Hi,

It's been quiet here for a while, because I've been quite busy on another front. I have a job in perspective as a Linux trainer, and as such, I must get (more) comfortable with other distributions like CentOS and Debian.

A few weeks ago, I've installed CentOS 7 on my laptop, mainly to get a grip on the distribution. I gave GNOME 3.14 a spin, but found it to be not very usable (to say it politely). On the other hand, I've had a pleasant surprise with KDE 4.14, which is crisp and clean and surprisingly lightweight, once you remove all the useless stuff.

These last two weeks, I've thought quite a lot about the question and took a bunch of notes. As you know, the MLED desktop you're currently running is based on a beefed-up Xfce desktop. Xfce in itself is not very usable, at least in its default configuration. KDE on the other hand has many (!) more features, though it tends to be heavy-weight. So I've experimented in a couple virtual machines, and my current feeling is that I'd much like to rebase MLED on a lightweight customized version of KDE. Which would be KDE 4.10.5 for MLED 14.1 and KDE 4.14.3 for MLED 14.3.

I've had such a setup in the past, as you can see here:

http://www.mylinuxrig.com/post/76338...acs-microlinux

Here are the features I'd like to implement in this "revamped" KDE-based MLED:

• lightweight KDE base
• one app per task
• usable default profile
• Firefox and Thunderbird replace Konqueror and KMail
• GTK apps nicely integrated
• Clementine and VLC for audio and video
• MPLayer without GUI
• some KDE packages rebuilt for enhanced functionality
• Infinality (?)
• and then of course all the extra multimedia + fonts stuff

I'd also like to simplify the package repos. After a year of using them, the package categories aren't worth the hassle, and folks seem to "take their pick" only to complain about missing dependencies. Now I know why gurus like Eric stick to the KISS principle and put everything in one big directory:

http://www.slackware.com/~alien/slackbuilds/

Last but not least, here's a screenshot of my current no-bullshit KDE desktop running on CentOS 7.2. It's a real pleasure to work with this, and I'm sure you folks would like it.

http://blog.microlinux.fr/wp-content...kde-centos.png

Any thoughts?

Niki

some time ago you had very strong opinions about KDE as an enterprise desktop, I remember the conversation, so I am now somehow surprised.

KDE 4.14 is great, but on the other hand also already EOF. KDE is now on KDE5, that's where all the development happens, and I think since recently the KDE project started to understand that the throw away and be unstable for X months/years culture they established starting new version is not optimal.
So maybe with v5 they will change, but I do not trust them any more.

Back in the days I was very happy with KDE3 also, there is the trinity project, I am not sure if this would be an alternative for you, or if this is still supported.

I also had my experience with RHEL7 / Gnome, and my WTF moment. You need to go to the gnome shell, not the gnome2 look clone, and do some configuration and plugin installation until it is usable. After a while working on that, it is pretty good, not better or worth than KDE or Unity.

You might also consider giving Mate and Cinnamon a try, it could be that they are, depending on the user group, also good alternatives.

I also think that what Ubuntu does with Unity is in some sense not that bad, one alternative, less to no configuration, works for a lot of people.

However, Linux Desktop is still a problem. To get used to a desktop environment does not work in less than 10 weeks for me, so finding a good/bad is, if there are not serious show-stoppers, is hard.
The 'big players' use gnome or unity, both not supported on Slackware, so any alternative will be somehow exotic.

However, maybe KDE5 LTS is an option to start with, I think Eric has packags for that, but however you will do it, it will be a risky and time costly decision.

1 members found this post helpful.

I'm a sysadmin at our local school, and I'm lucky to have a boss who's a free software enthusiast who loves Slackware on his dual-monitor workstation and his laptop. We have two servers and about twenty desktop clients in that school - not counting all the laptops - and I get to experiment quite freely.

About two years ago, I tried KDE 4 (I think it was 4.10.5) on the school's desktop clients, and there was one recurring problem that was a bit nasty. Users got a curious habit of painting themselves in a corner by (accidentally) getting rid of the main KDE panel. I didn't know what to do at the time, but in the end, this was one of the reasons I switched to Xfce.

In the meantime, I read the documentation about KDE kiosk mode and found out how you could - either partially or completely - lock down the desktop.

I know KDE has a release cycle that's just crazy. This being said, KDE 4.10.5 on Slackware 14.1 still works perfectly, as does KDE 4.14.3 on Slackware 14.2. If I ever need some mission-critical long term support option, I can always install CentOS 7, which officially supports KDE 4.14.3 - backporting bugfixes etc. - until 2024 (!).

The idea here is not to reinvent the wheel and (re)build everything from scratch, because Eric already does an excellent jobs building all that. I'm only rebuilding a handful of KDE packages, either to strip them down or to enhance functionality. Here's what I started yesterday:

https://github.com/kikinovak/microli...op-14.1-source

Most of my clients are running Slackware 14.1, so I'm starting to fiddle with this version and see where that goes.

Cheers,

Niki