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Comment by kiwijamo | Hacker News Reader

Interesting that they're building hardware specifically for KDE. Can't be a large market for that. As a GNOME user I love the look of the hardware but find it strange they are not simply supporting one of the common Linux distros and allowing users their choice of desktop environment.

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I don't think there's anything specific about the hardware for KDE besides the logo. I think this is more about giving back to the community, which I personally think it admirable and makes me look upon Slimbook more favorably.

> Remember that with every purchase, KDE receives a donation from Slimbook and KDE Community members get a generous discount!

https://dot.kde.org/2022/07/06/new-kde-slimbook-4-now-availa...

Because it's a laptop built in co-operation with the KDE Project. It's mean to give KDE developers a "showcase" laptop platform. From the original Slimbook 1 release:

    The KDE Slimbook allows KDE to offer our users a laptop which has been tested directly by KDE developers, on the exact same hardware and software configuration that the users get, and where any potential hardware-related issues have already been ironed out before a new version of our software is shipped to them.

https://dot.kde.org/2017/01/26/kde-and-slimbook-release-lapt...

They ship reskinned Ubuntu too. It's called Slimbook OS for IP reasons.

You can also install vanilla Ubuntu yourself and add the Slimbook PPA for hardware specific stuff.

I have the Slimbook Pro X 15 and have found their service to be very good.

I feel like if KDE really wanted to build hardware specifically for KDE then they would and SHOULD bring in Qt Developers (The QT Company) onboard for the best optimizations of the desktop environment....

gnome is not the most popular

and you can install what ever you want

> gnome is not the most popular

That's a surprising statement. Got any reference?

Among gamers it is not:

https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey

And among everyone else it is not:

https://distrowatch.com/

Ubuntu for desktop stopped being popular the day they switched to Gnome3

It coincides with the rise of Manjaro (and Arch) wich comes preinstalled with XFCE, mint also showing strong presence

More importantly the keyboard is Spanish by default and cannot be changed to a US layout - only the weird localised layouts that (almost) nobody likes. That's easily the weirdest thing about this store for me.

On the US layout it says "Agotado", which means they have run out of them.

BTW, almost no one in US may like those layouts, but for each of the speakers of those languages they are quite important.

Try again, looks like they fixed the page.

I disagree. Most people do fine with US-intl keyboards, perhaps with extensions to specific keys such as alt gr to type a few dedicated diacritics or other altered letters. The trouble with regional keyboards is that they frequently move special characters around for very little actual reason (and that isn't saying anything about the whole AZERTY thing, which is incomprehensible).

AZERTY is plainly the worst.

You need to see the laptop page and scroll down to get a Keyboard section. Now you can select en-US https://slimbook.es/en/store/slimbook-kde/kde-slimbook-16-co... I think folks outside the EU zone need to pay customs duty on imports. So, if you are in the US, go for System 76 (AMD/Intel), HP Dev One (AMD), or Dell Dev Edition XPS (Intel).

Those keyboards were listed as out of stock when I looked. Perhaps this has changed in the meantime.

https://slimbook.es/en/us

Good callout. The about page says they are based in Spain + the prices are in Euros.

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