Review: KDE neon 5.25

It has been a long time since I've reviewed a Linux distribution on this blog; the last one was of Linux Mint 19 "Tara" from 4 years ago [LINK]. In a more recent post about problems that I had with a scanner that required me to install Linux Mint 20 "Ulyana" MATE because the existing operating system was damaged beyond repair [LINK], I explained that I had come to trust the consistency & stability of Linux Mint enough and liked it enough that, in conjunction with the lack of novelty in Linux distributions compared to 10 years prior, I no longer felt motivated to do such reviews. Thus, it may seem strange that I should do a review like this now. In truth, the motivation wasn't hugely compelling, but I thought it might make for a nice post on this blog as I didn't have much else in mind. I thought of checking out a showcase of KDE, namely KDE neon, because it had been a long time since I tried KDE and I was getting a little concerned that the odd artifacts I was starting to see in Linux Mint 20 "Ulyana" MATE when hovering over right-click menus might be the tip of an iceberg of problems. While the latter concern has thankfully not come to pass even after several months of experiencing these more minor issues, I figured it might be nice to see what KDE is like now.

Default desktop, before changes

This review will be a bit different from past reviews. In particular, in past reviews, I took the perspective of a newbie to Linux trying to do ordinary tasks, whereas the purpose of this review is to see whether I can replicate the look & feel of my desktop in Linux Mint 20 "Ulyana" MATE. Thus, I will focus mostly on changing the desktop and on using the default KDE applications; I will not focus on the presence or absence of other applications or on other parts of the live USB environment. Follow the jump to see what it is like.

Review: KDE 4.4

Today, I am reviewing KDE 4.4.
Well, I couldn't. Before you tar and feather me (appropriate, no?), hear me out. (This is also why I have no screenshots for you, dear readers, today.)
I installed all of the KDE "standard" (not "full" or "minimal") packages in Synaptic. That said, I had installed some packages like KolourPaint and KPackageKit already. This may have contributed to the issue.
After all that was said and done, I closed all of my applications, logged out of GNOME, and logged into KDE. I saw the beautiful KDE splash screen followed by...a really messed up background and no Plasma Panel. The KDE Migration Assistant opened and froze. I tried to do something — anything — to no avail. Frustrated, I logged out, logged back in, and found the same problem. I restarted and tried again, finding myself again with the same problem.
I have come to the conclusion that maybe I should have installed all of the KDE packages at once instead of installing isolated ones first before installing the "standard" collection of packages. That said, I am very disappointed at what has happened today. Hopefully this does not occur on other computers.
On a related note, desktop effects work on my computer now! Yay!
UPDATE: I searched for my problem on the Internet and found out that I hadn't installed the "kubuntu-desktop" package. Sadly, fixing this didn't fix the problem. I tried installing all of the other related KDE packages as well, to no avail. KDE 4.4 seems to be (at the moment, on my computer) a lost cause.

Stuff I'd Like to See in a Future Linux Live CD

It should fit onto a Live CD.
I'm gonna start with the Linux Mint 7 defaults, and add/remove from there.
I'd like to see the default GNOME games included.
I want to see KolourPaint replace GIMP, as it is much closer to MS Paint (for new users), while GIMP's complexity can be a turn-off.
Instead of Eye of GNOME, use Okular and GwenView.
Instead of Nautilus, use Dolphin.
Add either Amarok or Songbird in the default installation.
Finally, add Wine.
I've tried making my own custom spin, but it hasn't worked. If anyone knows of a distribution like this or close to this, I'd love to know.