KDE or Gnome

[Zacharias]

helo. i fell in love for the looks and performance long time ago of this distro. but i didnt had a machine that i could enjoy linux. nut know, i find myself in doubt. should i choose KDE or Gnome? can somone tip me out?
kudos

[joeoden]

should i choose KDE or Gnome? can somone tip me out?

It is a matter of preference, I have Kde installed on all my desktop systems and have both Gnome and Kde (on separate partitions) installed on my notebook.

Gnome comes with Compiz but with Kde you have to install Compiz (depending on what candy you want) or just stick with the default kwin

Download both, try them as live DVD then pick the one you are most comfortable with they are both OK

[lazevedo]

i would say it's a matter of preference and performance, since gnome is faster (at least in my personal experiences)

[xlnagla]

kwin has its own compositing that is comparable to compiz, so that's why it's not installed by default. Also, kde4 and gnome have completely comparable memory footprints, so you shouldn't notice a big difference between the performance of the two. KDE is a widget-based desktop which focuses on theme and system integration/centralized user control; gnome focuses on functionality of form above all else. gnome will "feel like" pre-OSX macs, while KDE will "feel like" post-Vista Windows. Please note, that comparison is a gross understatement of what both are capable of, but might give you a small launching point off of which to base your decision.

Of course, if you can afford the bandwith the best decision is always to download both and try them both out in live mode to decide which you like better.

~xlnagla

[Fitzcarraldo]

If you're using Bluetooth, go with GNOME: at the moment Bluetooth support in KDE 4.* is terrible.

[amoebios]

You can install both, anyway, so you could choose between the two on the login screen. (it can make some problems, tho)
To others: Is it better to install Gnome first and then install KDE? Or does that lead to the same problem?

On a sidenote i'd like to mention LXDE, which is even lighter than Xfce.

[Zacharias]

@ALL: thanks for all the tips. but one thing kept me bothering: can i test-drive compiz and kpiz on live CD? if so is there any kind of tut concerning this?
kudos

[Zacharias]

help anyone?

[Fitzcarraldo]

Yes, you can test drive Compiz-Fusion with the SL 5.0 GNOME LiveDVD, and KDE Desktop Effects with the SL 5.0 KDE LiveDVD.

For details of using Compiz, see the Compiz-Fusion Wiki (http://wiki.compiz-fusion.org/) for instructions on using the various plug-ins. Scroll down the above-mentioned page to the section titled Plugins. Try them out to find out what they do.

For details of using KDE 4.* desktop effects, see the KDE Web site, for example http://www.kde.org/announcements/4.2/desktop.php and http://www.kde.org/announcements/4.0/desktop.php (look for sections titled 'The Window Manager' or 'Desktop Effects'). If you go to Kickoff > Computer> System Settings > Desktop (or whatever it is: I am on a Windows box at the moment), click on Enable desktop effects and then click on the tab All Effects you'll see a list of the effects which you can select, and the keyboard shortcuts for launching them. Try them out to find out what they do.

[skysong]

@ALL: thanks for all the tips. but one thing kept me bothering: can i test-drive compiz and kpiz on live CD? if so is there any kind of tut concerning this?
kudos

Worked out of the box for me..

For the dilemma between Gnome and Kde, it's up to you, someone mentioned installing both.. This is what I did and ended up using fluxbox and e17 haha :p