Future of Neon?

[Beerislife]

Now that the KDE devs have started to turn their attention on creating a new KDE Plasma immutable distro (Not my beverage of choice)
based on Arch, I'm wondering about the future of KDE Neon, after all, it was created to showcase the latest and greatest KDE software!

I'm not a big fan of Kubuntu because it is not as up-to-date as Neon as far as Plasma goes, and you have to de-snap it to turn it into a
normal distro!

I have an old spare laptop sitting idle so I'm thinking of installing the latest CachyOS ISO on it and see if we can get along. I think I tried
to install Fedora on it some time ago, but we couldn't see eye-to-eye!

I wonder if or when Neon gets the boot, so to speak! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[claydoh]

It depends on how long any maintainer(s) keep working on it, like any other F/OSS project.

As far as I can see, there really is only a couple, maybe even one main person, so I can't say how long it goes on -- much of it is automated and fairly well set up for that now, but upgrades will be where the effort comes in, iirc. But I don't see the original developers there at all. Sitter is a main KDE Linux guy, and Jonathan Riddell has been fairly silent overall Both are the OG Kubuntu devs, as well as Neon's.

KDE Linux still has a loooonnnnngggg way to go, and they are still sort of deciding how the core OS and other things will work --- it ain't gonna be a "normal" distro at all, by your definition (flatpak/snap/Distrobox), or even among other 'immutable' platforms. And the initial focus will be as a dev platform.
I am basically waiting for KDE Linux to solidify a bit more -- aka I need to learn how to overlay things for hardware/driver support on my Chromebook, because I am a masochist sometimes. Which I was able to do on Fedora Kinoite with some work and reading, but KDE Linux is quite different, with different tools.

[Buddlespit]

If KDE Neon goes away, I'll re-install Arch and a KDE meta package. I would prefer to stop dicking around with my system, hence KDE Neon.

[GreyGeek]

As I write this I am downloading CachyOS and will burn it to an SDD stick so I can install it later this week.

[Beerislife]

I've got it on my test machine right now. As I installed it I checked to see what I could uncheck in the software section because
it installs something like three or four Terminal apps and two or three text editors and some stuff in the development section
(QT Assistant and a few more) that I really don't need.

I wish there was a more bare-bones install option like in Neon where I could just build the system as I need it rather than
removing a bunch of stuff and potentially break the system!

Otherwise, it's fine

[claydoh]

There will be a non-dev focused version down the road.
But the first official release will likely be this development based layout with pre-release versions of KDE stuff.

[Beerislife]

Just to be clear, I meant that I have CachyOS on my test machine...

[Buddlespit]

Well, I saw a linux youtube video today, that said KDE is developing KDE Linux, an immutable OS based on KDE.

[acheron]

https://pointieststick.com/2025/09/0...-of-kde-linux/

Speaking of KDE neon, what’s going on with it? Is it canceled? If not, doesn’t this amount to unnecessary duplication?

KDE neon is not canceled. However it has shed most of its developers over the years, which is problematic, and it’s currently being held together by a heroic volunteer. KDE e.V. has been reaching out to stakeholders to see if we can help put in place a continuity or transition plan. No decision has yet been made about its future.

While neon continues to exist, KDE Linux therefore does represent duplication. As for unnecessary? That I’m less sure about that. Harald, myself, and others feel that KDE neon has somewhat reached its limit in terms of what we can do with it. It was a great first product for KDE to distribute our own software and prepare the world for the idea of KDE in that role, and it served admirably for a decade. But technological and conceptual issues limit how far we can continue to develop it.

See also https://community.kde.org/KDE_Linux#...neon/Prior_art

Time will tell how these two products relate to one another in the future. Nothing is settled.

[Beerislife]

Well, I'll continue with Neon for as long as I can then look for another option. So far, the only ones are Endeavour and CachyOS.

I'm used to switching, after all, I made the switch from IBM OS/2 Warp 4.52 to Mandrake without too much hassle!

[oshunluvr]

..., I made the switch from IBM OS/2 Warp 4.52 to Mandrake without too much hassle!

Same here!

[Buddlespit]

I've been away from Linux for too long. I'm going to stay with with Neon as long as I can, then install Arch. I really like the rolling release of the OS and the maintainer of KDE on Arch (used to?) works for/at KDE. That one sentence needs a lot of citations I don't have, So consider it as me blowing smoke. Arch 's KDE was always rolling. I would spend half a week updating my system to Arch, the other half was updating KDE. My system hardware broke, not OS broke, so I took the easy route and kept Windows. Now I can come back to Linux and relearn everything I lost in the past few years.

[oshunluvr]

Curious why a leap to Arch or CachyOS seems like the best first option but not Kubuntu or even KDE Linux? I guess if you're just tired of the *buntu world and were waiting for an opportunity to move to an Arch based distro, that makes sense.

It seems to me KDEneon was really about the KDE team focusing on the major changes needed to get us to Plasma 6 and Wayland with some stability. Now most of that team has moved to KDE Linux. At first, I was opposed to the idea of an immutable distro, but the more I read about it, the better it sounds. Nice write-up here.

I have been using Linux since it was new - literally - and as time rolls on and my experience grows I find myself "fiddling" about less and less and just want to use my computer and OS.

EDIT: Funny, I just learned KDE Linux is also Arch based!

[claydoh]

KDE Linux is also Arch based!

It is but that is the core OS build. It could use any distro for that, in theory.

There is no Arch package management for example. No pacman or AUR. It is a bit different even for an " immutable" system.

But it is still alpha days.

[Beerislife]

I have CachyOS installed on my old ThinkPad test machine. I've had no problems with it. At first
I didn't like the idea of learning another package management system but I made the switch
from RPM to DEB so should get used to it pretty quickly!

One thing that I can't understand with CachyOS is that there are about three GUI text editors,
several different Terminals, and at least two command line editors! Why?

I only use Kate and Nano on Neon, that's all I need!