Finally giving something back…
Thanks to a co-worker, I am now a KDE user. I run Kubuntu 8.04 as my primary operating system. Kubuntu is a derivative of Ubuntu Linux which uses KDE as it's desktop environment. Having been a long time Gnome user, it was with great trepidation that I even begin using KDE as my primary desktop. (If I've already lost you, it's ok. *You* have not yet fallen prey to the seductive wiles of a free OS or you run proprietary hardware that prevents you from doing so.)
Ever since I started using KDE 3.5.9 and actually spending the time to configure it to my tastes, I was hooked. Advanced Window settings allowed me to pin an application to any one of my four active workspaces. My keyboard shortcuts were considered global so that meant that an application couldn't override the keyboard shortcuts *I* wanted to use. KDE was the word and the way.
Backtrack to 7/3/2008: A few Midori sours and I logged into #kubuntu-devel, the Kubuntu Developers channel on IRC. I asked if there was some way that a longtime Linux user with moderate Python abilities could help out with Kubuntu's future. Jonathan Riddell, founder of Kubuntu, responded with a yes: Help us port Ubuntu language-selector to PyKDE4. I agreed and I am happy to contribute to Kubuntu in whatever way I can.
As wonderful as the experience of modifying and committing code has been, the KDE4 experience hasn't been all that glorious. Here are some of the low points:
- Clicking on an application in the taskbar causes that application to minimize if I'm already on that desktop. In other words, if I attempt to use the taskbar to switch applications that are on the same desktop by clicking it's icon in the taskbar, the application I want to use gets minimized.
- Turning on Desktop Effects (aka Compiz for Gnome users), causes my computer to run like it's powered by hamster wheels.
- Most of the icons in my menus and for the plasmoids (widgets, gadgets, et al) are the standard box with a -?-
- The taskbar at the bottom will sometimes show corrupted graphics
- Kopete can't connect to Google Talk securely without crashing
Good points:
- KDE 4.1 is really pretty.
- KDE 4.1 implements a "dashboard" layer where the plasmoids are separate from the desktop.
- Konqueror is MUCH improved - faster, cleaner looking
- Dolphin has column view. Ah, how I missed that.
Still, I'm glad to be helping what I believe to be the best operating system. I hope to continue contributing to Kubuntu for some time to come.
In the meantime, I'll be using KDE 4.1 extensively and exclusively. When I remember, I'll post my experiences working with it here. Currently, I'm giving KMail a once-over. I'm a long-time Thunderbird user and I'm not pleased by the preliminary looks of the KDE 4.1 equivalent. It's been one night, though, so we'll give it some time and see what happens.
July 24th, 2008 - 12:51
- corrupted graphics in the taskbar: in my experience, that would indicate a caching issue; usually stale and needs to be refreshed (cleared) more often
- Google Talk; if pigdin works in your OS but Kopete doesn’t, shouldn’t there just be API calls and some kind of framework for the message to encrypt? and those calls redirected to whatever pigdin uses? heh. or, if they’re using the same software for TLS, maybe Kopete is just out of date?
July 8th, 2008 - 22:14
- For the taskbar, I’ll have to peek under the hood and check some config files. Perhaps there is a way to turn off that minimizing behaviour.
- Desktop Effects – It’s not the drivers. I have full hardware rendering: glxinfo | grep direct reports YES.
- Not sure about the icon set – also haven’t tried simply changing the icon theme.
- Corrupted graphics in the taskbar – not driver emulation, but doesn’t occur consistently.
- Connecting to Google Talk – I want TLS on. Besides, Pidgin can connect securely.
July 8th, 2008 - 20:58
I recently got an eMac and installed Ubuntu on it, it’s pretty neat. Too bad the hardware takes up so much real estate on my desk.
- task bar: isn’t there an “on-click” function in the OS or something? Javascript and CSS have ‘em. it may not be accessible via a GUI to modify, but there should be something in the environment to alter it.
- desktop effects: graphics card drivers under emulation?
- icons are ‘the standard box with a -?-’: no localized strings for these graphic contents? they should be references to some location, right?
- taskbar with corrupted graphics: more graphics card driver emulation? or is it trying to page and display screen updates, scaled down?
- can’t connect to Google Talk without crashing: can you toggle TLS?