KDE-Forum.org

Hi

I did use a lot of weeks the pre-distribution Kubuntu 7.10 with KDE 4.0 remastered 540 Mb and did encontre different difficulties:

- the Package manager don't work
- after more installations, Package manager work bad and generate a great disturb
- Synaptic makes errors (don't finish and block Linux by shutdown)
- Kopete, the most interessant part of KDE 4.0 for me, don't work because no messenger provider list is included and it is not possible to enter it in an entry field: there is no entry field for this purpose, only the empty selection list!
- the screen is not stable (the background picture disappairs often!)

I did erase Kubuntu 7.10 KDE 4.0 with Kubuntu 8.04 alpha, then beta, then RC and in the last days 8.04 with KDE 4.0 regular release.

The problems with the Package manager continue. The most important problem now, is that the Package manager don't recognize it the installation require an acceptation from user (typical: installation from JRE 1.6 full release from Sun, but also different languages packages where you have to select a main language etc.). It is an horror!

Synaptic also makes troubles at the end. No amelioration (but synaptic is not part of the official actual distribution).

The webcam view is very bad. I find no way to reajust the color. It is difficult to select the light and contrast in Kopete. You only can do it with the silly dilly push/pull buttons ; I find it would be really more easy to enter an value like "contrast 47 %" or "brightness 40 %" . An I know that the libjasper-runtime is required to use the webcam in Kopete (not only libjasperl!) and not preinstalled (libjasperl is preinstalled!)

An a lot of KDE 4 applications I will use, proposed in the experimental system on Kubuntu 7.10 are not available (KWrite, very faster than Kate, educational applications etc.). Different parts did make difficulties to install (especially Rosegarden 4).

So I did reinstall today the experimental system on Kubuntu 7.10 with KDE 4.0 in an ISO with 540 Mb after 2 or 3 months of unproductive testing of the other versions...

Because I have in this version the best environment for real usage of the system.

This evening, I can use my system better as in the stable Kubuntu 8.10 with KDE 4.03

But I did have to use tricks, of course.

So

I know the problems with the package manager, I did absolutely not use this program now (I would interesting to erase it! it is a source of problems and lose of time!) and use only the couple Aptitude and Apt-get (probably would Apt-get be enough but I am not experimented to work with commando line programs as in IBM DOS or CP/M !)

Kopete has no provider list (it is the same as 2 or 3 months ago); ok, I did install Gaim for MS-Windows in Wine in my "pseudo C:". but it will not start. So I did install after that Miranda 0.7.4 (for Windows) and it works! It is the same with Skype 2.0 (both works: linux version and windows versions completely different from Kopete: both don't work linux version, in my edition, and windows version)!

The Media player is a small and completely unsatisfacting thing. So I did install VLC . With this equipment, I can open and look to the news film from http://jt.france2.fr/13h (a difficult job for the most linux's) in Firefox 2.14 (Konqueror for KDE 4. don't recognize the plugins for Mozilla correctly ). The KMixer didn't start so I did have to install the Alsa GUI to make the sound of the video supportable!

And I am happy to find in this distribution only the Open Office Write without to must to install also all the other parts that I never use! I am happy to use Magic Point and Kspreadsheet and I find it is a bad abusive thing from the developers from OO to force the user to spend as much hard disk capacity for a thing the most users never use because Open Office is very slow in such applications!

I would appreciate to learn how to enter (a list of) providers in Kopete 4.0 because I need Kopete and better with webcam to avoid to have to use Skype (I use Yahoo, MSN and ICQ). Skype is good of course but it is a proprietary solution.

Different icones are not available in the old version (for Dolfin, Terminal, KDE configurator etc.); I suppose that it would be amended in case of upgrade of Kubuntu. But I am not experimented to make the upgrade manually (for the transition from Kubuntu 7.04 to 7.10, Ubuntu did give us a little download to start the upgrade so we never have to become a commando line freak !).

I hope that this little report can be used by the KDE 4.0 developers.

Salut