Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Experimenting with KDE 4.1

Today, I will install KDE 4.1 on my main box at home. Ever since I started using Linux, I have been a GNOME fanboy, but I think it is a good time to shake things up a bit (who knows, I might even like it). I will probably write about it off and on, giving feedback as to what I think and such, not that I will be the first to do this. I think my biggest hurdle will be getting used to Konsole. I just don't like it. I have been using gnome-terminal for too long. From what I understand, though, Konsole has had some major improvements since I last used it.

I am looking forward to making some KDE users very angry within the next couple weeks ;-).

8 comments:

  1. Great to hear. Will you use KDE 4.1 or the svn version? because the svn version has many big improvements over KDE 4.1. but anyway, looking forward to your kde experience.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well, I was going to use 4.1, but if you think svn would be a better choice, I will certainly give it a shot.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Did I write this blog post? I seriously just installed Kubuntu 8.10 Alpha 5 yesterday after being a long time gnome user. (Last used KDE when I used Fedora Core 5). Kubuntu seems to be really nice, although there is a bug where knetworkmanager won't connect to wireless networks :(.

    I look forward to seeing your experiences with it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I just wish someone would make an environment with the right mix of features from all 3 major environments (KDE, Gnome, XFCE).

    ReplyDelete
  5. Brandon:
    Well, depends on what you want.
    Kde 4.1.1 is quite stable and has nearly everything you would want. But, a few things are missing, and you will probably critizise kde 4 for that. The missing things were just not done in time (kde 4 isn't even out since a year), but many things have been added to the svn version.
    But the svn version is much less polished, some days even basic things might be broken because of big code changes.

    So, i would advise you to use Kde 4.1.1, but if there are things missing, keep in mind that the kde developers know it and that because it isn't here is not because they don't want it, but because kde 4 is very young (and that those features might actualy already be in kde 4.2). But noting them doesn't hurt, you can then do a second kde test when 4.2 comes out and see how many of your problem points have been removed :-)

    ReplyDelete
  6. I am a long time KDE user, and I look forward to reading your comments. Sometimes a new pair of eyes can see something you dont.

    And no, we don't mind being made angry, as long as the criticism is CONSTRUCTIVE ;)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Whether you like konsole or not doesn't really matter, konsole is designed to be a kpart to be embedded more than a stand-alone application. Many KDE applications can embed a konsole.

    More KDE users use yakuake as the default terminal app. And openSUSE 11.1 will make yakuake the default terminal app.

    ReplyDelete