Why would you be interested in using KDE neon?
Three reasons that i can think of that you might be interested in doing it:
First maybe you’re a new user to KDE and you want to learn it you want to spend some time with the latest versions of the software.
Second you want to use those latest versions of all of the KDE software that’s out there not just the desktop environment but all of the packages that accompany it
Third want a long term support (LTS) release but you want a later version of the current you want the newest version of the kernel you can get a hold of because maybe you’re contemplating new hardware maybe you’re maybe you just want to play with all the new things that are coming in the new linux kernels and don’t want to be bothered with a rolling release.
What is KDE neon?
KDE neon is developed by the KDE folks themselves they took ubuntu long-term LTS and this is released version 20.04.
KDE neon includes the latest KDE desktop and the version at the time i’m making this video 5.25.4.
Linux kernel version is 5.15.0-46 as of the time I am writing this review.
Who is KDE neon for?
The KDE enthusiast, people that really like KDE and want to always have the latest and greatest software on their desktops
You can get KDE neon packaged with a laptop. KDE offers the KDE Slimbook computer.
There is a 14 inch and a 15.4 inch version of the of that slim book and the last time i looked it was based on the AMD Ryzen 5000 series mobile chips.
How do I get KDE neon?
When you go to the download page for kde neon you’ll find there are four editions:
The user edition that’s the mainline branch of KDE neon and that’s ideal for anyone to use.
The testing edition and that’s where you’re going to find pre-release versions of KDE desktop environment and KDE software.
The unstable variant doesn’t mean it crashes a lot although you probably will find lots of bugs in this release there it is really meant to provide a vehicle for people that want to do early testing.
The developer variant you get all of the things that are in unstable edition plus you get the development tools that kde ships along with for the developers to use to actually build tools that either use KDE or are developing in the kde platform
What do I need to run KDE neon?
2 gigahertz x86 64 cpu sorry they don’t have the staff to support a 32 bit version of the OS
2 GB of memory
10 GB of disk space however i would recommend 25 GB
A display capable of at least 1024×768 pixels
My thoughts on KDE neon
KDE neon is very easy to install
The number of packages it installs is lower than most of the distributions, but it does not automatically install an email client or office software.
It does come with the apt package manager but KDE neon says we should be using pkcon as the package manager in order to download the latest updates from the KDE development team.
I find this confusing and may be confusing to users who are used to the way Canonical Kubuntu package manager works.
Xorg is the default system window manager, but you can select Wayland from the login screen if you prefer to use that.
All in all the release is smooth and easy to work in, it reminds me a bit of the Windows 7 user interface which I am sure is one of the reasons so many people like it. Yeah, You can add me to that list as well.