Best KDE Linux Distro - As We Hurtle Towards 2025

[@BUDA20]

I highly recommend EndeavourOS (arch), but for those that want a kind of "mint KDE" consider Tuxedo OS, is pretty much mint, with KDE, Kernel and Drivers updated

[@youfoundisaac]

🤔

[@mr_hardy5329]

Yeah EndeavourOS is great.

[@Bob-of-Zoid]

I love Arch with KDE Plasma, which I too get via Endeavour OS. Just the essentials so you can make it your own from there. Well, after over a decade on Arch and KDE (Antergos before Endeavour), and my way, which no distro is out of the box, nothing comes close to how it fits me and my work flow, for it being my own "distro", just sans the distribution!😁 Linux is freaking awesome in that way. 🐧

[@modernandretrogaming]

For me this distro is so problem-free and work very fast.

[@Moped_Mike]

@@Bob-of-Zoidyour grammar is confusing

[@StuartJ]

Been using Kubuntu for probably 15 years. The support is the best, because it's so closely tied to official Ubuntu releases.

[@no_name4796]

Yeah, but snaps

[@b0t123]

@@no_name4796 It literally only comes with 2 snaps that you can easily remove

[@Moped_Mike]

@@no_name4796what’s bad with snaps? Everyone says ARCH but never explains well enough for me to care

[@deltaresero]

Another great video! I just want to add for anyone reading through the comments, Garuda Linux might be a good alternative to CachyOS for some as it's also Arch based and it's possible to install various kernels with BORE. Another alternative to what was mentioned for Debian might also be MX Linux.

[@amiganer681130]

If you want to try Linux, most ditros have a live version, you can instell it on a USB-Stick and try out. No install needed.

[@Bob-of-Zoid]

Yep! Now isn't that convenient?!?!?! (Spoken like Dana Carvey as "The church lady") Windows can't do that! With just a portable SSD, possibly even a USB thumb drive if you don't have a crap load of data, you can practically take your Linux computer anywhere, and boot to it! It's Penguin Power!!!

[@kwagnert]

Thanks for the video, Gary. You forgot to mention that Manjaro, like Debian, also has three branches. A stable, a testing and an unstable branch. So as far as all Arch based distros, Manjaro is the most stable of all, because before committing packages to the stable branch, it has a testing (holding) period. And even though it's a rolling release, it's a very stable rolling release. Even more stable than OpenSuSE Tumbleweed.

[@cybernit3]

I might consider CachyOS in the future, since that BORE scheduler is suppose to be good for gaming. A1RM4X uses and shows it with KDE but he is looking at Hyprland. I just use Ubuntu and Gnome 46 seems to work okay for the most part, but KDE is less bloated than Gnome I think and Hyprland is the most efficient. Thanks for going over KDE, Gary.

[@ugurcansayan]

If Red Hat being evil makes Fedora bad, I believe Canonical being evil should make Ubuntu bad - but still it made it to the list.

[@GaryExplains]

Does Canonical publish the source code to Ubuntu? Yes. End of story.

[@ugurcansayan]

Don't be so sure. I hear them not sharing snap server stuff, while snaps being essential to Ubuntu desktop etc.

[@GaryExplains]

There is a huge different between not making something open source (and therefore not publishing the source code) and not publishing the source code to something that is already open source. BIG DIFFERENCE. Every company has the right to license its tech however it wants. However NOBODY has the right to take something licensed as open source and then pretend it isn't . Canonical does publish the source to snapd etc: github.com/canonical/snapd Also see code.launchpad.net/snap-store-desktop

[@ugurcansayan]

@@GaryExplains sorry, I believe I missed the part where Fedora itself is closed-sourced?

[@GaryExplains]

@ugurcansayan Fedora isn't itself closed-sourced. You know that (I hope). However, the Fedora project is an upstream, community distro of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Red Hat is the project’s primary sponsor. Red Hat uses the Fedora community as free labor to test and debug Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Red Hat no longer publishes the source code for RHEL publicly.

[@John.0z]

There is a psychology study from decades ago that showed how we humans simply cannot cope with a wide selection of options to perform a task. I do not think that should be interpreted as us being happy with, or even preferring, to have a non-choice like Windows thrust upon us, as is done in most PC sales outlets. But it does represent a barrier to the wider adoption of Linux.

[@BjørjaBear]

I believe Sartre said having to choose all the time makes us unhappy.

[@PaulCooijmans]

Exactly.

[@olnnn]

While current Kubuntu is on KDE 5, Kubuntu 24.10 that comes with KDE 6 is releasing in about a week. Mageia is another KDE focused slower update cycle distro - currently KDE 5 + x11. Next release somewhere at the end of this year I think.

[@JohnUllrey]

Great video, keep sticking it to Red Hat ( IBM ). Shortly after Red Hat put the source code behind a pay wall the CTO of Oracle wrote a really good open letter about the need for Open Source and their commitment to it. That raised my opinion a Oracle a little, I had a grudge against them ever since they erased all references to Sun Microsystems. (Showing my age I know) I tried Oracle Linux in a VM and it is absolutely a downstream version of RHEL with all the logos replaced with Oracle's. Not sure I trust Rocky since I hear it's the same guy who sold out to Red Hat (IBM) once already. Big Corporations with deep pockets are the devil, they ruin smaller companies doing good things for the industry. (I'm looking at you Broadcom)

[@CathrineMacNiel]

how can it be a pay wall when it (a developer account) doesn't cost anything?

[@JohnUllrey]

@@CathrineMacNiel That is true, but the problem is IBM doesn't really understand the concept of OpenSource. There were stories reported about IBM/Red Hat executives referring to downstream distributions as "Freeloaders". Credit where credit is due, Red Hat has done a lot to make Linux better, but no one really owns the code. IBM can't just buy Red Hat and expect to treat it like commercial software.

[@garthdev]

The Cachy Kernel with Bore is fast and I mean fast. Also Arch is just as up to date as Neon but without the outdated Kernel. Plus you've got the massive AUR which has everything!!!

[@giedmich]

Had the same thoughs about fedora for a long time. Like "bro you are just beta testing this for the other product"

[@StaffyDoo]

Rocking KDE 6.2.5 on NixOS 24.11 on Wayland. Flawless experience.

[@guilherme5094]

Now you have my total attention sir!

[@jeanelchinger1660]

Hi Gary, at the start you discard Fedora because you said it's based on the work of RHEL. In fact, it's the exact opposite. Redhat recovers Fedora's work, the Fedora team has a strong focus on open source.

[@GaryExplains]

Fedora is a Red Hat project. There is no glossing over that... Please don't try to defend the undefendable.

[@lzcoder]

@@GaryExplains you're a kid...

[@GaryExplains]

@@lzcoder eh?

[@esra_erimez]

Great video. Watching on KDE Neon until Kubuntu gets KDE 6

[@peterschmidt9942]

I get why you're upset with Redhat, but for me it's been the most stable of all the KDE distros I've tried. I wouldn't touch Manjaro again with a 10 foot pole as every upgrade would break something regardless of how I updated it. While all of the Unbuntu ones might be a bit more stable, they're just so far behind where KDE is up to now. There's a few on the list I wouldn't mind trying like OpenSUSE and CachyOS.

[@EZBlast]

I run kde Plasma on Zorin 17.2 Pro back-porting updates from Kubuntu.

[@esra_erimez]

I love your stance on Fedora

[@bokocchop]

only sane option tbh

[@abdullahzafar4401]

@@bokocchop How ?

[@victor1882]

@@abdullahzafar4401 cause it's THE actual best KDE distro

[@codeconquerors]

it is one of closest linux experience you can get due to how many linux developers it has, also many upstream project in compilers,mesa uses Fedora

[@manw3bttcks]

I find his position on Fedora wrong, being a tester on Fedora for RedHat is optional. Why is someone using Fedora and not putting in bug reports and feedback to RedHat being a free tester slave to Redhat? If you do want to help testing Fedora, then you can put in feedback.

[@ovidiuov4317]

Funny is that if you check the forums on whatever distribution you want, you will see that many problems and questions are KDE related. If KDE disappears tomorrow that forums can be closed easily. Probably is the most used DE in Linux.

[@Stef.Cata051]

I personally prefer cinnamon and I think the best fit is Ubuntu cinnamon with flatpack on top

[@donaldc3884]

Here's my .02 cents, Im a long time KDE fan, never really liked Gnome. I have been messing with linux for a decade i think and finally tried Fedora KDE. I liked it so much i was having trouble maintaining my "distro hopping" habit. I wanted to hop but just couldnt, then i finally said wth and jumped ship. I was bouncing between Cachy and Nobara. I chose Nobara since my Fedora experience was so good. I am absolutely loving Nobara so far. I did install Discover because i like to browse a catalog sometimes and i understand that in Nobara NEVER update the system with anything other than the Nobara system updater.

[@peterschmidt9942]

I tried Nobara a while back and while it generally worked well with the hardware on the laptop (it had an Nvidia graphics card), there was a couple of things I just couldn't get past. Although I've read it's a lot better now. And that Nobara updater was a mindf#$%. I didn't know what was updated and what wasn't LOL I'm using Ultramarine KDE now on most of my PCs and laptops as it's just Fedora with the extras you'd install anyway. BTW Gnome wasn't for me either. I don't want to install plugins to have to change things

[@harowagner]

@@peterschmidt9942 I understand well. My first tries some weeks ago had been with 2 GNOME Distros. I added such a lot plugins, some won't work well or already have become obsolete. it was an unsatisfactory experiment and the desktop alone took a day each. In the end I deleted everything and made the leap to Manjaro (arch), which I don't regret so far, it now runs well under Wayland too. I'm fascinated by how nothing seems impossible under Arch. Of course, everything has its two sides. I chose btrfs as the file system, uninstalled Timeshift after the first boot and installed btrfs-assistant.

[@JimmySolution]

Project Universal Blue is the next gen thing. Bluefin and Bazzite are awesome atomic desktops based on Fedora. Very stable, smooth and with everything that you need included such as batteries and codecs. It's the best out of the box, plug and play and experience. Never have to worry about system or updates issues.

[@Aspro4]

Thanks for your nice overview and nice animations between slides. What software did you use for making this presentation?

[@SerdceDanko]

Alt Linux - great distro with KDE variant available. And it is developed since year 2000, so it wouldn't just disappear like many other distros.

[@ToranK]

Cachy OS is by now the best distro I ever used. So fast. Very comfortable.

[@benjamindepaz8429]

10:20 🎉🎉🎉 was going to be sad if openSUSE didn’t make the list. lol.😅

[@RafaCoringaProducoes]

Gary one thing i see in devuan's plasma in the latest stable is the lack of pipewire, since wayland rely on it to screen cast in videoconferences its kinda away from the "shiny new things" lol

[@Dust86]

Daily drive Arch, however, I did for a time use Chakra before the project died. It was the greatest KDE focused distro imo.

[@wikwayer]

And what is your favorite one Garry ❓

[@Smittron]

Thanks for the video. I've tried others but have stayed with Kubuntu.

[@johno.241]

MX linux - plasma 5, X11. Debian without systemd.

[@RobinBecker-e9e]

Artix Arch without systemd

[@rubyvolt]

Mandrake to Mandriva and now Mageia. Check it out. KDE by default for decades.

[@hiYouareaclown]

I returned to devuan and regained the original feeling of Linux

[@fslurrehman]

Only one flavor of distro should have been covered. Arch flavors were given more time.

[@AswinC2]

EndeavourOS 🥳🥳

[@AmorVim]

honestly find tuxedo os the best out of the ones i've tried, it's the one i'm using now

[@donaldc3884]

setting up printers in arch just pisses me off after using distros like mint or fedora. I dont understand why they all cant be so easy.

[@wcdeich4]

Can you do a tutorial for setting up Alpine Linux as a Desktop GUI? I want to try it, but I'm afraid I won't get the drivers or firewall right.

[@MarkConstable]

CachyOS with ZFS FTW!

[@toniaraujorocha]

I use KDE Neon, it's wonderful

[@magnificoas388]

NixOS for me btw. W kde it is just flawless: last drivers, last kernels etc.

[@AshishKumar-tg6zh]

Thanks for not including Red Hat distros and highlighting Debian's commitment to free-software. Because I think choosing a distro is less about looks and feel and more about the goals and philosophy of the project.

[@kaijulian]

The RHEL boycott is incredibly based! Thumbs up!

[@masteroogvvay]

Its less based as it is common sense 💪🏼🙏🏼👍🏼

[@genocidestomper]

First time watching you, and you've already earned a like for your hard stance against RHEL!

[@Chris_Page]

I'm new to the Linux scene just put a new nvme in pc along with the SSD and standard HD that used for backup, I installed a Linux assistant app, Mint running fine, PC Could run win11 MS Say no, Ryzen5 like 1 step bellow MS Recommendations i don't need win11 so im not buying new kit just because MS say so, i can use Libre office, Pinta/Gimp, mp3 player, Audacity on linux, need to look for a few other apps photo management, Google chat afaik i can use that online, Everything search, now using mint each day to learn Linux, Got a old office pc going to try Manjaro on that, plenty of linux videos helping out on here too. Thanks

[@jvapr27]

Not really sure on all the hate for Fedora. Fedora has been great for me for the past 15 years.

[@GaryExplains]

Technically Fedora is good, it is a moral issue, not a technical one.

[@jvapr27]

@@GaryExplains Oh okay. Thanks.

[@John7No]

why the need for 3 Arch based distros but not 1 for Fedora KDE?

[@GaryExplains]

Did you not understand what I said about Fedora?

[@John7No]

@@GaryExplains I actually did not paid attention at the intro (my bad) sorry Gary!! 🙈

[@fslurrehman]

gentoo?

[@mr_hardy5329]

EndeavourOS ❤❤

[@30lajka]

Where is Nobara?

[@CathrineMacNiel]

It's Fedora based.

[@SenorRossi70]

Tuxedo is a very good KDE Distro too...

[@someguy4849]

Im running Arch with Kde, its perfect.

[@matiasm.3124]

Plasma under Gentoo the best one

[@cj37373]

But but but fedora 🥺

[@Destide]

Yeah, weird take to then add Kubuntu& Opensuse, which are doing the same thing- **Edit** Sorry Gary, you say it's an open-source issue could argue snaps are closed in Kubuntu but it's a bit of a stretch. I'm a big fan of Ublue's Aurora based on Silverblue in the Fedora space

[@marioprawirosudiro7301]

@@Destide Don't know about Kubuntu, but not weird about OpenSUSE at all. SUSE _does_ still provide the source for SLES/SLED to the public. Red Hat OTOH, no longer provides source for RHEL, except for their customers. Personally, I believe Red Hat _should_ be allowed to do that. Afterall, the public still has Fedora and CentOS Stream, and Red Hat devs are still contributing to it. It's not like it's a complete rug pull. But that's just me.

[@billirwin3558]

I cannot use Kubuntu 24 because of AMD card graphics issues. So I tried MX Linux with the KDE5 desktop. So far MX is doing the job well. But with some transitional problems. Mainly to do with my own scripts that were written for a Kubuntu environment.

[@deathdoor]

Wow, no Texudo.

[@GaryExplains]

Wow!

[@rodfer5406]

Gnome is better?

[@iblinmag6036]

👍

[@mr_hardy5329]

Debian is so old that cavemans was using it.

[@GaryExplains]

If you use that logic then the Linux kernel is the same and tools like gcc.

[@FengLengshun]

I still just use Bazzite. I don't care about the Red Hat boycott - Bazzite and Nobara are still among the best Linux distros, period. Honestly, I'd rather you just present the information, state your reservation with it, instead of censoring and presenting incomplete information because of personal beliefs. Let people make their choices instead of moral policing them because of your vendetta against one company.

[@GaryExplains]

@FengLengshun Everyone has the right to share their opinion, whether it's supporting something good or speaking out against something bad. I think RedHat is bad, so I'm against it and won't promote it. This freedom of speech is really important for open discussion. My videos are my own views. I have no obligation to serve as an impartial source, quite the opposite, I have an obligation to expose and inform others about bad behavior of corporates like RedHat (AKA IBM). I am not a publicly funded news service.

[@ronny332]

Why do you need a special Distro for KDE? Install what you want, put KDE on it. Done 🙂 Otherwise use the KDE live ISO to see it for the first time and there you go. That's how did it when switching from Mate to KDE. As base I use(d) Debian, meanwhile Arch, for no special reason. It just works, like Debian did before.

[@RegisBodnar]

Some distros are only on KDE 5 and some people want KDE 6, for example! Some distros are still (last I checked) stuck on X, but Wayland is better for many/most use cases! Therefore, KDE Neon and KaOS are a far better fit than Kubuntu or Debian KDE, for some!

[@ronny332]

@@RegisBodnar yes, you're of course right. Honestly, there was a lot of hype around KDE Plasma 6 at the beginning of this year. I noticed when Arch made version 6 available and had to tweak some settings after the update ran. But as I use KDE mostly by keyboard and have terminal/browser/IDE tasks, there were not a lot changes for me. Maybe the file management is different, or panels can be arranged in a different way. Nothing that I notice. What I noticed were some issues after activating Wayland instead of X 🙂. But also without big trouble.

[@hopelessdecoy]

Well it isn't as simple as that, technically right but in practical sense wrong. Distros design a lot of things around the default Desktop Environment. Debian and Arch are so non specialized that it does just work. Slapping KDE on modern Linux mint or LMDE will not for example have a good experience. since so much is based around GTK3 you get a lot of useless overlap. I'm sure there are other examples but this I feel was the strongest one. You could shift everything over manually but at that point why not just use Neon or Kubuntu?

[@mirandamorin6053]

PCLinuxOS is the best.

[@RafaCoringaProducoes]

its basically kinda fedora with no systemd and own repos right? Never tried it, ive heard its not much maintained, what you think fellow

[@mirandamorin6053]

@@RafaCoringaProducoes That sounds like news from 15 years ago. PCLinuxOS is maintained and updated daily, the magazine is published regularly every month, the forum is excellent, the team that develops and maintains it is excellent, and in terms of content and capabilities it can only be compared to MXLinux. No other Linux meets my needs.

[@MrBobWareham]

Linux Mint!!!!!!!

[@CFWhitman]

Mint is great, but it does not have a KDE default desktop version. Of course, you can run KDE on anything if you want, but the official flavors of Mint are Cinnamon, Xfce, and Mate.

[@steve81937]

I tried KDE multiple times, but I can't stand how buggy it is, and how messy and outdated it looks.

[@ergindemir7366]

If i ran AMD, i would create my own Linux distribution and take full potential of the hardware. Current crappy Linux distributions can utilize only 10-20% of the cpu, lacking hardware acceleration and power management.

[@GaryExplains]

Really? You think that current Linux distros can only utilize 20% of an AMD CPU. You got any proof for such a outrageous statement?

[@IAmPattycakes]

If that was true AMD would easily be able to make a distro like Intel's Clear Linux. 5x current performance in server would instantly win them all the datacenter contracts. Xeon would basically be no more outside niche use cases.

[@bokocchop]

this is so wrong

[@steve81937]

Yes, that's why every supercomputer and data center runs on Linux, because it's so inefficient. /s