You are not logged in.

1

Tuesday, September 9th 2008, 1:28pm

KDE 3.5 fork project looking for people

Hi

First i want to apologise - for opening this in the KDE 4 forum. I did it because it seems to be the only forum people i am looking for are reading.

I want to make a fork of KDE 3.5 - basically give it new name and take it forward into the future with the pros it has over other desktops (including KDE 4)

I am looking for devs. People who basically like the idea and who would like to contribute.

To make a good desktop we need good work and motivation. If you have some and want to give it - you are welcome. Please contact me by PM or other means.



Ash

ICQ 5299761908 - remove the 5 from the beginning

Zvezdichko

Beginner

Posts: 4

Location: PLN, Bulgaria

Occupation: student

  • Send private message

2

Thursday, September 11th 2008, 7:48pm

RE: KDE 3.5 fork project looking for people

Errr... do you really believe that your project will ever take off ?

speedyx

Beginner

Posts: 6

Location: Italy

Occupation: Teacher

  • Send private message

3

Thursday, September 11th 2008, 9:37pm

RE: KDE 3.5 fork project looking for people

Please leave the real innovation and progress free of your silly proposal. :thumbdown:
I love [KDE], GNU, Debian and sidux!

calcmandan

Beginner

Posts: 1

Location: Rancho Cordova, CA

Occupation: Office Technician

  • Send private message

4

Friday, September 12th 2008, 8:59pm

Come on guys, be nice. If he wishes to fork kde, let him. He's just trying to gather a development community. KDE is a large project and I wish him luck. I'm just now learning to code and creating a game for KDE. That project alone is massive so hats off to him. I'll happily try his environment when I see early alpha stages. I'm stuck on KDE 3, and frightened of 4.

5

Sunday, September 14th 2008, 5:01pm

RE: RE: RE: KDE 3.5 fork project looking for people

OH THANK GOD! I've been trying to set up KDE 4.1.1, and my head is about to explode. So what can non-developers do to help?

Errr... do you really believe that your project will ever take off ?


There's no way of knowing, without trying, but I think that any attempt to fork KDE 3 should start modestly, and be more about maintanance than development.

This aspect of free software is essentially a force of nature, and it is not for you or I any one person to determine. If a fork of KDE 3 is not necessary, it won't happen. If it is necessary, it will. The answer will be worked out, according to the needs of the community, and where KDE4 is going.

Please leave the real innovation and progress free of your silly proposal. :thumbdown:


Well, that's what it's all about, isn't it? Leaving KDE4 to the KDE4 people. I've installed three different version of KDE 4, and, sorry, but I hate it like poison. I want to like it, even managed to convince myself that I did for a while. But lots of people do like it. KDE4 is actually pretty good, it's important groundbreaking yadda yadda yadda, but it's made with people who work differently than I do in mind, and trying to reconcile my methods to KDE4 has driven me about as close to tears as a 50 year old man should be driven.

KDE4 succeeds for many, perhaps most, but it may not be all things to all people, and IMO KDE3 is the highest epression of the desktop pardigm that has existed for twenty five years. For some people the fact that's been around so long is a reason to get rid of it, but there's another way of looking at that. I think people get carried away with innovation. You wind up trying to eat your corn flakes with an electronic spoon. I saw an article about how "experts" are saying that in five years all mice will be replaced by touchscreens. I can probably list 150 reasons why that's not going to happen, which is not to say that touch screens don't have applications. Last year I was reading about how Second Life was the future of the internet, and how we're all going to be doing our online shopping in virtual reality. Second Life is awesome. In my second life, I'm a lesbian punk rock stripper... but if you've ever dragged your avatar through a virtual shopping mall, you know that this is not the kind of fast, efficient experience that online shopping is known for.

One reason why I briefly thought I liked KDE4 was because I keep finding things in KDE4 that impress the hell out of me, but then they don't turn out to be very useful. Like the terminal window in Dolphin that follows you from directory to directory. Really impressive, can't imagine what I would do with it. But I bet that somebody will. KDE4 is NOT an electronic spoon, It's the forerunner of a lot of great technology to come. But it's not a good reason to throw over the great technology that is.

Most forks fail, but most forks attempt to take things in a new direction. In this, case, technically, KDE4 is the fork.

Most fork attempts don't succeed, and this one may not, but I promise you, this isn't the only proposal out there. When fork attempts succeed, I suspect it's because there's more than one valid way to go. If someone wants to go another way, don't take is an affront to your way. KDE4 is a great desktop... for KDE4 people.

Actually, I do like KDE4, and would occasionally use it if it wasn't threatening to destroy my desktop.

This post has been edited 3 times, last edit by "blackbelt_jones" (Sep 14th 2008, 7:08pm)


6

Monday, September 15th 2008, 3:56am

Okay Ash, now before I was still seething from today's encounter with KDE 4.1.1. But in a more considered frame of mind, I would caution you against rushing into a forking project too quickly.

KDE3 may be in long term danger, but KDE3 still lives. The latest release was just a few weeks ago. I'm sure somebody's going to fork KDE3, and when it happens, KDE may, quite understandably, decide their work on KDE3 is done, and withdraw support, so if the fork fails, we could all be high and dry.

While we still have KDE3, we might as well wait and see where KDE4 is headed. Or whether we change our minds and decide KDE4 doesn't suck ass after all.

IMO, the smart thing to do is simply start building a social network. Perhaps you'd like to be the third person to join my KDE3 users group at face book? Or start a blog. Etc.

One thing that might work, might be fun to try, and a maybe even a great learning experience for non programmer,might be to simply take the latest KDE3 code and go through it renaming everything. If it would compile, it would be completely seperate form KDE4, and stop getting all tangled up and cross-wired in our systems. I wonder if it would really be that simple. I have no idea.

This post has been edited 2 times, last edit by "blackbelt_jones" (Sep 15th 2008, 4:29am)


seekyou

Unregistered

7

Thursday, September 18th 2008, 8:59am

If he wishes to fork kde, let him. He's just trying to gather a development community. KDE is a large project and I wish him luck. I'm just now learning to code and creating a game for KDE. That project alone is massive so hats off to him.

8

Sunday, September 21st 2008, 10:29pm

RE: KDE 3.5 fork project looking for people

Hi

First i want to apologise - for opening this in the KDE 4 forum. I did it because it seems to be the only forum people i am looking for are reading.

I want to make a fork of KDE 3.5 - basically give it new name and take it forward into the future with the pros it has over other desktops (including KDE 4)

I am looking for devs. People who basically like the idea and who would like to contribute.

To make a good desktop we need good work and motivation. If you have some and want to give it - you are welcome. Please contact me by PM or other means.



Ash

ICQ 5299761908 - remove the 5 from the beginning
There are one or two devs over at the ArchLinux forums who are talking about the same thing at http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=422980#p422980
One in particular has come up with some concrete ideas for the infrastructure (Git vs SVN, etc) and there is/will be a need for non-ArchLinux users to help out. If you're serious about this and not talking through your hat, go over there and see what you can find...if nothing else, you might learn about what it'll take to pull this off. I personally like the idea and believe KDE3 has more room for growth (even the K devs treat it as a separate desktop) and I can't code but I can beta-test all day long (well okay, not literally :D but I have a couple of rigs and the latest of both VMware Workstation and VirtualBox)-
Intel Q6600 2.4GHz @ 3438MHz
Gigabyte 965-DS3
6GB Geil DDR2-800
XFX GeForce 9600GT

9

Sunday, September 21st 2008, 10:51pm

RE: RE: KDE 3.5 fork project looking for people

Hi

First i want to apologise - for opening this in the KDE 4 forum. I did it because it seems to be the only forum people i am looking for are reading.

I want to make a fork of KDE 3.5 - basically give it new name and take it forward into the future with the pros it has over other desktops (including KDE 4)

I am looking for devs. People who basically like the idea and who would like to contribute.

To make a good desktop we need good work and motivation. If you have some and want to give it - you are welcome. Please contact me by PM or other means.



Ash

ICQ 5299761908 - remove the 5 from the beginning
There are one or two devs over at the ArchLinux forums who are talking about the same thing at http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=422980#p422980
One in particular has come up with some concrete ideas for the infrastructure (Git vs SVN, etc) and there is/will be a need for non-ArchLinux users to help out. If you're serious about this and not talking through your hat, go over there and see what you can find...if nothing else, you might learn about what it'll take to pull this off. I personally like the idea and believe KDE3 has more room for growth (even the K devs treat it as a separate desktop) and I can't code but I can beta-test all day long (well okay, not literally :D but I have a couple of rigs and the latest of both VMware Workstation and VirtualBox)-


Are you talking to ash? Or are you talking to me? You seem to have linked to my post in the archlinux forum.

10

Sunday, September 21st 2008, 11:37pm

RE: RE: RE: KDE 3.5 fork project looking for people



Hi

First i want to apologise - for opening this in the KDE 4 forum. I did it because it seems to be the only forum people i am looking for are reading.

I want to make a fork of KDE 3.5 - basically give it new name and take it forward into the future with the pros it has over other desktops (including KDE 4)

I am looking for devs. People who basically like the idea and who would like to contribute.

To make a good desktop we need good work and motivation. If you have some and want to give it - you are welcome. Please contact me by PM or other means.



Ash

ICQ 5299761908 - remove the 5 from the beginning
There are one or two devs over at the ArchLinux forums who are talking about the same thing at http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=422980#p422980
One in particular has come up with some concrete ideas for the infrastructure (Git vs SVN, etc) and there is/will be a need for non-ArchLinux users to help out. If you're serious about this and not talking through your hat, go over there and see what you can find...if nothing else, you might learn about what it'll take to pull this off. I personally like the idea and believe KDE3 has more room for growth (even the K devs treat it as a separate desktop) and I can't code but I can beta-test all day long (well okay, not literally :D but I have a couple of rigs and the latest of both VMware Workstation and VirtualBox)-


Are you talking to ash? Or are you talking to me? You seem to have linked to my post in the archlinux forum.
D'OH!
Well, both of you actually...the more interest we can generate the better, I think-
Intel Q6600 2.4GHz @ 3438MHz
Gigabyte 965-DS3
6GB Geil DDR2-800
XFX GeForce 9600GT

11

Sunday, September 28th 2008, 12:08pm

excellent idea! =)

I must confess the last version of KDE i really used effectivelly were 1.1, and became a Gnome/Fluxbox user since there.

Since i enjoyed a lot the appearing of those new GTK-based window managers like LXDE, i got really curious about what can appear from the QT side.

And of course, a KDE3 fork may be atractive for all those people are not enjoying the way KDE4 development is going, which their development can be a strong critical reference, which will be surelly very positive for the QT4 and KDE4 development!

Congratulations about your initiative!

12

Sunday, September 28th 2008, 6:18pm

If i understand correctly then what people who dont like kde4 dont like it because of how desktop works, if thats the case then wouldnt be lot simpler to gather dev team who would add classic behavior mode as option to kde4...

13

Monday, September 29th 2008, 5:52am

If i understand correctly then what people who dont like kde4 dont like it because of how desktop works, if thats the case then wouldnt be lot simpler to gather dev team who would add classic behavior mode as option to kde4...
Unfortuantely it's not that simple, otherwise they'd have just ported all the KDE3 code for the things we don't like/don't have in KDE4. The thing to remember is that KDE4 is a clean-sheet design; they'd already clarified that importing stuff wholesale from KDE3 would break a lot of new things and objectively I can understand their point; I just disagree with their Microsoft-esque "reinvent-the-wheel" approach to doing it.
That said, your idea has merit, but I get the feeling the devs would not care for having to make concessions in what they already have just for the rest of us. It would be nice, but I think as impractical as it sounds, forking KDE3 would be a better way to go about it in the long run; that way you don't have conflicting goals, because realistically the KDE devs want to see KDE4 go forward, and we at the same time would like to see KDE3 go forward since it still has so much potential left-
Intel Q6600 2.4GHz @ 3438MHz
Gigabyte 965-DS3
6GB Geil DDR2-800
XFX GeForce 9600GT

14

Saturday, October 4th 2008, 2:06am

Maybe I am trying to split hairs, but "forking" KDE wouldn't be a fork at all.
KDE3 and KDE4 are two entirely different desktops. So it is not a matter of forking, rather allowing both to survive. That is what KDE developers and everybody else should understand. When you fall in love with a lovely girl, do you kill your granny because she is old?

15

Saturday, December 12th 2009, 3:51am


If i understand correctly then what people who dont like kde4 dont like it because of how desktop works, if thats the case then wouldnt be lot simpler to gather dev team who would add classic behavior mode as option to kde4...
Unfortuantely it's not that simple, otherwise they'd have just ported all the KDE3 code for the things we don't like/don't have in KDE4. The thing to remember is that KDE4 is a clean-sheet design; they'd already clarified that importing stuff wholesale from KDE3 would break a lot of new things and objectively I can understand their point; I just disagree with their Microsoft-esque "reinvent-the-wheel" approach to doing it.
That said, your idea has merit, but I get the feeling the devs would not care for having to make concessions in what they already have just for the rest of us. It would be nice, but I think as impractical as it sounds, forking KDE3 would be a better way to go about it in the long run; that way you don't have conflicting goals, because realistically the KDE devs want to see KDE4 go forward, and we at the same time would like to see KDE3 go forward since it still has so much potential left-
Excellent description of the situation.
Maybe I am trying to split hairs, but "forking" KDE wouldn't be a fork at all.
KDE3 and KDE4 are two entirely different desktops. So it is not a matter of forking, rather allowing both to survive. That is what KDE developers and everybody else should understand. When you fall in love with a lovely girl, do you kill your granny because she is old?
I agree. Regardless of what you want to call it, that's what I have done:
http://trinity.pearsoncomputing.net

I am looking for any devs, artwork people, translators, UI design reviewers, etc. that would like to help out. The project has not been stagnant for the past year either; in fact, KDE3.5 has grown a lot of useful new features for display management, authentication, and networking, all without changing the basic user experience one bit!

If you'd like to help out, please let me know at kb9vqf@pearsoncomputing.net I'm still uploading all the changes to SVN and finishing the website, but you get the idea. :-)

Let's keep the KDE3.5 UI alive for years to come...

Timothy Pearson
Trinity Developer

16

Thursday, August 12th 2010, 1:05pm

Quoted

Regardless of what you want to call it, that's what I have done:
http://trinity.pearsoncomputing.net


Hi the link doesn't work (connection refused). Has this project moved somewhere?

I just "upgraded" from 3.5 to 4.4 and well nothing works correctly and I really do not like the direction the interface is going.

Are there any other projects that going to maintain the good interface of 3.5 while updating it?

Thanks in advance.

17

Friday, March 4th 2011, 1:14am

This is one fork I would like to see

Hello, and sorry for negativity on my first post. I've been following this whole shennanigan for some time.

I'm afraid I really don't like KDE4. It has gone off the rails and into the grass.

KDE3 was close to being the perfect desktop - it was better than Windows, especially since it was a real multiuser desktop (hey its X). It was better than GNOME by a country mile, better than XFCE (a cut down fast GNOME - why? Why bother?), and in my op. MUCH better than Aqua.

Then the next moment..... all is flaming wreckage. Konqueror's ergonomics in ruins, this STUUUUPID Dolphin file browser, the panels are hard to use, the desktop is complicated, the settings are difficult to access. Its just a wrong move.

It is, however, typical of what happens when a big project with many minds gets to rewrite point - it gets rewritten. And not necessarily to the best outcome. This is not restricted to o/s projects either, commercial entities do it too - Syntrillium wrecked CoolEdit, Microsoft's new desktop is a joke, Apple break something important with almost every release, it just goes on.

So to all who worked on KDE4. Thank you, but seriously no thanks. At least, please consider a 'KDE3 behaviour' module if such is even possible.

Because right now, KDE4 does not compete - there is no compelling reason to use it versus GNOME or XFCE, whereas with KDE3 the project was very much ahead of the pack.

In short: I forking, especially the Trinity fork, but I would love for the 4 team to see the error of their ways and work back towards the 3 ergonomics, because they were what made KDE truly special.

Thanks for listening. ;(

Similar threads