Maui Core

[Fargo]

Is there any interest or talk/plans to create a Maui Core? I like Maui but I find a lot of programs included that I would rather not have. I use my computer for business work so I would rather not have any games. No need for for Steam either. Even all the graphics programs are not needed and just clutter up my system. So I would like to request/suggest a Maui Core version. Of course I would want to keep any program that make the system work better. So most of the system tools and utilities would remain the same. But I think a more stripped down program set could fill a need. Just keep all the core programs that most people would use. I'm think programs like Firefox, Thunderbird, LibreOffice, Gwenview, Okular, Scaning software, K3b, Media player (VLC) would all need to stay, but many others could be removed.

[leszek]

It sounds a lot like KDE Neon then. Maybe that's what you want as it fits your description very much as a stripped down version.

[Fargo]

It sounds a lot like KDE Neon then. Maybe that's what you want as it fits your description very much as a stripped down version.

Yeah it would be very much like Neon but with the Maui bug fixes and support.  I saw Netrunner was doing this and thought it might be of some interest over here.  But then again they have a different base so users might be looking for something different.

I have looked at Neon.  I'm actually quite torn between Neon and Maui.  I like the idea of Neon LTS and getting bug fixes in Plasma without introducing new features and new bugs.  But then again, if Neon LTS is updating the qt frameworks or anything else underneath, then I guess new bugs could be found there too.  I don't know enough about what gets updated in the NeonLTS  Do you know off hand what all gets updated with Neon LTS?

So where Neon LTS is tempting for the Plasma updates and being very minimal, Maui is tempting because it has been further tested and nothing changes under the system.  (Apart from Ubuntu security fixes of course). 

Thanks for helping me understand the difference between Neon and Maui.  

[DrGeoffrey]

It sounds a lot like KDE Neon then. Maybe that's what you want as it fits your description very much as a stripped down version.

Yeah it would be very much like Neon but with the Maui bug fixes and support.  I saw Netrunner was doing this and thought it might be of some interest over here.  But then again they have a different base so users might be looking for something different.

I have looked at Neon.  I'm actually quite torn between Neon and Maui.  I like the idea of Neon LTS and getting bug fixes in Plasma without introducing new features and new bugs.  But then again, if Neon LTS is updating the qt frameworks or anything else underneath, then I guess new bugs could be found there too.  I don't know enough about what gets updated in the NeonLTS  Do you know off hand what all gets updated with Neon LTS?

So where Neon LTS is tempting for the Plasma updates and being very minimal, Maui is tempting because it has been further tested and nothing changes under the system.  (Apart from Ubuntu security fixes of course). 

Thanks for helping me understand the difference between Neon and Maui.  

Fair warning. If my experience is indicative, Maui is more stable than Neon.

I like Neon, a lot. But about once a week I can count on an unceremonious lockup, followed after a brief period by either an automatic logout, or a reboot. It's been quite a while since Maui did the same to me (or my wife, who uses Maui exclusively).

[Fargo]

Thanks for your feedback. Its very helpful. I really like the idea of the NEON LTS, but I have concerns about those kinds of things. I guess a big part of my concern is the fact that Neon goes out of the way to say they are not a distro. But then they also go out of their way to provide an OEM release. I don't get it. If they are not a distro whey are they providing a release geared towards OEMs to preinstall on hardware? So I figured they must be a stable distro. It seems to me that KDE really needs to figure out what Neon is and what it isn't. The more I look into it, the more it starts to look like Neon should really be considered a base to build a distro on top of. Just like Maui is doing.

I'm coming from a long line of Debian Stable distros (Xandros>Mepis>SolydK) so I hate to give up my stability. But lately I've grown tired of always having old software. Or software that might have a bug that won't be fixed because its a stable (non changing) release. So I thought I would venture into the world of ubuntu and look for something with newer software and a predicable release schedule, but still be a stable system (Stable as in not crashing. Not stable as in never changing.) So I'm shopping around to see what I like.

As I mentioned, I love the idea of Neon LTS. It sounds perfect. A stable base, a desktop that is stable and gets bug fixes, and newer software. But I wonder how well its been tested. And how crash free can it be if other components are always changing. I've been down the rolling release road already too and that didn't meet my needs. So I'm trying to find the right balance between stable and updates.

[rocky7x]

From my perspective Maui is EXACTLY the distro you are looking for Much more stable in terms of not crashing and being tested before releases, but receiving regular upgrades to new Plasma versions (2-3 weeks after its original release, after testing). As for the other software, Ubuntu does a pretty nice job of keeping up with the new versions, but if you find something missing, you are 99% sure there will be a PPA for it or a .deb that you can fetch from net. I've also tried numerous distros, also been down the rolling release road (that didn't go quite well for me either) and up until now was never 100% satisfied. Now I must say that I am

PS: I've tried Neon as well, but it feels quite unfinished and some crucial end-user things tend to have problems (samba sharing, bluetooth etc.). Maui, on the other hand, always worked like a charm in these areas (for me).

[Fargo]

PS: I've tried Neon as well, but it feels quite unfinished and some crucial end-user things tend to have problems (samba sharing, bluetooth etc.). Maui, on the other hand, always worked like a charm in these areas (for me).

Yeah, I wondered about some of those things.  Its that kind of detail work that leads me to Maui instead of Neon.  I like the more bare bones install of Neon and I like the idea of following the Neon LTS.  But I need these basic functions to just work.  My experience with KDE has been downhill since KDE3.  KDE4 just never matured into what I thought it could be.  So I am really hoping that Plasma 5 will revive my love for KDE.  So I am really trying to find the right distro with a solid up to date Plasma experience.  Every time I look into Maui, it looks more promising.

I also love a good community.  So I am happy to see some friendly guys over here.

[rocky7x]

Before Maui I used Netrunner 14.2 with KDE 4.14. It was a fabulous distro, the best I've ever used in all my Linux days My experience with KDE 4.14 was excellent, everything worked perfectly. A few days ago I coincidentally booted that Netrunner, which I still have on a secondary disk and I had 2 completely contradictive feelings 1st was that it brought good memories of it and how all still worked perfectly. But the 2nd was that it looked so old compared to Maui, the design was visibly older. But it is still an excellent system. Anyway, my experience with Maui is similarly tremendous. Since starting with Maui I've tried Fedora 25, Antergos, Mint 18 and Manjaro just for comparison sake, and the experience was nowhere near Maui. It's astonishing how easily one get's used to when things just work and starts taking it for granted those other distros had all sorts of issues, that Maui doesn't have, at least not for me

[Fargo]

Before Maui I used Netrunner 14.2 with KDE 4.14. It was a fabulous distro, the best I've ever used in all my Linux days My experience with KDE 4.14 was excellent, everything worked perfectly. A few days ago I coincidentally booted that Netrunner, which I still have on a secondary disk and I had 2 completely contradictive feelings 1st was that it brought good memories of it and how all still worked perfectly. But the 2nd was that it looked so old compared to Maui, the design was visibly older. But it is still an excellent system. Anyway, my experience with Maui is similarly tremendous. Since starting with Maui I've tried Fedora 25, Antergos, Mint 18 and Manjaro just for comparison sake, and the experience was nowhere near Maui. It's astonishing how easily one get's used to when things just work and starts taking it for granted those other distros had all sorts of issues, that Maui doesn't have, at least not for me

I'm on 4.14 right now.  Interestingly I've never felt it was that stable.  Occasionally KDE would reboot on me and I would loose everything I had open.  At some point I got tired of the crashing and I installed xfce on top of it to give xfce a try.  Xfce was more stable but I missed so many features from KDE.  So I started booting back into KDE.  Needless to say xfce brought in a lot of extra stuff so my system is pretty mixed right now.  But overall it still behaves the same.  Its mostly stable but I still get the occasional crash.  But even with all the  themes I've tried, it still looks very dated.  I've also decided that I hate that stock KDE launcher.  I much prefer the more traditional homerun launcher and the new Simple Menu looks amazing I'm really looking forward to that.  I've pretty much decided to give Maui a try.  Now I just need to make the time to back up everything and do the install.  This is a pretty big job since I run my business on this computer.

[vitamin]

a core edition would be really nice.

i don't need all the games, inkscape, gimp, k3b, audacious, handbrake, gmusicbrowser, kamose, kdenlive, vokoscreen, kde-marble, krdc, pidgin, qtranmission, skype, or virtualbox.

or at least an easy to use "deinstaller" or that you can choose during the installation which apps you would like to have