rec9140 wrote:WildSioux wrote:
You will never know how to use KDE 4.2 if you don't stick with it. It may have bugs that you may have to work out. But learning a new interface is possible. I don't know how KDE 3.5.10 works since I barely used it. But I find KDE 4.2 to be simple and efficient.
Like I said, I have been using Mint6 KDE RC1 without issue for almost a week now and I love it. It just takes a little time to get used to it.
With out trying to start a fight, I honestly would like to hear what is so great with KDE 4.2?
Warning I am a die hard KDE fan, but 4.x is not thrilling me.
I absolutely loved the control I had over the look and feel under 3.5. Between themes, styles, window decorations, and icons, the possible combinations were immense. When I went to the KControl (or System Settings), I felt like I was in a foreign country -- not only were the choices limited, but there were none of the old combinations available. The configuration tools for the panel are unwieldy and inflexible. Is it possible to set a unique wallpaper to the number of desktops you implement? I spent at least a half an hour trying to figure that one out, and I believe the answer is no -- you can't have a unique wallpaper for each desktop. I found that feature invaluable, since I have more than one thing going, and tend to keep one or two items active on each desktop.
And what's up with the wallpaper? I must have selected those 'foldered images', but I am not sure when. It is a little frustrating to have to bore down through a couple of folders to see what the image looks like attached to the artsy names. And do the screensavers use the old /usr/share/wallpapers content or the /usr/share/background content? I didn't spend as much time on that quandry, but I believe the answer is 'it depends', but I just don't know what the 'depends' is. I felt like I was car shopping and had the distinct feeling that I was in the wrong dealership.
I am sure the OS runs the programs fairly efficiently, if we ignore some of Dolphin's quirky behavior, but it just felt SO different, and there really aren't that many ways to learn what to do, without some real digging. I am sure KDE has some user help available, but the inherent way it operates begs for a pretty stiff learning curve. The person who does the LinuxMint Users Manual on this is going to be a HERO!
I hate to sound so negative, but exactly what was so broken in 3.5.XX that would warrant such a radical departure from its general operating set up? The patient must have been very ill to have warranted such radical surgery....
I have just about got 5.0 set up comfortably for the grumbling old fart that I am, but so many of the applications are showing their age, and all the newer versions are behind the barbed wire of 4.X.
I have noticed a few posts with feelings similar to my own, maybe not as strong, but in the same general direction. There have been a couple of suggestions to include 3.5 and 4.2 as options in the final version. I would love that, but it may be an impossibility from a technical standpoint. Smarter folks than me would have to weigh in on the feasibility.
I feel like an old 'free range' cattleman from cowboy times in the old West of the USA, who has just seen the first fences come up on neighboring ranches. It is obvious that the fences will encircle me; it is an irrevocable direction KDE. And the safe, comfortable open range of 3.5 is slowly but surely blinking out around me. Before too long it will be 4.X or nothing -- maybe a few 'legacy distros' but not the main stream ones.
I guess I will cling to 3.5 for as long as possible, and pray that LXDE, or something like it, will mature into a full blown, polished window manager before the barbed wire is all around me. Pass me a stale cup of coffee while I take off these cowboy boots and await my fate.....
Hawkeye
