KDE4.1 is good to go (at 4.0.99)

dhave · 2008-07-20 16:22:13

I've been sampling KDE4 previews, pre-releases, alpha releases, beta releases and release candidates off and on for many months now. I've always either just loaded up this or that new release of KDE4.x using a live CD or, if I liked what I saw, installing as VMware virtual machine. I've sampled OpenSuSE KDE4, Mandriva KDE4 and Kubuntu KDE4, among others. Up till now, nothing has really been ready for prime time, so for regular use, I've always relied on ArchLinux running KDE3.5x.

Just in the past week there's been a qualitative change in KDE4. KDE4.1 RC1 has been released, and it is good.

For ArchLinux, I recommend tanis's excellent repositories. See this post. I took the plunge and installed KDE4.1rc1 (aka KDE4.0.98), and I'm very pleased with its stability and features. I'm not using all the desktop effects, because I don't go for that stuff as a rule, but as a genuine, working replacement for KDE3.5x, I'd say that KDE4.1rc1 is ready.

Now tanis has updated the repositories to KDE4.1rc1+ (4.0.99), and things are only getting better.

Tanis has got it set up so that you can, in perfect safety, do a separate installation of KDE4.1 without zapping or corrupting your KDE3.5x installation. You'll need to follow his simple directions carefully, and be sure to log in to KDE4.1 only as a dedicated user, but you shouldn't have any trouble whatsoever. I haven't, and I'm an old coot (see photo).

Within a day or so of installing KDE4.1rc1, I started moving my everyday stuff over to my new KDE4.1 user. I have only a couple of times wanted or needed to log on to KDE3.5, and that was mainly to change permissions on something that I wanted to access from KDE4.1.

For one or two apps, I'm still running the KDE3.5 versions -- Amarok, for example -- because a fully tested KDE4 version isn't ready yet. But the KDE3.5 version (of Amarok, at least) works just fine under KDE4.1.

So, if you've been waiting for KDE4, I think we can say that the page has turned, thanks to the diligent KDE devs and to skilled packagers like tanis.

Last edited by dhave (2008-07-20 16:24:50)

staple · 2008-07-20 16:27:06

my only complaint with older releases was that not all of the icons were ready. half of my kmenu would be question marks, is this fixed?

Last edited by staple (2008-07-20 16:28:15)

dhave · 2008-07-20 16:31:45

staple wrote:

my only complaint with older releases was that not all of the icons were ready. half of my kmenu would be question marks, is this fixed?

I didn't have that problem at all, though it may depend on what apps you have installed.

Tanis's "parallel" KDE4.1rc1 installation is pretty quick and painless, and the server where is repository is is plenty fast, too. I don't think you'll regret trying it.

I had a lot of complaints about previous releases, so don't think I'm blind to such things. To give you an example, this is the first release of KDE4 that has really had a functioning panel, in my view. Before, the panel was always going flakey on me.

staple · 2008-07-20 16:48:32

i hope arch devs have 4.1 in the official repo when it is released...

dhave · 2008-07-20 18:22:43

staple wrote:

i hope arch devs have 4.1 in the official repo when it is released...

That would be nice, but I won't fault them if they don't, since there is at least one reasonable alternative.

If they do put 4.1 in the official repository, they'd probably want to keep 3.5 around, too, and that might be problematic. I don't know.

TecnoVM64 · 2008-07-20 19:57:05

is there a drop-in replacement for knetworkmanager? it's my only complaint right now

dhave · 2008-07-20 20:01:12

TecnoVM64 wrote:

is there a drop-in replacement for knetworkmanager? it's my only complaint right now

You may want to post this question in this thread. Tanis is handling questions and requests over there, and he seems to be monitoring it pretty closely. I'm sorry, but I can't answer your question, as I don't use knetworkmanager.

phisphere · 2008-07-20 20:46:11

TecnoVM64, netcfg2.

TecnoVM64 · 2008-07-20 20:52:28

phisphere wrote:

TecnoVM64, netcfg2.

I know about that but it isn't what I'm looking for, thanks anyway.

dhave wrote:

You may want to post this question in this thread. Tanis is handling questions and requests over there, and he seems to be monitoring it pretty closely. I'm sorry, but I can't answer your question, as I don't use knetworkmanager.

kk, will do, thanks

staple · 2008-07-20 21:49:28

dhave wrote:

staple wrote:
i hope arch devs have 4.1 in the official repo when it is released...
That would be nice, but I won't fault them if they don't, since there is at least one reasonable alternative.
If they do put 4.1 in the official repository, they'd probably want to keep 3.5 around, too, and that might be problematic. I don't know.

i won't hear it!!!

give us both, why not? we have both gtks, both qts, why can't we have both kdes? let tanis manage it, apparently he has done a good job...

ozar · 2008-07-20 22:06:47

Unfortunately, I was having better results with the original 4.1-RC1 files offered up by tanis.

I'll try it again once 4.1 goes official.

Arch Linux

#1 2008-07-20 16:22:13

KDE4.1 is good to go (at 4.0.99)

#2 2008-07-20 16:27:06

Re: KDE4.1 is good to go (at 4.0.99)

#3 2008-07-20 16:31:45

Re: KDE4.1 is good to go (at 4.0.99)

#4 2008-07-20 16:48:32

Re: KDE4.1 is good to go (at 4.0.99)

#5 2008-07-20 18:22:43

Re: KDE4.1 is good to go (at 4.0.99)

#6 2008-07-20 19:57:05

Re: KDE4.1 is good to go (at 4.0.99)

#7 2008-07-20 20:01:12

Re: KDE4.1 is good to go (at 4.0.99)

#8 2008-07-20 20:46:11

Re: KDE4.1 is good to go (at 4.0.99)

#9 2008-07-20 20:52:28

Re: KDE4.1 is good to go (at 4.0.99)

#10 2008-07-20 21:49:28

Re: KDE4.1 is good to go (at 4.0.99)

#11 2008-07-20 22:06:47

Re: KDE4.1 is good to go (at 4.0.99)

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