KDE 4 live image for i686

[Andrew Parker]

On Dec 28, 2007 6:41 PM, Kevin Kofler <kevin.kofler at chello.at> wrote:
> Andrew Parker <andrewparker <at> bigfoot.com> writes:
> > Tried this on a three hosts, and i have problems galore.
>
> Some of these problems are due to KDE 4, some are due to the major upgrade of
> X.Org X11. (When I say "X11 bug", it may also be a bug in the driver, or most
> likely a problem with the port of the driver to the new version of the X.Org
> X11 server.) And finally, some are issues in other components (GTK+ 2,
> livecd-tools).
>
> > Homebrew host 1:
> >   Adding news ticker to the taskbar then klicking on the pager
> > resulted in the news ticker story being displayed
>
> KDE 4 bug (either in Plasma itself or in its news ticker applet).
>
> >   The Lock/Logout applet corrupts the display, although the "The
> > session was locked" dialog is OK, and the desktop is restored
> > correctly.
>
> Maybe a KDE 4 bug, maybe an X11 bug.
>
> > Homebrew host 2:
> >   Second monitor of a dual display has a corrupted text display during
> > both RHGB and KDE session
>
> X11 bug.
>
> >   On login, I get a window with "The audio playback device ALi M5455
> > with ALC850 (ALi M5455) does not work.  Failing back to Esound (ESD)."
>
> This is a problem with our default settings for Phonon in kde-settings. We
> really need to set up things so everything works with PulseAudio out of the
> box, like we did for KDE 3 in Fedora 8. But at least Phonon is smart enough to
> fall back to something working automatically. :-)
>
> > On a Dell Inspiron 1420 (Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile
> > GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 0c)):
> >   RHGB display is corrupted, although the KDE desktop is OK
>
> Probably also an X11 bug.
>
> >   Konqueror can't display any web pages (either by hostname or IP
> > address) with the somewhat unhelpful "An error occurred while loading
> > http://".  telnet confirms its not a network issue.  The News Ticker
> > applet doesn't display any results either, so it looks like a KDE HTTP
> > problem?
>
> Yes, I think so too, looks like a KDE 4 KIO bug.
>
> >   Using the slideshow for desktop backgrounds occasionally results in
> > parts of the background being corrupted, most often the top 50 or so
> > lines.
>
> This may be a KDE 4 bug or an X11 bug. I'm inclined to blame X11 (or its
> drivers) there, but I may be wrong.
>
> > Common problems:
> >   nm-applet crashes when clicking on any entry in the menu (X Window
> > System error: BadMatch (invalid parameter attributes))
>
> As Rex Dieter said, this is a GTK+ issue, we hope there will be a solution for
> this soon. (There is also some work being done upstream on getting
> KNetworkManager to finally work with NetworkManager 0.7, so hopefully nm-applet
> will not be necessary for KDE users in the Fedora 9 release at all, we'll have
> at least a kdelibs3-based solution if not a KDE 4 one. But we still want to get
> the GTK+ applet issue fixed either way!)
>
> >   Adding applets to the RHS of the taskbar where the system tray is
> > resizes the taskbar (down from 100%) and leaves a white block to the
> > left of the taskbar.
>
> KDE 4 bug (more precisely, a Plasma bug).

I've seen this reported by others recently too, although not on this list.

>
> >   The license type drop down in Konqueror start up page only displays
> > each option when the mouse is down over that option or is already
> > selected (i.e. you can't see unselected options without clicking on
> > them)
>
> KDE 4 bug (in Konqueror or one of the libraries it uses).
>
> >   The Lock/Logout applet only lets me lock the desktop.
>
> Are you starting KDE from KDM? GDM? Something else? It sounds like a KDE 4 bug
> in any case.
>

I think know what you're getting at here, but I don't think that's the
problem.  i.e. you can't shutdown unless you started with KDM?  In
this case, the lock/logout applet is a single icon, where as in KDE 3
it (appears to be?) two icons aligned vertically.  For KDE 3 you click
the appropriate one for lock or logout, with this there's only one to
click and it always locks.  There's no menu to ask if you want to
lock/logout (or shutdown as there would have been in KDE if started
with KDM).

I'm assuming its KDM as /etc/sysconfig/desktop is
    DESKTOP="KDE"
    DISPLAYMANAGER="KDM"

Note that this is the lock/logout applet, not the "Leave" page on the
menu - although having just revisited this the icons on that don't do
anything either.

> >   When logging into KDE, the usual "Starting desktop" etc messages on
> > the splash screen are not present
>
> KDE 4 bug (in KSplash).
>
> >   One of the "Useful Tips" in KTip states that pressing the middle
> > mouse button on the desktop will give a list of all windows on each
> > desktop, but it doesn't work.  Some other tips don't work, so maybe
> > KTip is not KDE4?
>
> KTip has suffered from bitrotting, upstream tried removing tips which are
> irrelevant in KDE 4 (they aren't writing new ones due to the string freeze),
> but maybe this one was missed.
>
> >   Typing "konsole" in the Search part of the K Menu tries to run
> > konsolekalendar rather than konsole.  It looks like I have to type
> > "terminal".  i.e. knowing how to launch it from the command line won't
> > help me here.
>
> Well, "konsole" is supposed to find Konsole too, the reason it
> finds "konsolekalendar" first is probably that it tries matching GenericName
> first for the apps which have one. I think there's a way to get the full list
> (at least the screenshots have shown such lists), not run the first match
> directly, Konsole should be in that list.
>

"konsolekalendar" < "konsole application"

Actually, its worse than I previously mentioned.  Once you become
accustomed to the idea that's it "terminal program" rather than
"konsole" you start typing "terminal" in.  However, that brings up an
xterm.  At this point I get all nostaglic for some motif applications,
but that nauseating feeling in my stomach quickly brings me back to
this century.  It seems that I have to remember "terminal p"[rogram]
to get what  i want.

> For those who hate Kickoff, the 4.0 release (and the next snapshot, if there
> will be any before the release) will have a simple menu like in KDE 3 as an
> option in any case. (Wacky idea: Maybe the simple menu should be the default?
> We'll have to discuss the defaults for kde-settings in our meetings. I'll bring
> the menu issue up.)

Please do.  Currently not a fan of this menu, but I'll admit I can be
a bit of a ludite with these things, and they can take a while to grow
on me.

>
> >   The CD's "Boot from local drive" option reboots (after a prompt)
> > then boots from the CD again.
>
> That's a problem with the Fedora live CD software itself (either livecd-tools
> or one of the tools it uses, like isolinux).
>
> Unfortunately, none of these remarks are actual solutions for the problems
> you're encountering, however identifying the component to blame is usually the
> first step to getting issues fixed. ;-)
>

What is the expectation at this point?  Given that the first complete
release is imminent, it seems to be in a remarkably bad shape.  In
fact, it took far longer to document the problems than to stumble
across them.  Now, I love KDE as much as the next person (actually,
given that this is a Fedora mailing list , I probably love it more)
but to me its nowhere near ready for prime time, and I can't imagine
that changing before F9.  I hope and pray that I'm wrong, but I've
downloaded a few beta & pre-betas and... well... I'm disappointed.
Don't get me wrong, it has promise, buckets of the stuff, but IMO
unless there are some significant improvements in stability and
usability then including in F9 will be a mistake.  Or will KDE 3 be
included, and KDE 4 as a preview?

Do we want bugzillas on any of the above?  I'm happy to play my part,
and prod & poke some more if it'll help.