[kwlug-disc] Kubuntu 16.04 Questions

[Ronald Barnes]

B.S. wrote on 2017-03-16 05:12 PM:


>>> It also
>>>> seems to have gone down the path of we know better than the user what
>>>> they want, and started to dumb down things and not making them as
>>>> configurable (KDE's traditional forte).
>
> Do you have any sense that this is/not a Kubuntu thing more than a KDE
> thing? Or more a KDE Plasma 5 than a Plasma 4 thing?

I think it's a Plasma 5 thing.

There's still a lot of configurability but things are less discoverable, 
I find.  And personally, I hate the "flat look" that a lot of modern OSs 
are going for. Plasma 5 has embraced this look.

Perhaps there are themes that can be downloaded that I'd find preferable 
but honestly, I can't be bothered.  Tweaking various settings produced 
an acceptable effect.



> My 12.04 machine appears to be KDE 4.14.2, 14.04 4.13.3, and my just
> installed / waiting in the wings Debian (8.7) Jessie [3.16.0] is 4.14.2.
>
> This thread makes me wonder if the problem is actually KDE 5, and I
> should try to avoid it as long as possible?

I really liked the 4.x versions.  I avoided Plasma 5 as long as possible.

However, I wanted KDE *and* systemd (see, I don't hate all changes), so 
... found going back to 14.04 was uncomfortable.



>>> Yeah, I recoiled at the "KDE5" when "upgrading" from KDE4.  Have gotten
>>> used to it though and it's now working for me reasonably well.
>>>
>>
>> One other thing is that stuff in the panel would work then stop working
>> (e.g. the widget showing CPU/Memory, ..etc is supposed to pop up the
>> KSysGuard window when clicked). It does work for a couple of times, then
>> stops responding to clicks until I restart KDE/Plasma.
>
> KDE 5 growing pains, much as experienced when we went from 3 to 4?

I switched to KDE once v4 was stable, though I heard about the 
disruption.  It was when Gnome went "nuts" (2.x -> 3.x) that I dove into 
KDE.

tl;dr version: I don't know.  I'm at KDE 5.8.x now; the kinks ought to 
be worked out. They mostly are.



>> If you (anyone) wants the best KDE on Ubuntu 16.04, may I recommend
>>> KDEneon?  A more up-to-date KDE on top of 16.04 LTS.
>
> A real quick boo made me think LTS with plasma backports ppa. No?

Seems like an accurate description.  /etc/apt/sources.list has all 
Ubuntu xenial repos, and /etc/apt/sources.list.d/neon.list has:

> deb http://archive.neon.kde.org/user/lts xenial main
> deb-src http://archive.neon.kde.org/user/lts xenial main




> Thank you (both)! This thread definitely caught my attention - long time
> KDE/Kubuntu user [the desktop being but a interface to getting actual
> work done via apps (LibreOffice, kate, web, whatever), not
> OS'/desktops]. The heads up of this thread is appreciated. KDE
> 'surprises' historically being rather ... excruciating.

Glad to be able to partake in the discussion.


Would recommend taking a peek at KDEneon when evaluating whether to upgrade.

Best wishes with which ever choices you make.


rb
-- 
Linux systems, databases, network admin