Maverick KDE 3.5.12 released

[CraigPaleo]

If you're feeling nostalgic, try the live CD

http://apt.pearsoncomputing.net/cdimages/index.html (At the time of this post, only the Desktop CD version has been uploaded to the servers)


I had never used 3.5 or older so this was a little refreshing for me. It's a little to cartoonish for everyday use for me but I'm sure those icons can be changed.

I haven't installed it nor do I plan to. I just don't see the point in it but it did run quite snappily from the live CD. Amarok was amazing back then.

[NightwishFan]

KDE 3.5 was the epitome of awesome. Check out this one:
http://www.thecodingstudio.com/opensource/linux/screenshots/?linux_distribution_sm=openSUSE%2010.3

[CraigPaleo]

Is it me or were KDE 3 apps more numerous and mature than their GTK counterparts back then? It seems to have reversed - as if they had to spend their time rewriting and porting to Qt4 while the others just kept developing.

[GeneralZod]

as if they had to spend their time rewriting and porting to Qt4 while the others just kept developing.

This is pretty much the case - people don't seem to appreciate what a collossal time-and-manpower sink the port from Qt3 to Qt4 was. Work began on KDE4 in approximately June 2005, and KDE4.0 wasn't released until Jan 2008 - two and a half years later, and hardly any functionality was added - in fact, 4.0 is often reckoned to have significantly less functionality that the KDE3 series! Even the newly-introduced "Pillars Of KDE" took up a miniscule fraction of the manpower: Phonon and Solid were both effectively one-man shows; Plasma consisted of nothing more than a bunch of header files as last as April 2007; etc. And people are still ferreting out little chunks of Qt3Support code here and there, over 5 years since the port began!

So yes, I think you're bang on: the port to Qt4 pretty much brought things to a standstill. Thankfully, the upcoming Qt4 -> Qt5 upgrade (when/ if it happens) is likely to be much less severe - more like Qt2 -> Qt3 - so hopefully we won't have a repeat of this :)

Edit:

Actually, I probably went a bit overboard, there: looking back through the Commit Digests shows decent progress in a lot of apps. But the port definitely did "waste" a big chunk of time that could have gone into adding functionality.

[samwyse]

I installed it, but sadly the (Finnish) translations were broken. For example Kate had half the menutitles and all the toolbar text in English. I had to try install the language packages manually (the installer was supposed to do automatically?). Also one of the packages wasn't installable (missing?).

I think I had the same problem with the Pearson Kubuntu remix back when Kubuntu ditched KDE3.

I still hate the Kubuntu patches that remove the Go-menu and make the viewmode buttons a single crappy one in Konqueror. I suppose both are still fixable (https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/kdebase/+bug/43949 and http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=79941).

I switched to Debian when Kubuntu stopped supporting KDE3.

I've also tried Trinity 3.5.12 on Lenny, but I'm not sure if it's supposed to be installable along with Lenny's KDE3, because there was some buggy weirdness going on with it. I'll give it a proper test when Squeeze is stable.

[NightwishFan]

Kubuntu 10.10 is awesome as well. I still like Gnome a shade better, however it impressed me. It is very fast.

[inobe]

10.10 with kde, they integrated software center into packagekit, sources viewable without pass, pass required to edit sources, fantastic.....

nice polished look but with strange error


KDEInit could not launch '/usr/bin/kpackagekit'.

yet packagekit starts and works as it should after hitting ok.

the only trouble i had.

got all my apps going, seems really stable, no let downs with hardware or app functionality.

really wish they would transition over to dvd so i wouldn't end up with a base install but then again it was fun building, didn't hit any walls in the process.


very nice job, just a hit out to the community :)

[jcolyn]

Now that was a walk down memory lane.

I may install it on a spare laptop to see how well it runs..

[samwyse]

I figured out the translation issue. Apt can't find the Trinity repos (404). Manually downloading the language package and installing it worked.

[CraigPaleo]

I figured out the translation issue. Apt can't find the Trinity repos (404). Manually downloading the language package and installing it worked.

In Maverick, there is a problem some are having with a missing key and a fix for it. I don't know if it'll help with Trinity though. http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=9934128#post9934128

Glad you got it working.

[gnemo]

Now that was a walk down memory lane.

I may install it on a spare laptop to see how well it runs..
For me, the Trinity desktop was the thing that saved my sanity.

Before the Trinity Desktop was released, I was so frustrated that I was considering quitting Linux. And I've been Linux-only since 2001! I find current versions of Gnome and KDE (and Unity) to be extremely frustrating to work with. I could work with XFCE or Fluxbox or something, but I don't particularly enjoy any of those - it would be as joyless as working with Windows or OSX.

The new features in KDE 4.x are of no interest to me - I don't want any of them. On the other hand, the fact that KDE 4.x takes about twice as much RAM and runs at about half the speed on the same hardware (compared to KDE 3.5.x) does not make me happy. Nor does all the software missing in KDE 4.x compared to 3.5.x (lots of little favorites, like kuickshow, for instance, which I used regularly to preview digital photos and choose the best ones.)

I've donated generously to the Trinity project, because it is the one thing that lets me keep using the best desktop environment I've found (KDE 3.5.x) on the best operating system I've found (Linux).

-Gnemo

[Linuxratty]

The Trinity project looks really good. Some people on LI have used it and have had nothing but good things to say about it.
When KDE4 came out is when I moved to Ubuntu to escape it.I might be moving back.

[BrokenKingpin]

I used KDE 3.x for about a year back in the day. It was okay, but I ended up going back to gnome.

Those SuSE screenshots bring back some memories though.

[CharlesA]

Back to sleep you go..