Random Thoughts on KDE SC 4.6

[lakerssuperman]

Just thought I'd share some of my experiences with the new KDE SC 4.6. I'm traditionally a Gnome user and more recently have been playing with Unity. I really like it but it is so unstable that I can't deal with it yet. When you have a Core i7 you should be able to watch a simple video clip while moving some Windows around without massive stuttering. I figured I'd give KDE a go since there has been a lot of talk about how much better it has gotten.

The last time I used it was 4.3 or 4.4. It is much smoother now and seems very stable. I generally like the Gnome style apps more with a more streamlined, some would say simple, interface. Everything is very fluid and the talk about the improvements to KWin seem to be well founded.

Also, Kpackagekit has gotten worlds better. It may not quite be as good as Synaptic but it can do most of the same things and not cause problems.

I'm still exploring and finding new things that they have fixed or introduced. I would recommend anyone having Unity troubles give it a go, even if you just install it alongside Unity.

Stay Classy

[Dustin2128]

I like kde 4.6 as well- been using gnome shell for the past few weeks as sort of a resolution (similar to 30 days with ubuntu), but I'll probably end up back in kde's comforting arms before too awfully long.

[lakerssuperman]

I would like to see the default Kubuntu desktop get some better defaults. For example, the default font setup is awful. Anti -aliasing should be on by default and DPI should be set to 96. The fonts look very rough by default when they don't need to. I'd also like to see the KDE guys build in some animations similar to OSX. They could do some great stuff with the effects and Widgets they already have in place.

[ilovelinux33467]

KDE SC 4.6 has been perfect for me. And it just gets even better with KDE SC 4.7 due to be released later this month. I have tried KDE SC 4.7 RC2 on Fedora Rawhide and its really nice IMO.

[CraigPaleo]

I would like to see the default Kubuntu desktop get some better defaults. For example, the default font setup is awful. Anti -aliasing should be on by default and DPI should be set to 96. The fonts look very rough by default when they don't need to. I'd also like to see the KDE guys build in some animations similar to OSX. They could do some great stuff with the effects and Widgets they already have in place.

The font settings are one of the first things I change in Kubuntu. I do the same as you but I also make it 11 pts. 9 is way too small.

KDE has a lot of different effects. Magic Lamp is the equivalent of the Genie. To present windows, go to the upper left corner. I haven't used a Mac since 2008 so I don't really know of any newer animations.

[Dustin2128]

Back in kde- 4.6 is quite awesome. The pause/play/skip commands work globally with amarok running in the tray, among other things. For me, it's the little things like that, that really count.

[kvv_1986]

Also, Kpackagekit has gotten worlds better. It may not quite be as good as Synaptic but it can do most of the same things and not cause problems.


Hi! I don't use KDE anymore, but you should try the Muon Suite which has a Software Center and a Synaptic-like frontend for package management. Together they are as good as Synaptic + USC on Gnome, and miles ahead of KPackageKit.

It is going to be the default in Kubuntu 11.10

[el_koraco]

Go to Application Appearance, Fonts, set hinting style to slight, and subpixel smoothing to RGBA. voila, fonts like in Ubuntu. And Muon is an improved Synaptic clone, +1 for that.

[ScionicSpectre]

I like KDE because it combines the good design ethics of modern interfaces with the functionality just under the surface in Linux. It's typical to find a few 'extra features' all over the place.

Despite this, the applications usually retain a simplified look and feel, making it easy to work with. However, there are simpler programs, which can make it hard to stick with KDE (at least for me, in comparison to GNOME 3).

I'm by no means a simpleton or short of attention, but if I'm not going to take full advantage of a lot of KDE's amazing features, I probably don't need to have them all over my screen all day. I used to be a diehard KDE fan, but GNOME 3's kinda' making everything else look like it's overdoing things. Helps me focus on what I actually care about (which actually happens not to be widgets and buttons flying around, oh my!).

So far as the traditional desktop goes, KDE is definitely the best implementation of it, with the most modern features. As OS X and Windows get more mobilesque, KDE will stand as a monument to the utility of the old style, without the cruft. And hey, they have their mobile efforts as well, so I don't see why KDE won't be around for a very long time.

I'm honestly excited for when Qt 5 comes out, since Qt 4 is already so fast and portable. D: Open software for the win.

[lakerssuperman]

I have my fonts tweaked like some of you have suggested. I was just saying that I think it would serve the project to have that set by default to give a better first impression especially since regular Ubuntu has it enabled.

Some of the animations I am talking about are, for example, the stacks feature of the dock. If you click the stack the icons un-shuffle like a deck of cards and expand to a grid of stacked list.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0xui39AUTU&feature=relmfu

I don't necessarily think that KDE should simply copy this feature, but these little touches are what make, for me at least, OSX feel so polished. These little touches are what make it feel so smooth and easy on the eyes. It gives the appearance of sophistication which, though purely superfluous, counts.

The last thing I would like to see is a clear workflow in KDE. There are so many ways to accomplish everything that at times it seems a bit overwhelming. It's gotten much much better leading up to 4.6 and I am looking forward to 4.7.

[el_koraco]

Awn and Cairo Dock have that stacks feature. It's not present in KDE because there's no dock.

[silex89]

I love the new KDE version :D and KWin manages my GPU resources quite better than Compiz actually :P


Best Luck :)

[lakerssuperman]

Yes, I have used AWN before with their stacks implementation. I was just speaking in general about features like Stacks. KDE should implement animations of their choosing that provide both aesthetics and function like Stacks does in OSX. KDE seems to be the DE that pushes to have more eyecandy and seems to have the framework to put it in place.

I'm not trying to criticize what the KDE guys do, it's a nice product. It was just more of a wishlist of things I wouldn't mind seeing. Taking animations to that subtle level is something I don't see anyone doing and it could really help to set KDE apart visually.

[el_koraco]

Did you go to System Settings, Desktop effects?

[lakerssuperman]

Maybe this gives a better idea of what I'm talking about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6LW8mBgtS0

In the clip when you go from the opening screen to that actual word process there is a smooth transition that turns the little preview into the full sized document. That is something that is elegant but also functional. It gives a great visual feedback as to what exactly is happening. Being that KDE is so integrated across it's various programs, these types of transitions would be great to see.

For example, if I was searching through KAddressbook and click on a contact I want to email the area I clicked could morph into a KMail writer page to give visual feedback that I am sending mail to that person. As KDE strives for tight integration, stuff like this seems like it could add to the whole experience.

[el_koraco]

Right, you mean additional animations. My bad.

[lakerssuperman]

No problem, I appreciate the dialog. It's not too many places I can talk about implementing animations in a desktop environment.

I don't know if the effects I'm talking about are technically possible in KDE but that's why it's a wishlist.

[el_koraco]

The smoothness of animations like in OSX would be hard to achieve, since OSX is built on top of a modern window system specifically designed for it, and KDE on top of X.

[lakerssuperman]

True, maybe these would be made possible by Wayland.

[Dustin2128]

@ScionicSpectre
I worry for the future of qt- nokia's gotten together with microsoft of late, in the mobile field. Who knows what the damaging spillover could be?

[CraigPaleo]

They still have plenty of plans for Qt. http://blog.qt.nokia.com/

However, If anything ever should happen to it, the Free Qt Foundation (http://www.kde.org/community/whatiskde/kdefreeqtfoundation.php) ensures it will be free software.

[smellyman]

I used to not like KDE at all. But it has been on my desktop and laptop for the past 6 months or so and I am now a fan. I even like a lot of the kde apps now when before I thought they were a bit...crap.

I still think kwin needs polish (talked about in this thread) as it seems to be jerky and blinky sometimes.....on my hardware. both nvidia and intel graphics.


But all in all each release is getting better and better. Looking forward to 4.7

[wojox]

I love it. I run the Fedora KDE Sig. It's pretty stable. I wonder what the openSUSE version is like. That's always been my favorite KDE distro.

[el_koraco]

I love it. I run the Fedora KDE Sig. It's pretty stable. I wonder what the openSUSE version is like. That's always been my favorite KDE distro.

They have a great Ksplash theme, Plasma theme and stuff, but it's no different from Fedora's KDE. I've found openSUSE's servers to be the best though.

@smellyman
the frist thing you need to do with KDE is change the speed of desktop effects to fast or very fast. No jerkiness then.

[8_Bit]

KDE runs slow on my killer beast of a machine. I have a gaming PC with very high specs and a great graphics card, yet just dragging windows around on the screen in KDE shows noticeable lag / stuttering on Kubuntu. Whereas on Gnome Shell (and even Windows 7), everything is zippy and fast.

I've also run memory comparisons while the PC is idle, and there's no question about it, KDE is one heck of a resource hog compared to other DE's!

This is all too disappointing because I find KDE to be an otherwise amazing desktop environment. The plasma widgets are really cool, and it's much more easy to customize out of the box than Gnome. I love that you can download + install custom themes right from within KDE's settings without opening a separate browser. That's a type of polished convenience that you rarely find on Linux, something that should be expected of any modern desktop environment.

If they can just manage to make it less of a resource hog, I will again start to recommend Kubuntu to my friends. They certainly like the way it looks, but I can't in good conscience recommend something that will run slower than Windows on their PC. They'll get a bad first impression of Linux in general that way, and think "Oh, this is really slow, so Linux must suck." :mad:

[CraigPaleo]

KDE runs slow on my killer beast of a machine. I have a gaming PC with very high specs and a great graphics card, yet just dragging windows around on the screen in KDE shows noticeable lag / stuttering on Kubuntu. Whereas on Gnome Shell (and even Windows 7), everything is zippy and fast.



I had always assumed that people who said this had older hardware or little ram. If this is happening on gaming PCs it must be a bug with certain hardware configurations. I haven't experienced it on either of the Computers I've had and neither is a beast.

[ilovelinux33467]

I had always assumed that people who said this had older hardware or little ram. If this is happening on gaming PCs it must be a bug with certain hardware configurations. I haven't experienced it on either of the Computers I've had and neither is a beast.

Same here. KDE runs fast, even on my old netbook.

[Ric_NYC]

I use Kubuntu 100% of the time.

The only problem that I could not solve was Chrome making KDE unstable.

This is what Chrome was doing to Kubuntu:
http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/9784/kubuntu.png (http://img62.imageshack.us/i/kubuntu.png/)




I had to switch to Firefox. No more crashes.

[el_koraco]

I had always assumed that people who said this had older hardware or little ram.


It's more of a meme.

[WinterMadness]

KDE runs slow on my killer beast of a machine. I have a gaming PC with very high specs and a great graphics card, yet just dragging windows around on the screen in KDE shows noticeable lag / stuttering on Kubuntu. Whereas on Gnome Shell (and even Windows 7), everything is zippy and fast.

I've also run memory comparisons while the PC is idle, and there's no question about it, KDE is one heck of a resource hog compared to other DE's!

This is all too disappointing because I find KDE to be an otherwise amazing desktop environment. The plasma widgets are really cool, and it's much more easy to customize out of the box than Gnome. I love that you can download + install custom themes right from within KDE's settings without opening a separate browser. That's a type of polished convenience that you rarely find on Linux, something that should be expected of any modern desktop environment.

If they can just manage to make it less of a resource hog, I will again start to recommend Kubuntu to my friends. They certainly like the way it looks, but I can't in good conscience recommend something that will run slower than Windows on their PC. They'll get a bad first impression of Linux in general that way, and think "Oh, this is really slow, so Linux must suck." :mad:

its obviously a compatibility issue. i run kde 4 on ancient technology and it works

[Erik1984]

The only thing I don't like about Kubuntu is that you have to mess around with the font settings to get websites to look better.

[Ric_NYC]

The only thing I don't like about Kubuntu is that you have to mess around with the font settings to get websites to look better.

Install the MS Fonts.

sudo apt-get install ttf-mscorefonts-installer


Or use the Font Installer.

[GSF1200S]

KDE is great.. if you have a single monitor. I am (likely one of the few) users who is greatly frustrated by KDE 4's inability to support Dual-Head Seperate X. On Gnome, it works (granted you can only have one systray and the wallpaper is the same on each monitor), and on XFCE, its absolutely perfect (seperate X sessions: dual systrays, wallpaper per screen, seperate panels with seperate applets, global hot keys work either screen, etc).

I understand this is an issue with KDE devs, somehow, not having access to dual monitors for the purpose of testing. Man, if they would just set up a system I would BUY a monitor and send it to a dev without expectation- I just want KDE 4 to work on dual monitors!

Polish and feature wise, its beginning to be the KDE 3.5 replacement everyone hoped it would be.. It looks very nice, though I admittedly cannot comment on stability or speed.

[smellyman]

They have a great Ksplash theme, Plasma theme and stuff, but it's no different from Fedora's KDE. I've found openSUSE's servers to be the best though.

@smellyman
the frist thing you need to do with KDE is change the speed of desktop effects to fast or very fast. No jerkiness then.

Thanks! Nice tip. Works a lot better now.

Weird that I have never come across it before.

[Pogeymanz]

Every time there is a new KDE, I make sure to play with it in my Kubuntu virtual machine.

I think KDE has really great apps. KMail, KTorrent, Okular, Dolphin are all top quality apps.

But I really just don't like using KDE. I love it in theory- I hear about all these features that only KDE has and they sound great. I love all the KDE screenshots I see. But, I just can't get used to using it.

Customizing is kind of painful. KWin has a lot fewer options than Compiz. In Compiz I can change the speed settings of each plugin individually, which is nice.

I just can't put my finger on all the little things that make KDE feel like I'm wearing boxing gloves when I use it.

[el_koraco]

Customizing is kind of painful. KWin has a lot fewer options than Compiz. In Compiz I can change the speed settings of each plugin individually, which is nice.


Of course you can do that with Kwin as well. You just hit a wrench icon next to a desktop effect and voila.

[CraigPaleo]

Yes, I have used AWN before with their stacks implementation. I was just speaking in general about features like Stacks. KDE should implement animations of their choosing that provide both aesthetics and function like Stacks does in OSX. KDE seems to be the DE that pushes to have more eyecandy and seems to have the framework to put it in place.

I'm not trying to criticize what the KDE guys do, it's a nice product. It was just more of a wishlist of things I wouldn't mind seeing. Taking animations to that subtle level is something I don't see anyone doing and it could really help to set KDE apart visually.

I just read something here (http://blog.mandriva.com/en/2011/03/23/plasma-applet-stackfolder-overview/) that reminded me of your post. Mandriva has a stack applet. It's nothing fancy yet but it's a start.