KDE ships version 5.2 of plasma next workspace

[simonlang]

moddified login screen - i like it better now

 

 

 

[Nick H. Supervisor]

This looks pretty neat. Since I have the time on my hands at the moment, I'll probably give this a go when I get back home tomorrow. (Y)

[simonlang]

This looks pretty neat. Since I have the time on my hands at the moment, I'll probably give this a go when I get back home tomorrow. (Y)

 

you won't regret it mate. look and feel is superb.

[margrave]

Such potential.... much hope..... and much fear though....

[Menge]

The concepts in previous pages have potential, but KDE designers/developers always had so much trouble with proper UI element spacing that I can't hope for much right now.

 

Fingers crossed that the previous concepts will be implemented!

[Quillz]

This is a really stupid question, but why does the KDE scroll bars by default always have two up/left arrows but one down/right arrow? That's always bothered me.

 

Anyway, downloading Kubuntu 14.04, since I haven't played with KDE in a long time. (Way back when I used to use openSUSE briefly). From there, how do I go about installing the Plasma/KDE 5 beta?

[simonlang]

This is a really stupid question, but why does the KDE scroll bars by default always have two up/left arrows but one down/right arrow? That's always bothered me.

 

because KDE is by far the most innovative desktop/window concept/manager out there. you can add some (but not all) features under windows by paying about 50$ for stardocks object desktop.

you really have to try it out by yourself to find out everything. i dont even talk now about different themes or window decorations, but about the possibility to roll up / pin any window, set every single window or program to start everytine on a given pixel-size / position / desktop number. the best feature is you can open lets say Konsole (terminal) and then you open your irc proggy (quassel) then you can merge both of them into a single tabbed window. (it gives you tabs for different programs in a single window like the tabbed-browsing function)...  you can do this with ANY program running on KDE. once used you dont wanna miss it anymore.

 

same goes with the scroll bars.... the fact that the scroll-up bar is next to scroll down is because it saves time. you scroll down on a page... wanna scroll up again? on mac osx/windows you have to move your mousecursor all overon top the screen to being able to do so ... no need on KDE based distros... the scroll up is next to scroll down....

(yes, i know you can also scroll with your mouse wheel but its not that precise....)

 

again: KDE is the most innovative way to control your progams/windows ever seen on a desktop- i would be shamed to red faces if i was apple or microsoft for offering only 1/3rd (!) of what KDE offers and even asking money for it. 

its that clear. any KDE user will confirm it.  take a live dvd boot a kde distro and give it a try. you will see what i mean. feature wise NOTHING beats KDE.  their file manager dolphin is pure porn. what MS sells as new in their win 8x explorer has been there for YEARS on dolphin... 

 

Anyway, downloading Kubuntu 14.04, since I haven't played with KDE in a long time. (Way back when I used to use openSUSE briefly). From there, how do I go about installing the Plasma/KDE 5 beta?

 

 

please just read what repo i hinted on above..... its really easy .... 

[Quillz]

I've always found KDE a bit bloated for my tastes. That's why I haven't used it in quite some time, I generally stick with Unity, GNOME or something similar, like MATE.

[simonlang]

i don't judge memory consumption here. i am running 4GB and thats fine with kde. the gr8 thing with linux is that even if you run 256 or 512mb these days you will find a distro suiting your specs. 

feature wise alone KDE is unbeaten yet. 

[LOC Veteran]

Man I really wish Wubi was still being worked on. I'd really like to install Kubuntu through that and try this stuff out.

[Brandon H Supervisor]

Man I really wish Wubi was still being worked on. I'd really like to install Kubuntu through that and try this stuff out.

wubi isn't dead it's still being worked on. it's just on indefinite hold to the public till they can figure out how to get it to work with uefi without breaking everything

[simonlang]

wubi isn't dead it's still being worked on. it's just on indefinite hold to the public till they can figure out how to get it to work with uefi without breaking everything

And till then... Use virtualbox. Linux is really worth a try

[Quillz]

I finally got Kubuntu up and running on VirtualBox... Playing around with KDE again for the first time in several years. I've never used the 4.x series so I'll see what I can do with it.

[LOC Veteran]

wubi isn't dead it's still being worked on. it's just on indefinite hold to the public till they can figure out how to get it to work with uefi without breaking everything

 

Well, there's no download for it from them. I can download from other sources though and give it a go that way of course.

 

And yeah, I could use Virtualbox I suppose. But I've got Android going on there already, so ehhhh. Maybe after I build my new system tomorrow I'll just make an extra partition and just throw a Linux distro on there.

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

i don't judge memory consumption here. i am running 4GB and thats fine with kde. the gr8 thing with linux is that even if you run 256 or 512mb these days you will find a distro suiting your specs. 

feature wise alone KDE is unbeaten yet. 

 

It's not only your memory that fails in KDE. It's also your GPU that has to keep up with all the bells and whistles. I never liked KDE (Kubuntu) in the past...

[Max Norris]

Yea a virtual machine is a good option for experimentation.  My workstation has VMWare that gets a pretty healthy workout with plenty of distros for toying with, plus Hyper-V running a few server installs full time on another system.  Not a fan of dual-booting if I can help it. I'd be a little leery about Wubi as well, have had good results and one very bad result, use with caution... personally you'd be better off just using a spare partition, a lot safer and more reliable.  (Faster too.) 

 

It's not only your memory that fails in KDE. It's also your GPU that has to keep up with all the bells and whistles. I never liked KDE (Kubuntu) in the past...

I've had mixed feelings about Kubuntu too, well the 'buntu's in general lately.  Just my opinion, I've personally had better results with OpenSUSE (which does a great KDE desktop) and Arch if you like a more vanilla install.  Power wise *shrug* my workstation isn't hurting for resources, it can go nuts and bring on the bells and whistles, if I wanted lightweight I'd look elsewhere heh.  That aside I've always been a fan of KDE as far as desktops go, even got it running on a couple of my Windows boxes just for giggles, just wish they'd get that version up to speed.. lagging behind.  Very flexible but doesn't go off into left-field when it comes to updates and improvements.. KDE 4 isn't that much different than 3 from an end user perspective (mostly), but has a nice evolution.  Gnome on the other hand, yikes, bigger "WTF did they do?" than Windows 8.

[Quillz]

Played with KDE 4 a bit, it's not bad. But at the same time, it also feels hard to get it exactly how I want.

 

Some random things...

 

1. I don't care for the GUI sliders when it comes to adjusting panel sizes. Is there a way via the Terminal I can set the exact pixel height I want? I want them as small as possible, but too small, and it messes up the icons and text labels.
2. On Kubuntu, it seems there are far fewer PPA-based KDE themes. So I'm stuck with manual installation. Do I put theme files into /usr/share/themes like on Ubuntu?

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

Yea a virtual machine is a good option for experimentation.  My workstation has VMWare that gets a pretty healthy workout with plenty of distros for toying with, plus Hyper-V running a few server installs full time on another system.  Not a fan of dual-booting if I can help it. I'd be a little leery about Wubi as well, have had good results and one very bad result, use with caution... personally you'd be better off just using a spare partition, a lot safer and more reliable.  (Faster too.) 

 

I've had mixed feelings about Kubuntu too, well the 'buntu's in general lately.  Just my opinion, I've personally had better results with OpenSUSE (which does a great KDE desktop) and Arch if you like a more vanilla install.  Power wise *shrug* my workstation isn't hurting for resources, it can go nuts and bring on the bells and whistles, if I wanted lightweight I'd look elsewhere heh.  That aside I've always been a fan of KDE as far as desktops go, even got it running on a couple of my Windows boxes just for giggles, just wish they'd get that version up to speed.. lagging behind.  Very flexible but doesn't go off into left-field when it comes to updates and improvements.. KDE 4 isn't that much different than 3 from an end user perspective (mostly), but has a nice evolution.  Gnome on the other hand, yikes, bigger "WTF did they do?" than Windows 8.

 

Try playing games and getting ~50fps, on low grade card, you aint getting that.

 

I do agree, GNOME has gone with the Dodo. Unity, too. Try not to be just yourself....

 

 

Played with KDE 4 a bit, it's not bad. But at the same time, it also feels hard to get it exactly how I want.

 

Some random things...

 

1. I don't care for the GUI sliders when it comes to adjusting panel sizes. Is there a way via the Terminal I can set the exact pixel height I want? I want them as small as possible, but too small, and it messes up the icons and text labels.
2. On Kubuntu, it seems there are far fewer PPA-based KDE themes. So I'm stuck with manual installation. Do I put theme files into /usr/share/themes like on Ubuntu?

 

 

Anything you can do in GUI, you can do with terminal. Not sure where you set that, though.

 

I do believe that is the correct directory.

[simonlang]

It's not only your memory that fails in KDE. It's also your GPU that has to keep up with all the bells and whistles. I never liked KDE (Kubuntu) in the past...

 

imho it has improved - a LOT. finished another kubuntu installation on my notebook - a hp255 g1. and im surprised how fast kde runs there. as i am limited due to my screen resolution (1366x768 on a 15'') i switched from desktop to netbook interface. i dont know why i havent tried out this earlier. its amazingly good and fast and easy to figure out. :D

[Max Norris]

Try playing games and getting ~50fps, on low grade card, you aint getting that.

I do agree, GNOME has gone with the Dodo. Unity, too. Try not to be just yourself....

Eh it's a VM, if I'm gaming it won't be in the virtual machine anyway, the host does that exceptionally well, the VM doesn't bring anything that I can't already do. It does do 3D hardware acceleration though, just for giggles I have done gaming in a VMWare virtual machine.. nothing to brag about but it's totally playable and all things considered does it surprisingly well for what it it, at least on my hardware anyway.  But being 3D accelerated, it does the "normal desktop stuff" very well, which is what I use it for.  If I wanted *Nix gaming, I'd go the dual boot route obviously.  Of course that "low grade card" is an issue, I wouldn't even bother if that's the case.  I did mention I'm not a fan of dual booting if I can help it though, counter-productive for my needs.. don't need to waste the time and lose the interop when I can do it all at the same time. Set this system up with a lot of memory specifically for that, between the normal VM interop plus a local X server running on the Windows host, it's the perfect setup for me.

[Nick H. Supervisor]

So I finally got round to installing this on my Dell D630. Having not played around with Linux too much in the past I've got to say that I'm liking this a lot so far. A couple of bugs here and there, but overall I could get very used to it.

I'm going to set myself the challenge of trying to use this machine for 2 weeks or so without going back to my Mac. The only exception to this challenge will be watching videos for the moment, and that's only because the macbook has the better screen attached. :laugh:

[simonlang]

So I finally got round to installing this on my Dell D630. Having not played around with Linux too much in the past I've got to say that I'm liking this a lot so far. A couple of bugs here and there, but overall I could get very used to it.

I'm going to set myself the challenge of trying to use this machine for 2 weeks or so without going back to my Mac. The only exception to this challenge will be watching videos for the moment, and that's only because the macbook has the better screen attached. :laugh:

 

i just was about to pm you asking how its going ...  try out the desktop effects.... wobbly windows, desktop cube, desktop cylinder and also the function to invert the active window or the whole screen colors is awesome. and ksnapshot ofc.  the only screenshot tool with some proper export functions. :D

[HawkMan]

You actually have wobbly windows on? On purpose?

[simonlang]

You actually have wobbly windows on? On purpose?

 

yep i have. i think this is one of the best effect ever.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

yep i have. i think this is one of the best effect ever.

I've tried the window effects like wobbly windows back in 2005. I didn't see the point in them then, nor do I see a point in them now.