Linux Mint Forums

Some honest advice is needed guys.

I have been using Kubuntu 9.10 since it came out. As usual there are a few bugs I have been ignoring - sound stops in firefox if you have another audio app open, webcam only works in Skype after restarting the app. Screen starts in the wrong resolution until Screen size and rotate starts in the system tray. Sometimes it just boots into a blank screen for no reason. But worst of all, I was just writing a song in Hydrogen and it crashed and lost the whole thing. I know, I know I should have been saving as I go but I didn't realise this would happen.

Is this audio/Kubuntu issues that are the same for everyone? I should I look for another more reliable distribution? I do like KDE alot.... or dare I say it, should I go to Windows 7.... This is just too much pain.

Talk some sense into me.

Use Mint. I haven't had issues with KDE before, but Gnome is what I know best, and everything works perfect. Give Mint 8 RC a shot and see how you feel.

I would not go with Windows 7, it has it's own brand of frustration. Since you like KDE 4, OpenSuse might be worth a look. I have checked out every major KDE 4 based release and OpenSuse is at the top of my list for stability and quality. Fedora 12 KDE seems solid, you just need to add what you want to the base install to have a complete system.

Have you upgraded KDE to 4.3.3 in Kubuntu? I installed all of the normal updates and then upgraded KDE and my system seems pretty stable now. Something interesting I noticed about OpenSuse 11.2 KDE is that the KDE based edition does not have pulse audio installed by default. Anyway, those are my ideas for solving the type of issues that you are having.

So before your move to Kubuntu 9.1 what did you use and were you happy with it?

exploder wrote:I would not go with Windows 7, it has it's own brand of frustration. Since you like KDE 4, OpenSuse might be worth a look. I have checked out every major KDE 4 based release and OpenSuse is at the top of my list for stability and quality. Fedora 12 KDE seems solid, you just need to add what you want to the base install to have a complete system.

Have you upgraded KDE to 4.3.3 in Kubuntu? I installed all of the normal updates and then upgraded KDE and my system seems pretty stable now. Something interesting I noticed about OpenSuse 11.2 KDE is that the KDE based edition does not have pulse audio installed by default. Anyway, those are my ideas for solving the type of issues that you are having.

No Pulse audio? Hmmm interesting. I have already upgraded my Kubuntu to 4.3.3

monkeyboy wrote:So before your move to Kubuntu 9.1 what did you use and were you happy with it?

I was using Ubuntu 9.04 (gnome) and it was OK sound-wise, but had Intel Graphics issues.

I was using Ubuntu 9.04 (gnome) and it was OK sound-wise, but had Intel Graphics issues.

I had no issues with my Intel graphics with OpenSuse. For what you are working with, OpenSuse might fit your needs.

I checked out Kubuntu sidux, Fedora, OpenSuse, Mandriva and Sabayon. OpenSuse was clearly the winner for stability.

exploder wrote:

I was using Ubuntu 9.04 (gnome) and it was OK sound-wise, but had Intel Graphics issues.

I had no issues with my Intel graphics with OpenSuse. For what you are working with, OpenSuse might fit your needs.

I checked out Kubuntu sidux, Fedora, OpenSuse, Mandriva and Sabayon. OpenSuse was clearly the winner for stability.

Ok cool. I'm gonna check it out - I read a review of it on Distrowatch which wasn't so good but that is just one opinion.

Thanks everyone for the advice. Much appreciated.

Looks like I got some data backing up to do.

Just glad that you can remain a Linux user. I have noticed that every KDE based distribution I have looked at has it's own unique bugs and quirks this time around. I guess this is good in a way because it shows independent development in action.

If all you want is the best KDE4 implementation, go install Mandriva.

Try PCLOS. It is very stable and very simple. I used it for a year with no issues at all and loved it. It has always been KDE 3.5 which I like a lot, but now they are making
the transition to KDE 4 which I absolutely despise. Therefore I'm now Mint user and gnome is treating me fine. I love Mint!!! Life is beautiful again.

BubbaBlues wrote:Try PCLOS. It is very stable and very simple. I used it for a year with no issues at all and loved it. It has always been KDE 3.5 which I like a lot, but now they are making the transition to KDE 4 which I absolutely despise. Therefore I'm now Mint user and gnome is treating me fine. I love Mint!!! Life is beautiful again.

I have to admit, I do not understand the whole "KDE 3.5 rocked, KDE 4 sucks!" thing. If you just change the desktop settings to "Folder View" and change the kicker to "classic", then KDE 4.x looks and acts just like KDE 3.5. (As far as I can tell, anyway; I'm mostly an XFCE guy and don't use KDE or Gnome much, so maybe there's more to it that I'm missing...)

Crunnluath wrote:

BubbaBlues wrote:Try PCLOS. It is very stable and very simple. I used it for a year with no issues at all and loved it. It has always been KDE 3.5 which I like a lot, but now they are making the transition to KDE 4 which I absolutely despise. Therefore I'm now Mint user and gnome is treating me fine. I love Mint!!! Life is beautiful again.

I have to admit, I do not understand the whole "KDE 3.5 rocked, KDE 4 sucks!" thing. If you just change the desktop settings to "Folder View" and change the kicker to "classic", then KDE 4.x looks and acts just like KDE 3.5. (As far as I can tell, anyway; I'm mostly an XFCE guy and don't use KDE or Gnome much, so maybe there's more to it that I'm missing...)

Nope, that's pretty much it. And 3.5 had to go because the codebase was a mess. Now it's back, solid and better than ever. Doing things 3.5 could never dream of. Extending onto netbooks, phones, you name it. But it seems that they also ticked a few people off. I can understand that. No one likes change for change's sake. However those changes needed to be done to get KDE where it needs to go.

In all honesty, it's more about hurt feelings than anything else most of the time. For if KDE 3.5 was really "all that and a bag of chips" there would be many more people staying with it instead of running to Gnome or KDE 4. KDE now is nothing short of impressive and 4.4 will be amazing.

* Amarok improves
* k3B improves and is arguably the best CD/DVD burner app anywhere
* KOffice (yes KDE has a Microsoft-compatable office system) improves and just released a new version. And looks great, unlike OpenOffice's dated Win 98 look
* Choqok (Twitter / Identi.ca) improves and has no equal in the open source world
* KRunner is awesome. Check this out for more.
* Plasma is just about where it needs to be now (stable as well as beautiful)
* Dolphin improves and is poised to do things that Konqueror / Krusader never dreamed of
etc etc

QT has allowed KDE4 to develop in under two years what had taken KDE3 10 years to achieve. When Mint 8 KDE is released, seriously, download it and try it no matter what your past experiences or impressions of KDE are or were. You'll be surprised.

dequire wrote:QT has allowed KDE4 to develop in under two years what had taken KDE3 10 years to achieve. When Mint 8 KDE is released, seriously, download it and try it no matter what your past experiences or impressions of KDE are or were. You'll be surprised.

Oh, I intend to! Even though as I mentioned I'm more of an XFCE guy than anything else, I always try out all the versions when a new edition of Mint comes out!

Well,...if you wanted to stay in the "Debian" camp,....there's SimplyMepis. Right now they have both the old and the newer KDE. ( I'm into Lxde, myself.)

Kubuntu has KDE 3.5.10 also

Kubuntu has KDE 3.5.10 also

The Ubuntu 9.10 base is causing a lot of people a lot of problems, it's not KDE itself.

badmotor wrote:I was using Ubuntu 9.04 (gnome) and it was OK sound-wise, but had Intel Graphics issues.

Ubuntu 9.04 had Intel graphics issues. Nothing more can or needs to be said. These "issues" were well known, well documented, and there were several different very solid fixes out in the wild for Jaunty. I'm frankly surprised you didn't avail yourself of any of them. I have intel graphics on one of my machines, ran Jaunty & Gloria on it, fixed the "issues", and life was good.

You had issues? There was a fix for that.

Ubuntu rolled up those Intel fixes into Karmic, but a FEW people still have best results by rolling back to one particular xserver-xorg-intel version from Jaunty. Don't recall which one. Might be you. Depends on your EXACT version of intel graphics (which you never provided).

That only addresses the graphics issue. The KDE issue is totally seperate. I believe that when exploder says that the Ubuntu 9.10 base is causing "problems" that he is addressing KDE specifically. I say this because "a lot of problems" is not my experience (or observation) with Gnome-based Ubuntu 9.10 (vanilla or UNR). In general I find that Canonical does a better job at releasing a smooth gnome release than a smooth KDE release, which is not surprising as gnome is their primary focus.