kde or gnome???

[Valmont]

Can somebody explain me the fundamental difference between kde and gnome? All this window manager, x server and environment really confuses me. Can
an app designed for kde run under gnome and vice versa? Do the small window managers have their own applications too, or do they share them
with the environment??
A link that explains these subjects profoundly would be really appreciated. It is easy to find beginner's resources on the net about,linux but when it comes to more comprehensive matters one can't find that many sites.

Thanx
V.
Argentina

[serjer]

hi
kde & gnome r 2 diff desktop environment...kde is more windoz like,more eye appealing,user friendly compared 2 gnome which i still find sluggish...
an app can run both on kde & gnome vice versa
hope zat helps

[scarecrow]

They are desktop environments, normally not inetrfering with X-window stuff. Choice is a matter of taste, personally I like+use KDE. Most "gnome" apps run under KDE and vice versa, but don't take it for granted.
If you compile from source GUI'ed apps you will find that you will need most libraries installed (GTK, Qt, KDE...) to build properly, no matter which desktop you run.

[plextorman]

Tried Gnome and KDE.Think I`ll stick to KDE.Seems faster than Gnome,with more options.Better feel to it also,but doesn`t look as `nice` as Gnome...

[N.B.]

I would try XFCE4 ...
That is really THE neat-o desktop for Linux

[scarecrow]

I could also use a fast third party desktop like N.B., but since I build apps quite a lot I need the best part of Gnome and KDE installed- as most dynamically linked apps use GTK and QT elements, and some of them depend on other things like Perl+Python and their WX extensions.

[N.B.]

I basically use XFCE just for watching movies on my laptop. Have a rather smal system installed, just basic things and XFCE4, it is small and every nice to use. I guess for "normal" desktop use like Windows ... it is not as suitable, but as they usually do not interfere, install it ... and try

[Captain_Redbear]

Hmmm i wouldn't say that KDE is faster than Gnome... its the other way around... atleast if you compile them both by hand... and rearding the "sluggish" apperence of GNome i have to disagree... i find it easier to get my Gnome 2.4 to look neat than KDE... Feel free to have a glance at my screens:
http://www.ne-ro.net/screenshot3.png
http://www.ne-ro.net/screenshot4.png

[malcontent]

At home I use KDE simply for practical reasons, the desktop functionality I find to be greater than GNOME.

At University I use GNOME because that is the default and all the departmental shortcuts etc are set up on GNOME but not KDE (shame really)

At home I used to use WindowMaker on my old rig if I needed to run a game like Uplink or UT2003 in high resolution (slim desktop managers really help get those few extra frames)

[scarecrow]

Gnome is surely faster than KDE, no doubt about that... but really lacking in features and functionality, eg KDE has developed a very thorough virtual filesystem support (FTP, Samba, NFS, and compressed .zip, .rar, tarballs, and other compressed archives) are treated under Konqueror as regular system folders, while the Gnome VFS has not yet gone even half as far.