Kdemod Kde4

solarwind · 2008-05-01 04:03:40

Is anyone using the KDEMOD KDE4? What are your experiences with it?

ozar · 2008-05-01 04:12:21

Yeah, I've been running it for the last few days.

It's slow, and it's loaded with bugs and annoyances, most of which probably are not the fault of the kdemod devs. KDE4 is simply not anywhere near stable at this point in time. That said, it's fun to tinker and play around with, but I switched back to 3.5.9 today and it was nice to see some speed again, and have things working properly. I'm really glad that KDE4 is not in extra repo because it does not belong there, in my opinion.

I'm still looking forward to a stable release, though, as KDE4 has some interesting possibilities.

solarwind · 2008-05-01 04:18:50

ozar wrote:

Yeah, I've been running it for the last few days.
It's slow, and it's loaded with bugs and annoyances, most of which probably are not the fault of the kdemod devs. KDE4 is simply not anywhere near stable at this point in time. That said, it's fun to tinker and play around with, but I switched back to 3.5.9 today and it was nice to see some speed again, and have things working properly. I'm really glad that KDE4 is not in extra repo because it does not belong there, in my opinion.
I'm still looking forward to a stable release, though, as KDE4 has some interesting possibilities.

Hmm. The speed issue you speak of is strange. Other users have reported that it is faster than the 3x series and consumes a lot less memory. I'm installing it at this moment. I'll see how this goes.

Redroar · 2008-05-01 04:28:50

On my end it eats more memory, but runs faster. I have 2 gigs, and I don't know if perhaps KDE 4 dynamically adjusts when it detects a lot of memory?

But KDEmod 3.5.9 usually sits between 90-130MB when I don't have any apps open, whereas KDEmod 4.0.69 is around 180-260MB. But if this is simply more aggressive caching, I don't know. But 4 does run blazingly fast. A little bit faster than 3.x, I think.

There are bugs and annoyances, but nothing that's really put me off. I've been using it exclusively for ~2 weeks, without much trouble. I've submitted a few bug reports and wishlist items, because that's the only way it's going anywhere.

solarwind · 2008-05-01 04:32:22

Redroar wrote:

On my end it eats more memory, but runs faster. I have 2 gigs, and I don't know if perhaps KDE 4 dynamically adjusts when it detects a lot of memory?
But KDEmod 3.5.9 usually sits between 90-130MB when I don't have any apps open, whereas KDEmod 4.0.69 is around 180-260MB. But if this is simply more aggressive caching, I don't know. But 4 does run blazingly fast. A little bit faster than 3.x, I think.
There are bugs and annoyances, but nothing that's really put me off. I've been using it exclusively for ~2 weeks, without much trouble. I've submitted a few bug reports and wishlist items, because that's the only way it's going anywhere.

I can't wait until my installation is complete. I'll post a mini "review" after I fool around with it.

ozar · 2008-05-01 04:35:52

There's a bit of a learning curve because it's very different from the 3.5.x series. Kicker takes a while to get used to but the kdemod guys made it easy to switch back to the classic menu if you want. I started liking Kicker after a while, though. I'll certainly be playing with it more before it makes it's way to the extra repo here.

Hope you enjoy it.

solarwind · 2008-05-01 04:38:13

ozar wrote:

There's a bit of a learning curve because it's very different from the 3.5.x series. Kicker takes a while to get used to but the kdemod guys made it easy to switch back to the classic menu if you want. I started liking Kicker after a while, though. I'll certainly be playing with it more before it makes it's way to the extra repo here.
Hope you enjoy it.

I've used KDE since the early 1x and 2x series. Then I switched to XFCE solely because I hated how KDE looked and felt. I love XFCE more than my own family. I hope I will like KDE once again.

SoftVision · 2008-05-01 04:56:20

I was using KDEmod4 but I switched to SVN to be more on the bleeding edge. The current version in the repo is quite stable. I'm looking forward to trying KDE 4.1 Alpha 1 now and I couldn't wait to try it so I switched to markc's repo again. Qt 4.4 has been implemented and so Plasma underwent a major overhaul recently. From what I've read its back to similar stability as before the upgrade. The feature freeze will take place in a month and gradually we'll see KDE 4 become more stable.

KDE 4 is much faster than KDE 3 and indeed uses less memory. Before I upgraded to 1 GB RAM sometime back I used KDE 4.0.1 on 256MB RAM and it wasn't much of a problem. It's faster with the 1 GB I have now, but it can still run on lower memory I think. And it will only get faster in the near future.

solarwind · 2008-05-01 05:07:20

SoftVision wrote:

I was using KDEmod4 but I switched to SVN to be more on the bleeding edge. The current version in the repo is quite stable. I'm looking forward to trying KDE 4.1 Alpha 1 now and I couldn't wait to try it so I switched to markc's repo again. Qt 4.4 has been implemented and so Plasma underwent a major overhaul recently. From what I've read its back to similar stability as before the upgrade. The feature freeze will take place in a month and gradually we'll see KDE 4 become more stable.
KDE 4 is much faster than KDE 3 and indeed uses less memory. Before I upgraded to 1 GB RAM sometime back I used KDE 4.0.1 on 256MB RAM and it wasn't much of a problem. It's faster with the 1 GB I have now, but it can still run on lower memory I think. And it will only get faster in the near future.

So how do I use the bleeding edge KDE4?

solarwind · 2008-05-01 05:21:52

Wow, KDE4 is pretty nice! It's lacking a lot of simple functionality but that wont be a problem to add in. I'll mess around with it in the summer. Right now, I need something stable, very fast and lightweight and good looking and XFCE gives me just that. However, I'm going to develop for KDE4 once school ends.

Sigi · 2008-05-01 05:45:13

solarwind wrote:

I love XFCE more than my own family.

Look I really like Arch and Linux in general but - let's face it - statements like this are stupid.
Well ok, I had to smile about it, but still...

ozar · 2008-05-01 17:47:10

I should add to my remarks above that I do like KDE4 much better than I initially thought would be the case. I'm not generally a person that goes for lots of eyecandy, but KDE4 looks very nice and with all the new stuff presented in this version, it has huge potential. I'm very much looking forward to having more stability and more options to customize it to suit my own tastes.

Installing it using the kdemod4 repos couldn't be much easier.

SoftVision · 2008-05-01 18:34:38

solarwind wrote:

SoftVision wrote:
I was using KDEmod4 but I switched to SVN to be more on the bleeding edge. The current version in the repo is quite stable. I'm looking forward to trying KDE 4.1 Alpha 1 now and I couldn't wait to try it so I switched to markc's repo again. Qt 4.4 has been implemented and so Plasma underwent a major overhaul recently. From what I've read its back to similar stability as before the upgrade. The feature freeze will take place in a month and gradually we'll see KDE 4 become more stable.
KDE 4 is much faster than KDE 3 and indeed uses less memory. Before I upgraded to 1 GB RAM sometime back I used KDE 4.0.1 on 256MB RAM and it wasn't much of a problem. It's faster with the 1 GB I have now, but it can still run on lower memory I think. And it will only get faster in the near future.
So how do I use the bleeding edge KDE4?

Follow the instructions in this thread: http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=44507
The packages are updated daily. Be careful though as there's a big chance you're system will break. I'd recommend installing XFCE as a backup or side-option. Recently as I said Plasma was thoroughly broken and its still a bit buggy.

solarwind · 2008-05-01 19:51:54

SoftVision wrote:

solarwind wrote:
SoftVision wrote:
I was using KDEmod4 but I switched to SVN to be more on the bleeding edge. The current version in the repo is quite stable. I'm looking forward to trying KDE 4.1 Alpha 1 now and I couldn't wait to try it so I switched to markc's repo again. Qt 4.4 has been implemented and so Plasma underwent a major overhaul recently. From what I've read its back to similar stability as before the upgrade. The feature freeze will take place in a month and gradually we'll see KDE 4 become more stable.
KDE 4 is much faster than KDE 3 and indeed uses less memory. Before I upgraded to 1 GB RAM sometime back I used KDE 4.0.1 on 256MB RAM and it wasn't much of a problem. It's faster with the 1 GB I have now, but it can still run on lower memory I think. And it will only get faster in the near future.
So how do I use the bleeding edge KDE4?
Follow the instructions in this thread: http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=44507
The packages are updated daily. Be careful though as there's a big chance you're system will break. I'd recommend installing XFCE as a backup or side-option. Recently as I said Plasma was thoroughly broken and its still a bit buggy.

Thanks, I always have XFCE to turn to if anything goes wrong.

ozar · 2008-05-02 18:15:30

I upgraded to 4.0.71 last night and it broke or destabilized some things, such as krunner crashes immediately on each KDE login, now.

Going back to 4.0.69 fixes them.

cuervo · 2008-05-02 23:10:27

pretty buggy here, but I don't really know what the hell I'm doing in general, so...
One thing though...I want file previews on icons...you know, if I've got a jpeg or movie on desktop I want to see the thumbnail...how do I enable this? If its a really simple answer, I'm gonna kick myself in the nuts.

Redroar · 2008-05-03 00:50:30

4.0.69 is the last reasonably stable version. Unfortunately it has been dropped from the repos. Expect 4.0.73 to be the next usable snapshot.

But unless you can get a hold of the 4.0.69 packages I would not install KDEmod 4.

Cuervo: I don't think it is possible on the desktop yet, but in Dolphin just click preview in the toolbar.

ozar · 2008-05-05 04:08:10

Redroar wrote:

4.0.69 is the last reasonably stable version. Unfortunately it has been dropped from the repos. Expect 4.0.73 to be the next usable snapshot.

Yep, that's been the case for me. I tried '71 and '72 and they were both really unstable and problematic. Went back to '69 and all is pretty good again.

solarwind · 2008-05-05 10:59:57

Whoa! Check this new menu out! http://raptor-menu.org/

ozar · 2008-05-08 21:02:05

Update...

'73 is about as stable as '69 was for me. However, there's an occasional delay at times when I go to to use the keyboard or mouse. The key-press or mouse-click doesn't show up on screen for a few seconds after the action took place.

I'm thinking about simply waiting for 4.1 to come out and hopefully hit the Arch repos. I've installed and reinstalled about half a dozen different mixes of KDE4 and none of them have been suitable for everyday use, including the official release (in my opinion, of course).

Arch Linux

#1 2008-05-01 04:03:40

Kdemod Kde4

#2 2008-05-01 04:12:21

Re: Kdemod Kde4

#3 2008-05-01 04:18:50

Re: Kdemod Kde4

#4 2008-05-01 04:28:50

Re: Kdemod Kde4

#5 2008-05-01 04:32:22

Re: Kdemod Kde4

#6 2008-05-01 04:35:52

Re: Kdemod Kde4

#7 2008-05-01 04:38:13

Re: Kdemod Kde4

#8 2008-05-01 04:56:20

Re: Kdemod Kde4

#9 2008-05-01 05:07:20

Re: Kdemod Kde4

#10 2008-05-01 05:21:52

Re: Kdemod Kde4

#11 2008-05-01 05:45:13

Re: Kdemod Kde4

#12 2008-05-01 17:47:10

Re: Kdemod Kde4

#13 2008-05-01 18:34:38

Re: Kdemod Kde4

#14 2008-05-01 19:51:54

Re: Kdemod Kde4

#15 2008-05-02 18:15:30

Re: Kdemod Kde4

#16 2008-05-02 23:10:27

Re: Kdemod Kde4

#17 2008-05-03 00:50:30

Re: Kdemod Kde4

#18 2008-05-05 04:08:10

Re: Kdemod Kde4

#19 2008-05-05 10:59:57

Re: Kdemod Kde4

#20 2008-05-08 21:02:05

Re: Kdemod Kde4

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