KDE Connect is the one "linux" tool where after showing to my partner what it can do she asked me if I could install on her Windows laptop, her tablet, and her phone. It's been extremely practical when exchanging PDFs of (say) traintickets, remote controlling the volume of whichever laptop we connected to the projector for movie night (which was the "tech demo" that convinced her), and so on.
If it wasn't buggy over tailscale it'd be perfect.
I was travelling for a month and decided to put my sim card in a cheap android phone and connect to it remotely to keep getting SMS 2FA rather than getting roaming. After about two weeks KDE connect over tailscale said the phone didn't exist, so I was glad I'd set up google's remote sms as a backup. (I verified through tailscale it was still connected).
There’s also an iOS client, though it doesn’t have all features implemented due to limitations in Apple’s APIs. However it’s still the most convenient way to transfer files between an iPhone and a Windows or Linux computer.
Few years ago i had kde and used kde connect, but i didn't want that much qt in my life (can't stand it), and switched to gnome. There was gsconnect but it wasn't that realiable. Used that for a while but in the end i switched to sway, becaus twms are great and everything is so much snappier. But one thing was missing, kdeconnect. I didn't want qt, and gsconnect was a gnome extension. I tried several other alternatives to, but nothing was as good.
I've used kdeconnect under various different systems without ever using KDE (well, not since the Konqueror days so it's been a while). It works just fine under awesome, dwm and whatever two of my coworkers are using (some kind of Gnome desktop as far as I know).
Given the state of Linux application naming, we're lucky it's not called GKCellP, so we'd have to find it via 'apt search kdeconnect' every time because we can't remember the name. (I'm looking at you, GKrellM. You too, Liferea. )
I could understand Gnome as an ideological hack back when KDE wasn't completely open source or when Ubuntu pushed beautiful and polished versions of Gnome 2. And when KDE was on version 4.
Today, why would anyone choose anything except KDE?
GNOME, KDE, MATE, LXQt, Xfce, etc each have their own design philosophies, benefits, and detriments. None of them are all-around objectively better than the others.
GNOME does at least get a lot of corporate development and backing to make it integrate into Active Desktop, centrally-managed settings (aka group policy), and accessibility functions. These aspects are rather large reasons that big enterprise distributions default to GNOME over all other choices.
Most users care about none of those features. Some people just like GNOME. Some people like KDE. It's simply a choice.
KDE is much more glitchy compared to GNOME and many other DEs in my experience (but it also has way more features, so that kind of makes sense). Many users don't care about most of those features, so taking the more stable option makes sense.
There also still are big issues in KDE that "just work" on basically every other system (including Windows and macOS). KIO, Akonadi and Baloo come to mind immediately - all great ideas that in reality never really work.
(I say this as someone who daily drives KDE on both Wayland and X11 - to me, the features are certainly worth dealing with the issues)
To me KDE is overloaded with settings and menus, it looks outdated and Gnome leans a lot more into multi-workspace/keyboard controls rather than the Windows-like behavior and I prefer that.
I use KDE because I like its relatively polished design and philosophy of flexibility and empowering power users. I can and I do wrestle things that I don't like into a shape I like.
I still have to put up with many, many downsides around its stability, bugs, resource consumption, being written in C++ and builds being a nontrivial exercise.
I can sympathize with those for whom KDE does not suit well.
GTK != Gnome. KDE is extremely bloated and so that is why I avoid it. One KDE package wants to pull in pretty much all the dependencies for a full desktop environment which isn't what I want to do.
Gnome doesn't need any more KDE Connect clients. GSConnect is pretty much perfect and most importantly, is integrated into the Quick Settings. What I have always been puzzled by is the near absence of KDE Connect clients for tiling compositors. I would love to one day use KDE Connect in a way that feels native for something like Sway.
Other desktops exist that use GTK. Such as Mate, which is still a very decent desktop and show just how far Gnome has fallen in the past decade. Some of us are very happy to have an application which will work for us that doesn't require pulling in Gnome's junk or KDE's junk.
As far as I can tell, Zorin's connect apps are just forks/rebrands of various KDE Connect apps. KDE connect worked flawlessly with a Zorin VM last time I tried it.
You know, reading the article would have answered your question, saving your time, my time from (voluntary) responding, and everyone else who reads this comment and subsequently also responds it.
I don't mean to be harsh, but really? There is entire bullet point list on the page, and yes, I didn't include it in my response. Ironic.
It's a phone app that allows control of your desktop. you can control music, send files, use the camera from your phone to get pictures on the desktop, etc
It is a way for your phone to interface with your computer, allowing bidirectional notifications, media control, clipboard and file transfer.
It works VERY well. The app itself mostly stays out of the way and things "just work". No noticeable latency even using the remote keyboard functionality.
[+] [-] vanderZwan|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] shaan7|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] iudqnolq|3 years ago|reply
I was travelling for a month and decided to put my sim card in a cheap android phone and connect to it remotely to keep getting SMS 2FA rather than getting roaming. After about two weeks KDE connect over tailscale said the phone didn't exist, so I was glad I'd set up google's remote sms as a backup. (I verified through tailscale it was still connected).
[+] [-] Centigonal|3 years ago|reply
What can this do? Using Valent (and KDE Connect), you can:
- receive Android phone notifications on your desktop and reply to messages
- sync the clipboard between your Android device and desktop
- control music playing on your desktop from your Android phone
- share files between your desktop and Android device, and browse your phone from the desktop
- send SMS from your desktop
- execute predefined commands from your Android phone to run on your desktop
- control your desktop's mouse and keyboard from the Android device
- browse your Android device filesystem from your desktop wirelessly
- and more
[+] [-] skykooler|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jonas-w|3 years ago|reply
Few years ago i had kde and used kde connect, but i didn't want that much qt in my life (can't stand it), and switched to gnome. There was gsconnect but it wasn't that realiable. Used that for a while but in the end i switched to sway, becaus twms are great and everything is so much snappier. But one thing was missing, kdeconnect. I didn't want qt, and gsconnect was a gnome extension. I tried several other alternatives to, but nothing was as good.
[+] [-] jwrallie|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] seszett|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] reocha|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tssva|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] coolgoose|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] JasonFruit|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Smar|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mixmastamyk|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] eitland|3 years ago|reply
Today, why would anyone choose anything except KDE?
[+] [-] chungy|3 years ago|reply
GNOME does at least get a lot of corporate development and backing to make it integrate into Active Desktop, centrally-managed settings (aka group policy), and accessibility functions. These aspects are rather large reasons that big enterprise distributions default to GNOME over all other choices.
Most users care about none of those features. Some people just like GNOME. Some people like KDE. It's simply a choice.
[+] [-] franga2000|3 years ago|reply
There also still are big issues in KDE that "just work" on basically every other system (including Windows and macOS). KIO, Akonadi and Baloo come to mind immediately - all great ideas that in reality never really work.
(I say this as someone who daily drives KDE on both Wayland and X11 - to me, the features are certainly worth dealing with the issues)
[+] [-] Barrin92|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dmytrish|3 years ago|reply
I still have to put up with many, many downsides around its stability, bugs, resource consumption, being written in C++ and builds being a nontrivial exercise.
I can sympathize with those for whom KDE does not suit well.
[+] [-] przems|3 years ago|reply
For me, it’s the wonky Active Directory integration/support that is the dealbreaker.
[+] [-] tpush|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] encryptluks2|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] zerr|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Operative0198|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tssva|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bacchusracine|3 years ago|reply
Other desktops exist that use GTK. Such as Mate, which is still a very decent desktop and show just how far Gnome has fallen in the past decade. Some of us are very happy to have an application which will work for us that doesn't require pulling in Gnome's junk or KDE's junk.
[+] [-] ghqst|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gremlinsinc|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Kukumber|3 years ago|reply
[1] - https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj...
[+] [-] NayamAmarshe|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jeroenhd|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] coding123|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jacooper|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] viraptor|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] giancarlostoro|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mcsniff|3 years ago|reply
I don't mean to be harsh, but really? There is entire bullet point list on the page, and yes, I didn't include it in my response. Ironic.
[+] [-] potatochup|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vorpalhex|3 years ago|reply
It works VERY well. The app itself mostly stays out of the way and things "just work". No noticeable latency even using the remote keyboard functionality.