Ben Kevan’s Blog

Dropping KDE 3.5 for openSUSE 11.2 isn’t really a bad thing

In some previous writings of mine, I kept harping on the dismissal of KDE 3.5 in the next release of openSUSE, openSUSE 11.2 (which will probably be due out in Q3 / Q4 of 2009). However, one thing I’ve always neglected to do was look at the bright side of the drop of main stream support for KDE 3.5.

First, I have to give much props to the openSUSE KDE maintainers for keeping KDE 3.5.10 in openSUSE 11.1 while most other community distributions are dropping KDE 3 from their builds all together. With this move, openSUSE (supported by Novell) will maintain KDE 3.5 for at least 2 years (major bug / security fixes) while openSUSE 11.1 is still under support.

With all that said, there is still a possibility that KDE 3.5 can be installed on openSUSE 11.2 by a community maintained KDE 3 repository. Although no details for this have surfaced it’s still a possibility.

So here are some of the reasons I don’t think that dropping KDE 3 from openSUSE 11.2 is really a bad thing.

The openSUSE KDE team is quite a small team of people. Many people may not realize that Novell only has 4 full time people on KDE. First I would like to thank the team of 5, and thank them. Those persons are:
Stephan Binner
Luboš Luňák
Dirk Mueller
Will Stephenson

Can you imagine the time spent on maintaining KDE 3.5? Now imagine that time being used to instead increase the usability of KDE 4. To go through the “enhancements” that people request, or to just mature the overall status of Plasma. With all that extra time to spend on KDE 4, I have NO DOUBT that the version of KDE 4 that will ship with openSUSE 11.2 will be a full suitable replacement for KDE 3. I am so confident that it will be a great replacement that I will without a doubt switch from KDE 3 to KDE 4 at that release, and will do so on my production machine.

I know many people with KDE 4 a bad wrap (previously I did the same), but I am now challanging those same people to HELP the development of KDE 4, by actually running it and filing a bug report at http://bugzilla.novell.com for any bugs found, and also to file any “enhancements” for features that you believe are missing that were previously in KDE 3.

So again lets give thanks to all openSUSE KDE contributors and suppor their move to the future.

To top it off, here are some screenshots of openSUSE 11.1 running KDE 4 thanks to en.opensuse.org

Tags: kde, kde4, opensuse

openSUSE 11.1 Beta 3 My first shot (KDE 4.1.2)

As you may have read, openSUSE 11.1 was realeased and was shipped with KDE 4.1.2. I’ll go into my initial experience with 4.1.2, after I touch on a few changes since some of the older betas:

What’s changed since beta 1?
Major changes in this release include:
» Live CDs for x86 and GNOME and KDE
» OpenOffice.org 3.0
» Mono 2.0 Final
» Linux 2.6.27.1 (fixes e1000e issue)
» CUPS 1.3.9
» Parts of 11.1 branding are now in place
» Amarok 2.0 beta 2
» Banshee 1.3.2
» GNOME 2.24

» KDE and GNOME integration is ignored (bnc#433076)
» GNOME quickstarter does not work (bnc#434778)
» localized strings are not updated from extra sources
» optional packages are not really optional because the registry files are not spread correctly
» the user configuration includes symlinks to /usr/share/ooo3 instead of that real files; it might be a feature but it might also cause problems in the future.
» pyuno components are still not registered
» Suse-puzzler.xls works only partly; e.h. “Sneaky Peak” or “About” works but the “Shuffle” does nohing. Also, pieces can’t be moved by mouse.
» some missing hacks from ooo-build/bin/package-ooo and older OOo.spec
» missing OOo-sdk compat stuff (to build voiko…, bnc#428403)

List gathered from openSUSE 11.1 Beta 3 announcement

So now onto my experience.

My installation was simple, I actually did a

sudo zypper dup

From openSUSE 11.0. I ran it a few times, and after a while all was updated. (Note: I skipped the whole portion of me removing all my 11.0 repositories including the OSS and NON-OSS)

I originally only had KDE 3.5.10 on the machine, which behaved as it should, (with the exception of a problem with compiz. A bug report has been filed, and shouldn’t effect everyone. Please check out http://bugzilla.novell.com if you wanna poke around). Since this was such an easy upgrade, and nothing changed on the KDE 3 side, I decided to install the highly touted, and highly talked about (in both good and bad ways) KDE 4 (note: I tried KDE 4.0.0 - 4.0.4, and made the conclusion that it was not ready for my daily production work use).

I open up YaST and install the 2 KDE4 Patterns. I add kde4-konsole, and NetworkManager-kde4 to the mix, and log into KDE4. My first impression was “Damn, this is pretty nice looking.”. I was logged in, I had a panel that I could actaully modify (height etc), and I had been logged in for over 10 minutes without a crash (I’ve now gone 100% longer in KDE4 this time, then I have in previous attempts). KNetworkManager(3) launched instead of KDE4’s KNetworkManager (I assume this is because I had another session open, so I don’t consider this a fault).

I then pushed my luck. I added a second panel. Went to resize it, but no juice. The panel I added was able to be resized bigger, but not smaller ( I found this out after I made it 450 pixels for fun). Ok, removed the silly thing. Now the honeymoon period feels over, since KDE4 and I are starting to have our little bickering contest. I pout off like a little kid to change my theme, maybe a new look will make me feel better. Switch to the first theme, and apply.. Cool, but not cool enough, so I try the next. Dropped down the box, chose one, and clicked apply… BLINK.. plasma crashes, and everything comes back (hey, at least it came back, in 4.0.0 you were left with nothing).

Opened up dolphin, man I think to myself, this thing is snappppppy. I am quite impressed with the performance. I do a few other things that would put you guys to sleep, and log back into my KDE3 session to write this up.

So how would I rate my overall experience? a 7 / 10. A much higher 2 / 10 I would have given 4.0.4. Most my issues seem to be with the panel (I love my little panel). Here are my biggest gripes:
1.) Newly added panel couldn’t be resized
2.) When resized my panel to 24Pixel, the system tray icons were off the screen, and other icons were not scaled (maybe I needed to restart x?, whelp I don’t care to find out).
3.) I couldn’t change the translucency setting on the panel.. (booooo.. ok.. minute point).

A few other things I can’t think of right now.. since I did just get a root canal, and going back for a crown and some fillings..

All in all, I would actually install and use KDE4, if it weren’t on my machine that I use daily for work, and hell I may actually try it for work if I get too bored :o)

I know this is a pretty shotty review, but I plan on doing a much more comprehensive one with openSUSE 11.1 Final, which will include KDE 4.1.2 and GNOME 2.24 (Both installed into a Virtual Machine with all the packages they want from installation), with many more pictures, and quite possibly the installation process :o) So be sure to check back.

Note: I have had other issues with Beta 3, that I did not include in this, since they were not KDE 4.1.2 centric. They include netconfig not using /etc/sysconfig/network/config, and few other very minor “enhancements”. But .. you all the get point, it’s a beta build.

Tags: 11.1, kde4, opensuse