Linked by Thom Holwerda on Thu 25th Nov 2010 22:57 UTC, submitted by lemur2
"KDE releases 4.6 beta1 of Workspaces, Applications and Development Frameworks, bringing significant improvements to desktop search, a revamped activity system and a significant performance boost to window management and desktop effects. Efforts all across the KDE codebase pay off by making KDE's frameworks more suitable for usage on all devices. The release provides a testing base for a stable release in January 2011."
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Member since:2006-07-16
It really is time I put some effort into using KDE, Opensuse looks OK, Kubuntu was so awful it almost made me cry.
What distro should I try? or maybe PCBSD?
What distro should I try? or maybe PCBSD?
Personally, I've been using Sabayon KDE for the past 18 months. After using Debian forever!! Give it a try if you want a simple-to-use, elegant, feature-rich, powerful rolling distribution backed by the power of Gentoo.
Member since:2005-07-06
Member since:2005-06-30
Member since:2009-04-12
Member since:2006-08-15
Arch Linux
http://www.archlinux.org/
Member since:2007-02-17
This is the distribution I am using with KDE right now.
I went with Kubuntu for a while because of a wider selection of packages available, but Kubuntu 10.10 was caught up in a early release of KDE 3.5 that had real issues with prformance and with the open source graphics drivers. It was not good.
Gieven that it is Ubuntu, if you happen to have a set of packages that don't work well together when it is released, then it will be bad for six months at least.
Arch is a rolling release, and is already at KDE 3.5.3, and has had updates with the opens source graphics drivers. The issue that Kubuntu 10.10 had has gone away in Arch.
The only problem with Arch is a relatively limited range of packages, and it is not newbie-friendly. You need someone with some Linux skills to get it initially installed. After that it is OK, however.
Member since:2006-09-02
Could someone explain me what the differences between the various KDE distros are? I am using Kubuntu, and while it is true that I see some serious issues, most of these stem from the KDE packages themselves. In this case I fail to see how using another distribution would help. (While I can imagine how the user could benefit from rolling releases, Kubuntu usually provides the latest KDE version at least in the backports or in a PPA.)
Member since:2007-02-17
Could someone explain me what the differences between the various KDE distros are?
They all use the same core KDE codebase, so they differ only in: (1) the version of the KDE codebase, and (2) they underlying OS support for that codebae (kernel, drivers, libraries, etc).
The KDE codebase is updated every six months, whereupon it goes up by one point release. That is to say, the next six-monthly release of KDE, which is due in January 2011, will be version 4.6. The current version is 4.5.4. The transition of a new point release will introduce new features (so version 4.6 in Jan 2011 will have new features that are not in version 4.5.4). The minor sub-point releases happen every month or so, and they are bug fix releases, so that the current version 4.5.4 has no new features over version 4.5, but it does have a significant number of bug fixes since version 4.5.
OK, Kubuntu 10.10 has verion 4.5.0 (I believe), or it might have version 4.5.1. Whichever, that version won't change, Kubuntu 10.10 will always have KDE 4.5.0 or 4.5.1 (whichever it actually has). Kubuntu 11.04 will probably have version 4.6.0.
Anyway, getting "stuck" as it does every six months with a KDE 4.x.0 or 4.x.1 release, Kubuntu's release timing is not optimal with respect to KDE's release timing. Kubuntu would be a lot better off to have a 4.x.4 or 4.x.5 version of KDE, since these versions are bug-fixed yet they have the same functionality.
Arch Linux, OTOH, uses a "rolling release". As soon as a new version of KDE is released, Arch will implement it. This means that right now, Arch has 4.5.4, and so it is more stable than Kubuntu with 4.5.0. In January 2011, Arch will have KDE version 4.6.0, which presumably will have more features but become less stable.
PCLinux OS is also a rolling release, but it is a "less rolling" release than Arch. In other words, PCLinux OS are quite likely to upgrade to 4.5.4 and 4.5.5 in order to get stability improvements and bug-fixes, but they will probably refrain form updating to 4.6.0 in January 2011. They are more likely to wait until 4.6.3 or something before upgrading to the new 4.6.x features.
I am using Kubuntu, and while it is true that I see some serious issues, most of these stem from the KDE packages themselves.
Only some issues stem from KDE itself, and these are due to the low sub-point release (i.e. new feature version, e.g. 4.5.0 or 4.5.1). If Kubuntu used 4.5.4 or 4.5.5 instead, there would be far less issues. A good number of issues are not due to KDE, but rather due to the underlying OS itself ... Kubuntu 10.10 suffers not only from a new-feature release of KDE, but also from issues with the open source graphics stack for example.
I hope this helps to explain the differences between KDE distributions a little bit.
Edited 2010-11-28 22:35 UTC
Member since:2008-01-09
I'm using PCBSD 8.1 on my work desktop and its KDE support and integration is wonderful. KMail especially is much better than on my OpenSuSE 11 desktop and laptop. I have thousands of IMAP folders containing tens of gigabytes of content, and on OpenSuSE from 11.x onward my KMail app runs out of file descriptors trying to synch that account. Apparently it's using one thread per folder. A bad idea in general, but specifically for me it means thousands of popups to be dismissed before I can kill the app. I don't know what the OpenSuSE integrators were thinking, there.
That said, OpenSuSE 11 has been my primary KDE platform ever since it came out, and OpenSuSE 10 before that. I'm switching to PCBSD because I'm more familiar with FreeBSD sysadmin and now that there's a KDE-integrated version of FreeBSD I don't need Linux any more. But OpenSuSE has been extremely useful and its support of KDE, other than the KMail issue noted above, has been first class.
Member since:2006-10-02
I'm using PCBSD 8.1 on my work desktop and its KDE support and integration is wonderful. KMail especially is much better than on my OpenSuSE 11 desktop and laptop. I have thousands of IMAP folders containing tens of gigabytes of content, and on OpenSuSE from 11.x onward my KMail app runs out of file descriptors trying to synch that account. Apparently it's using one thread per folder. A bad idea in general, but specifically for me it means thousands of popups to be dismissed before I can kill the app. I don't know what the OpenSuSE integrators were thinking, there.
Wow this is the first time I have ever seen anyone mention this if it is the problem I have been experiencing. Whenever I try to use Kmail it somehow marks all my mail as "new" again and I get notifications on my phone for every single email I have...SUPER annoying. I wish this could be fixed.
Features
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/13/13 14:35 UTC
The third and final WWDC product I want to talk about is - of course - OS X 10.9 Mavericks. While iOS 7 was clearly the focus of this year's WWDC, its venerable desktop counterpart certainly wasn't left behind. Apple announced OS X 10.9 Mavericks, the first OS X release not to carry the name of a big cat.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/11/13 17:07 UTC
We already talked about iOS 7 yesterday (after a night of sleep, it's only looking worse and worse - look at this, for Fiona's sake!), so now it's time to talk about the downright stunning and belly flutters-inducing new Mac Pro. As former owner and huge, huge, huge fan of the PowerMac G4 Cube - I haven't been this excited about an Apple product since, well, I would say the iMac G4. This is the Apple I used to love.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/10/13 23:13 UTC
Apple held its big keynote event thing at WWDC earlier this evening, but since I was away with friends I've had to read up on it later in the evening. The company announced iOS 7, OS X 10.9 Mavericks, and they gave a preview of the new Mac Pro. Especially the Mac Pro impressed me, and while iOS 7's new Holo/Metro-inspired theme looks messy and garish to me, I do commend Apple for finally breaking the mold. This news item will focus on iOS 7 - I'll dive into the Mac Pro and OS X 10.9 tomorrow (it's late here now).
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/08/13 14:57 UTC
And yes, the PRISM scandal is far, far from over. More and more information keeps leaking out, and the more gets out, the worse it gets. The companies involved have sent out official statements - often by mouth of their CEOs - and what's interesting is that not only are these official statements eerily similar to each other, using the same terms clearly designed by lawyers, they also directly contradict new reports from The New York Times. So, who is lying?
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/07/13 11:40 UTC
This story is getting bigger and bigger. Even though most Americans probably already knew, it is now official: the United States government, through its National Security Agency, is collecting the communications and data of all American citizens, and of non-Americans using American services, through a wide collaboration with the large companies in technology, like Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and so on. Interestingly enough, the NSA itself, as well as the US government, have repeatedly and firmly denied this massive spying on Americans and non-Americans took place at all.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/04/13 12:45 UTC
Ah, patents - the never-ending scourge of the technology industry. Whether wielded by companies who don't actually make any products, or large corporations who abuse them because they can't compete in the market place or because they're simply jerks, they do the industry a huge disservice and are simply plain dangerous. According to The Wall Street Journal (circumvention link), president Obama is about to take several executive actions to address patent trolls - which may seem like a good idea, but I am very worried that all this will do is strengthen the positions of notorious patent system abusers such as Apple and Microsoft.
Linked by nfeske on 05/31/13 10:12 UTC
With version 13.05, the developers of the Genode OS Framework take measures to ensure that Genode continues to scale well with a growing number of users and the steadily broadening platform coverage. Further highlights are the improved SoC support for Exynos 5, OMAP4, Raspberry Pi, i.MX, and new components for realizing headless systems.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/29/13 16:59 UTC
At the D11 conference, Apple CEO Tim Cook once again took the stage to be interviewed by Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher. While most of the interview can be replicated by picking and reading 10 random Apple fanblog stories - there were still a number of very interesting things that warrant some closer scrutiny.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/24/13 17:26 UTC
So, the Xbox One disaster continues. Microsoft's policy for dealing with the used games market has reportedly leaked - and it's a clear and direct attack to destroy the used games market. Prices for used games will be set at the retail value of a new game, and retailers have to hook into Microsoft's computer systems and comply with Microsoft's terms and conditions.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 21:38 UTC
At an event earlier today, Microsoft unveiled the next Xbox - the third model, but confusingly named Xbox One. The big focus was TV, integrated Kinect, and all the other stuff we all expected to be forced down our throats. I think it took them 25 minutes to actually come to what should be the core of the story: gaming. Nothing groundbreaking in the gaming department, except for how Microsoft intends to handle the used games market and borrowing games from friends: pay up, buddy!More Features »
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Member since:
2006-02-22
It really is time I put some effort into using KDE, Opensuse looks OK, Kubuntu was so awful it almost made me cry.
What distro should I try? or maybe PCBSD?