Kubuntu for Pi-400

[Dave]

I was wondering if there are any plans to port Kubunto to ARM/Pi-400?
Over the holiday I plan to update my Linux, and Kubuntu is near the top
of the list. However, I also plan on giving a few Pi-400's as gifts,
and it would be great if they ran the same OS as I use because it makes
support easier. I see both Ubuntu and Mate-Ubuntu have ARM ports.

Thanks,
Dave

[Bobbie Sellers]

Check out Manjaro, they have a port, I believe to RaspPi.
Good solid distribution even if it uses systemd.

bliss - boots & runs a Pretty Cool Linux Operating System aka pclinuxos.


--
bliss dash SF 4 ever at dslextreme dot com

[Anssi Saari]

Dave <dbol...@protonmail.com> writes:

> I was wondering if there are any plans to port Kubunto to ARM/Pi-400?

Is there any reason to think some specific porting work is needed?
Kubuntu is just Ubuntu with KDE.

[Dave]

To run on the Pi-400, the OS needs to be for the ARM processor.

Dave

[Dave]

On 8/29/21 12:44 PM, Anssi Saari wrote:

The code must be compiled for the ARM processor.

Dave

[SixOverFive]

"Kubuntu" is just Ubuntu with the K desktop/environment
loaded in. You can make your own. Start with the most
spare Ubuntu - command-line version - and proceed to
load all the K goodies. I've been starting with Ubuntu
Server or vanilla Deb and loading LXDE or XFCE on top of
it. "K" is too bloated for my liking - and Gnome tastes
like catshitburger to me these days.

[Anssi Saari]

Yes, and ARM processors have been in Raspberry Pis since the
beginning. My conclusion then is that no porting work is needed that
isn't already done.

[Dave]

> Yes, I get Kubuntu is the KDE version of Ubuntu - which is what I want.
I don't have time or desire to compile my own version for the ARM
processor, or any good way to test it yet. Nor do I want to get stuck
supporting people with my home-brew version. That is why I was hoping
that the Kubuntu folks were working on a version for the ARM like Ubuntu
has done.

Alternatively, there are other distributions that have both KDE and an
ARM version, so perhaps this is the end of Ubuntu for me - we will see.

Dave,

[David W. Hodgins]

On Mon, 30 Aug 2021 11:03:57 -0400, Dave <dbol...@protonmail.com> wrote:
> Alternatively, there are other distributions that have both KDE and an
> ARM version, so perhaps this is the end of Ubuntu for me - we will see.

Mageia has "experimental" support for arm. I have kde plasma running on
an rpi 4. The only problem I have with it is that sound over hdmi is not
working, with no sound output device detected.

Bootable images are available ...
http://mirror.math.princeton.edu/pub/mageia/distrib/8/aarch64/install/images/

Regards, Dave Hodgins

--
Change dwho...@nomail.afraid.org to davidw...@teksavvy.com for
email replies.

[John-Paul Stewart]

On 2021-08-30 11:03 a.m., Dave wrote:
> I don't have time or desire to compile my own version for the ARM
> processor, or any good way to test it yet.  Nor do I want to get stuck
> supporting people with my home-brew version.  That is why I was hoping
> that the Kubuntu folks were working on a version for the ARM like Ubuntu
> has done.

I think you misunderstood the previous poster's suggestion. You don't
need to compile anything. Install Ubuntu and add the ready-made KDE
packages from the Ubuntu repository. On the command line 'sudo apt
install kde-full' will do it. Or use their GUI package manager to
install the kde-full package, if you prefer. That's it. It's already
compiled for ARM and in the Ubuntu package repositories.

[Dave]

Got it - thanks so much!

Dave,

[SixOverFive]

On 08/30/2021 11:03 AM, Dave wrote:
> On 8/30/21 12:14 AM, SixOverFive wrote:
>> On 08/28/2021 12:42 PM, Dave wrote:
>>> I was wondering if there are any plans to port Kubunto to ARM/Pi-400?
>>> Over the holiday I plan to update my Linux, and Kubuntu is near the
>>> top of the list.  However, I also plan on giving a few Pi-400's as
>>> gifts, and it would be great if they ran the same OS as I use because
>>> it makes support easier.  I see both Ubuntu and Mate-Ubuntu have ARM
>>> ports.
>>>
>>
>>    "Kubuntu" is just Ubuntu with the K desktop/environment
>>    loaded in. You can make your own. Start with the most
>>    spare Ubuntu - command-line version - and proceed to
>>    load all the K goodies. I've been starting with Ubuntu
>>    Server or vanilla Deb and loading LXDE or XFCE on top of
>>    it. "K" is too bloated for my liking - and Gnome tastes
>>    like catshitburger to me these days.

>> Yes, I get Kubuntu is the KDE version of Ubuntu - which is what I want.

On a PI ? Ok, but it's NOT going to be snappy.

> I don't have time or desire to compile my own version for the ARM
> processor, or any good way to test it yet.  Nor do I want to get stuck
> supporting people with my home-brew version.  That is why I was hoping
> that the Kubuntu folks were working on a version for the ARM like Ubuntu
> has done.

You don't really have to "compile your own distro", you can
start with Ubuntu-PI and just install K in there. The process
is pretty well documented on the web, sometimes with videos.
Unlike Winders, Linux desktops are many and diverse - and you
can install several of them if you want and usually there's
a way to pick your preferred default from the login prompt.

However, for a PI, you're still best off using Raspbian - it's
the best tuned for those boards. But you can also install K
on that just as easily (perhaps MORE easily) than starting
with Ubuntu-Pi.

> Alternatively, there are other distributions that have both KDE and an
> ARM version, so perhaps this is the end of Ubuntu for me - we will see.

I did get OpenSuse Tumbleweed ARM to run on a Pi4. Wasn't
very snappy though - and that was with XFCE.

[SixOverFive]

'Zactly. People who have lived in the dark Windows
universe are used to *THE* GUI and imagine they'd
have to seriously take wrenches and hammers to Linux
in order to get a different desktop. Instead, it's
EASY - and if you have the space you can install
SEVERAL and pick which one you want to run at the
moment. The GUI is "just a program", not integral
to the OS structure.

But KDE on a Pi ... ? K is kind of a drag on some
DESKTOP PCs ! Oh well, he wants what he wants ...

[David W. Hodgins]

On Tue, 31 Aug 2021 11:19:23 -0400, SixOverFive <hae274c.net> wrote:
> But KDE on a Pi ... ? K is kind of a drag on some
> DESKTOP PCs ! Oh well, he wants what he wants ...

On an rpi 4b, running kde (Mageia 8) with all desktop effects and most background
services disabled, it runs much better than I expected.

$ free -m
total used free shared buff/cache available
Mem: 3832 736 2359 33 736 2889
Swap: 6696 0 6696

It's a quad core 64 bit aarch64 processor.

[Bobbie Sellers]

On 8/31/21 10:08, David W. Hodgins wrote:
> On Tue, 31 Aug 2021 11:19:23 -0400, SixOverFive <hae274c.net> wrote:
>>    But KDE on a Pi ... ? K is kind of a drag on some
>>    DESKTOP PCs ! Oh well, he wants what he wants ...
>
> On an rpi 4b, running kde (Mageia 8) with all desktop effects and most
> background
> services disabled, it runs much better than I expected.
>
> $ free -m
>               total        used        free      shared  buff/cache
> available
> Mem:           3832         736        2359          33
> 736        2889
> Swap:          6696           0        6696
>
> It's a quad core 64 bit aarch64 processor.
>
> Regards, Dave Hodgins
>

That is because KDE's Plasma 5 is much lighter than people think. It
takes up more space on disk but less in ram memory.
People remember too long what the old KDE was like in the days
of slower processors and more limited disk space and memory.
You can find online evaluations of various Desktop
Environments and KDE preforms better than most including
XFCE.

bliss - boots & runs a Pretty Cool Linux Operating System aka pclinuxos.

KDE for about 15 years now. Plasma 5 since it appeared.

[Jason Evans]

On Sun, 29 Aug 2021 19:44:02 +0300, Anssi Saari wrote:

> Is there any reason to think some specific porting work is needed?
> Kubuntu is just Ubuntu with KDE.

I was thinking the same thing. Just apt-get install plasma (or whatever
the package name is) and you've got the same KDE that's in Kubuntu.

[1p166]

Yep. But KDE on a Pi4 is pretty pokey. Been
there, tried that. OpenSUSE/Plasma WILL run
on a Pi4 - but Geez ... the original Pi
felt snappier.

I suppose there will be a Pi5 soon enough. With
the power consumption however, well, if you don't
need the I/O pins just score an old laptop and
they also lots of good little SBCs based on more
traditional CPUs.

Frankly, the factory Raspbian is still probably
the best, most perfectly customized, OS for
the Pi. You can add any desktop you want, but
LXDE is a better fit for the CPU capabilities.

Linux distros have kind of gone the way of Windows
insofar as "bloat" goes - especially in the UI
dimension. They just assume you have a LOT more
power and memory - laptop/desktop level. A few
distros still keep it pretty thin but manage to
remain good systems - Antix comes to mind.
Even Debian, if you manually install the WM and
desktop with apt with the instruction to NOT
load all those "suggested" apps, can be made
thin and quick.

And if you want REALLY small (albeit a bit odd)
there's always Slitaz, I prefer that over Puppy.
I keep Slitaz in a VM as a quick alt-system to
probe evil e-mails - it starts really quick.