Any hope for official KDE Plasma in Zorin17?

Talking can lead to conflict...

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I think this is a great discussion :smiley:

And to answer to Aravisian, I think what I'm most afraid of by expanding to other desktop environments is losing focus of what's really important. Looking around, there are very few projects that make the introduction to Linux look as simple and attractive as ZorinOS.

I'm not opposed to the idea of empowering the end user by providing tools and guidance to dig deeper into the system. However, I think it's even more important to provide the tools and means to avoid having to do any digging.

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This is very valid.
Personally, I think that Gnome does just that: Loses sight of what is really important.
While I think Plasma may not be my recommendation, I think moving to Budgie or whatever Suse comes up with as a replacement for Gnome may be a good bet.

I also think that Cinnamon is a very good choice for migrants from Windows and it can be beautifully polished, has easy to find and use settings all without being overwhelming. I have my points against Cinnamon... but as an alternate, it is a good one.

Zorin OS must bend over backwards getting Gnome force-fit into what ZorinOS needs a desktop environment to be. It is buggy; users complain constantly about its lack of features and bugginess, as well as the oft-dashed Gnome Software Store.
Not to mention Gnome Extensions which... while there are many great ones, the over-all effect of them is... OOF...

I fully agree that having the OS set up so the user can power up and get right to work (or play) is the way to go.
I just think that Gnome stands against this. It lacks the tools and is growing more and more restrictive. Honestly, between Gnome and Microsoft, Microsoft is more open and featured with Windows than Gnome is on Linux. MS will at least listen to some user feedback and implement some fixes and features. Gnome does not listen to feedback and instead dismisses all complaints with explanations of why we should accept what Gnome Devs want, instead.

This is partly due to MS relying on its user base for income, whereas Gnome gets little revenue from its users and instead gets it from third party Corporations.

This thread asks if KDE Plasma is a good choice for Zorin OS.
I support this. I can see the arguments against it. However, I think that the right configuration and set up could make it an excellent fit for Zorin OS and its goals. The benefits could outweigh or even negate the objections.
Many are accustomed to seeing Plasma D.E. as it is presented elsewhere, not seeing it for what ZorinGroup could do with it.
I believe the biggest challenge would actually be for the ZorinGroup to configure and set it up for Zorin OS... That is a lot of work. At least with Gnome, they have templates and past work as a foundation to stand on.

But for me, I would install Zorin OS Plasma and immediately install another Desktop (most likely).
I don't know, since ZorinGroup even made Gnome usable to me - which is a very impressive accomplishment. They may well make Plasma a D.E. I could use. I have my doubts but... they have their magical way of crushing those doubts. Most likely I would still be on Zorin OS Lite... and it wouldn't be my main concern.

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For me about experience when I started with Zorin when it was from version 8 when the developers sending a cd plate on my address I remember I was searching terminal and wondering what is that on webside. When Zorin 16 support my a computer I bought pro like always. The start with linux wasn't fast. for example, quitting smoking over time.(google translator). But when I started using Zorin next 2 years i was hungry more understable linux world about distributions,desktop,how is buildt kernel. In this two years i learning many things and it was a journey. Now i reading people out from Xorg and forward to Wayland. Xfce 4.20 will be with wayland, audio - pulse coming to pipewire. Everything changing for better. That is nice journey - always something changing it something like a challenge climbing the ladder. Now I am a friendly user linux. If some time maybe linux can be boring but every next 6 month or 2 years coming new version and people installing linux want to see what is new and what is diffrents.

Are they actively developing something new? My understanding is that the KDE Plasma is the de-facto standard for both Leap and Tumbleweed.

On that note, by the way, I just made the switch to OpenSuse Leap last week... I had to re-install Gnome after about an hour, that's just how bad I think Plasma is.

Absolutely, I think this is something crucial to consider. If we had to start over from scratch, then all bets are off. I would be happy with a Budgie or Cinnamon, and I'm curious about the upcoming Cosmic desktop by System76. And I trust the developers can do a good job with KDE.

But right now, ZorinOS already has a great thing going and walking away from that would hurt too much.

I am sorry, I am a terrible human.
My brain said Solus and my fingers typed Suse.
I meant Solus.

I have tried and tried and tried some more to use Plasma D.E.
I have yet to succeed. And it has a strange psychological effect of really feeling like Windows, to me. A lot.

I think this is supposition. Zorin OS does have a great thing, due to ZorinGroup, not due to Gnome. And the changes in Gnome inhibit or diminish a great thing: Libadwaita.
I do not think that making a D.E. change can be described as Zorin OS "walking away from a great thing."
Zorin OS has changed D.E.s multiple times over the years, in fact.

Oh, yes I most definitely meant that the ZorinGroup had built something great, not that Gnome itself is. I'm confident anything the developers put their effort on, KDE or whatever, would come up pretty neat.

I was just looking up Solus but the site is down. I seem to recall the developers had some kind of dispute and split. But in any case there is some progress being made (and looking good if you ask me).

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Yeah that solus is great not connected with ubuntu or debian and this isn't old distribution. I saw many died linux distributions now back alive.

I tried Solus Budgie, back when Ikey was still involved, I think. Then Josh took over. I liked it, but I kept screwing up the epkg when trying to install on the command line..lol. Plus, it lacked things at the things I became accustomed too, comfortable with, liked and came back to Zorin Lite. I did like the 'raven' feature.

Do I wish Zorin KDE would come out? Absolutely, because I know the brothers would do an excellent job. However, unlike the late 1800's, early 1900's, I don't think their parents had 14 kids (I have no idea) because they would need a lot of extra hands for the added work.

Zorin is great, hands down. This is from my personal knowledge. Knowledge I gained by distro hopping and trying different things, such as Kubuntu. Mint (XFCE, Mate & Cinnamon), Solus Budgie, Feren, Chalet (My first Linux Love, sadly went dormant). And a few others.

Zorin does make the crossover from M$ easier. It's fantastic. So we are in total agreement on that Zenzen. Like finding your dream house.
But learning what I have learned, there are times I want to see what else is out there.

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For me new version Zorin 17 will be undiscovered new land and challenge. We can learning Zorin operating system from inside. This is very excited to seeing kernel how it builds and how it all working. I saw how many thousand line was wrote in Zorin 16 version that is incredible and amazing. I remember the man who wrote TempleOS and his history, how many years he spend to wrote that operating system.

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Reading some websides on web and there is wrote kde plasma desktop using a gnome theme. That is interesting connection kde plasma with gnome. One distribution propably using that both connections. I don't know how it works from youtube videos "that is great distribution" - told me nothing. Besides i was on kde webside with bug list and this list is very big.

Propably guide how kde can be a gnome.

I updated today Zorin and get tha interesting things.

This is normal, as there are some shared libraries with KDE / QT applications.

Indeed. I reading gnome and kde/qt can taken some libraries to correct working application.

I would argue that a great way forward, but having to bear in mind there are only 2 Devs involved with Zorin it might be too onerous a task to do would be something similar to the things I liked about Devuan is it gives you the choice/s of DE you can install at point of installation, so someone like JeffK969 and self who are experienced GNU/Linux users can choose that option should we wish to do so. Remember ZorinOS isn't just about helping Windows and Mac users migrate to GNU/Linux it is also about enticing existing GNU/Linux users too. Diehards won't like the Windows style menu but you can always change that - that is one positive thing about KDE (Plasma) is that you can install different Menu styles to the different ones. Whilst working from home I installed the tiled menu which worked exaclty like a Windows 10 menu but more customisable. It's a case of 'horses for courses'. I would also like to see LXQt available for Zorin Lite.

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I like KDE up to v4. After that they went with android look(flat). That is when I quit kde

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Hello.
It is possible configuration Zorin ISO with this tool to create Zorin arch?

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