[NTLUG:Discuss] Alternates to Kubuntu 11

[Leroy Tennison]

On 11/27/2011 11:09 PM, agoats at compuserve.com wrote:
> Ya'll,
>
> All is not well at the home front!  Kubuntu et al are killing off 
> 8.04,  KDE4.0 is approaching Microsoft bloatware with performance, too 
> many issues with mp3 players and dropping USB connections... grrrr!
>
> Spousal unit is demanding something be done, so I'm looking for a 
> better alternative that the novice can handle like the KDE3 and 
> Kubuntu8.04 was.  Why people have to chase after the latest Microsoft 
> abomination I don't understand, but guys, quit trying to be so 
> DIFFERENT! You are losing converts!
>
> Need:  mplayer, dolphin or konqueror that mounts mp3 players 
> (particularly the Sansa E-260), plays DVD's, uses a CD ripper more 
> like  KAudioCreator, uses the OLD icons and has a software 
> update/install similar to Kubuntu 8.04 Adept Manager so packages can 
> be seen and installed or updated.
>
> What is out there that is the most similar to the "Olde Version"?
> Stoopid modernizing nonsense to either be so different as to be 
> foreign and confusing or to be so much like the most hated software 
> company of all time....... grrrrrrrr!
>
> Alvin
>
> _______________________________________________
> http://www.ntlug.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
>
Well, you can still get KDE 3.x on CentOS (.org) 5.x.  It has older 
icons and the automatic update can keep packages current.  There is a 
graphical package installation program.  It has konqueror, xine may be 
your best bet for multimedia.  Don't remember if that is a CentOS 
package but you can get a xine install which will work.  Open Office, 
Firefox and Thunderbird are older versions.  Latest (Apache) Open Office 
works (haven't tried Libre...) but you will need to use an install which 
is independent of that provided by the distribution.  Same is true for 
Thunderbird, I haven't tried the latest Firefox.

My concerns/cautions are:

1) It's based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux which, by design, isn't 
cutting edge and not as user-application robust
2) Being Red Hat based, there are probably a number of subtle and 
not-so-subtle differences between it and Kubuntu.

There is a fork of KDE 3 (TrinityDesktop.org) which works on Debian and 
Ubuntu and thus may be an alternative.

Maybe someone else has other suggestions.