KDE-Forum.org

I have been an Ubuntu/mandrake/blag/redhat user for 5 years... but I've always used gnome.

I recently installed the new Ubuntu karmic on my Toshiba laptop, and I have to say I kept eyeing the new KDE because - well, it looks sexy.

Looks, are not everything.

I was cautious; I created a dual-boot setup with gnome on one partition and kde on the other. So far, so good.

The first problem came with moving files across my LAN. I was playing a movie through dragon player from a media server in the living room, when the player just froze. At first i thought it was the codec. or the player. but after screwing with that for a hour, I found out that KDE just couldn't move a large file over the network... the connection would always break, and i would get a source not found error. Internet stuff worked fine, but localnet, no. And it wasn't just necessarily large files. Sometimes small ones, too. In fact, the more I played with it, it seemed like the connection would randomly drop anywhere between 30 secs and 15 minutes into the transfer. I shrugged, assumed it was some obscure samba issue. It didn't matter whether it was linux on the other end/kde/gnome/or even windowsxp. Or whether it was wireless or jacked in. i continued to use the laptop, even though I had to sneakernet some files to work on. Because I wanted to believe.

Meanwhile, the gnome installation on the same laptop has no problems. All transfers worked fine.


Then, two days ago, my primary system - a dual boot xp/unbuntu gnome installation crashed (hard drive failure). So, I thought: here's a great chance to rebuild from scratch! I figured I'd put the new KDE on it (a dell), and I'd see whether it was a problem that was unique to the toshiba.

It wasn't. kde still dropped transfers. gnome ok. windows ok.

But, playing with the desktop was fun. I made a plasmoid with a folder of backup files from my old desktop so I can look through them. The folder copied over from the old usb drive as "Desktop", because that's what it was called. Stupid me, I tried to change the name of the folder to "OldDesktop". So I right clicked and selected "rename", and put in the new name. What did kde do? well, it started creating a new folder under it called "OldDesktop" and began copying the files into it. Since it was 10gigs, I had to put a stop to that.

It took forever to finally stop it. I right clicked on the new folder and selected "move to trash". What does KDE do? well, it moves it to the trash. Slowly. Like it's actually transferring files between drives - only one drive, though. then it stop halfway and says the trash can is full and to empty it immediately. Which I did, and all the junk from the icon disappeared. I pulled the rest of the folder over, and emptied the trash again afterwards. all gone.

So I right click on the original folder icon, select icon properites and go "aha! I'll just rename the Icon description/name". Same thing happens; it begins to copy the folder into another folder with the new name. It takes another 5 minutes to get it to abort the process. I pull it to the trash, but this time it tells me it's full already. When it isn't.

But what do I know? - I try to just delete the folder, and skip the trash can. I try every keypress, every right click, no options... it's seemingly impossible. I try logging in as root. I try shutdown/restarting. I go through the forums for an hour, trying every friggin solution to empty a trashcan that already appears to be empty. No dice.

So what do I have? A linux system that can't transfer a decent file for any length of time, can't rename a simple folder on the desktop without copying it, and can't seem to delete anything or even empty the friggin trashcan. I'm tired, and I can't take it anymore. I just spent 14 hours, and have absolutely nothing to show for it.

Yes, KDE is beautiful. It's so sexy and GNOME is so clunky - but, dude, it shouldn't be this hard to transfer files. I should be able to rename a folder. the trash should empty. even windows can empty the trash.

I have a friend Chelsea. She's incredibly hot, but so painfully stupid I could never date her - this is a lot like that, I think.