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maybe we should a thread for the new users to tell the difference between the two different engines? I mean I belive it is something like KDE is a mac like setup and gnome is windows right?

ohh... I see, I was confused on which one was which, so ty for the clarification...great description too...

Meh...

KDE is more plastic-like, for sure, yes... It feels more like the XP interface, and, is built upon a widget set called "QT". QT is written by a company, Trolltech, and while the KDE suite is fairly well integrated, the KDE community has a serious habbit of reinventing the wheel, and implementing things that imitate window's more... questionable... features... Konqueror, KDE's file browser, also doubles as a web browser, in much the same way Explorer does on windows. KOffice is a KDE-based office suite that reinvents a lot of OpenOffice (though to be fair, KOffice is *slightly* older than OpenOffice, but certainly not StarOffice, OO's predecessor). Some of the latest additions to KOffice include a photoshop clone that isn't Gimp (Because Gimp is written around GTK - more on GTK later). I'm not going to say that KDE isn't a nice and integrated interface, but the amount of time the KDE project as a whole spends reinventing the wheel, I have issues supporting them by using their software. I'm all for choice, but I don't think implementing a lot of the features of windows, especially the more questionable ones, is anything I want to use.

KDE has a ton of configuration options, and can do a lot, and seems more suited to "Computer-but-not-linux savvy" users - meaning, windows gurus, and people familiar with the XP-style interface will fine KDE to be more "familiar" to them.

In contrast, Gnome is a totally different ball of wax. Gnome is built around the mindset that the desktop should be able to do just about anything, but not interfere with the user and overwhelm them with configuration options.

To that extent, Gnome is more suited for users newer to the computer, and, experts. Gnome hides the advanced features to not confuse the newer users, and the experts know where they are, and how to configure them anyway. This makes things awkward for the middle-ground, since they don't see a way to do what they want. Gnome's configuration by *default* emulates the Mac interface, however, it can be reconfigured to do Windows, xfce, Afterstep, and a ton of other styles. It's panels are a lot more configurable than KDE's are, at least from what I've seen (Disclaimer - I haven't used KDE since 3.1).

GTK is to Gnome what QT is to KDE - it is the widget set that Gnome is built around. The thing with QT is, as I mentioned before, it's written by a company - Trolltech. While there are safeguards in place to keep Trolltech from revoking the license to use QT, and QT is open source software, it is still owned by QT and licensed. GTK on the other hand, is with out this corporate presence and more... attractive... to some of the zealots out there. Now, that's a very political reason to care - most people don't. Here's why everybody should though. GTK is (at least in my opinion) the easier widget set to program for. All of the software I use is GTK-based (or looks like it just fine). This includes Firefox, Thunderbird, Evolution, X-Chat, OpenOffice, XMMS, Gimp, and a few others... The issue with GTK and QT is that they look (and behave) nothing like each other. KDE looks nice, I'll admit it. Gnome looks nice as well (if a bit plainer). They both have a look and style to them and a level of integration that provides a consistant UI experience. So long as you stick to one widget set - QT, or, GTK. KDE users usually end up having to install GTK anyway, and end up running at least one or two GTK programs once in a while - those programs don't integrate into KDE too well, they certainly don't adopt the look and feel of the current QT theme, and KDE has gone through several measures to attempt to better integrate GTK programs into it, specifically. Gnome users are in the same boat should they wish to run a QT application. The thing is, most gnome users that I've talked with over the year, don't use QT apps. They don't have the QT libs installed. They don't really see a need, as there's a GTK app that fits their bill.

I'll also note that KDE and Gnome can be installed together at the same time, and when you log in to the computer, you can pick which one you like. Might be worth trying them both out, and sticking with what works for you. I've been quite happy with Gnome (been a user since 1.4), many moons ago, and highly recommend it. KDE is nice, and I don't have anything *against* it, just feel that Gnome is a much better choice for my needs and usage, and usually a slightly better choice for others, with few exceptions.

Just my $0.02

One thing I like about Konqueror is the fact that it can tab between being an internet browser and file browser. Something I wish some one would do for a long time, and once I found out that KDE's konqueror could do that I fell in love

Yes, that is true even though we KDE users should use QT apps sometimes we prefer the pure power GTK apps have. That and GTK have some programs that QT does not and so we are forced to use them.

If you're like some of my friends and have a 4Tb RAID control setup, then you have every package installed anyways.... Friggin nerds.... They seriously have 3Tb of packages installed... FOR NO REASON!!! they don't even use them... But that's besides the point.

Reasons for wanting GNOME: Better application and resource management. Able to link easier for gaming purposes, more things are available for it.

Reasons for NOT wanting GNOME: Advanced options require looking around and searching as well as already knowing how to configure them. Does not run QT without bilding the engine, I have yet to see the QT engine available wihtout KDE installed already.

Reasons for wanting KDE: Familiar, easy to figure out, advanced options are easy to find, easier to learn, fairly automated, decent resource management.

Reasons for NOT waning KDE: Hard to link to OpenGL, not compatible with lots of linux software without the GTK libraries prelinked. Will not run GTK+ out of the stage 3. Needs to be installed AND linked before you can.

Reasons for wanting lightstep: Easy to use, fast, dependable, configurable GUI, able to make shortcuts. Able to make childs interface incredibly limited, say for browsing or doing homework only, or accessing kid friendly things only. Runs on windows as well.

Reasons for not wanting lightstep: You must manually build, install, link, and do everything by hand. GURU ONLY! However if a guru configs it for you, you will love it. In fact you can get KDEsh on windows or gnomesh on windows with lightstep.


REASONS FOR RUNNING VIRTUAL MACHINES: Pricele.... I mean everything. You can emulate any OS. Although I emulate Through a windows install for compatibility reasons. but being able to boot into windows XP through a virtualization is nice in the fact that, hey I can game in a virtual OS! Course you need a darn good server for that... but I still do it sometimes ^^.

Anyways, if you're new and don't care abotu tweaking, go with GNOME, but if you like linking and configuring go with KDE. Really install both from stage 3 to get all compatible and stuff. Lightstep is not for the faint of heart.

I did a lot of stuff in vmware in school, we did our whole linux class in vmware running FC4. At home I got vmware player, becuase I got xp images I made at school, they are kind of a pain, mostly becuase you don't get EVERYTHING the pc offers. Vmware offers alot of the hardware, but you can't get at pci cards and such.... [kind of bummed me out my old tv tuner card was windows only so I was hopping to just use it in vmware.]

As for light desktop... Fluxbox, Openbox or XFCE are the ones I like smile

But I got a beast of a pc right now, well sorta of a beast, but I run it heavy, with gnome, beryl and emerald.

I have server now... I kinda of just like workstation. but server is fine too.

as for killing my compy... dual core 3 ghz, 1 gig of ram and a gforce 6800... it takes a lot to kill.