[Solved] Mint KDE 13 Release ?

[selittl]

I just re-installed Kubuntu 12.04. It really is working nice. I have to say that I am giving up on LM both Mate and Cinnamon because trying to get them and eyecandy to work well with my computer is just not really possible. Compiz is a pain on Mate and cinnamon hates ATI drivers. KDE seems to work well with ATI and has most of the compiz goodies just built in to the DM and it works. Don't know why KDE is a bastard stepchild to so many distros but it seems to work well without eating a ton of resources (at least on my HP dv6.). Might try Netrunner 4.2 when it hits. I hope more effort is put in to LM13 KDE because LM12 did not work that well.

[zerozero]

in the middle of that mild rant i believe there's a question
- yes, Mint13 will have a kde ed. http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=2031#comment-65458

[digitalking]

in the middle of that mild rant i believe there's a question
- yes, Mint13 will have a kde ed. http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=2031#comment-65458

Thanks for pointing this out zerozero! You always find the gold in blog posts, comments, and forums (it's almost like as if you actually spend time reading things - I skim too often).

I was fairly sure that a KDE version was in the works, but I was under the impression that XFCE for the main editions was cancelled and would only be used in LMDE. I'm looking forward to the KDE version, but the person who introduced me to linux in the first place is a huge XFCE fan and will be glad to see that Maya will be getting it's own version of XFCE.

[zerozero]

[...](it's almost like as if you actually spend time reading things - I skim too often).

[...]

too much free time?

[BostonPeng]

The KDE release of a new Mint always lags behind the main edition (mothership?) simply because clem has so much on his plate for every new release. I seem to remember it's about a month behind the main release but as always the release date is "When It's Ready." I really love that about Mint, they never push a release out because of an arbitrary date on a calendar, it's always "right" when it comes out. It's a shame the folks over at the Spaceship Distro haven't adopted this practice.

[water spirit]

It is getting close.

http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/desktop-os/ ... -40155291/

[BostonPeng]

Yep, in about a month, which is the normal time frame. Hopefully Mint 13 KDE won't present ugly bugs like Mint 11 KDE did. That wasn't a fun wait and I'd hate to see the team go through that again for any Mint release.

[Jose Manuel]

What a thrill !!!! I will be waiting those 2 editions with great deal of anxiety, especially the edition with KDE, hopefully in these editions to correct the serious error that I at least found in the main editions of Linux Mint 13 (on the Live DVD), the problem of Internet connection, and the failure of the command "sudo pppoeconf". Failures are too important for an LTS version. And hopefully also Linux Mint KDE 13 is more like to Kubuntu 12.04 and Linux Mint 12 which is too unstable and has several errors.-

[zerozero]

[...] hopefully in these editions to correct the serious error that I at least found in the main editions of Linux Mint 13 (on the Live DVD), the problem of Internet connection, and the failure of the command "sudo pppoeconf". Failures are too important for an LTS version.

it's this you are referring to:

Local repository and GnomePPP

GnomePPP is not installed by default but it is present within the default installation of Linux Mint. Your Linux Mint system comes with a local repository which is disabled by default. You can enable it by removing the comment sign "#" in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/local-repository.list and refreshing your APT cache. This repository contains GnomePPP as well as a collection of drivers.

here

[KBD47]

Kubuntu 12.04 is very nice, polished, quick, lightweight. I'm running it on a netbook with 1 gig ram and 1.66 processor and with effects and animations turned off and you would think I was running xubuntu or something else lightweight. Mint KDE 13 should be impressive. I don't have room for Mint KDE 13 on my hard drive but I'll probably install it to a usb stick and keep it for a portable OS.

[Jose Manuel]

Dear Community: Thank you really estimated zerozero. This is the beauty that have the Linux World, testing and trying things you feel you have everything in his hands, and you learn (sometimes to shocks to solve problems). The problem that I got tired of reporting that there was no way I worked the Internet, and I found the solution (in the two versions: Mate Desktop and Cinnamon/Gnome 3 Desktop). And, really the solution is very simple, is solved by two clicks: I step to run:

When inserted the Live DVD on your computer, load the desktop, then when we already have the desktop up and running, the Network Manager says that we do not have Internet access, well, the solution is to do here (if you're using Mate "right click "if we are using Gnome 3/Cinnamon or common-click disabling an option that says "Enable Network", then in fact this open the Network Configuration Assistant Manager, then we make our Username and Password, close this window and finally we enable again the option to "Enable Network" and SURPRISE!!: Now we have the Internet running smooth and preciously.

It was a little trick I tried and it served, so I am posting here on the forum for anybody to stumble upon the same stone, were that easy . Now wait to arrive Linux Mint 13 KDE, if it becomes like Kubuntu 12.04 version we will have an really spectacular. Thanks for everything Dear People!! Best Regards. José Manuel.-

[Ken Lonewolf]

I have used KDE and kind of fond of it, preferred it over Gnome2. I like all the features that the Plasma desktop has as well as being able to customize it any flavor you want. Have tried Mint 12 KDE with good results, only complaint is some GTK apps don't look good. Firefox and synaptic window borders have that Windows 95 look. What seems to be missing is that GTK-QT engine that Debian Squeeze used, really made GTK apps look native to KDE. Don't know why they dropped it since it worked well. Right now using Mint 13 Cinnamon which is very nice but lacks some of the desktop settings that KDE has. Want to give Mint 13 KDE a spin when it comes out since I prefer a long term support release, don't like updating every 6 months or so when a new release comes out.

[BostonPeng]

I know what you mean about GTK apps being ugly under KDE. I've got KDE 4.7.4 bolted on top of LMDE UP4 and I really miss the KDE-GTK configuration panel I had with UP3. I've been trying to find a way to build it myself but I'm having problems just finding source code for it.

While I am glad to be rid of the Ubuntu base of the regular Mint KDE until Clem decides to move KDE to a Debian base (they talked about it for Mint 11 KDE but changed his mind due to the work load it would mean) our KDE users deserve a new LTS edition. The good news is that it generally takes a month after the release of the flagship Mint release to see the KDE release. There is an easy mechanism for people to help test the incoming packages for LMDE but if folks go to the community site they can at least help test the ISO images once one is spun up. I'm not sure how to join the ISO testers but I'm sure the info is there if you want to hunt more than the few seconds I just took. Also if you're able to help code or package I'm sure Clem would love any assistance we can provide him with it.

[matfx]

I really hope the linux mint team will release the KDE for LTS version.

[LMDEFan1]

For all the KDE fans out there, you'll be glad to know that a recent poll, taken by LinuxQuestions.org, shows that KDE is the most popular desktop with 33% of the vote. GNOME came in second with 19.14%.

Here's the link:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions ... ar-919888/

I suspect that with GNOME's apparent direction toward tablet and phone computing that there will be more desktop and laptop users running to KDE (or back to KDE).

Remember, once upon a time KDE was the king but they lost out to GNOME when they made huge changes and had a horrible release (version 4). However, by version 4.2 it was stable again, although some will argue that 4.5 was really buggy. About that time GNOME 2 was really solid, very configurable and fast. People gave it a try and decided they liked it.

Now that GNOME is no longer listening to it's users, and has stuck with the direction taken with GNOME 3 (which as of version 3.4 still is not winning many fans) I suspect the Linux community will run to KDE. I'm guessing that a few will try Xfce but will find it a bit bare boned to keep there attention for daily use. Then they'll head for KDE. After all, KDE is the Kool Desktop Environment and definitely is configurable and beautiful AND fast (go on, admit it. KDE 4.8 is fast.).

Anyway, with all the negative comments toward KDE, I thought I'd inject this bit of information, along with my opinion, of course.

It's also interesting to read Linus Torvalds' thoughts on GNOME 3. Just google it. Pretty entertaining stuff.

As for MATE and Cinnamon, they are looking good but, I'm planning to wait and try them again when they are more mature and stable. For now, I'm off to KDE land when Linux Mint 13 KDE is released.

[BostonPeng]

Thanks for the link Fan. I'm not surprised KDE is doing so well in user polls. We lost a lot of users when they made the switch in KDE 4 but as more people try it hey'll find it's actually a very nice DE, especially in terms of being able to customize it, something GNOME 2 didn't even do as well. True, KDE is a little hungrier in terms of resources but you can disable a lot of the "eye candy" and still end up with a damned fine UI.

I didn't check out Cinnamon when I got LMDE installed on my laptop and I didn't spend much time in MATE but that's because I had already found so much to love in KDE I wasn't interested in learning a GNOME-based interface all over again. Plus KDE is just so much easier to use out of the box between KIckoff and how much you can do with a simple right click on the desktop. You have to wonder why GNOME and MATE (and Cinnamon?) haven't added a simple Leave... entry on the desktop context menu. That's one of the things that bugged me during my time in MATE. I have to shut down my laptop at least a couple of times a day and the simple ability to shutdown with my mouse from the desktop in three clicks means I get to do a little more before I have to shut down. That may not seem like a lot but psychologically it's a win.

[LMDEFan1]

Here's an idea of the time-line for the KDE release:

http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/desktop-os/ ... -40155291/

No date given, of course, but at least an estimate.

[KBD47]

KDE 4.8.3 is excellent. It is great in Kubuntu 12.04 and should be just as nice in Mint 13 KDE.

[Adelante]

I like Cinnamon very much, but I've been looking forward to trying the KDE 13 release. I just recently became interested in KDE using Netrunner and I really like it a lot. Upgrading to 4.8.2 KDE was easy. I'm so new at this I didn't know what would come of things, but it works great.

[thunder422]

For GTK theme configuration, I installed the gtk-chtheme package that allows you to change which GTK 2.0 theme to use, but this is something that can also be done from System Settings/Application Appearance/GTK+ Appearance. One nice thing about GTK 2.0 Change Theme is it shows you examples of what the different themes look like (check boxes, radio buttons, buttons, sliders, scroll bars, font, etc.), which GTK+ Appearance does not show you.

Out of the box, only two GTK themes are installed, Raleigh and another one I don't remember - both looked ugly to me. At some point I got additional themes installed (Clearlooks, Crux, Industrial, Mist, QtCurve, Redmond, Thinice and oxygen-gtk). I'm not exactly which packages got me these themes, but the different packages I have installed are gtk2-engines-qtcurve, gtk2-engines, libcanberra-gtk3-0, libcanberra-gtk3-module, gtk3-engines-oxygen, libcanberra-gtk0, and libcanberra-gtk-module. There was also libwxgtk2.8-0 that was needed for p7zip. The canberra packages were something that seamonkey (browser) needed to look right. (Note that I am running KDE 4.8.2 on Mint 12 KDE.)

I currently have my GTK theme set to QtCurve (though my main KDE theme is Plastique, something I grew fond of back with KDE 3). Unlike Plastique, QtCurve is very configurable (very, like insane - every aspect of the theme). QtCurve can probably be set up to look like Plastique but I haven't spent the time.

Anyway, I learned that when the GTK theme is set to QtCurve, it can be configured (fine tuned) using the Configure... button on System Settings/Application Appearance/Style when the Widget style is set to QtCurve. These changes then apply to the GTK QtCurve theme (though the GTK programs may have to be restarted to see the changes). But because of some kind of bug maybe, changes don't show up immediately unless I select another Widget style, click Apply, select QtCurve again, and finally click Apply again.