KDE 4.5.1 rocks

[BlackStar]

Who's with me? Lot's of polish over 4.4, it's almost as good as Ubuntu/Gnome now and much much better than out-of-the-box Gnome. Fix the performance and we'll have a winner!

Remaining pet peeves (Arch/KDE):

• KDM->desktop takes 10''. GDM->desktop takes 2'' (yay SSD). Why?
• Fix your damned panel colors. Too much transparency, too low contrast, it's hideous.
• While you are at it, let me size of the digital clock myself, kthx?
• And add a panel mode to the task manager already! Win7 and Mac OS X can't both be wrong there, can they? Hint: they are not.
• Ditch Konqueror, it's a terrible browser. Create a QT backend for Chromium instead. It will be easier than trying to make Konqueror not suck.
• Akonadi, Nepomuk, what the hell is this shit? What were you drinking when you thought up those names? (Minor peeve)

Still not enough to make me switch from Ubuntu/Gnome (which farking flies on this hardware), but at least I don't want to kill myself when testing on KDE anymore. And that's good.

Seriously, good job KDE guys! Looking forward to 4.6.

[Kano]

My i7-880 needs less than 4 s from kdm to kde 4.4.5 desktop. Maybe somebody needs a faster system Also since when are you forced to use konqueror? I never use that for browseing. Depending on the purpose i use chrome or iceweasel(firefox).

[pingufunkybeat]

KDM->desktop takes 10''. GDM->desktop takes 2'' (yay SSD). Why?

this should probably be optimised, it loads all the services and I think that there are some timeouts involved.

It shouldn't take more than a few seconds, though!

Fix your damned panel colors. Too much transparency, too low contrast, it's hideous.

Have you tried a different Plasma theme?

systemsettings -> Workspace Apperance -> Desktop Theme

Classic Oxygen has good contrast.

While you are at it, let me size of the digital clock myself, kthx?

You can't? I can.

When it's on the panel, it will obviously depend on the size of the panel, but if it's on the desktop, you can resize it just fine.

Ditch Konqueror, it's a terrible browser. Create a QT backend for Chromium instead. It will be easier than trying to make Konqueror not suck.

Firefox 4 will have a Qt4 backend.

For Webkit-based browser, you can try Arora or Rekonq.

Or you can switch to the webkit engine in Konqueror, which is what I'm using. Personally, I'm really dependent on Konqueror and feel uncomfortable in every browser, but this is obviously a very subjective thing.

Personally, I ran into some trouble with OpenGL and the Mesa drivers when switching last night (it was reported here and discussed in detail) which soured the deal for me somewhat. Still, I got it work perfectly after removing the (unnecessary!!!) blacklists for my driver which came out of nowhere and broke everything.

Now it's a charm. It's both slick and it works exactly like I want -- keyboard-centric, autohide for everything, and all important information always available.

Another thing I recommend is replacing the standard Menu widget with Lancelot, which works much better IMHO.

[Panix]

When was Konqueror ever supposed to be a browser? Wasn't it really designed for a file manager that allows some web connection?

Now, there's Dolphin? Really, I don't know what KDE (devs) are doing... used to be decent but now so much bloat. Also, seems like there's way too much attention to new apps (or new functions) instead of fixing issues/bugs in current apps which existed through consecutive versions. Also, the K-Everything... anyway...

[pingufunkybeat]

When was Konqueror ever supposed to be a browser? Wasn't it really designed for a file manager that allows some web connection?

Actually, Konqueror is just a container.

It can embed any component for dealing with any sort of protocol and file. It's supposed to be a "universal browser". If you embed a web-browsing component, it's a web browser, if you embed kate part, it's a text editor. If you point it to your local filesystem, it loads the file manager.

It was a very impressive demonstration of object component embedding and network transparency, 10 years ago with KDE 2.0. In the meantime, it seems like people do not want an all-in-one solution, so the official collection has moved towards a separate filemanager (dolphin) and a separate browser (konqueror). You can still use konqueror to embed anything you want, including a dolphin part but I guess only power-users do that.

[Panix]

Actually, Konqueror is just a container.

It can embed any component for dealing with any sort of protocol and file. It's supposed to be a "universal browser". If you embed a web-browsing component, it's a web browser, if you embed kate part, it's a text editor. If you point it to your local filesystem, it loads the file manager.

It was a very impressive demonstration of object component embedding and network transparency, 10 years ago with KDE 2.0. In the meantime, it seems like people do not want an all-in-one solution, so the official collection has moved towards a separate filemanager (dolphin) and a separate browser (konqueror). You can still use konqueror to embed anything you want, including a dolphin part but I guess only power-users do that.

Well, I always liked Konqueror and I thought the 'all-in-one' worked for that app. I didn't use it for the browser function, however. Not a fan of Dolphin, though.

Looking forward to testing out KDE 4.5 whenever I get around to finishing a desktop build. I was planning on using Gnome for my main desktop but with the rave reviews of the newest KDE, I'll have to try it.

I was initially in the KDE camp with 3.5 and at about KDE 4.1, began losing interest. Still, my favorite apps are KDE-based, Amarok, K3b, even Kaffeine. 'Just in case, my previous comments made me sound partial to a particular (non-KDE) DE. I like LXDE for the light resources and I think it's based on Qt but not sure how well I can integrate with KDE apps since I don't think LXDE's equivalents measure up at the moment.

[Panix]

Oops, LXDE is GTK+ based... Not sure what I was thinking of...

[pingufunkybeat]

For the longest time, I ran all KDE apps from a different environment. Enlightenment for a while, Compiz-Fusion for a bit longer, and a really long time with AfterStep.

I don't really care much for panels and taskbars. I want a functional window manager and practical window switching, and 4 desktops.

But what happened is that KWin, Kicker (now the plasma panel) and other parts of KDE got good enough that I could do everything I used to do with other window managers.

What I really like about KDE is that the infrastructure is very solid and well-engineered, leading to really good apps. The panel or window effects are really not terribly important to me.

There was a time when all the good apps were GTK-based, but those times are gone.

[BlackStar]

My i7-880 needs less than 4 s from kdm to kde 4.4.5 desktop. Maybe somebody needs a faster system Also since when are you forced to use konqueror? I never use that for browseing. Depending on the purpose i use chrome or iceweasel(firefox).

It's a virtualized guest on a 2.66GHz Core 2, 8GB RAM and an Intel 80GB SSD. Should be enough, considering how fast Gnome boots on it.

Also, you are using a different version which may or may not play a role here.

You can't? I can.

When it's on the panel, it will obviously depend on the size of the panel, but if it's on the desktop, you can resize it just fine.

Clarification: You can't while it's on the panel. I don't want it to auto-adjust (and destroy my desktop consistency), I want it to use the size of my choosing.

Thanks for the hint, though, moving the clock to the desktop fixed it.

When was Konqueror ever supposed to be a browser? Wasn't it really designed for a file manager that allows some web connection?

It certainly doesn't feel like a modern browser. UI-wise it follows Netscape Navigator which is *not* a good thing. Browser design has evolved the last 10 years and Konqueror has been left behind (no Ctrl-Enter to add www and com automatically, no search through the address bar, awkward widget layout).

Firefox 4 will have a Qt4 backend.

For Webkit-based browser, you can try Arora or Rekonq.

Or you can switch to the webkit engine in Konqueror, which is what I'm using. Personally, I'm really dependent on Konqueror and feel uncomfortable in every browser, but this is obviously a very subjective thing.

The rendering engine is not important. I want something fast and usable - like Chromium and Opera that I am currently using.

My point was that unless Konqueror can catch up with modern browsers, it would be better to admit defeat and switch to another browser, improve it, make it integrate well and add in KDE SC. Better for the users, that is.

What I really like about KDE is that the infrastructure is very solid and well-engineered, leading to really good apps. The panel or window effects are really not terribly important to me.

I would beg to disagree. QT is certainly well engineered, but it's also buggy as hell. C++ is also a terrible language for desktop applications but that's another issue entirely. KDE is generally thought as buggy for good reason.

In fact, 4.5.1 is the first version that have any programs crashing out-of-the-box on a fresh installation on my system. Seems like it's getting better, at least.

Also, how will I live my beloved Banshee and Gnome Do...

[pingufunkybeat]

Use the originals: Amarok and KRunner, not the copies

And I'd disagree with you about the buginess of Qt. I've developed with it for many years, I don't remember running into a single bug. KDE only got the reputation for buginess after the release of 4.0, which took far too long to stabilise. Before that, it was the epitomy of stable.