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#1 2008-07-29 09:32:14

Grimn
Member
Registered: 2006-12-23
Posts: 136

KDE4 - good for use?

Hey, I have waited for KDE 4 to hit the reps since the beginning but now, because of all the whinning and fuss people are making, I wonder if I should wait or upgrade.

The thing is, of all the searches I made about kde4 on this forum I only found one issue: nvidia drivers have problems with KDE4.
Are these nvidia issues reason enough to wait? Are there more issues that might have missed my searches?
I appreciate all the input people who tried/are using KDE4.1 have to offer but please, no more whinning. I simply want honest and construtive opinions about if a nvidia user should upgrade and if there are more issues I might not be aware of.

Thanks in advance.

PS - I read somewhere to use a livecd to try KDE4.1 for myself but the thing is I can't find any Arch livecd and I don't know how to make one. x_x

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#2 2008-07-29 09:47:31

jealma
Member
From: The Netherlands
Registered: 2008-01-03
Posts: 71

Re: KDE4 - good for use?

Well, I'm a long time KDE3 user and I must say I like KDE4.1 a lot. To be able to determine whether KDE4.1 is suited for you, you should first look at the applications you use(d) in KDE3 and then find out whether a native KDE4 version is available. For me, I use Kaffeine a lot and no other player is just as suitable for me. Kaffeine is not yet available for KDE4 and the KDE3 version does not work very well. A new KDE4-version of Kaffeine is coming soon, so Kaffeine will be compatible. Next up is K3b. I don't use it very often, but I do use it. Same story as with Kaffeine, a new version of K3B is in the make and will be out soon. I'll be waiting for Kaffeine to have a KDE4 version, before I make a full switch to KDE4, but in my opinion, KDE4.1 is ready and it rocks bigtime.
There are some other applications that I use, for which a KDE4-version will be available with some time, for example Digikam (beta available), Amarok (alpha available) and Krusader (beta available), so it's all good news.

Edit: about the nvidia-issues: If you want to use the Desktop Effects, you'll likely experience some issues with resizing windows, but generally, the effects are very smooth and video playback works good too.  I expect that Nvidia will release a new driver shortly, but I have no idea whether the issue will be fixed in the new version. When not using the desktop effects, window resizing is not a problem.

Last edited by jealma (2008-07-29 09:49:38)

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#3 2008-07-29 18:39:25

LinuxChick
Member
From: Saskatchewan, Canada
Registered: 2008-01-22
Posts: 37

Re: KDE4 - good for use?

I read quite a few posts about people not wanting to upgrade to kde 4, yea, I was a little worried, but what the heck, I let pacman rip it in today. It's soo pretty!! smile so far so good!! I'm glad I sucked it up and went for it wink


Girls use Linux too! smile

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#4 2008-07-29 18:49:34

Grimn
Member
Registered: 2006-12-23
Posts: 136

Re: KDE4 - good for use?

Hehehe yeah, I decided I couldn't wait either so I upgraded to KDE 4.1.
It sure is pretty and so far the bugs are minor.
The really annoying thing is the lack of a 2-rows taskbar and the fact widgets instalation throug 'download in the internet' doesn't work properly. But it's only the first day so big_smile

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#5 2008-07-29 18:56:41

WernerL
Member
Registered: 2007-07-03
Posts: 161

Re: KDE4 - good for use?

I can't upgrade. sad
Currently I have a kdemod installation and everytime I try to install kde4.1 it says:
packagex needs kdemod-(something)

sad How the hell should I install kde4.1 ? I can't delete kdemod either... a lot of my installed packages need the kdemod libraries.
Do I really have to do a complete re-installation ?

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#6 2008-07-29 19:01:11

Phrodo_00
Member
From: Seattle, WA
Registered: 2006-04-09
Posts: 342
Website

Re: KDE4 - good for use?

WernerL wrote:

I can't upgrade. sad
Currently I have a kdemod installation and everytime I try to install kde4.1 it says:
packagex needs kdemod-(something)

sad How the hell should I install kde4.1 ? I can't delete kdemod either... a lot of my installed packages need the kdemod libraries.
Do I really have to do a complete re-installation ?

uninstall kdemod with pacman -Rsc... that will uninstall everything that depends on it and everything only it depends

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#7 2008-07-29 19:02:37

WernerL
Member
Registered: 2007-07-03
Posts: 161

Re: KDE4 - good for use?

I'm going to try that, thanks.

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#8 2008-07-29 19:05:23

ozar
Member
From: USA
Registered: 2005-02-18
Posts: 1,686

Re: KDE4 - good for use?

The KDE website says that 4.1 is good to go for the majority of casual users:

Furthermore, the new desktop shell Plasma, introduced in KDE 4.0, has matured to the point where it can replace the KDE 3 shell for most casual users.

I think each individual user must decide for him/herself if it's truly ready to replace version 3 for them.

I'm really glad that it's in 'extra' now, but it still has some short-comings that make it "not quite there yet", for me.

Hope it works out very well for everyone else, though.  cool


oz

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#9 2008-07-29 19:16:33

mips1
Member
Registered: 2008-01-02
Posts: 99

Re: KDE4 - good for use?

WernerL wrote:

I can't upgrade. sad
Currently I have a kdemod installation and everytime I try to install kde4.1 it says:
packagex needs kdemod-(something)

sad How the hell should I install kde4.1 ? I can't delete kdemod either... a lot of my installed packages need the kdemod libraries.
Do I really have to do a complete re-installation ?

http://kdemod.ath.cx/bbs/viewtopic.php?id=871  See the Installation instruction on how to remove old versions.

I went the extreme root and did a fresh Arch install followed by KDEmod. A fresh install for me is like the smell of freshly cut grass wink

I'm pretty happy with 4.1. It's a huge improvement over 4.0, you can see the devs have been busy smile

Last edited by mips1 (2008-07-29 19:18:21)

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#10 2008-07-29 19:20:04

kensai
Member
From: Puerto Rico
Registered: 2005-06-03
Posts: 2,484
Website

Re: KDE4 - good for use?

You have to be a forgiving user to use kde 4.1 I have experienced som annoyances. But all in all, it is going fine, but I think I'll eventually go back to GNOME, I'm missing it already. smile

Last edited by kensai (2008-07-29 19:20:29)


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#11 2008-07-29 19:26:36

WernerL
Member
Registered: 2007-07-03
Posts: 161

Re: KDE4 - good for use?

wich login manager does kde4.1 use ?
I can't start it ? :+ kdm is gone..
startx starts another simplistic window manager, the one I'm currently working in. :')
I'm going back to evilWM until I found out how I start it.. :+

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#12 2008-07-29 19:33:05

Peyton
Member
Registered: 2007-07-22
Posts: 36
Website

Re: KDE4 - good for use?

Are you using the inittab method to start KDM?

* If you start KDM with inittab make sure to change its path from /opt/kde to
  /usr

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#13 2008-07-29 20:03:34

darzephyr
Member
From: Argentina
Registered: 2006-08-02
Posts: 43

Re: KDE4 - good for use?

WernerL wrote:

wich login manager does kde4.1 use ?
I can't start it ? :+ kdm is gone..
startx starts another simplistic window manager, the one I'm currently working in. :')
I'm going back to evilWM until I found out how I start it.. :+

The kdm rc.d script is inside the kde-common package smile


Darío Andrés
KDE BugSquad Team and Developer

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#14 2008-07-29 20:06:07

iggyst00ge
Member
Registered: 2008-01-24
Posts: 50

Re: KDE4 - good for use?

Still feels a little unfinished to me.  I'm getting weird bugs . . . items added to the K-menu don't show up right away, or the menu won't launch an application when I click on it.  System Settings icon disappeared from the menu entirely. 

Also, the interface for customizing the panels and desktop widgets is awkward and the whole thing is too bulky and cluttered for a small monitor. 

BUT it looks really great, feels solid, and seems to run quick.  I'm happy with Dolphin.  Truth be told, I still feel like we're on a 3.9 release, and not a full fledged 4.1.  Just too many rough edges -- nothing that will make my machine unusable, but it feels unfinished.

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#15 2008-07-29 20:19:23

neowolf
Member
From: North Carolina
Registered: 2008-01-27
Posts: 105

Re: KDE4 - good for use?

Honestly KDE4's feeling a lot like Mac OS X's early days. 10.0 was really for those gung-ho early adopters, missing a LOT that most users would expect from the desktop. 10.1 on the other hand was the turn over to something most people can use problem free and the gateway towards being a kick ass desktop.

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#16 2008-07-29 20:31:01

anykey
Member
From: Trier, Germany
Registered: 2004-06-12
Posts: 79

Re: KDE4 - good for use?

I am experiencing heavy annoyances when I want to play some fullscreen games with wine, which do not get the smooth transition from kde4 and back again, leaving me to ctrl-alt-backspace.

other than that, it looks and feels good.

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#17 2008-07-29 22:27:36

Bralkein
Member
Registered: 2004-10-26
Posts: 354

Re: KDE4 - good for use?

anykey --  This is what I do when I play games in Wine, I think this will help you too:

startx /usr/bin/wine Example.exe -- :1

If you start Wine like this, it has a whole screen to itself, so if the game goes wrong your desktop is unaffected, also you can kill the game with ctrl-alt-backspace without affecting your desktop, and finally you can switch nicely between the game and the desktop with ctrl-alt-F7 and ctrl-alt-F8 with less chance of the game crashing (in my experience, anyway). Hope this helps!

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#18 2008-07-30 00:30:50

qweac
Member
From: Norway
Registered: 2008-05-27
Posts: 44

Re: KDE4 - good for use?

I got this strange bug. When I logout and back in some of my settings are gone. My panel goes back to the default size. The widgets on the panel change places and widgets on the desktop disappears! Anyone?

Last edited by qweac (2008-07-30 00:32:17)

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#19 2008-07-30 02:46:38

Izobalax
Member
From: UK
Registered: 2008-06-27
Posts: 51
Website

Re: KDE4 - good for use?

I've installed the kdemod variant of kde 4.1 and have to say that I'm SO impressed with this that I'm gunna stick with it now.

Only thing I need is the kdm-4. Where can I find it?

/izo\


"Eliciting positive quotes about Apple products is a bit like asking children for their view on Christmas; whatever you hear is going to be predictable and pretty much devoid of insight." -- Bill Ray

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#20 2008-07-30 03:00:45

georgia_tech_swagger
Member
From: Upstate, SC
Registered: 2008-07-02
Posts: 138
Website

Re: KDE4 - good for use?

KDE 4.1 is somewhat better... except for the panel.     I don't merely dislike the panel ... I have a psychotic raging hatred of nearly the entire panel from operation to configuration and moderation.


Res Publica Non Dominetur

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#21 2008-07-30 11:29:46

allbluedream
Member
Registered: 2008-04-06
Posts: 155

Re: KDE4 - good for use?

qweac wrote:

I got this strange bug. When I logout and back in some of my settings are gone. My panel goes back to the default size. The widgets on the panel change places and widgets on the desktop disappears! Anyone?

Not only are my settings gone, but the widgets on the panel are in the wrong position... I uninstalled kde4 the night I tried it out... Maybe I have to wait a bit longer.

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#22 2008-07-30 13:37:19

qweac
Member
From: Norway
Registered: 2008-05-27
Posts: 44

Re: KDE4 - good for use?

allbluedream wrote:
qweac wrote:

I got this strange bug. When I logout and back in some of my settings are gone. My panel goes back to the default size. The widgets on the panel change places and widgets on the desktop disappears! Anyone?

Not only are my settings gone, but the widgets on the panel are in the wrong position... I uninstalled kde4 the night I tried it out... Maybe I have to wait a bit longer.

Yeah, my widgets do the same. I've tried to install both kdemod4.1 and kde4.1. Anyone?

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#23 2008-07-30 14:10:47

karoshi
Member
From: Marburg
Registered: 2008-02-26
Posts: 182

Re: KDE4 - good for use?

qweac wrote:
allbluedream wrote:
qweac wrote:

I got this strange bug. When I logout and back in some of my settings are gone. My panel goes back to the default size. The widgets on the panel change places and widgets on the desktop disappears! Anyone?

Not only are my settings gone, but the widgets on the panel are in the wrong position... I uninstalled kde4 the night I tried it out... Maybe I have to wait a bit longer.

Yeah, my widgets do the same. I've tried to install both kdemod4.1 and kde4.1. Anyone?

Try:

kquitapp plasma && plasma

This restarts Plasma, and your configuration gets saved.


It's a bug planet!

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#24 2008-07-30 14:14:22

audaly
Member
From: France
Registered: 2004-12-13
Posts: 60

Re: KDE4 - good for use?

darzephyr wrote:
WernerL wrote:

wich login manager does kde4.1 use ?
I can't start it ? :+ kdm is gone..
startx starts another simplistic window manager, the one I'm currently working in. :')
I'm going back to evilWM until I found out how I start it.. :+

The kdm rc.d script is inside the kde-common package smile

kdebase-workspace 4.1.0-4 was in conflict with kde-common, the kdm rc.d script is gone with last update!

Last edited by audaly (2008-07-30 14:14:50)

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#25 2008-07-30 14:57:08

Mektub
Member
From: Lisbon /Portugal
Registered: 2008-01-02
Posts: 647

Re: KDE4 - good for use?

Grimn wrote:

Hey, I have waited for KDE 4 to hit the reps since the beginning but now, because of all the whinning and fuss people are making, I wonder if I should wait or upgrade.

The thing is, of all the searches I made about kde4 on this forum I only found one issue: nvidia drivers have problems with KDE4.
Are these nvidia issues reason enough to wait? Are there more issues that might have missed my searches?
I appreciate all the input people who tried/are using KDE4.1 have to offer but please, no more whinning. I simply want honest and construtive opinions about if a nvidia user should upgrade and if there are more issues I might not be aware of.

Thanks in advance.

PS - I read somewhere to use a livecd to try KDE4.1 for myself but the thing is I can't find any Arch livecd and I don't know how to make one. x_x

Probably it will depend on what you are using. In my case, and ignoring nuisances that show up in
several places (kopete, no gdmsetup, panel difficult to configure ...) I was stuck with several things, mainly:

No migration path from Kmail3 to Kmail4. I dont feel like reconfiguring all the filters and such stuff.
I have 2 monitors and didnt find a way to make kde to use both of them.
I dont have sound on KDE (other WMs dont have the problem). There are some (confusing) solutions
on the forum but they only worked partially for me.

Perhaps I didnt try hard enough, but afer 2 full days fighting I had to be productive again and gave up.

I suggest you copy your full system to a free partition (f.e. with cp -av / ...), add an entry in menu.lst
whith the right boot device and do your tests there.

Will try again later this year. cool

Mektub


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