Plasma integration recomendations for Kubuntu

[Fargo]

Leszek, Maui really was a great distro. The more I use Kubuntu the more I realize the work you had put into Maui. Can you provide some insight and recommendations that you would have to make Kubuntu feel more like the old Maui? In particular I keep finding GTK programs like Firefox, Thunderbird and LibreOffice just don't feel right. Something was different in Maui. I already found Plasmazilla, but haven't installed it yet. Would this work well with Kubuntu 18.04? Do you have any other recommendations that might work with Kubuntu that you used in Maui or that you are using with Netrunner?

I started with a Debian based distro, but through Maui I found that I like ubuntu based distros better. I also appreciate the LTS base of Ubuntu. Otherwise, I would just consider Netrunner. Is there any chance that Maui will be revived?

[smoreau]

I started with a Debian based distro, but through Maui I found that I like ubuntu based distros better. I also appreciate the LTS base of Ubuntu.  Otherwise, I would just consider Netrunner.  Is there any chance that Maui will be revived?

They never answer really of what they want to do with Maui !!
 
SM

[Nixus]

I started with a Debian based distro, but through Maui I found that I like ubuntu based distros better. I also appreciate the LTS base of Ubuntu.  Otherwise, I would just consider Netrunner.  Is there any chance that Maui will be revived?

They never answer really of what they want to do with Maui !!
 
SM

I am also waiting for that final decision, that was promised for the end of last year, before I jump ship. This is my production system and I depend on its reliability.

Regards
Nixus

[Fargo]

I started with a Debian based distro, but through Maui I found that I like ubuntu based distros better. I also appreciate the LTS base of Ubuntu.  Otherwise, I would just consider Netrunner.  Is there any chance that Maui will be revived?

They never answer really of what they want to do with Maui !!
 
SM

I am also waiting for that final decision, that was promised for the end of last year, before I jump ship. This is my production system and I depend on its reliability.

Regards
Nixus

Yep, production machine here as well.  So stability is very important.

I stepped into Maui quite cautiously, concerned that the Neon base would cause too many update issues.  But I was very impress at the lack of issues I had.  I never had any update cause any problems and every Plasma update was better than the next.  I would love to just go to Neon, but because they don't test against anything outside of KDE applications, I was more comfortable with Kubuntu LTS.  Kubuntu certainly has more up to date features than Debian Stable, but not as up to date as Neon.  I guess I figured that was a fair compromise.  But I still miss Maui. 

I still think that building a distro on top of Neon is a fantastic idea.  The Neon devs do a good job with Neon.  But for a production machine I like to see another layer of development and testing of non-KDE apps (GTK,Python, java, etc).  I believe Maui did this.  At least I never had issues with non-KDE.  I thought that Maui had really found a sweet spot between up to date and stable.

What I find interesting is how the Linux community changes as a whole.  My first experience with Linux was with Xandros (Commercial debian based distro).  That was before Ubuntu existed.  After Ubuntu came along I heard a lot of great things about it and for many years the vast majority of distros were based on Ubuntu.  But the communities around pure Debian based distros really shunned Ubuntu.  They said it was unreliable and buggy.  So I never gave Ubuntu a chance until Maui.  With Maui I found out a Ubuntu based distro could be more reliable than any Debian based distro I have ever used.  Ubuntu really does do their homework in taking care of small bugs that Debian may have missed.  So now that I have found the beauty of Ubuntu based distro, the ironic thing is that nobody makes a good Ubuntu KDE spin.  Everyone has moved from Ubuntu to Debian.  So once again, I find myself moving in a different direction than most linux distros.

So in my eyes, it seems like a distro could do really well if they took the Mint approach to making KDENeon a more polished and usable Distro.  Rather than just using Neon, who positions themselves as nothing more than a updated repository for KDE applications.

[smoreau]

So in my eyes, it seems like a distro could do really well if they took the Mint approach to making KDENeon a more polished and usable Distro.  Rather than just using Neon, who positions themselves as nothing more than a updated repository for KDE applications.

You exactly underlined what we get with Maui and what is missing with Neon.
That's strange that the Maui who realized an excellent job do not want to answer to that point.

SM

[Fargo]

So in my eyes, it seems like a distro could do really well if they took the Mint approach to making KDENeon a more polished and usable Distro.  Rather than just using Neon, who positions themselves as nothing more than a updated repository for KDE applications.

You exactly underlined what we get with Maui and what is missing with Neon.
That's strange that the Maui who realized an excellent job do not want to answer to that point.

SM

Yeah, I am always surprised at the lack of communication.  I don't know if because they might still do something with Maui or if its just too hard to shut down what they started.  Maybe its simply a case of too many projects and too few resources.  I know that Maui/Leszek is also part of Netrunner.  Which itself seems kind of like a basket case of decisions.  For the life of me I don't understand why they would have Maui based on Neon, Netrunner based on Debian and then offer a rolling release based on Manjaro.  That really seams like a lot of extra work maintaining 3 distros with 3 different bases.  (Granted Debian and Ubuntu would share a lot).  It would have made more sense to me to if they stuck to one base.  For example SolydXK uses Debian Stable for the stable release and Debian Testing for their rolling release.  That seems a lot easier to maintain.  If they wanted to be innovative, they could have put the extra time into creating a fixed/stable release of Manjora.  That would be interesting.  Anyway thats another topic.

Back on topic.  I will admit, as much as I like Maui, that the lack of direction and constantly changing decisions would make it hard to return to Maui if it was started up again.  But most likely I would return to Maui based on the strength of the distro.  It wasn't perfect.  It had some odd software choice, but the OS as a whole was great.

If I could design my own distribution, I would start with KDE Neon as the base.  Then I would take the approach that Kaos takes and try to use Qt and KDE software for as much as I can.  But not be afraid to use GTK or Python or anything else it if was clearly better than the Qt alternative.  

[Nixus]

I started with a Debian based distro, but through Maui I found that I like ubuntu based distros better. I also appreciate the LTS base of Ubuntu.  Otherwise, I would just consider Netrunner.  Is there any chance that Maui will be revived?

They never answer really of what they want to do with Maui !!
 
SM

I am also waiting for that final decision, that was promised for the end of last year, before I jump ship. This is my production system and I depend on its reliability.

Regards
Nixus

Well, sad but true, but Maui seems to be dead. What I find extremely frustrating is that there is no statement what so ever by leszek. He is not even responding to our queries anymore. I guess that's one of the reasons I am not even going to test one of the netrunner distros. It was my pleasure, because Maui really was a well crafted distro.