MX Linux Forum

Kubuntu kde 4.5.1.2 is now out.I have installed it to hd .It looks good but you have to learn how to use it.Its really different--anybody installing kubuntu from now on has to use it as they are now promoting the desktop.I find it has lots of new features but a warning to those who try this kubuntu vivid release .Looks good but hard to use.

golden45 wrote:...anybody installing kubuntu from now on has to use it as they are now promoting the desktop.

Kubuntu "Vivid Vervet" (15.04) using a KDE Plasma 5.12 desktop is an Alpha 1 release at this point (the very first alpha available from Kubuntu using that desktop). You can also install a KDE Plasma 5.x desktop in production Kubuntu releases if you want to (as some of the reviewers of Kubuntu have already done and have been impressed with the latest KDE 5.x Plasma Desktops). But, KDE 4.x is not going away anytime soon either.

Anyway, sure, a brand new Alpha release of Kubuntu using a brand new KDE 5.12 Desktop is going to have a few unresolved issues. The final release of Kubuntu 15.04 won't be until mid April of next year (and I'm sure we'll see a lot of changes to the KDE Plasma 5.x desktop before then, too). ;-)

Of course, you could continue to use older versions of Kubuntu if you still decide you don't like the new Kubuntu 15.04 release due to be final in April 2015 (for example, just stick with 14.04 LTS if you don't like changes, as it will continue to receive security updates until April 2019).

But, most reports I've seen so far about KDE Plasma 5.x have been very positive (unlike what we saw moving from KDE 3.x to 4.x), despite some remaining bugs.

So, I'm looking forward to using KDE Plasma 5.x based on reviews I've seen of it so far, with plenty of reviewers commenting about much better performance and more.

Frankly, thanks to so many postive reviews of KDE Plasma 5.x I've seen so far, I'm even tempted to upgrade my wife's laptop (currently running Kubuntu 14.10) to the latest Kubuntu 15.04 Alpha 1 release, since I could upgrade it with one simple command from a terminal (by just typing kubuntu-devel-release-upgrade according to one of the release pages about it at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/VividVervet/Alpha1/Kubuntu ).

But, even though my wife doesn't use much except for LibreOffice, Internet browsers and Skype; just to be safer, I'll probably wait until the next Kubuntu release goes into beta (versus alpha) status, first.

I've tried Kubuntu + Plasma 5 on live USB, courtesy of the iso images at KDE's neon project pages.

It does run on my old computer, although the graphics effects are very slightly laggy due to the weak graphics card.

Plasma 5's layout and looks are ok but maybe everything's just a tad too flat for me. Even many of the icons are just simple thin-line renderings.

One thing good about it is that the kickoff menu/launcher feels much more under the user's mouse control. Don't know about other people, but I find the KDE4 launcher too "slippery". You just move the cursor a little off course, it aims at another entry, and the menu is sliding along to the next tab or level of applications. I don't experience that issue with the Plasma 5 kickoff at all.

It's not something I really need or want at the moment to be honest. I'm happy enough that KDE4 still works on the old machine in Kanotix (tracking Jessie), and I'm also happy with the lighter-weight DE/WMs that are used in my other distros.

asqwerth wrote:One thing good about it is that the kickoff menu/launcher feels much more under the user's mouse control. Don't know about other people, but I find the KDE4 launcher too "slippery". You just move the cursor a little off course, it aims at another entry, and the menu is sliding along to the next tab or level of applications. I don't experience that issue with the Plasma 5 kickoff at all..

I prefer the Lancelot menu system (available in the repos with most distros if it's not already an available "Plasma Widget).

I also used Lancelot with my Mepis 11 installs.

More about it here:

http://lancelot.fomentgroup.org/main

But, I don't know if it will be available for KDE 5.x or not.

I use OpenSUSE 13.1 most of the time with a KDE desktop, and I use the "Lancelot" menu system with it.

I also have Lancelot installed on my wife's new laptop (running Kubuntu 14.10), and I had it installed in her Mepis 11 setup on her last laptop, too.

Here's my OpenSUSE 13.1 desktop as setup right this minute as my primary Operating System, using icons for some programs, a folder view of home, and a weather widget). See the following screen captures with Lancelot (the menu system I use more often), although I also have an icon for the KDE Classic Menu available on the panel (as I don't like the Kickoff Style menu).

Click on any image to see a larger version of it:



Lancelot is not installed in OpenSUSE by default. But, I always install it myself with KDE desktops (when installing Kubuntu, OpenSUSE, Debian, etc., I like to install Lancelot with them for the menu system). It's in the repositories for many distros if you don't see it as an available Plasma Widget (I just used YAST to get it from the OpenSUSE repositories for the 13.1 install).

Next is the Lancelot Menu I see if I click on the second Icon in the panel (the left icon is for the simple KDE Classic Style Menu). It's nice in that it defaults to showing applications with Favorites you can edit (and you can also "mouse over" other choices like Computer, etc.)

So, if you keep apps you use more often as Favorites, you have very fast and easy access to them via Lancelot's default menu that you see, with no "drilling down" into categories needed. Note that it's fully resizable, too (just grab the top right corner and resize it as desired).

Again, click on one of the embedded images to see a larger version of it.



If you "drill down" into the menus, you'll see both the program name and the description whenever you "mouse over" an entry. For example, note where the description is shown under DarkTable because I have my mouse pointed at it. Again, just click on one of the embedded images to see a larger version.



Here's what I see if I "mouse over" the Computer choice on the left. I see the same "Places" I have setup in Dolphin (the file manager I use), as well as the "Devices" I have setup (basically, an icon for each partition on my internal drives). If I "mouse over" one of them, I can see the descriptions, as in the Mount Point (NTFS Shared) for the partition on the top right (and I can click on it to open it in Dolphin).

Again, click on an embedded image in this post to see a larger version of it.



Also note the other Icons on the Left for Documents, etc.

It's nice in that the Documents icon gives you recently updated programs, with recently accessed files on the right (including programs, docs, photos, etc.) that you can click on.

The Search Feature is great, too (where you can click on pages of options in the configuration for it for what it searches through including programs, descriptions, settings, files of various types, bookmarks and much more than can be returned in search results).

Then, as soon as you type the first letter in the search bar, it starts returning results.

You can even let it search through wikipedia pages, youtube videos and much more if you want to enable those options. It's really nice for finding programs, settings, bookmarks, etc.

I've become very fond of using Lancelot for my menu system. So, hopefully, it will be available for KDE Plasma 5.x, too (and I have not yet tried the newer desktop, even though most reviews of it seem to be very positive).

You may also want to check out the QML Launcher. It is similar to Lancelot. You can find it in the widgets panel, download widgets

richb wrote:You may also want to check out the QT Launcher. It is similar to Lancelot. You can find it in the widgets panel, download widgets

Did you mean the QML Launcher

Sorry yes, QML Launcher.

home run --right click on desktop -- configure desktop is also available and am using it with the siduction install I have done last night--I think this can be used instead of search and launch.john

I thought that this was a Mepis/Mx forum. Why are we discussing Kubuntu?

This is a chat section. We allow a little more latitude in this forum. If detailed help is required we do suggest that a user find it in an appropriate forum dedicated to that distro.

From our Forum Rules:

You can talk about other distros here (talk or discuss, not bash for any reason), but no MEPIS bashing.

Click on the link in my sig for Forum Rules.

I thought it was said in jest, actually.

In any case, the thread was originally about KDE Plasma 5, as there is still lots of interest about KDE in this forum (hence the MX+KDE subforum). It's just that KDE's preview images use Kubuntu as its base.

Is the KDE a hungry beast now on resources compared to say M11?

I have begun to notice some deterioration of M11's default capabilities for web pages like fb and yahoo mail although the video sites I use are fine. Calibre seems more outdated too than in MX-14. Just little things that crop up lately for me. I still run M12 and it's possible it might replace M11 as a main companion to MX-14.

tascoast wrote:Is the KDE a hungry beast now on resources compared to say M11?

I have begun to notice some deterioration of M11's default capabilities for web pages like fb and yahoo mail although the video sites I use are fine. Calibre seems more outdated too than in MX-14. Just little things that crop up lately for me. I still run M12 and it's possible it might replace M11 as a main companion to MX-14.

I've noticed no loss of responsiveness (of KDE) using MX 14.x with KDE-Standard.

Remember that Mepis 11 is squeeze-based so it's getting a little 'long in the tooth' so-to-speak.

answer to JimC hi still running kubuntu and it just keeps getting better and better. It look great and is getting easier to use kunbuntu 5.1.95 now thanks john

Calibre in the repos is pretty ancient for M11. On a Wheezy base, you can install their latest static-build releases per the instructions on calibre.org site, which currently would be the terminal command:

su -c 'wget -nv -O- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kovid ... staller.py | sudo python -c "import sys; main=lambda:sys.stderr.write('Download failed\n'); exec(sys.stdin.read()); main()"'

This used to work on M11, but I've not tested it to see if it still does. YMMV.

You should uninstall the repo version first to avoid conflicts. This version also will not appear in the package manager. To uninstall the static version, the command is

Kubuntu kde 5 is a great system.I am running it now and like it a lot.Nice graphics .http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=& ... 4276,d.cGU

Still some bugs. Not a full complement of widgets. Folder widget does not work. Dropbox widget does not appear in the system tray. Cascading menu has bugs . That is what I have discovered in the half hour I have been looking at it.

EDIT: It also nearly filled up my root directory. it was 57% free now 87% free. Being adventuresome I had to install it, but sorry I did. Fortunately I have a system backup and will revert.

Distrowatch has linspire and freespire iso 64 .Wow I thought they were far gone but they are back.john

It looks like black dog is behind this.john

Just downloaded and installed freespire found no difference from 16.04 ubuntu john

richb wrote:From our Forum Rules:

You can talk about other distros here (talk or discuss, not bash for any reason), but no MEPIS bashing.

Ha ha, we can bash MX and antiX, but not MEPIS :)

golden45 wrote:Distrowatch has linspire and freespire iso 64 .Wow I thought they were far gone but they are back.john

Interesting. Linspire was my first Linux distro, before I found out about Mepis. I had a notebook that came preinstalled with Linspire. I never got around to trying Freespire, but maybe I'll download it, just for fun. Can it be run live from a flash drive?

I downloaded the freespire iso and put it on a usb drive-then booted it live.

Before installing so you can run it live from usb before you install the iso to a hard dive.thanks john.

Yeah, I finally got around to doing the same, tested it live from a flash drive. Doesn't come with all the nice tools that MX has, but it seemed okay to me. I'm not planning on installing it, though.

Your right in your assement of freespire .Was just interested to see what changes were done since last freespire release.It doesn't even come close to mx linux 17.thanks john

To each and everyone Merry Christmas

What a topic title: general in General :-)

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!