KDE distros

While he hops distros with bravado, Mayank Sharma was quite timid when it comes to moving away from Gnome-based desktops... until now.

ALinux distribution ships with a particular desktop environment, and while we can often replace it with another without much trouble, the majority of us tend to stick with the default. It can be argued that Gnome dominates the default desktop environment and pops up one way or another in a large number of distributions. You’ll find Gnome-powered environments across a wide spectrum of projects, from mainstream desktops to specialised builds.

While we aren’t saying that KDE users aren’t plentiful, the desktop just doesn’t get all the attention it deserves. The chance of a new Linux user getting started with KDE is fairly remote considering the fact that a majority of the routes that lead into Linux use a non-KDE desktop environment by default. Also KDE has historically been the more adventurous of the desktops and has managed to rile experienced Linux users long before Gnome and Unity started luring them away. While the desktop has matured quite a lot since the days of KDE 4, some users have moved on to other pastures and are missing all the interesting developments.

In our bid to correct these wrongs, we’ll look at some of the distros that focus their development around the KDE desktop. In the Roundup you’ll find some distros that will appeal to first time users as well as those that will impress the stalwarts with their mature platforms.

“The desktop has matured a lot since the days of KDE 4.”