and unless you really know what you’re doing, daily driving it can be stressful. Manjaro has the same issues, but takes away some ability of the user to fix them.
For instance, I personally like Debian and apt, but I would not recommend base Debian right now, since KDE 6 is about to come out and Debian will take a loooong time to get it. I have not personally used Kubuntu, but if it gets rid of any the bloat canonical has been adding to Ubuntu lately, it sounds pretty good to me.
I’m using Manjaro because SuSE Tubleweed didn’t want to install that day. People like to hate on Manjaro but I honestly don’t know why - the defaults are fine and I very rarely have issues despite using software from the AUR
This is why: https://manjarno.pages.dev
It has been 442d 15h 07m 53s since Manjaro !$%&?*# up.
So a year and a half? That’s not all that bad really. And that time it was a (admittedly bloody stupid) cock up involving the SSL certificate of their website not of the distro itself
Sure, maybe they’re better now, but this long list is why the reputation stuck.
That and EndeavourOS exists
Or maybe you just have a weird bee in your bonnet about something that’s not even really a problem as evidenced from your own numbers
I simply showed why Manjaro has that reputation.
You also unwittingly showed why it doesn’t deserve it
Why? Because after a series of negligent incidents spanning multiple years, a couple of which impacted the AUR for everyone they’ve gone a year and a bit without another major incident?
Again, EndeavourOS exists – all Manjaro does for you is hold back packages making things unstable.
Also I’ve just actually looked at EndeavourOS’ website and it says very clearly front and centre that it’s focused on the terminal, which is entirely not what OP was even asking for. It might be a fine distro, I don’t know, I’ve never used it or checked how many years it is since they cocked up, but it doesn’t present itself as a KDE focused distro which is what OP (and I) want!
That must be why it ships with a GUI installer, that can install any of the popular DEs and WMs…
Debian
stable or unstable?
I use stable but if you need more up to date software not in backports unstable would be better suited. Neither are really “unstable”.
Endeavour OS with KDE
MX Linux with KDE?
If you have an AMD machine it even has a “advanced hardware system” iso for high end pcs
You have to reinstall mxlinux every time a new debian version comes out. Not really “normie” IMHO.
Do you really have to reinstall from scratch or is it sufficient to update the sources.list to the new Debian release and perform dist-upgrade like for Debian?
I read their documentation yesterday, and it strongly advised a complete reinstall. While they do have a tool that eases the process of storing your setup and then recovering it on top of a new install, it’s still significantly more complicated than just ‘sudo apt upgrade’.
Fedora KDE spin. One of the easiest to use distros without all of the annoyances of Ubuntu (e.g. snaps).
Feren OS. A bit more unknown, but it’s pretty good.