MInt 21.2 and I have finally worked out a compromise. Mint 21.2 has been rock solid since it was released, and all the mods I did to Xfce, exploring its theming / styling were more or less working - but not quite.
The whole Theming adventure over the last couple of years has kept me busy, but really it was all related to the fact that no matter what I did, I could not get Linux Mint to look and feel the way I 'like' my OS to look and behave. A lot of that is the restlessness I have felt with Mint since the Team dropped support for KDE and stopped releasing a Mint KDE version.
I could get most of my Mint Xfce looking fairly consistent using a combination of drastic mods to GTK themes and tweaking Qt stuff, but there was something missing in the hybrid approach. Eventually I remembered Kubuntu Backports and stuff suddenly began falling into place.
Now I have a more or less Integrated Mint KDE designed just the way 'I' like it. And I while Mint is considering releasing an 'Edge' ISO with the hot new 6.2 Linux Kernel, I'm currently running comfortably on the 6.5.3 Kernel.
Not only that, but my KDE is at 5.25 and Plasma Frameworks is sitting at 5.98.
I don't think I will get up to KDE 6 until Mint 22 comes out some time around the middle of next year, but that doesn't matter.
As usual I am making the most of the ability for many KDE Apps to be themed with a bit of Transparency, and I am also pleased that while LibreOffice doesn't yet have a Qt version, it does have KDE Integrations, which adds a Qt level to the Theming engine somehow, so it is more or less the same thing.
LibreOffice manages this far better than almost any other Non Qt App I have seen so far and I am impressed.
The one big thing I am not using in KDE, as I usually don't, is the Kwin Window Manager.
Because I create my KDE version on top of Mint Xfce, I tend to use Compiz for Window Management. It doesn't matter that Compiz is 'Old Hat'. Many of us still prefer its maturity, and we will miss it once Wayland takes over Window Management in most Linux Desktop Environments. Compiz just has so many day to day things that are handy, quite apart from its 'tricks'. Like the Compiz Cube - one of many different ways to switch Workspaces.
Wayland has something similar, but without some of the pretty bits . .
I happen to like this Compiz idea of a 'Cube' :-)
Pretty bits aside though, what I like most about Mint with KDE is that Mint has a history of being remarkably well built and Stable. KDE is also very stable, especially the Kubuntu base that I use to get my KDE. But I prefer the way Mint does stability.
