KDE-Forum.org

if i browse internet with konqueror, i'd like to have in menu bar some button like: "export into pdf".... we know it form OOo

ty

I'd like to have different smiles for each protocol in kopete, because it's so stupid when my friend send me message with smiles on the MSN and I have ICQ5 smiles . So I hope I'll see this feature in next relaease of kopete , thanks a lot

Quoted

Originally posted by nardew
if i browse internet with konqueror, i'd like to have in menu bar some button like: "export into pdf".... we know it form OOo

Well, one can print into pdf from any KDE applications that offers printing, including Konqueror

Cheers,
_

Hmm..having just started using KDE and coming from a Windows environment, a few thoughts. Flame away if you must although it's not my intent to irritate anyone. This is just constructive observations for area's that seem like they need work. I feel I have to clarify that simply because the Linux community can get downright hostile if you even mention that they think about doing something like it's done in Windows

A GUI boot loader: I know the Linux Guru's love to tweak things, but a graphical type GRUB would make things easier for the newb in all of us. That doesn't mean they couldn't keep their text version, just offer something a bit better and more intuitive that I can go into to tweak default boot parition, time to wait, etc.

Better driver support:
It's taken me a year of waiting before I find a Linux distribution that works (7.10) with my hardware, and then only because I bought a common Sony Viao laptop. I tried all sorts of distributions with all sorts of script, pages of guides, faq's, etc just to get a wireless card working, all to no avail. Why does it have to be so hard in Linux? If you want mass acceptance, you've really got to work on making things more intuitive and less painful. This doesn't mean trashing the command line, but offer more GUI's for hardware related tasks. You also desperately need a Driver Manager much like the Package Manager (Synaptic comes to mind). It would greatly accelerate acceptance of Linux if folks could just browse a database to find drivers, and click an Install button instead of all the headaches you have to deal with now. The Restricted Driver setup in 7.10 is a great example of that. I've never managed to get OpenGL even working until now. Maybe even something as simple as a URL you could plug into a Driver Manager and some simple version checking logic. I know the vendors would have to agree. Worse case the drivers could be downloaded from the Vendor site and managed like a wiki (with more controls of course) by the Linux community.

Better Wireless support:
This one is a biggie. Most people wouldn't know what to do with a computer these days without an internet connection. It's what has kept me away. The NIC support seems pretty solid, but the wireless support sucks to put it mildly. I was lucky this time. My integrated wireless is supported. Too many folks aren't so lucky. What's the first thing they are told? Well go here, and download this, and compile for this kernel, then run this script, edit this file, blah blah blah. Do you have any idea how overwhelming that can be to someone who is new to Linux? Wireless support should be a top priority. Even in people's home's, wireless is probably more common now than wired.

An Extension Manager:
By extension I mean file type. Here I install Ubuntu and Kubuntu, and I find I can only pick the default app for 3 or 4 major tasks. I don't see an easy, intuitive way to define that I want X app to open Y file type. It should be easier than this. Although I do see an option in KDE to always open a specific file type with a specific app, I don't see any way to easily get a glimpse of all of the currently associated apps and filetypes.

Better WINE Integration:
Let's face it. Windows is here for the long haul. It would make adoption easier if WINE was better integrated into the desktop environment. I know alot of this would fall on the WINE dev's, but hey, this is a wishlist, no? By better, I mean more intuitive launching of executables without the need of the command line. Possibly built in VMWare of some sort that allows you to install and run Windows within the Linux environemnt? Is there an open source project that mimics VMWare?

Performance:
By this I mean GUI performance. Even with the restricted nVidia drivers up and running, refreshes aren't exactly snappy like they are in Windows. I've got a nVidia 8400 GT. It's hardly such a slouch that I should see the screen refreshing. Is this an X thing? Perhaps you should consider forking from the current thinking and build an OS that is designed from the ground up to be object oriented (GUI) but based on Linux? Is such a thing possible? I don't know what I'm trying to say. I know folks love the command line, but why isn't XWindows incorporated into the OS? Doesn't it just sit on top of it? I'm talking about desktop's here, not servers, as a GUI is all but wasted for a server.

GUI Icons and fonts:
Although much of the panel icons look absolutely great, many of the other icons look like something from Windows 3.1. I've checked out a few of the different icon sets. The GUI icons needs a bit of polish. I do love the scaling though. A global scaling setting like the DPI setting in Windows for things like Fonts and Icon sizes would be nice.

A True Control Panel:
It seems like everywhere I look there are specific configuration settings for different area's. Why aren't they all in one place? I don't mean that you shouldn't have multiple ways to get to the settings, but some settings are only available in certain applets, and not in the general settings. I should have a central place where I can go to configure ANYTHING in the OS.

App Install Support:
The Package Managers are a huge improvement over the manual bit. Unfortunately I still see way to many software installs that have you manually installing everything from copying files, creating directories, editing config files, etc. Why is it so easy in Windows yet so hard in Linux? I would think with all of the scripting and free open source tools that things would be much better even for software that falls outside of the package managers. I haven't had to compile anything since I installed 7.10. I've found everything in the package manager so far other than a few WINE apps I couldn't do without. This beats anything in Windows by far as it's a safe, easy, searchable place to install thousands of apps. Any tweaks here are all gravy! I don't think this is something the KDE team could fix, but something that the app designers need to fix. Specifically more work on installers. Maybe a standard that everyone could follow, much like the MSI installers used in Windows?

That's all I can think of at the moment. The latest Kubuntu I'm using is definitely a huge step in the right direction. It's the first distro that I could seriously look at for a replacement to Windows. I haven't booted up my Windows partition all week, and I like it that way I'm psyched!

to reach a kde4 what is acting the way most user want make a deadline for plasma
so it can 1 do what kicker and kwin can do
2 skip all the so called new things

deadline not reached +/- 15 jan 2008 ditch plasma
port kicker and kwin to KDE4 + QT4

Everything working ? yes roll out kde4.0
No Plasma no problem keep it for kde4.1 as a OPTION next to kwin and kikcer !!

By the way kicker works great on KDE4 with KDE3 and KDE4 apps but you have to configure it in KDE3. even the menu works you can start the programs.

KDE4's launcher menu neglects an important fact: cognition and intelligence works better when body motion and spatial interaction are involved.

Unfortunately, KDE4's new menu was designed as for a 1990's cell phone: you flip through menu pages. There is no spatial extension as with classical menus dating from the early 80's. The user no longer has a spatial perception of navigating a hierarchy. You are constrained within a small menu window and have to remember what menu hierarchy you are into, just like on a cell phone. This results in a loss of spatial awareness.

To make things worse, if you leave the menu it stays in its sub-menu state so you have to navigate back to the root of the hierarchy. And you have to click at every step. There is no graphical representation of where you are in the menu tree.

This new menu system, apart from being bad for the user's brain, requires more physical effort: extra left and right motion punctuated by clicks at every menu step. Instead of trying to make a menu that would be as smooth to navigate as a pie menu, the developers have coded a system of closets.

The developers of the KDE4 menu should call in ergonomics experts who will show them how to develop a user-centric UI. What's clear to me is that it is essential to strive to continuously display the hierarchy to the user, possibly graphically scaling down some of it and enlarging the section the user is navigating in. Human motion with mouse, touchpad, or trackpoint should not be hindered: it should be exploited. The dynamics of physical motion and visual perception are essential for human acceptance of an interface. There is no such thing as navigation through static frames. Roboticists have known that since the eighties.

The KDE4 menu navigation should be thrown out. The KDE3 way of navigating the menu should be reinstated until a better design is proposed.

Agreed, I'd love to see kicker ported to kde4.
Then kde4 could be usable

Again the kde4 downloaded now version 4.0.1

Now we can scale the panel !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! at last

It is starting in half the time from kde3

We can add al kind of programs to the panel sitting left next to sound icon
from there you can start them
You even can put a script there Amsn and start it no icon change is possible

so i put firefox xmms amsn dolfin and kink there
programas i use the most.
Kink is a program to check the ink level in your prrinter

Oh and you have to remove .kde4 from your home directory if you have made alterations to it

So botom line K D E 4.0.1 is becoming what we wanted

and fore the time being i keep kde4 as my standard desktop

For opensuse users you can download KDE 4.0.1 from

download.opensuse.org/repositories/KDE:/KDE4:/STABLE:/Extra-Apps/openSUSE_10.3
download.opensuse.org/repositories/KDE:/KDE4:/STABLE:/Desktop/openSUSE_10.3


Have fun all the parts of the panel you can config


Right klicking on a empty part give the config options:
Taskmanager settings / Configure panel

The same for the pager

I second everything DJRUMPY said above me.
Like him I'm from a Windows environment, I just started using Linux (Ubuntu and now Kubuntu) and even though I'm very well versed in all things PC I'm still having a bear of a time with Linux.

Other features/improvements that will help get more users jump to Linux:

1) a ONE-STOP access place to really learn Linux. Currently I'm jumping around on at least fourty different sites to learn and a lot of that info is outdated. There is currently no SINGLE place to really learn Linux from start to moderate/advanced level.

2) easier Wireless setup. On Ubuntu/Gnome wireless is detected automatically and everything works perfectly. On KDE 4.0...well it's not.

3) A utility (online or downloadable) that checks to see if my box runs efficiently.
I upgraded from Ubuntu/Gnome to Kubuntu/KDE4.0 and now have a gazillion apps, many of them running, many others just installed. I can't tell which ones I can get rid of and which ones need to stay.
This part is very confusing too.

4) a easier, more "dumbed down" control panel to customize the look, feel, and behaviour of KDE's desktop environment.
For example, how do I turn off that annoying jumping up-and-down of icons after clicking to launch, but keep everything else?

5) PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, and this is my biggest wish, Linux Gods please don't talk to us newbies in terms of "command lines" and codes.
Even most newbie tutorials talk about a bunch of codes and stuff you have to type in somewhere.
That's not happening right away if you come from Windows or Mac.
Most of us do not understand codes, terminals, or any of that other stuff.
Sad but true. It will change with time but until then PLEASE Linux Gods come down to our level for a moment.

That's it.
Starting to really love Linux btw, looking forward to getting more familiar with it.

DJRUMPY,

(The forum didn't like my fully quoted text - too long, so you'll have to refer to the original - sorry!!)

Quoted

... simply because the Linux community can get downright hostile if you even mention that they think about doing something like it's done in Windows

I know this is unfortunately the case on many forums. If you want open, helpful advice, I personally started my Linux learning with LinuxQuestions.org - most people there are quite helpful and friendly, though anywhere you go, there will always be grumpy people.

In answer to the things you've said, I know they're not all KDE stuff, and some of them are things I would still like to see answered myself, but here goes:

Quoted

A GUI boot loader:

There are various packages you can get to put nice pictures on the bootloader (I'm pretty sure you can with LILO, at least), but I assume that what you mean is more about configuring the bootloader graphically rather than not having to use the cursors to choose the option.

I'm pretty sure I've seen a graphical bootloader setup utility, but unless you routinely add and remove operating systems (you should always install Windows beofre Linux for dual boot anyway), you should be able to leave the automatic setup in place - it's quite reliable.

As far as prettiness is concerned, if you're using (k)Ubuntu (which I guess you are), then have a look at:
Grub Splash Images.

Quoted

Better driver support:

The problem with driver support is that most vendors guard their drivers quite closely, and won't release the source to the community. This means that Linux developers have to write their own drivers, which takes time. There are increasing numbers of developers, notably, but by no means exclusively, ati and hp, who are explicitly supporting Linux, and offering drivers, though still closed source, but written for Linux. Again, if you're buying hardware, I would recommend linuxquestions.org, because there they have 'Hardware Compatibility Lists', where people have tested hardware on their Linux systems and reported their success.

Quoted

Better Wireless support:

The problem is that there are so many different possibilities. If you are using a system like Ubuntu, then your card should be automatically detected. It is improving, but because very few manufacturers bother to include Linux drivers on their CDs, it makes life harder for Linux users. Again, check the HCLs before you buy.

Quoted

An Extension Manager:

The key here is that Linux doesn't rely on 3-letter extensions to define file types (though it does recognise them), it uses 'MIME-types', which are included in the file itself. You can still change the associations though. In KDE3, go to the control panel, advanced page, and go to file associations, and there is a nicely sorted list, and you can change any you want. In KDE4, as far as I know, the only way to get to this at the moment is from within 'Konqueror', go to Settings, Configure Konqueror, and on the left, go to File Management, File Associations, and you'll get the same list. Someone more familiar with KDE4 may be able to tell you where else to access this.

Quoted

Better WINE Integration:

Wine is already quite well integrated with KDE3, if you install windows apps (again through the control panel) they should then be listed under 'Windows Applications' in the 'K' menu.

VMWare is available for Linux, alternatively, there is VirtualBox, of which there is an open source version, which does much the same thing. The only failing is that it doesn't support 3D acceleration, so if you want to play Windows only games, you need either the appropriate version of VMWare or 'Cedega' from TransGaming, which is a commerical version of Wine with DirectX support.

Quoted

Performance:

Windows works in the same sort of way, you just don't see it or have direct access to it. The Windows Graphics drivers are better optimised, but with the improvements in OpenGL support in Linux and the improved manufacturers' drivers, you should see marked improvements. Also bear in mind that much of the graphical prettiness that you see in KDE4 is very new and experimental, and so hasn't itself been optimised or polished, as Microsoft have been able to do with XP.

Quoted

GUI Icons and fonts:

Which sets are you using? Mine are all very pretty . That's one thing I certainly can't fault KDE on, is the prettiness, especially the Keramik style and its variants.

Quoted

A True Control Panel:

This would be nice. KDE already has quite a good system, certainly in KDE3, but this is an incredibly complex task - there are so many different possible combinations that people can have, especially now that kDE4 is being made available for Windows. Most of the common things that you can control easily in Windows have been integrated into the KDE control panel (at least in KDE3, I haven't yet found the KDE4 panel )

Quoted

App Install Support:

The main reason, when you find instructions like these, is that there are so many different versions of Linux to choose from. Often, though, even if you don't find it in the package manager, you should be able to download a '.deb' file from the programmer, unless it's a really small project, which you can then install quite easily. (Synaptic is based on the 'apt-get' package manager, which is itself based on the 'debian' package manager, for which the .deb files are written) This is one of the two leading installers at the moment, and is the absis for Ubuntu. The other is the Red-Hat / Fedora system, '.rpm', though I prefer the '.deb' system.

Quoted

That's all I can think of at the moment. The latest Kubuntu I'm using is definitely a huge step in the right direction. It's the first distro that I could seriously look at for a replacement to Windows. I haven't booted up my Windows partition all week, and I like it that way I'm psyched!

I must admit, I tried several distros before settling on Kubuntu. I began with Mandrake (based on Red Hat) then switched to Red Hat. In both cases, the package management annoyed me (though apparantly it's improved a lot recently - this was about 5 years ago). I then switched to Debian, and then, because I found myself with less time to play when things went wrong, transferred to the slightly more polished, but still fundamentally the same Kubuntu. I no longer even have windows, except as a little toy in my VirtualBox!

In quick reply to DJRUMPY and batavia:

I highly recommend LinuxQuestions.org - there's help for most things.

I would also recommend learning a bit about the terminal, even just at a basic level, it really gives you an insight into what's going on when you click on something. Even when you go back to windows. Once you're used to it, you'll find it far easier to do things than you would with a GUI. When I first started using Linux, I switched from Windows and stayed well away from the command line, but it's really not as scary as it looks.

Admittedly, most of the hints given involving the terminal don't really explain what's going on, what would be really helpful is a sort of 'crash course' in what the terminal can do.

Good luck with Linux.

The Dashboard, Please add manually arrange icons feature!

The Application launcher, option to free it from the confines of that box.
Like classic kde3 but with the new features like favorites/right click
options.

When are we going to get some solid sanity for sound.
phonon/pulseaudio/alsa/oss what a mess, I use usb speakers and/or my
laptop speakers. Maybe one day soon we will be able to just setup
default sound devices.