Page 11 of 23

Re: Unofficial LMDE KDE Live DVD: UP4 / 201208

Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2012 11:27 am
by GeneC
Schoelje wrote:...But startupmanager does not change Plymouth setting, or does it?..
Yes, it can change Plymouth resolution. :wink:
Use it to change 'resolution' and 'color depth'.
See :arrow: http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/37

Re: Unofficial LMDE KDE Live DVD: UP4 / 201208

Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2012 11:35 am
by BostonPeng
GeneC wrote:
Schoelje wrote:...But startupmanager does not change Plymouth setting, or does it?..
Yes, it can change Plymouth resolution. :wink:
Use it to change 'resolution' and 'color depth'.
See :arrow: http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/37
Thanks Gene. I thought it did but it's been a while since I fired up SUM and couldn't remember, plus I'm trying to get caught up with some vids from a crazy week so i didn't take the time to fire it up and check.
Schoelje wrote:Don't mind, BostonPeng, even if you successfully change resolution, it doesn't say anything about the unofficial LMDE KDE.
So, just leave your settings as they are. That is a lot safer.
Will do, although I'm hoping to activate launch control for the switch this week.

/me crossed his fingers and knocks on his wooden head

Re: Unofficial LMDE KDE Live DVD: UP4 / 201208

Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2012 12:01 pm
by arjay
Schoelje

JFYI I installed a fresh copy of UP4 on another box and upgraded to UP5 using your latest patch - it went completely without a hitch. So ignore my post about 6-7 back about some problems with my first attempt. I am going to delete the first try on my test PC and reinstall - just to make sure that the patch works OK on two different PCs.

I am using the second install daily for everything now - designing a website, graphical stuff, everything. Just having GIMP 2.8 with its single-window mode has transformed my life re productivity and made all the installs and upgrades worth it.

Of course, I am backing up all my work every night to my "normal "production" PC that runs MEPIS 11. Its difficult to go back to an OS that is very reliable but really showing its age.

Richard

Re: Unofficial LMDE KDE Live DVD: UP4 / 201208

Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2012 1:25 pm
by Schoelje
Is there anybody having negative experiences using SUM?
In other words, is it worthwhile installing SUM by default on LMDE KDE?

Re: Unofficial LMDE KDE Live DVD: UP4 / 201208

Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2012 1:31 pm
by BostonPeng
I Love using SUM to manage the grub menu. My only issue seems to be the grub resolution. It's great for keeping me form having to root around in the config file. It's a Must Install on every rebuild for me and it has been for a while now. I think I'm just having some flaky driver issues before LMDE can get to things.

Re: Unofficial LMDE KDE Live DVD: UP4 / 201208

Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2012 1:54 pm
by zerozero
i would use SUM with caution
https://launchpad.net/startup-manager/+ ... ement/8300 (dev ceased in 2011)
http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=599584 (orphaned in debian since end 2010)
in the meantime grub changed a lot

Re: Unofficial LMDE KDE Live DVD: UP4 / 201208

Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2012 2:06 pm
by BostonPeng
Damn, I missed that. Thanks for the info, ZZ. I guess it's going to be time to research hand tweaking things.

Re: Unofficial LMDE KDE Live DVD: UP4 / 201208

Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2012 6:36 am
by Schoelje
As you might have noticed I deviated from the standard (LM 13) black Plymouth theme in the hope to create a more concise look in the themes that are used. I presumed (which might be a bit risky) that anybody interested in a KDE distribution would have the hardware to support it.

Although I also included a text based theme like LM 13, I decided to use the logo theme as default. I haven't heard any objections this far but I'd like to hear your opinion on this: do I need to keep as close to the other Mint family members or should I be more daring and create a slightly different identity for the unofficial LMDE KDE (which is the current road taken)?

Re: Unofficial LMDE KDE Live DVD: UP4 / 201208

Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2012 11:04 am
by Fandangio
Thanks for all of your great work Schoelje.

This implemenatation of LMDE KDE looks great. I did download the original .iso but have since done a major upgrade on my PC and ditched any large files. I'm now downloading again and will seed this for you.

On the artwork side there are a couple of prolific posters on here who create some amazing desktops, maybe it would be worth speaking to one of these to see if they could create an awesome contiguous theme (from existing or new artwork).

Once again, thanks for all your hard work.

Re: Unofficial LMDE KDE Live DVD: UP4 / 201208

Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2012 12:56 pm
by Schoelje
It's worth considering. Thank you very much.
At the moment I'm preparing the next iso and that's taking a lot of my time.
If more people have ideas/concerns about the current theming I'd like to hear from them as well.

Re: Unofficial LMDE KDE Live DVD: UP4 / 201208

Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2012 2:32 pm
by tdockery97
In answer to your Plymouth question, I happen to be a "fan". While I can see the reasoning behind having a black screen at bootup (due to possible proprietary video driver conflicts), I like having something to look at during the boot process. I know it's silly, but at least you can see that something is happening. So I for one vote to keep Plymouth in this edition.

Re: Unofficial LMDE KDE Live DVD: UP4 / 201208

Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2012 3:11 pm
by BostonPeng
I have to agree with tdockery. I hate having a black screen at boot because on some of the systems I've used I really needed the visual indication that something's happening. I understand that some folks prefer a back screen over possible video conflicts but I personally think not having a bootsplash was one of the worst decisions ever to grace a Linux distro. Of course YMMV but just from the traffic stats on my blog getting Plymouth set up and testing the splash without a reboot are some of my most popular posts, coming right behind the almost daily winner about opening Adobe Illustrator files in Linux. I'm still surprised that I get so much traffic every day for a post written in mid 2010.

Um topic? Oh yes, that's right. An energetic +1 on including Plymouth in the LMDE KDE ISO.

Re: Unofficial LMDE KDE Live DVD: UP4 / 201208

Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2012 4:37 pm
by zerozero
the artwork department always scares me :D it's like opening a pandora's box, i would use of gracious dictatorship :shock: and select some sane defaults (furthermore you already shown us that you have an eye for artwork: the defaults in the existing isos are great)
if you start asking around you get a million different options (good and reflects kde in its full power)
then whatever default you pick, i know that i have to change it to my defaults (just because nobody else would use my setup :lol: :lol: )
Image

Re: Unofficial LMDE KDE Live DVD: UP4 / 201208

Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:08 am
by Fandangio
zerozero wrote:the artwork department always scares me :D it's like opening a pandora's box, i would use of gracious dictatorship :shock: and select some sane defaults (furthermore you already shown us that you have an eye for artwork: the defaults in the existing isos are great)
if you start asking around you get a million different options (good and reflects kde in its full power)
then whatever default you pick, i know that i have to change it to my defaults (just because nobody else would use my setup :lol: :lol: )
Another very nice desktop zerozero, and you're right taste is very subjective. That said LMDE KDE should show KDE to it's full potential. Dumbing it down to look like Gnome (or any other DE) would be a waste.

Re: Unofficial LMDE KDE Live DVD: UP4 / 201208

Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2012 4:52 am
by arjay
Schoelje

I had said that my upgrade to UP5 went fine with no problems. I spoke too soon because i just noticed something that must have happened during the upgrade:

When my PC boots it displays a BIOS splash from the OEM that offers TAB to close the splash and DELETE to enter Setup. If you leave it, it displays for about 10 seconds then boots to the Grub menu. Again, after the default timeout it boots to LMDE.

This is what I normally leave it to do. However, I have found that I cannot select the "Enter Setup" option at the splash, because the keyboard is unresponsive. I can keep pressing the Delete key constantly for about 30/40 seconds then just "catch" the BIOS entry before the boot to Grub. I have checked the BIOS entries for USB devices and it shows 1 Keyboard, 1 mouse etc. The Options are set as:

USB Controller: Enabled
USB 2: Enabled
USB Legacy: Auto
USB 2 Controller: HiSpeed (Options are HiSpeed or FullSpeed)

There is no keyboard available during boot before the Grub menu comes up - there always used to be. I have turned off the OEM's splash screen in BIOS so i can see the POST messages. These show that the PC is hanging for 30-40 seconds on the message
Initialising USB Controllers.
I have tried disabling USB legacy and also setting it to Enable rather than Auto - no change. I have tried a different USB K/B and also a PS2 K/B - no change.

BTW - the M/B is an ASUS P5KPL SE.

I am wondering if the install of Grub2 with UP5 could have caused this problem? I can't think how but am stumped for a solution. It does not happen on another install of UP5 on another PC with a different M/B.

Re: Unofficial LMDE KDE Live DVD: UP4 / 201208

Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2012 8:31 am
by Schoelje
I cannot reproduce that on any system I have.
Did you try to connect another keyboard?
I remember I had some trouble with a wireless keyboard.
Connecting an old fashioned "wired" keyboard fixed the problem.

Re: Unofficial LMDE KDE Live DVD: UP4 / 201208

Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2012 11:27 am
by arjay
Schoelje wrote:I cannot reproduce that on any system I have.
Did you try to connect another keyboard?
I remember I had some trouble with a wireless keyboard.
Connecting an old fashioned "wired" keyboard fixed the problem.
Strange isn't it? I normally use a wired USB keyboard. I have tried another one of the same kind and also a wired PS/2 K/B. Same for all of them.

I thought I might try a reinstall of Grub2 first with the LMDE UP4 disk and if that doesn't work I'll try the Mepis 11 Live Disk to reinstall their version of Grub2. It is no big deal because I can access the BIOS setup by hammering away on the Delete key for about 40 seconds until the key works as the K/B goes live a fraction of a second before Grub loads the boot menu.

Thanks for your help

Re: Unofficial LMDE KDE Live DVD: UP4 / 201208

Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2012 7:10 pm
by zerozero
Fandangio wrote: Another very nice desktop zerozero, and you're right taste is very subjective. That said LMDE KDE should show KDE to it's full potential. Dumbing it down to look like Gnome (or any other DE) would be a waste.
tks a lot Fandangio :D it seems i can't run away from bespin.

as for your call in making lmde-kde into a kde-showcase i agree in a heart beat but...
we kinda put Schoelje in a crossroad :lol:
- he either follows the first idea (making this release the closer the possible to the mint editions) and that means that we wont see a full kde;
- or he follows a more independent way (branding, different pkgs selection) but probably wont be lmde anymore;
there's food for thought here.

Re: Unofficial LMDE KDE Live DVD: UP4 / 201208

Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 8:03 am
by Schoelje
The unofficial LMDE KDE, like most new things, was born out of frustration. I loved LMDE but I did not like Mate or Cinnamon. It felt like trying to revive an abandoned technology...as if Frankenstein had gone digital but needed to practice on his stitching. I liked Mint KDE but I missed LMDE's stability. There has been quite some rumors about Clem's intentions to create LMDE KDE but, as you know, that never happened. People speculate about the reasons, but I don't like speculating much when it does not serve to anything. So I decided to create my own Boris Karloff: strong, stable and...beautiful. First, just on my system with a bunch of scripts and packages gathered from several Debian and Ubuntu repositories but then I thought that there might be some people out there that would experience the same frustration and that's when I decided to create the live DVD and although I too need some stitching practice, I think the result has some merit.

You understand that It's not my intention to stray from the path: LMDE KDE is part of the family, a bastard son for now, but hopefully once taken in by the other Mint family members it will contribute to the Mint family as a whole. It does not mean I'm not open to changes. On the contrary: anybody with good ideas that can be realized within the boundaries I described here are very welcome. We have the chance here to nurture new ideas and maybe become trend setters for the next generation Mint children.

So, I challenge you all: do you have ideas, opinions, improvements, dreams (utopian ideas are welcome too) that you think might benefit the unofficial LMDE KDE or even the Mint distributions as a whole, please post them here. You will find at least one willing ear.

Re: Unofficial LMDE KDE Live DVD: UP4 / 201208

Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 10:50 am
by slashw
@arjay

Your problem with the usb keyboard sounds familiar to me , i also have a asus m/b (sabertooth 990fx).
Also sometimes it will not fire up ( it responds on nothing at all) , i then reset the pc and than boots normal up.
It is not only related to LMDE KDE , it is happen also with another mint distro (not sure witch it was)

Maybe its a asus problem ?

My keyboard and mouse are from razer , .....usb....of curse



@Schoelje thanks for this wonderful pure lmde-kde distro ,hope that it sometime will be a official distro .
Even the upgrade to up5 was no problem at all.