KDE 4.7 Released!

[StephanG]

I just want to be the first to say, KDE 4.7 has finally been released!

I have been wiating since beta 1 to try out the new KDE, only to have it postponed until it was finally announced that it would only make it's way into Natty after the final release.

I've been waiting for this release Martin Graesslin's blog post this time last year about next generation OpenGL compositing by 4.7. So, I can't help feeling a little giddy: New toys to play with!

And there's digikam, which finally coming out with 2.0 release. And Calligra's first release is around the corner... And KDE-Telepathy is finally got their first technical preview... And Kubuntu 11.10 is aiming to have a fully working mobile release... And platform 11...

EXCITING TIMES ARE AHEAD!!

Well, for me anyway. I love playing with this kind of stuff... :oops:

[Ms_Angel_D]

Thank you for posting this :)

[StephanG]

You're welcome. ^_^

[trollolo]

is it still as ugly as the last release? IMO plasma looks like someone tried to re-create the win7 environment, but without any real skill at visual design.

[mips]

http://www.kde.org/announcements/4.7/

[Ms_Angel_D]

is it still as ugly as the last release? IMO plasma looks like someone tried to re-create the win7 environment, but without any real skill at visual design.

Subjective....

[samigina]

http://www.kde.org/announcements/4.7/screenshots/thumbs/general-desktop.png


Isn't beauty?! (http://www.kde.org/announcements/4.7/)

[3Miro]

Kwin comes with OpenCL support now. I will definitely have to check this out.

[shobon]

is it still as ugly as the last release? IMO plasma looks like someone tried to re-create the win7 environment, but without any real skill at visual design.

Cool opinion, but mind you Plasma came out before Windows 7.

[Bandit]

is it still as ugly as the last release? IMO plasma looks like someone tried to re-create the win7 environment, but without any real skill at visual design.

The problem I had with KDE was font readability. Some shades on some apts the fonts would be readable, then on others it wouldnt.

I found myself kept going to darker themes to overcome the font readability only then to be roadblocked by many KDE applications not very functional (ability to see what your doing) with darker theme colors.


BTW:
Nice to see Ms D here. :)

[Lightstar]

Yay!
even I'm excited, and I don't even use kde.

[overdrank]

Threads merged :)

[tjeremiah]

I hope the search function is improved.

[samigina]

Im anxious for a PPA :D

[aaaantoine]

Congrats to the devs. Every release is an improvement.

That said, I got tired of waiting for kwin to run smoother in compositing mode on my crappy old laptop, despite a number of wm optimizations over the years. It also felt slow and clunky in general, taking 10 - 20 seconds on the splash screen, plus another minute to load after the desktop appears. Those, and other issues, plus my general like of Unity, prompted me to switch my laptop back to Ubuntu.

For some reason, Compiz runs at least a little better on my laptop (by about 10 frames per second) than kwin and clutter/mutter, which each run at about 15.

So to clarify, I get about 25 fps in Compiz vs 15 fps in Kwin and Clutter.

[StephanG]

Yay!
even I'm excited, and I don't even use kde.

I'm sorry, but I just have to laugh for minute. Not at your comment. Just, the fact that it was next to your avatar of 'L'. Somehow, picturing him saying "Yay!" just really cracks me up. :lolflag:

[StephanG]

For some reason, Compiz runs at least a little better on my laptop than kwin and clutter/mutter, to the tune of about 10 frames per second, with kwin running at about 15.

Uhm... Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't 15 frames per second better than 10?

[SeijiSensei]

Im anxious for a PPA :D

I'd like to see the backports repository for 10.10 updated to this release as well. I have no interest in moving to 11.04, and the current 10.10 backports is stuck at 4.6.2.

[Bandit]

Uhm... Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't 15 frames per second better than 10?

:lolflag:

Yes his old video card was much worse also, it got 90FPS in WoW but his new one is much much faster getting 25FPS now.. :p

[Ric_NYC]

Nice:



DigiKam 2.0 brings face detection and recognition, image versioning support, geotagging and much more

Today also features the release of DigiKam 2.0. The road to version 2 took more than a year of heavy development. The team proudly announces the first release of the new generation of DigiKam. This version features long awaited face detection and recognition, image versioning support, XMP metadata sidecar files support, big improvements in tagging and marking photos, reversed geotagging and many other improvements, including a total of 219 fixed bugs.

http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/3060/digikam.png (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/215/digikam.png/)

[ilovelinux33467]

I'm definitely looking forward to trying it out when it comes to Fedora.

[smellyman]

KDE is my DE of choice now. Looking forward to see the kwin improvments.


One thing that always bugged me (does any know how to get it to work) is the zoom feature not utilizing the scroll wheel like compiz does.

[ilovelinux33467]

I'm definitely looking forward to trying it out when it comes to Fedora.

Hmm there are SRPM's for KDE 4.7 on Koji for rawhide I might try and build those SRPM's for Fedora 15.

[tjeremiah]

did anyone manage to update via the backport ppa?

[ilovelinux33467]

Hmm there are SRPM's for KDE 4.7 on Koji for rawhide I might try and build those SRPM's for Fedora 15.

OK for now I just installed Arch on my sandbox computer and enabled the testing repo and installed KDE 4.7 from there. So far 4.7 has been excellent and I am really enjoying it. I'll probably wait until 4.7 is pushed out to updates on Fedora before installing it on that but for now I can just run Arch with 4.7 on my testing computer.

[kio_http]

did anyone manage to update via the backport ppa?

Please wait a bit; it takes a few hours after release to reach ppa. Packages need to be compiled and quickly tested!

[BrokenKingpin]

Nice, I may give this a try. I have never really been a KDE fan, but with each release I like it a bit more. I love the design of the DE in general (it is very customizable and modular), but have always found it a bit heavy and buggy.

I like the default theme for the panels, but I hate the default window decorator. Normally I wouldn't care, but everything I try and get a new theme from KDE-Look.org the theme is either broken, or just does not look right at all. So I can never get KDE looking the way I want, even though I know it is possible. It would be great if Ubuntu had some decent KDE themes that you could get from the repos (there are a few, but are old and ugly).

[StephanG]

I like the default theme for the panels, but I hate the default window decorator. Normally I wouldn't care, but everything I try and get a new theme from KDE-Look.org the theme is either broken, or just does not look right at all. So I can never get KDE looking the way I want, even though I know it is possible. It would be great if Ubuntu had some decent KDE themes that you could get from the repos (there are a few, but are old and ugly).

You shouldn't have to go to kde-look.org. You can just select "get new themes" from the setup. Although... Those themes also come from kde-look.org, so if that's what you meant, then I'm sorry.

And yes, a lot of those themes are quite horrible, but there are also some good ones there. Check "Most Downloaded" or "Highest Rated".

Although, I agree with you. Good themes are hard to find. My personal paradox with finding themes/decorations/etc, is that the more awesome it looks, and the more I enjoy it, the more quickly I get tired of it. And I find the default Oxygen is actually one that looks good to me, is subtle enough that it doesn't get annoying after a week.

[aaaantoine]

Uhm... Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't 15 frames per second better than 10?

You're not wrong, but you misunderstood my post. :P

I was trying to say that Compiz performs about 10fps faster than Kwin for me.


:lolflag:

Yes his old video card was much worse also, it got 90FPS in WoW but his new one is much much faster getting 25FPS now.. :p

Those numbers are probably right if you peg them to the Nvidia 7900GS and 6600GT that I've previously owned, in that order. ;) And in case you're wondering rationale there: the first was part of a computer that I later sold off, while the second was a second-hand card which later broke.

[simpleblue]

I got KDE 4.7 going yesturday and there are some differences I've noticed:

- Slider controls are new
- New 'activities' button on the panel near lancelot.
- Desktop Effects menu has changed

And some other changes but cannot remember right now. There seems to be a focus on the pushing the 'activities' in KDE 4.7. There are actually some pre-configured activity themes built in. Such as 'Photo Activity', 'Desktop icons', and 'Search and launch' + the one that is default.

The KDE team seems to be squishing bugs like crazy, about 12000 so they must be very busy. It's amazing to see the list that are squashed each day.

Anyways, sometimes I wonder why most people don't try KDE with all thats going on right now. I used to be a gnome user until the KDE got things right (around 4.6.2). If you want customisation and you like to use the GUI then this might be a great distro for you.

[Docaltmed]

I'm using 11.04 with KDE 4.6.5. How do I upgrade to 4.7?

[PaulW2U]

I'm using 11.04 with KDE 4.6.5. How do I upgrade to 4.7?
At the moment you can't.

Wait for an announcement at http://www.kubuntu.org/news. Maybe tomorrow?

[smellyman]

I got KDE 4.7 going yesturday and there are some differences I've noticed:

- Slider controls are new
- New 'activities' button on the panel near lancelot.
- Desktop Effects menu has changed

And some other changes but cannot remember right now. There seems to be a focus on the pushing the 'activities' in KDE 4.7. There are actually some pre-configured activity themes built in. Such as 'Photo Activity', 'Desktop icons', and 'Search and launch' + the one that is default.

The KDE team seems to be squishing bugs like crazy, about 12000 so they must be very busy. It's amazing to see the list that are squashed each day.

Anyways, sometimes I wonder why most people don't try KDE with all thats going on right now. I used to be a gnome user until the KDE got things right (around 4.6.2). If you want customisation and you like to use the GUI then this might be a great distro for you.

KDE keeps pushing activities and I think for 98% of users it is a complete waste of time, but with every release it's "improved activites!"

[ilovelinux33467]

I got KDE 4.7 going yesturday and there are some differences I've noticed:

- Slider controls are new
- New 'activities' button on the panel near lancelot.
- Desktop Effects menu has changed

And some other changes but cannot remember right now. There seems to be a focus on the pushing the 'activities' in KDE 4.7. There are actually some pre-configured activity themes built in. Such as 'Photo Activity', 'Desktop icons', and 'Search and launch' + the one that is default.

The KDE team seems to be squishing bugs like crazy, about 12000 so they must be very busy. It's amazing to see the list that are squashed each day.

Anyways, sometimes I wonder why most people don't try KDE with all thats going on right now. I used to be a gnome user until the KDE got things right (around 4.6.2). If you want customisation and you like to use the GUI then this might be a great distro for you.

Yes I find it amazing the amount of progress the KDE team have done. Trying out 4.7 on my test computer (running arch) and I am finding it amazing the amount of work put into 4.7. I am looking forward to upgrading my main computer to 4.7 (still on 4.6.5 - waiting for update to come to Fedora).

[Erik1984]

The problem I had with KDE was font readability. Some shades on some apts the fonts would be readable, then on others it wouldnt.

I found myself kept going to darker themes to overcome the font readability only then to be roadblocked by many KDE applications not very functional (ability to see what your doing) with darker theme colors.


BTW:
Nice to see Ms D here. :)

That certainly is a problem. I like Kubuntu 11.04 for many things but the fonts remain problematic. Now, after some tweaking, they look ok on websites but not on the desktop folders. I had a problem with the default task bar theme and dark brackgrounds as well. As the fonts are black they become unreadable when a dark image is behind the transparent taskbar. I fixed this with the black Oxygen taskbar but that can look out of place with a light window theme sometimes.

[StephanG]

I never used to have a problem with the fonts, until I upgraded to a 1920 x 1080 monitor. Then the fonts were hardly legible. But, I quickly fixed it, by forcing 96 dpi, in Font Settings and forcing it use anti-alias.

If you guys haven't tried it yet, it might help. The only thing I have problem with, is Firefox, whose fonts seem to look tiny and ugly, no matter what I do.

[Zlatan]

KDE keeps pushing activities and I think for 98% of users it is a complete waste of time, but with every release it's "improved activites!"

so sad but true

[RiceMonster]

KDE keeps pushing activities and I think for 98% of users it is a complete waste of time, but with every release it's "improved activites!"

Yeah, I feel the same. I haven't figured out really what I would need activities for.

[Islington]

Yeah, I feel the same. I haven't figured out really what I would need activities for.

well they are pretty useful for longterm/midterm projects that need access to a whole bunch of programs and files.

I had to write a huge research paper last semester for history, so I put together a r.paper activity. set up the activity desktop with 3 appropriate folderviews:: drafts// links// source docs

the source docs were pdfs open in okular, links were open in chromium, drafts in pyroom.

When I wanted to work on the paper, I started the activity, when I didnt I stopped it (didnt close the links/docs). KDE took care of stopping and freezing any programs associated with that activity.


I also have a activity called screenshot where the desktop is a lot prettier than what I normally use.

in 4.6.xx there were some implementation problems with activities and the grid effect but those are marked fixed now.

[madjr]

Yeah, I feel the same. I haven't figured out really what I would need activities for.

activities is awesome, i hope some day we get it on gnome too. Is a super enhanced version of virtual desktops.

desktops are truly virtual now and can have all settings exclusive.

is like having 2 or 3 extra linux installs in 1. In fact is similar to having different "sessions", but with a nicer and easier way to set them up and control them right from your main desktop (also you control better the resources, since you can run and stop them on the fly, "switching" is instant and saves settings in real time).

i have an activities for games (my game icons on the desktop and different background), an activities for coding and an activities for reading news (with its own desktop widgets) and entertainment (music, videos, comics, etc).

i mean the name "activities" is a kinda confusing, i think they should just drop the old "virtual desktops" and replace it with this and then rename it to "virtual desktop activities" or something.

here are some mockups for future kde release:
http://bsmith1012.blogspot.com/2011/02/my-kde-ideas-activities.html

also there are some mockups in deviantart for a gnome / unity version which looks a lot like firefox 4's "panorama".
http://bigrza.deviantart.com/art/Panorama-Workspace-Manager-200788050


if you want to know more about activities vs old virtual desktops check here:
http://www.datamation.com/open-source/gnome-kde-and-unity-virtual-desktops-1.html

[StephanG]

Everyone is always wondering what the big deal is with Activities. But, I kind of see it as a VERY important step.

Basically, I think of it as "Letting your computer know what activity you are busy with right now." I'm sure that we've all become frustrated at our computers for not understanding us. For example, "Why the hell would I need a screensaver? I'm busy watching a movie!"

Activities, in my oppinion, is something that should never stop being improved. Until, our computers know exactly what it is we are doing, and can act accordingly. Imagine, opening your class notes, summaries, etc. And your computer automatically knows after a few minutes that you are busy studying, automatically stops all trivial disrupting notifications such as letting you know that your torrents have finished downloading. It might even switch to your 'study music playlist'.

Sure, we're a LOOONG way from there. But, I think Activities is a step in that direction.

[tjeremiah]

Activities to me, is the better "workspace."

[PaulW2U]

Natty users can now upgrade: http://www.kubuntu.org/news/kde-4.7

[Ric_NYC]

Natty users can now upgrade: http://www.kubuntu.org/news/kde-4.7

YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Thanks.

:)

[StephanG]

Natty users can now upgrade: http://www.kubuntu.org/news/kde-4.7

YAAAY! Downloading updates now...

But, something confuses me. I could have sworn that there was nothing on the website 3 hours ago. Yet, it says the update was posted 11 hours ago. Could I really just have glanced over it, and not noticed? :confused:

[tidjean]

Yeah, it looks pretty nice!!!!
Good job!!!!!!

[james_xxx]

I just finished the upgrade on one machine, and was nearly finished on a second, but have put the brakes on that one for the moment.

Upon rebooting the machine that finished the upgrade, I am unable to get past KDM. Each time I sign in, it just restarts KDM.

In /var/log/kdm.log, I am getting a lot of "Not connected to D-Bus server" errors.

This is an an Intel Atom-based nettop, with Intel X3150 graphics.

I have no idea how to get around this yet.

Any suggestions would be helpful!

[samigina]

Same problem with KDM restarting. :(

I can load on Safe Mode Session, take a look at ksystemlog and found some lines with:

"X server for display :0 terminated unexpectedly"

[ScionicSpectre]

I love this release so much. I wonder if I'll be able to run KDE on my phone with the OpenGL ES support. D: (it's probably not that simple, or preferable)

The KDE developers have really outdone themselves. If you're looking for advanced feautures and customizability without a huge design sacrifice, KDE is where it's at. There's just too much goodness crammed up in that environment. @_@

[tjeremiah]

I have the backport ppa, havent received anything. Though I see a couple of users are having some problem so I guess if I do receive it, ill wait a bit. But yeah, its weird, no updates over here.

[StephanG]

I have the backport ppa, havent received anything. Though I see a couple of users are having some problem so I guess if I do receive it, ill wait a bit. But yeah, its weird, no updates over here.

It might not be on the server you download updates from. If you edit software origins, try selecting the "Main Server" to download from, instead of your local one.

[mehaga]

KDE was always my favorite DE, and 4 is a beauty. Sadly, that's the only thing I like about 4.7, which I expected to be a finished product. Last version I installed needed some configuration only to make your sound volume setting permanent, which I thought was silly. With this one, I can't find volume control applet to add to the panel. You click on an mp3 and it opens Banshee showing the last song you listened, not the one you just clicked, but it doesn't play either one... It works if you click the play button in Dolphin's side panel. There are a few other minor issues, but I could live with those. So much effort put in it, and it still feels like an alpha release :(

[StephanG]

I've been playing with it for about a day now, since I've downloaded and I have to admit that I've been VERY impressed. Everything runs smoothly with all kinds of new features.

But, I don't seem to have all the goodies described on the tin. Could anyone tell me how to activate the Grub2 integration? :confused:
And, sadly, it doesn't look like Digikam2, has quite hit the streets yet. But, oh well. Their website promises a new release by the end of July, so it's not too much longer to wait.

Oooh, and exploring window management, I discovered that it's possible to group windows my middle clicking the tile bar and dragging it onto other windows. Was it possible to do this before, or is this a new feature? I know that the grouping feature itself has been around for a while.

[mehaga]

...
Oooh, and exploring window management, I discovered that it's possible to group windows my middle clicking the tile bar and dragging it onto other windows ...
I had no idea, thanks :)

[Ichtyandr]

I have the backport ppa, havent received anything. Though I see a couple of users are having some problem so I guess if I do receive it, ill wait a bit. But yeah, its weird, no updates over here.

you sure you have ppa:kubuntu-ppa/backports , not just ppa:kubuntu-ppa ?

Also did they completely remove virtual desktops and replaced them with activities?

[StephanG]

Also did they completely remove virtual desktops and replaced them with activities?

No, they are additional. By default you have one activity, which has its set of normal workspaces. But, if you want you can have other activities that have a completely different set of widgets and programs, and they will have their own workspaces too.

So, think of it as 'saving' your desktop under an activity name. And you can 'load' those settings, instead of manually changing everything back. In fact that almost makes more sense, because you can't have a different number of workspaces for each acitivity... As far as I know anyways.

[ilovelinux33467]

I've been playing with it for about a day now, since I've downloaded and I have to admit that I've been VERY impressed. Everything runs smoothly with all kinds of new features.

But, I don't seem to have all the goodies described on the tin. Could anyone tell me how to activate the Grub2 integration? :confused:
And, sadly, it doesn't look like Digikam2, has quite hit the streets yet. But, oh well. Their website promises a new release by the end of July, so it's not too much longer to wait.

Oooh, and exploring window management, I discovered that it's possible to group windows my middle clicking the tile bar and dragging it onto other windows. Was it possible to do this before, or is this a new feature? I know that the grouping feature itself has been around for a while.

To activate Grub2 integration you should be able to go to System Settings -> Login Screen -> Shutdown tab and change Boot manager from None to Grub2. Then click apply. I think you have to log out and log back in for the change to take affect.

[el_koraco]

So, think of it as 'saving' your desktop under an activity name. And you can 'load' those settings, instead of manually changing everything back. In fact that almost makes more sense, because you can't have a different number of workspaces for each acitivity... As far as I know anyways.


Are you sure? In 4.6.5 you can. You slap on a few different Activities, make separate widgets on each workspace in every Activity, and it's like you have two, three, four computers in one.

[Ichtyandr]

No, they are additional. By default you have one activity, which has its set of normal workspaces. But, if you want you can have other activities that have a completely different set of widgets and programs, and they will have their own workspaces too.

So, think of it as 'saving' your desktop under an activity name. And you can 'load' those settings, instead of manually changing everything back. In fact that almost makes more sense, because you can't have a different number of workspaces for each acitivity... As far as I know anyways.

thanks for explanation, I like these activities quite a lot actually
for some reason though my pager for switching workspaces is gone and does not want to come back

[samuelm]

I've had problems after upgrading on a 64-bit machine. When I try logging in, the splash screen shows for a little while with some of the icons, and then it resets back to the login screen.

Here is the output of "tail /var/log/kdm.log":



(==) Using config file: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf"
(==) Using system config directory "/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d"
(EE) AIGLX: reverting to software rendering
klauncher(2479) kdemain: No DBUS session-bus found. Check if you have started the DBUS server.
kdeinit4: Communication error with launcher. Exiting!
kdmgreet(2471)/kdecore (K*TimeZone*): KSystemTimeZones: ktimezoned initialize() D-Bus call failed: "Not connected to D-Bus server"

kdmgreet(2471)/kdecore (K*TimeZone*): No time zone information obtained from ktimezoned
QInotifyFileSystemWatcherEngine::addPaths: inotify_add_watch failed: No such file or directory
QFileSystemWatcher: failed to add paths: /tmp/0709302252/.config/ibus/bus
syslog:


kdm_greet[975] Cannot load /usr/share/kde4/apps/kdm/faces/.default.face: No such file or directory
kdm[963] X server for display :0 terminated unexpectedly
EDIT: I can login using the failsafe session, but not the regular one.

[el_koraco]

Maybe something went wrong with the upgrade. I've seen the DBus error message before. Try to boot to a recovery console, and do a


sudo dpkg --configure -a

followed by


sudo apt-get install -f

[StephanG]

Are you sure? In 4.6.5 you can. You slap on a few different Activities, make separate widgets on each workspace in every Activity, and it's like you have two, three, four computers in one.

I know you can do that. But I meant that I think if one one Activity has 4 workspaces, they all have 4 workspaces. I could be wrong though...


Thanks for explanation, I like these activities quite a lot actually
for some reason though my pager for switching workspaces is gone and does not want to come back

You should be able to add to the panel by saying 'Add Widget', and choosing 'Pager'. Or do you mean the new Activity switcher?

Oh, and something useful I just discovered. Meta(Windows key) + Tab cycles through running activities. It might be old news, but I've only discovered it now.

[ilovelinux33467]

Oh, and something useful I just discovered. Meta(Windows key) + Tab cycles through running activities. It might be old news, but I've only discovered it now.

Hey, that's cool. I didn't know you could do that. Thanks for the tip. :)

[samuelm]

Maybe something went wrong with the upgrade. I've seen the DBus error message before. Try to boot to a recovery console, and do a


sudo dpkg --configure -a
followed by


sudo apt-get install -f


Thanks, el_koraco. I tried it, but it doesn't help. The same error messages still appear.

[el_koraco]

Thanks, el_koraco. I tried it, but it doesn't help. The same error messages still appear.

Try reinstalling kubuntu-desktop and dist-upgrading again.

[Ichtyandr]

You should be able to add to the panel by saying 'Add Widget', and choosing 'Pager'. Or do you mean the new Activity switcher?


I think thats my "pager" widget broken, it cannot be added neither on panel nor on desktop

[samuelm]

Try reinstalling kubuntu-desktop and dist-upgrading again.

Nvm, it turns out that it was a display driver problem. I am running the machine in VirtualBox. After I removed Guest Additions everything went perfectly fine. Thanks for the help!

EDIT: Reinstalled guest additions and everything was fine again.

[Ichtyandr]

I think thats my "pager" widget broken, it cannot be added neither on panel nor on desktop

nevermind I just removed ~/.kde and it "returned"
apparently pager disappears when you have just one workspace left, you can bring it back through adding more at "Workspaces Behavior"

[StephanG]

Oooh! Something else I just discovered!

In Global Keyboard Shortcuts, if you choose "Run Command Interface" as the component, you can set different shorcuts if you want to do specific things with KRunner.

I've now set it so that the default F2, does everything I normally use KRunner for. But, disabled Nepomuk indexing from it's resutls. And then, I set it to search only through indexed files when I press F5. :D

[GeneralZod]

Oooh! Something else I just discovered!

In Global Keyboard Shortcuts, if you choose "Run Command Interface" as the component, you can set different shorcuts if you want to do specific things with KRunner.

I've now set it so that the default F2, does everything I normally use KRunner for. But, disabled Nepomuk indexing from it's resutls. And then, I set it to search only through indexed files when I press F5. :D

There's a nice blogpost by Aaron on this:

http://aseigo.blogspot.com/2011/05/krunner-doing-just-one-thing.html

[Erik1984]

Hey, that's cool. I didn't know you could do that. Thanks for the tip. :)

me neither, works on 4.6 too.

[SeijiSensei]

Will we be seeing 4.7 in backports for releases before 11.04? My 10.10 system doesn't show any updates for KDE.

Does anyone know if 4.7 includes a fix for the annoying Phonon bug (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/phonon/+bug/769274)?

[PaulW2U]

Will we be seeing 4.7 in backports for releases before 11.04? My 10.10 system doesn't show any updates for KDE.

No. It was being discussed on one of the IRC channels yesterday. Backports for the current release only, i.e. 11.04.

[StephanG]

No. It was being discussed on one of the IRC channels yesterday. Backports for the current release only, i.e. 11.04.

Which I think is perfectly fair.

They already have far less developers than Ubuntu. Currently, they have to develop the next version of Kubuntu, provide updates and support for current Kubuntu with KDE 4.6 and KDE 4.7, the previous Kubuntu 4.5 and 4.6 AND the last LTS with support for version 4.4, 4.5 and probably 4.6 as soon as its considered stable enough for the LTS.

And all those versions of kubuntu/KDE combinations come in BOTH 32 and 64 bit editions. That is A LOT of software repositories to keep maintained.

So, I think it's perfectly reasonable that they don't want to add another KDE to their watch list. Especially when you consider that most people who stayed with 10.10 did so, because they didn't want cutting edge software, but preferred to stick with stable software that finally worked just like they wanted it too.

[Ichtyandr]

looking at the 4.7's level of polish on Natty, I can see Kubuntu 11.10 becoming a megahit

[FlameReaper]

Upgrading now...

Well, with the news that they are gaining focus on hardware intended for low-resource/low-power/mobility users, it'll be a great relief for those staying away from KDE because of its reputation as the heaviest DE in the Linux world.

Although with KDE being a very, very feature-packed DE (seriously, if I can call for a rival to Window's desktop management features I'd call KDE first and say it's on the winning side), I can't really agree much... There's no way you can make something so feature-packed only as light as something like, say, LXDE.

[Erik1984]

This is quite funny, I had no clue of the existence of activities while I run Kubuntu for two months now.

[tjeremiah]

you sure you have ppa:kubuntu-ppa/backports , not just ppa:kubuntu-ppa ?

Also did they completely remove virtual desktops and replaced them with activities?
wait, I need both of them :( ? I added the backport ppa like 4 weeks ago to get Kubuntu 11.04 and it worked fine, even got the other update before 4.7. Also, to the other that asked, im getting updates from the main server, not local.

-
EDIT : Ok, I just added both and the updates are showing. Thanks for the drop.

[IWantFroyo]

Calligra? I've been wanting to fool around with that for a while. Sweet.

[Ric_NYC]

Edit.

[StephanG]

Calligra? I've been wanting to fool around with that for a while. Sweet.

Sorry, I thought it was around the corner (I understood August/Early September) But, it seems that the first release under the new name is only in October.

Looks like they really want to make a good impression with this first release.

[Erik1984]

Updating now but it seems to be stuck at 63% :(

[tjeremiah]

Updating now but it seems to be stuck at 63% :(

same, I thought I was the only one. Its been sitting on 66% for 30minutes now (pic below)

[Erik1984]

same, I thought I was the only one. Its been sitting on 66% for 30minutes now (pic below)

For me libsolid4 seems to be the culprit, you passed that station already. Could some active application be holding up the installation?

[tjeremiah]

For me libsolid4 seems to be the culprit, you passed that station already. Could some active application be holding up the installation?

maybe. Right now I have Chromium running. Im going to close that and leave the computer alone for a couple of hrs. If nothing moves, I'll just cancel even though I have a feeling it might break my system.

[StephanG]

same, I thought I was the only one. Its been sitting on 66% for 30minutes now (pic below)

If you're feeling brave, you can always kill the KPackagekit. Apt is surprisingly robust. Then open a console and type:


sudo dpkg --configure -a

And it should continue right where it left off. I have used it a few times in the past. But, stopping an update midway is still something I suggest you think over carefully.

Edit: Oh, and if the code I gave you didn't work, just type:

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
Again, and it should tell you how to continue with the update you left incomplete.

[Erik1984]

If you're feeling brave, you can always kill the KPackagekit. Apt is surprisingly robust. Then open a console and type:


sudo dpkg --configure -aAnd it should continue right where it left off. I have used it a few times in the past. But, stopping an update midway is still something I suggest you think over carefully.

Edit: Oh, and if the code I gave you didn't work, just type:

sudo apt-get dist-upgradeAgain, and it should tell you how to continue with the update you left incomplete.

Thanks, it seems to have worked. I canceled kpackagekit and rebooted then did dpkg --configure -a and now I seem to have the new packages in place.

[Burillo]

i've updated through backports ppa. everything seems to be fine except for nouveau having a bug that prevents KWin from using OpenGL (running on XRender and noaccel right now). It's been reported upstream.

What is strange is that i can't seem to find any new apps. I mean, i was supposed to get DigiKam 2, KMail 2 (ported to Akonadi), new Dolphin and all that goodness that was in the release announcement... But while i can see that the "About KDE..." part says 4.7.0, the apps are still the same.

is it how it's supposed to be or i'm missing something?

[geoaraujo]

Thanks, it seems to have worked. I canceled kpackagekit and rebooted then did dpkg --configure -a and now I seem to have the new packages in place.
Same here. Now everything runs smoothly.

[tjeremiah]

After rebooting, when I enter : sudo dpkg --configure -a into the terminal, nothing happens. Same for the sudo apt-get dist-upgrade. There are no updates. I checked the version for KDE that im running and it saids 4.7 but im sure not everything has been installed. Weird. I notice two new things. One, the activities button is on the panel and two, the folder icons have updated.

EDIT : I did leave it running on 66% for over an hr so is it possible everything installed despite the number progress freeze ?

[Erik1984]

The upgrade also solved this annoying bug for me: https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=271011

[Ichtyandr]

What is strange is that i can't seem to find any new apps. I mean, i was supposed to get DigiKam 2, KMail 2 (ported to Akonadi), new Dolphin and all that goodness that was in the release announcement... But while i can see that the "About KDE..." part says 4.7.0, the apps are still the same.

is it how it's supposed to be or i'm missing something?

not everything from KDE 4.7 is in backports. according to http://www.kubuntu.org/news/kde-4.7 "KDE PIM 4.7 won't be shipped together with our KDE SC 4.7 packages until more testing has been done." that could explain kmail for example

[Islington]

i've updated through backports ppa. everything seems to be fine except for nouveau having a bug that prevents KWin from using OpenGL (running on XRender and noaccel right now). It's been reported upstream.

What is strange is that i can't seem to find any new apps. I mean, i was supposed to get DigiKam 2, KMail 2 (ported to Akonadi), new Dolphin and all that goodness that was in the release announcement... But while i can see that the "About KDE..." part says 4.7.0, the apps are still the same.

is it how it's supposed to be or i'm missing something?

digikam 2.0 has a dependency naming issue so I dont think its in the backports.

[StephanG]

i've updated through backports ppa. everything seems to be fine except for nouveau having a bug that prevents KWin from using OpenGL (running on XRender and noaccel right now). It's been reported upstream.

What is strange is that i can't seem to find any new apps. I mean, i was supposed to get DigiKam 2, KMail 2 (ported to Akonadi), new Dolphin and all that goodness that was in the release announcement... But while i can see that the "About KDE..." part says 4.7.0, the apps are still the same.

is it how it's supposed to be or i'm missing something?

As has already been mentioned, Digikam 2 and KMail 2 haven't been packaged yet. In fact, the Digikam's website still mentions their final RC, so maybe it's been delayed?

But with Dolphin they problem is simply that you are still using the same settings you did before the update. So, you can delete your .kde folder and reboot if you want to experience all the new defaults. But that will clear ALL your KDE specific settings. You shouldn't lose any data, but KTorrent for example will forget what torrents it was downloading, and dolphin will forget what thumbnails it was supposed to preview... That sort of thing.

But, if you just want the new Dolphin Spanner, just prest Ctrl + M, that will remove the menu, replacing it with Rekonq-like spanner on the right.

Edit: Oh, and clearing .kde WILL make KMail forget your emails, passwords, etc. So you might want to copy .kde/share/apps/kmail folder somewhere and return it later. That will save your emails, but you'll still have to re-enter your account details.

[Erik1984]

As has already been mentioned, Digikam 2 and KMail 2 haven't been packaged yet. In fact, the Digikam's website still mentions their final RC, so maybe it's been delayed?

But with Dolphin they problem is simply that you are still using the same settings you did before the update. So, you can delete your .kde folder and reboot if you want to experience all the new defaults. But that will clear ALL your KDE specific settings. You shouldn't lose any data, but KTorrent for example will forget what torrents it was downloading, and dolphin will forget what thumbnails it was supposed to preview... That sort of thing.

But, if you just want the new Dolphin Spanner, just prest Ctrl + M, that will remove the menu, replacing it with Rekonq-like spanner on the right.

Edit: Oh, and clearing .kde WILL make KMail forget your emails, passwords, etc. So you might want to copy .kde/share/apps/kmail folder somewhere and return it later. That will save your emails, but you'll still have to re-enter your account details.

What I did was renaming the subfolder config to config_old. Then you loose settings of applications but for example not the Konsole profiles and torrents information in Ktorrent.

[Burillo]

ah, thanks for the clarification, i suspected something like that. are those planned to be introduced in backports or i'm better off waiting for oneiric/using alpha?

[pelle.k]

Some KDE applications still flicker slightly when starting them up, or switching between them though. I'm sure most of you don't notice it, just like some people aren't sensitive enough to notice a FPS in 20-30 frames/second vs 50-60 frames/second. Fade and Zoom kwin effects makes it less obvious, but i can still tell.
It's a pity, because i really like KDE. It's been this way as long as i can remember (KDE 3.X), and i had kind of hoped KDE4 and QT4 and a total rewrite would fix it, but apparently not. I always try new releases out though, and this release could totally float my boat, if it weren't for the flicker/redraws of application windows.
Still, damn good job, kde devs. And the kubuntu team, obviously :)

[SeijiSensei]

Especially when you consider that most people who stayed with 10.10 did so, because they didn't want cutting edge software, but preferred to stick with stable software that finally worked just like they wanted it too.

Or actually worked with their hardware, which 11.04 does not do for me. The 2.6.38 kernels in 11.04 don't work correctly with my rt2500-based wifi adapter. I also didn't want to deal with the Phonon settings bug since I have an outboard camera whose audio settings can't be saved in 11.04. There are lots of solid reasons for sticking with 10.10 that have nothing to do with avoiding "cutting edge" software.

I guess I'll be staying with 4.6.x until 11.10 or 12.04.

[Ichtyandr]

I guess I'll be staying with 4.6.x until 11.10 or 12.04.

I wonder what is the usability of kubuntu 11.10 now, considering it already has kernel 3.0 and KDE 4.7

[Ric_NYC]

Digikam still using the version 1.9.

Any ideas how to upgrade it to 2.0?

[inobe]

Digikam still using the version 1.9.

Any ideas how to upgrade it to 2.0?

you can start here, select dist version, scroll down to download, select server.


http://packages.ubuntu.com/search?keywords=digikam&searchon=names&suite=all&section=all

edit: something is wrong, the version in the repo may not have been updated..

[Ric_NYC]

you can start here, select dist version, scroll down to download, select server.


http://packages.ubuntu.com/search?keywords=digikam&searchon=names&suite=all&section=all

edit: something is wrong, the version in the repo may not have been updated..

I know... :)

[inobe]

http://www.google.com/search?aq=f&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=digikam+ppa

that unless you want to grab the tarball and compile it from source:p

[Ric_NYC]

http://www.google.com/search?aq=f&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=digikam+ppa

that unless you want to grab the tarball and compile it from source:p


No, please! :D

[ScionicSpectre]

So, apparently no oxygen-gtk 1.1 in the backports. I'm guessing it has some dependencies that might interfere with GTK applications in the default Natty installation. It really is a shame, since the visual consistency is botched between the applications. Most notably, the tooltips, menus, and other dialogs have no shadows in the older version of oxygen-gtk (since shadows were moved to an individual-basis system in KDE 4.7).

While it's not a showstopper, kinda' makes me wonder if I shouldn't just stay back in 4.6 land for now. The animations work in 1.1 is something I've been quite excited for, as well.

[el_koraco]

Digikam still using the version 1.9.

Any ideas how to upgrade it to 2.0?

from what I've heard, 2.0 is not packaged with the rest of the stuff, but there should be a separate ppa on Launchpad.

[ilovelinux33467]

So, apparently no oxygen-gtk 1.1 in the backports. I'm guessing it has some dependencies that might interfere with GTK applications in the default Natty installation. It really is a shame, since the visual consistency is botched between the applications. Most notably, the tooltips, menus, and other dialogs have no shadows in the older version of oxygen-gtk (since shadows were moved to an individual-basis system in KDE 4.7).

While it's not a showstopper, kinda' makes me wonder if I shouldn't just stay back in 4.6 land for now. The animations work in 1.1 is something I've been quite excited for, as well.

On Fedora I just rebuilt the 1.1 SRPM from rawhide


[andrew@localhost]~% rpm -q oxygen-gtk
oxygen-gtk-1.1.1-1.fc15.x86_64

[Asraniel]

Just wanted to pop in and say:
What and amazing release! its FAST and stable and looks good. Best kde release until now.

For everybody using a nvidia card and complaining that kde is slow. Activate the software rasterizer for Qt and upgrade to 4.7. Seriously, kde flies on my system now. Its faster than windows (which it really wasn't with 4.6 and without the software rasterizer)

Really looking forward to 11.10, having kde 4.7.1 or 2 with some small bugfixes on top of that amazing release will give a really nice system.

[pelle.k]

For everybody using a nvidia card and complaining that kde is slow. Activate the software rasterizer for Qt and upgrade to 4.7.
That's kinda sad, actually. If you think about it, you deactivate dedicated hardware (far more suited to handling large amounts of graphics data), and that makes it faster? Anyway, i know it works, but it also puts a lot of stress on the CPU, so unless you're on a desktop system, you might not be very happy with that compromise. Laptops tend to get quite hot when you stress them like that.
Also, you can run KDE 4.6 in raster mode too, with QT_GRAPHICSSYSTEM=raster. Since i bought notebook with sandy bridge, and thus a intel hd3000 GPU, i don't need the software raster method any more though.

[Asraniel]

Actually under windows the software rasterizer is default for Qt and it will be too for Qt 4.8 under linux.

I have a laptop system, and my CPU usage actually went down. So for me only positif stuff happend :)

[ScionicSpectre]

Actually, if I'm not mistaken OpenGL is the graphics system that would use the GPU directly. X11 (native) seems to do something different entirely, which is quite inefficient. Also, with Qt 5 OpenGL will be the default (apparently only) rendering method, so hopefully it shapes up by then. llvmpipe is what people seem to be counting on to do rendering when a sufficient GPU driver isn't available, which is fine for new computers, but as has been said with the raster rendering in Qt itself, not exactly the most efficient way to do it.

However, even on an older laptop, I've seen improved performance with raster in Qt without any significant loss of productivity. I'd say it should be default for now. KDE in Ubuntu seems to have a lot of default settings that give bad impressions to users, honestly.

For anyone reading this wondering how to enable raster, the latest versions of Qt allow you to change the graphics system on the fly. Just go to Ubuntu Software Center or KPackageKit and type qt graphics and kde-config-qt-graphicssystem should show up. If you install that and go to KDE's settings, you'll see it under System Administration. Don't use OpenGL, since it works on nearly no cards, and even so it's buggy as all get out. You'll be sorry.

[james_xxx]

ScionicSpectre,

Just a question. Where do you see something called 'System Administration' in KDE System Settings?

[ilovelinux33467]

ScionicSpectre,

Just a question. Where do you see something called 'System Administration' in KDE System Settings?

It should be there if you scroll down a bit. Here is a screenshot of what mine looks like:
199247

[dyltman]

I'm a big fan of kde but I don't use it... because I hate the blue and there really isn't many themes out there for kde. I've yet to find a 100% complete icon theme aswell as a good theme that goes along with it that isn't blue.

[lovinglinux]

For everybody using a nvidia card and complaining that kde is slow. Activate the software rasterizer for Qt...

How do you do that?

[pelle.k]

How do you do that?
Ummm, didn't that just get described four posts ago? ;)

For anyone reading this wondering how to enable raster, the latest versions of Qt allow you to change the graphics system on the fly. Just go to Ubuntu Software Center or KPackageKit and type qt graphics and kde-config-qt-graphicssystem should show up. If you install that and go to KDE's settings, you'll see it under System Administration. Don't use OpenGL, since it works on nearly no cards, and even so it's buggy as all get out. You'll be sorry.

[benerivo]

How do you do that?

I think they mean using the raster backend which can be done by changing

/usr/share/autostart/plasma-desktop.desktop to read...

Exec=plasma-desktop -graphicssystem raster

and...
/usr/bin/startkde

line 400ish from

kwrapper4 ksmserver $KDEWM

to

kwrapper4 ksmserver $KDEWM -graphicssystem raster

[lovinglinux]

Ummm, didn't that just get described four posts ago? ;)

Oops. Sorry. Thanks for quoting it again.

[lovinglinux]

Windows rules are not working a all. It doesn't remember any of my windows positions and sizes. :evil::evil:

[geoaraujo]

I'm a big fan of kde but I don't use it... because I hate the blue and there really isn't many themes out there for kde. I've yet to find a 100% complete icon theme aswell as a good theme that goes along with it that isn't blue.
Just get new icons and themes at system settings. There are plenty of them!

[geoaraujo]

Windows rules are not working a all. It doesn't remember any of my windows positions and sizes. :evil::evil:
That's weird. I don't have this problem at all...

[lovinglinux]

That's weird. I don't have this problem at all...

It's not only me and not only on Ubuntu: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=123645

[ilovelinux33467]

Got KDE SC 4.7 installed on Fedora 15 on my laptop (upgraded from 4.6.5) and got to say it is really good! :D

[Razor X]

Does anyone know if 4.7 will be pushed to ppa:kubuntu-ppa or only stay on ppa:kubuntu-ppa/backports? Running 11.04.

[FlameReaper]

Well, what's wrong with adding another PPA? That one's more up-to-date you know.

[Razor X]

Nothing terribly wrong with adding another, but sometimes more-to-date is not always better. I was just curious if 4.7 is scheduled to make it to the base ppa or if it will wait until 11.10.

[SeijiSensei]

I guess I'll be staying with 4.6.x until 11.10 or 12.04.

So after an attempt at installing Oneiric on a second partition resulted in a totally misconfigured system, I decided to reinstall 10.10 then upgrade to 4.6.x via backports.

Guess what? There are now no items in backports for Maverick. All the nice 4.6 debs that I installed just a few weeks ago are now gone. They have upgrades for Lucid to 4.5.3, and ones for Natty to 4.7, but none for Maverick. I can understand not wanting to create and maintain 4.7 debs for Maverick, but what earthly reason can there be for removing the perfectly good KDE 4.6 packages?

Please put back the missing Maverick packages!

[StephanG]

So after an attempt at installing Oneiric on a second partition resulted in a totally misconfigured system, I decided to reinstall 10.10 then upgrade to 4.6.x via backports.

Guess what? There are now no items in backports for Maverick. All the nice 4.6 debs that I installed just a few weeks ago are now gone. They have upgrades for Lucid to 4.5.3, and ones for Natty to 4.7, but none for Maverick. I can understand not wanting to create and maintain 4.7 debs for Maverick, but what earthly reason can there be for removing the perfectly good KDE 4.6 packages?

Please put back the missing Maverick packages!

I figured that you were probably just experiencing an error of some kind, and checked out the repository myself. And, HOLY COW, you were right! It says so in bold red text! One would hope they would at least put up some kind of message on their website, informing us of such a major change...

Although, they could have moved 4.6 to the main kubuntu repository. If you dist-upgrade, are you still using KDE 4.5? And also, have you added ppa:kubuntu-ppa? And if so, does that upgrade you to 4.6?

It's still beyond me why you can update to 4.x.3/4 normally (because they are bug-fixing releases) but somehow you have to add the kubuntu-repository to upgrade to 4.x.5, even though it is also a bug=fixing release. In fact, one might argue that it is an even more minor release, since the most serious bugs will have gotten caught in the first 4 fix releases.

And if the kubuntu-ppa is needed, why isn't it added by default?

[geoaraujo]

And if the kubuntu-ppa is needed, why isn't it added by default?
Good point.

[SeijiSensei]

If you dist-upgrade, are you still using KDE 4.5? And also, have you added ppa:kubuntu-ppa? And if so, does that upgrade you to 4.6?

Yes, yes, no. All methods of upgrading after adding the PPA return a "no packages to upgrade" type of error.

If you visit the PPA's home page (https://launchpad.net/~kubuntu-ppa/+archive/backports) at Launchpad, there's a little drop-down box that identifies the distributions for which software is available. Only Lucid and Natty are shown.

This is going to cause no end of confusion to people who try to follow the various instructions and blog postings around the net on how to upgrade to 4.6.

[StephanG]

http://www.ubuntuupdates.org/ppa/kubuntu-ppa_backports?dist=maverick

And according to that link, it clearly shows that they were deliberately deleted on the 29th July. I wonder what's going on?

[FlameReaper]

Another update came in to the kubuntu-backports PPA, yet somehow with that update KDE failed to start, it somehow stopped halfway. Anyone with this problem and figured out why yet?

[geoaraujo]

I don't know what you're talking about. But last KDE 4.7 update somehow messed my plasma-widget-network manager, as I've posted here http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1821071 .
Are any of you are facing the same issue?

[Dry Lips]

I'm sorry if this already has been mentioned (I've not been following
this thread too closely)...

KDE Frameworks 5.0 In Development
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/08/07/2128222/KDE-Frameworks-50-In-Development

The Plans For KDE Frameworks 5.0 Were Just Announced
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=OTc2Mg

KDE 5.0 roadmap announced
http://www.itworld.com/mobile-wireless/191083/kde-50-roadmap-announced

KDE Plans To Support Wayland In 2012
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/08/07/1325209/KDE-Plans-To-Support-Wayland-In-2012

[Ric_NYC]

I don't know what you're talking about. But last KDE 4.7 update somehow messed my plasma-widget-network manager, as I've posted here http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1821071 .
Are any of you are facing the same issue?


Yes. It doesn't show the wireless connections.

http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/8062/wifi1.png (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/97/wifi1.png/)

[DZ*]

I don't know what you're talking about. But last KDE 4.7 update somehow messed my plasma-widget-network manager, as I've posted here http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1821071 .
Are any of you are facing the same issue?

Looks like it will be resolved shortly. Meanwhile I switched to gnome's nm-applet, it works just as well in KDE

https://bugs.launchpad.net/kubuntu-ppa/+bug/822889

[FlameReaper]

I'm facing the reverse as yours: I'm connected but the icon displays as if I don't have any cable connected, and my wireless is turned off.

[boydrice]

I'm facing the reverse as yours: I'm connected but the icon displays as if I don't have any cable connected, and my wireless is turned off.

Are you convinced the applet is the issue and not some other issue? I haven't read all of the posts in this thread so perhaps I might have missed what was done to trouble shoot it. Have you ran rfkill list to see if anything is blocked?

[Zlatan]

Sorry, I thought it was around the corner (I understood August/Early September) But, it seems that the first release under the new name is only in October.

Looks like they really want to make a good impression with this first release.

Pitty that no support for MS Office formats promised... Otherwise a very nice suite:)

[FlameReaper]

Are you convinced the applet is the issue and not some other issue? I haven't read all of the posts in this thread so perhaps I might have missed what was done to trouble shoot it. Have you ran rfkill list to see if anything is blocked?

It's the applet. I can just plug in my cable and use the connection just fine. It's not showing in the applet though.

By the way, another update came in around today (or maybe it was yesterday, I didn't touch my laptop the whole day) and it fixed everything. :D

[lovinglinux]

Windows rules are not working a all. It doesn't remember any of my windows positions and sizes. :evil::evil:

This problem has been fixed with latest updates.