KDE Applications 15.08.0 Released 68
jrepin writes: KDE announces the release of KDE Applications 15.08. With this release a total of 107 applications have been ported to KDE Frameworks 5. There are several new additions to the KDE Frameworks 5-based applications list, including Dolphin, the Kontact Suite, Ark, Picmi, etc. This release of Kdenlive video editor includes lots of fixes in the DVD wizard. Okular document reader now supports Fade transition in the presentation mode.
Too late (Score:1)
I got pissed off 'cause I couldn't get KDE 5 to automount USB sticks and cameras under Ubuntu 15.04, so I switched to Gnome 3. KDE had my mindset for close to a decade, so they've had their run at it.
What a shame they fucked it up after so many years.
Re:Too late (Score:4, Insightful)
I didn't like Kubuntu 15.04, so I switched to 14.04 LTS. What's wrong with KDE 4 until 5 is ready?
Re: (Score:3)
15.04 comes with OpenJDK 8.
I don't choose my systems based on the desktop; I choose them based on the applications I actually use. I don't regress to old versions of software just because some bozo broke the release. I scrap the product until it's fixed, or in this case, until it's replacement gets broken.
Re: (Score:1)
Heard of launchpad? Often got ppas for newer releases, this one would have helped: https://launchpad.net/~openjdk... [launchpad.net]
The automount problem for exfat? Had that too, but I think that was with 14.10 and KDE 4 (And not sure if it was even KDE related...).
Overall KDE 5 is running pretty smooth here, especially for a early version :)
Re: (Score:2)
USB sticks and cameras mount fine for the OS and fine for Gnome 3.
Therefore the problem is KDE5.
Re: (Score:2)
USB sticks mount fine for me.
Therefore the problem is you.
Re: (Score:2)
> Therefore the problem is you.
you're so very helpful.
What about trying to solve the problem in HIS COMPUTER?
No, let's get personal. HE is the problem.
m(
Re: Too late (Score:2)
It's impossible that Kubuntu has some bug that doesn't exist upstream?
Some KDE-centric distros are still providing KDE4 by default with KDE5 as a non-default option. Maybe Kubuntu was a bit trigger-happy?
Re:Too late (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, interesting that people want bleeding edge and then complain about bugs and missing features. KDE 4 works fine (and is upstream LTS now).
I don't know if it is a good or bad sign that people expect FOSS DE's to be mature and finished before they are released, just like commercial DE's like MS Windows.
There used to be an understanding that FOSS software projects needs to release early and often, and that this sometimes meant releases with missing features and bugs.
Anyway, people should remember how few developers actually working full time on Linux DE's (the number is probably lower than the number of Baristas employed by Microsoft).
It never really ceases to amaze me how good the KDE desktop and its applications are compared to products from multi-billion dollar companies.
Re: (Score:1)
Ubuntu's desktop releases are hardly "bleeding edge."
Face it. The KDE team screwed up. All software teams do, sooner or later. They post a broken "release", and it gets shipped.
Unfortunately, that can be how you lose your user base.
Besides, it's not like there aren't a bazillion desktops out there waiting to replace one that's been screwed up.
Re: (Score:2, Flamebait)
Aside from the USB bug, there's the annoying fact that they've *completely* stripped the customizability that I used to love about KDE, and don't even let you pin launchers to the desktop any more.
Quite frankly, KDE5 SUCKS compared to KDE4. It's as bad a "jump the shark" release as Gnome 3 initially was.
Re: (Score:1)
It's nothing wrong with KDE, but someone with that low of a user ID should already know by now that Ubuntu DO NOT like KDE and should have instead used a KDE friendly distro like OpenSUSE or Arch where automounts DO work.
Re: (Score:2)
I've been using KDE on Ubuntu for about 7 years, so I call "bullshit".
Re: (Score:2)
KDE has a history of this - KDE4 was also let out of the bag long before it was ready.
Re:Too late (Score:4, Insightful)
Ubuntu's desktop releases are hardly "bleeding edge."
Well, if they wanted a stable KDE release they should have chosen KDE 4. KDE 5 (KF, Apps etc) are still a work in progress.
But people (including me) wants new and shiny, so most distros tend to ship the newest Linux DE instead of the old boring stable one.
Face it. The KDE team screwed up. All software teams do, sooner or later. They post a broken "release", and it gets shipped.
I disagree and I don't think you really understand how FOSS DE and software development work; all the major DE versions starts with feature regression, rough edges and lots of bugs, and then later start to stabilize as users report bugs and developers catch up. Gnome 3 happens to be further into the stabilizing phase since it is older, but it certainly was released with both bugs and features missing.
Both Gnome 1, 2, 3, and KDE 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 followed the above pattern without exception.
This is not because KDE or Gnome developers "screws up", but because this is how FOSS DE software with basically no funding has to be developed; release early and release often, have the users report bugs and supply RFE's and general feedback for what is important to fix.
If people rage-quit instead of reporting bugs Linux development will suffer.
Besides, it's not like there aren't a bazillion desktops out there waiting to replace one that's been screwed up.
Really? As I see it there are only two DE's out there with any kind of application development going on and that is Gnome and KDE (and a few Qt apps).
If KDE disappeared then there would only be Gnome and GTK apps left for Linux. (Qt would probably disappear too since they would no longer have any economic incentive to support Linux anymore).
But hey, there is always CDE.
Re: (Score:3)
Maybe the problem is that they need to spend more time on beta testing, or go the Release Candidate route. It's not unreasonable for users, especially users who don't understand how programming and program development work to be upset when the newest release isn't as complete as they expect. Telling them it's still in beta, or only an RC release might help them have more reasonable expectations.
Re: (Score:2)
I tried KDE4 on a 4K display, the results varied from disappointing to frustrating.
KDE5 may be "bleeding edge," but it's already a couple of years behind the times for mainstream hardware (high resolution displays).
Re: (Score:2)
I don't any FOSS DE have fully working HiDPI /high resolution display support yet.
They are getting better for each release however.
Again the point is that few people are working on Linux DE's since nobody earns money on desktop Linux and desktop Linux users generally are misers when it comes to donate money to DE work. I think many board games or small computer games raises more capital on Kickstarter than all Linux DE's together gets in user donations.
Re: (Score:2)
Unless you count Ubuntu and Unity - it works better on my 4K displays than any other Linux DE, which is to say, it works as well as Unity works on any resolution.
Re: (Score:2)
Sure, they work better now than they did 6 month ago, but HiDPI is still a work of progress on Gnome and Unity (and KDE too).
As I said, every iteration of those Gnome/KDE brings better HiDPI support. But the devil is in the details and certain apps have hardcoded assumptions on font sizes and DPI that doesn't work in HiDPI. It will take quite some time to shake out all the visual bugs.
Things move somewhat slowly simply because there are so few developers working on it and even fewer of these DE developers o
Re: (Score:2)
The thing is, you don't need a 4K display to work on variable DPI support, you just need to make sure that the apps you have responsibility for DO IT!
I mention Unity as "working" because I've tried it and had virtually no problems at 4K, it seems that more stuff in Gnome is hardcoded, and KDE4 is hopeless. Too bad that you need to "make the leap" to KDE5 to get HiDPI, I'm guessing it will be 2-3 years before KDE5 is "ready" the way that KDE4 is "ready" on a 1080p screen today. I enjoyed using KDE4 on 108
Re: (Score:2)
The thing is, you don't need a 4K display to work on variable DPI support, you just need to make sure that the apps you have responsibility for DO IT!
Sure, you don't need a 4K display to work on HiDPI support, but it would probably help with the motivation though. Remember, KDE is mainly coded by volunteers that have full time jobs doing other things, and mostly their work queue is extremely long.
Personally I am quite pleased with KDE 5/Plasma 5. As usual the KDE developers delivers a lot of new stuff between each point release. KDE 5 (Apps, Plasma 5) is already in much better shape than KDE 4 was at a similar point back in 2008/2009.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I'd say Unity and Windows are neck-and-neck with respect to 4K resolution usability - with maybe a slight edge to Unity for ease of use and completeness of scaling. I find both to be usable without magnifying glasses, unlike KDE4.
Re: (Score:2)
It became "mainstream" for me when my new job supplied me with a laptop with a 4K display. Not long after, I bought a $600 25" 4K desktop monitor - that's pretty mainstream if you ask me. Looking around, these displays have been available since ~early 2014, and anybody who didn't know they were coming would have had to be in deep ostrich denial mode.
Re: (Score:2)
Looking around, these displays have been available since ~early 2014, and anybody who didn't know they were coming would have had to be in deep ostrich denial mode.
Being around and being in the right hands are two different stories. Last time I checked OS X was the only operating system that properly handled very high resolution displays (I know that Windows 7 and 8.1 did not), and I don't expect Linux developers to be super far ahead of the Windows curve either.
Re: (Score:2)
I hardly consider a $600 display to be mainstream. It's availible, and it's way more then the average person is going to spend. 1080 displays are the mainstream displays.
Define average? When I graduated college, my (small) company put a computer on my desk that cost 2 months of my salary to purchase (1991, 16MHz 386 with 15" VGA color monitor, $5K computer cost vs $30K starting salary). Kids these days can (commonly) start out anywhere from working for free up to $60K/year fresh out of school, and most of them start with a PC on their desk (not running Linux, but....) I doubt many people spend $10K on a college fresh-out's computer these days, but $2K wouldn't seem out o
Re: Too late (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Today, you can get a 28" 4K monitor for ~$450, and I think that's been true for over a year.
The common setup at my company is a pair of 24" 1080p on a dual stand - the stand itself costs $100, so if the monitors are $175 each, you are at the same cost for the same number of pixels... I prefer the single 16:9 monitor to work on instead of a 32:9 aspect ratio.
Re: (Score:1)
KDE is awesome right now. I updated PC-BSD a couple days ago and got the latest 4.x. Best desktop I've ever used going all the way back to 8 bit. It's frigging awesome. It totally blows Windows and Mac OS X away. I use them all. I've used all desktop environments for the past few decades. Gnome is weak. Even Linus Torvalds came out and said it years back. PC speeds being as fast as they are these days, KDE should run perfectly with all settings maxed in most cases. If you have some slow ass laptop
Re: (Score:2)
"There used to be an understanding that FOSS software projects needs to release early and often, and that this sometimes meant releases with missing features and bugs."
There used to be the understanding that releasing soon made for pending features. Bugs, on the other hand, have always been a matter of the quality and seriousness of the developers involved.
Re: (Score:3)
There used to be the understanding that releasing soon made for pending features. Bugs, on the other hand, have always been a matter of the quality and seriousness of the developers involved.
New features=new bugs.
The quality of FOSS software like KDE have really improved over the decade. I used to expect application crashes and even DE crashes as a matter of fact, these days such crashes are much rarer. Gone are the usual huge memory leaks too. Everything from documentation to stability have improved much over the decades.
What people are complaining about these days are mostly subtle bugs or missing features like "widget X" no longer work like it used to do.
I find it sadly typical of the times
Re: (Score:2)
Why should a window manager have anything to do with mounting a filesystem?
Re: (Score:2)
Fonts? (Score:1)
KDE5 works, especially just using KWIN with XFCE (Score:4, Informative)
KDE5/Plasma5 has been very solid for me, but I use KWIN with XFCE [hobo.house] only as the compositor/window manager.
A lot of the instability people discuss around KDE5 is actually an Intel bug [kde.org] which features in Plasma 5 seem to trigger on Intel chipsets.
If you're using an Intel chipset and have weird issues, artifacts or instability you might want to try switching to the older UXA driver instead of SNA that's shipped with more recent distributions.
Section "Device"
Identifier "Intel Graphics"
Driver "intel"
Option "AccelMethod" "uxa"
EndSection
Re: (Score:2)
Okular (Score:3)
I'm not a KDE desktop user, but I use some of the applications. Okular is excellent and has been improving rapidly. The lack of a good tool for annotating PDFs was a problem on Linux and that's solved now.
Also, Okular is actually almost nicer to use than xpdf, finally. Evince (the Gnome version) is predictably awful. Sure it has pretty features, but they decided to omit a feature that xpdf has had since forever: a back button.
Okular has one of those, although bizarrely it's buried in a menu not there on the toolbar.
I mean I like and use Okular, but what's the trend with making new Linux programs that are demonstrably worse than the ancient ones written in M*tif or lesstif or whatever over silly, trivial, obvious features?
Back button! It's not hard!
Every browser has one! xpdf has one! File browser dialogs have them! Okular only sort of has one. WTF!
Re: (Score:1)
Most KDE software is very, very flexible.
Re: (Score:2)
Woo hoo!!
Forget that criticism then. Okylar is best PDF viewer.
Quanta + (Score:2)
I'm happy with (Score:1)
https://wiki.archlinux.org/ind... [archlinux.org]