At work I'm using KDE on Centos7. I'm using such an old distribution because we use Centos for our servers and we're familiar with it. Apart from Kubuntu, what are the best stable, distros to use with KDE? The ones that treat KDE as a first class citizen. I dont want bleeding edge but I do need something that is relatively modern. I use several browsers for testing, vscode, eclipse, slack, Docker and sometimes Sublime. Thanks.

Hi stodge,
I truly recommend you KDE Neon, you have the best desktop environment experience with KDE with stable kernerls and the browser integration is almost perfect in KDE.
Regards

Fedora might be a more familiar system for you, though I cannot attest to how 'first class' it treats plasma.
(what does 'first class' really mean, tbh?)

Most any of the 'major' ones will do
KDE Neon
OpenSUSE
Kubuntu
The above have Plasma as the main desktop environment

Debian Testing would also be a reasonable choice.

Even some rolling release types would be fine, too, like Manjaro

By first class, I mean the developers make a good attempt at integrating KDE into the OS. In the past, some distros clearly had no interest in KDE and just slapped something together, often with bits and pieces that didn't work properly. Thanks.

Most distros offers to choose your favorite desktop environment. Some, like openSUSE, Kubuntu or KaOS favor KDE, so they also offer a good intergarion. The problem with distos like Kubuntu is, they stay on the same KDE version (Plasma, libs and applications) and deliver only minor and security updates. The way to newer version is mostly via backports repositories. KDE Neon is not a distro, but a rolling release repo with KDE universe and dependencies. You can instal it on all Debian-like distros.

If you choose KDE Neon ISO image, you get the stable Ubuntu LTS release with all its benefits and on top of this the newest KDE desktop software.

stodge wrote:By first class, I mean the developers make a good attempt at integrating KDE into the OS. In the past, some distros clearly had no interest in KDE and just slapped something together, often with bits and pieces that didn't work properly. Thanks.

How well do you feel Kubuntu does this, as a basis for comparison?
Kubuntu is a vanilla Plasma with little more than Ubuntu's Driver Manager and Software Sources tool, for example.
Neon is similar, but lacking the Ubuntu specific additions Kubuntu has.

openSUSE has Yast, but I don't think that this has nothing to do with Plasma. I don't know if they do anything in particular to 'integrate into the OS' , but it has been a while since I have used it.

The concept of 'first class' or 'best integrated' is a subject I have casually pondered over the past dozen or more years, and I never have come up with a good answer.

I'll also toss PCLinuxOS into the mix: It's a relatively stable rolling distro (similar to Arch, but more stable core - updates only pushed to the repos after thorough testing, so it may take longer for new versions to hit the repos, but when they do they are unlikely to break your system) providing KDE as the primary desktop option. I've been using it for years at home, only needing to reinstall a couple of times when they needed to make major changes to the core system.
A couple of downsides that I'll point out are that it is a smaller (but very friendly) community and the repos aren't as extensive (or as up-to-date) as other main-stream distros. So you may end up needing to (compile and) install more stuff manually.

Thanks all.

I'm not sure what to do - KDE + Centos 7 used to work pretty well on my old desktop. I wanted something a little more modern, but for the moment I had to install KDE + Centos 7 on my new laptop, but things are constantly crashing; KDE libs, System Settings. I will look at your suggestions.

E.g.:

kded4 killed by SIGSEGV

Nothing in the logs that I can see. But that's a different story.

stodge wrote:Thanks all.

I'm not sure what to do - KDE + Centos 7 used to work pretty well on my old desktop. I wanted something a little more modern, but for the moment I had to install KDE + Centos 7 on my new laptop, but things are constantly crashing; KDE libs, System Settings. I will look at your suggestions.

E.g.:

kded4 killed by SIGSEGV

Nothing in the logs that I can see. But that's a different story.

Try all of them out beforehand.
Most all the distros install from a live disk session, or at least have a live version, so you can try before you buy.

How old is your system? Any specs? 32 bit or 64 bit?
This info could change any recommendations.

It's a brand new Lenovo T490s laptop.

stodge wrote:It's a brand new Lenovo T490s laptop.

I somehow thought that Centos 7 was much older, and that perhaps your system may be older. I missed the 'new laptop' part
You likely will benefit from a less enterprise-focused distro, as well as modern kernel and driver stack for your modern hardware. Kernel 3.10? I wonder if this alone is a problem on your cool new laptop...

That's a good point, I hadn't thought of that. Thanks.

Ubuntu isn't a favourite in my group at work, but it or KDE Neon might be worth a try.