KDE SC 4.7.0 Officially Released

[Welsh Dwarf]

Just because with the current set of dependencies you have no problems, those distros are good?
No. Anything could break with the next update. I've read too many ?KDE sucks and I use Arch? comments here on Phoronix for that...

Just goes to show that it takes all sorts. Arch is the best KDE experience I've had (short of compiling from SVN and tweeking my self). Nothing like Kubuntu which I tried before.

That said, Arch isn't for the faint of heart or the people who can't figure out why X won't start. I'll give you that. I've always found that it was the counter balance to gentoo (most compiling + some prebuilt vs most prebuilt + some compiling).

[RealNC]

I just wanted to correct my self: You obviously need the openSUSE factory (12.1 milestone 3 and not 11.4) live cd to get KDE 4.7. You can get it here: http://software.opensuse.org/developer -> choose KDE live cd

I've now tried this. Unfortunately, factory seems botched right now: After I wrote the ISO to a USB stick using ddrescue, I booted from it. KDE comes up but it then sort of hangs. The USB LED is flashing like crazy and any action I try to do needs about 5 minutes to register. I waited like 20 minutes or so, but it doesn't help; the USB LED still flashes. I tried to Ctrl+Alt+F1 to a console, and it needed 5 minutes to switch to the console. Tried to login as root, but it doesn't accept the input after pressing enter.

So that was a no go.

[RealNC]

Btw, I was able to gain a bit of performance back by reverting the 3.0.0 kernel back to 2.6.39, which I had patched with BFS. At least this avoids the "crap-fest" when there's CPU load in the background.

[smitty3268]

I've now tried this. Unfortunately, factory seems botched right now: After I wrote the ISO to a USB stick using ddrescue, I booted from it. KDE comes up but it then sort of hangs. The USB LED is flashing like crazy and any action I try to do needs about 5 minutes to register. I waited like 20 minutes or so, but it doesn't help; the USB LED still flashes. I tried to Ctrl+Alt+F1 to a console, and it needed 5 minutes to switch to the console. Tried to login as root, but it doesn't accept the input after pressing enter.

So that was a no go.

FYI, I tried that live CD as well, and it's actually still using KDE 4.6.5 and Mesa 7.10.3. It does have Linux 3.0rc7.

[V!NCENT]

@Luke_Wofl:

Obviously Gnome 2 :') But who know what happens after 10 years of usability hell (sarcasm).

KDE4 has the best technology. It improved a lot on the interface from KDE3 (with more buttons and sub-menus in your face than a 3D modeling app), but I think that now that they are ahead, KDE should settle down an perform a Mac OS X 10.5 (zero extra features and streamlining things and ironing out the quirks and making shit faster). Yet still there is a lot to be improved and desired when it comes to actual interface design.

I think that we can learn a lot about tablet UI's without turning KDE into a tablet.

[pejakm]

I just upgraded to linux-3.0. Gotta say, the kernel 3.0 + KDE 4.7 + mesa-git is incredibly fast combination so far. Talk negatively on KDE 4.7 as much as you wish, for me it is by far the fastest and the most stable release of KDE 4.

[Luke_Wolf]

@Luke_Wofl:

Obviously Gnome 2 :') But who know what happens after 10 years of usability hell (sarcasm).

KDE4 has the best technology. It improved a lot on the interface from KDE3 (with more buttons and sub-menus in your face than a 3D modeling app), but I think that now that they are ahead, KDE should settle down an perform a Mac OS X 10.5 (zero extra features and streamlining things and ironing out the quirks and making shit faster). Yet still there is a lot to be improved and desired when it comes to actual interface design.

I think that we can learn a lot about tablet UI's without turning KDE into a tablet.

KDE isn't going to turn into a tablet interface, it's going to have a tablet interface but it's not going to be the exclusive desktop. just as having a netbook interface available doesn't mean it's the exclusive one. Honestly these fears of losing KDE's desktop are stupid, because they fail to understand what KDE is. KDE is actually rather unique in that unlike Gnome or XFCE, it's not monolithic but instead completely modular, It's because of this that the KDE SC can have multiple UXes at little real extra cost outside of the initial development. what's ultimately going to happen is there's probably going to be at least 5 UXes: Desktop, Netbook, Tablet, Phone, and Car Infotainment system/ other embedded applications, and of course because of this modularity being across the board with KDE programs, growing KDE communities around these environments isn't going to mean outside of the initial cost losing development to the tablets, or that work done for the tablets doesn't help those using the Desktop UX, because the core of the architecture is still going to be worked on, which means improvements for everyone.and obviously when you have more developers more people can focus on their specific areas, ultimately expanding the number of KDE users and developers is a very good thing.

[Luke_Wolf]

After upgrading with Slackware to version 4.7 I've noticed a substantial speed increase, however the removal of the back button on the kickoff menu annoys me, and while the breadcrumb trail is nice to have it's a suppliment to but not a replacement for a dedicated back button. Hopefully they'll rectify this bug with the release of 4.7.1.. I mean I suppose I could just use lancelot until then, but come on this is just basic usability stuff.

[TheBlackCat]

I am not clear what the advantage of a back button is. The breadcrumbs essentially are back buttons, they serve the same purpose but allow you to jump back multiple steps faster.

[Luke_Wolf]

I am not clear what the advantage of a back button is. The breadcrumbs essentially are back buttons, they serve the same purpose but allow you to jump back multiple steps faster.

Step Multiple steps back faster yes, but not single steps, not only is the bar being there less scroll work, but it's also more natural. In what other start menu/kick off (assuming based in a L-to-R society) do you not move left to go back a step?