Just wondering what people think about Kde 4.1 so far…
I got it installed, I was a bit weary when i first started using it, and it felt really weird… But after a couple days of using it now, i think they have done an excellent job. Apart from a couple of minor plasma crashes it is running excellent so far.
Although, some things are a bit weird and i don’t know if it is due to the design they had in mind, or if it is unfinished features wating to be put into Kde, but I am not able to create folders/launchers etc on the Desktop unless i actually go into the actual directory in your home folder and add it, then shortcut it to the Desktop… and it seems you can’t drag icons and place them wherever you want them, eg… from desktop to taskbar etc…
But apart from that, I quite like it so far. My usb mic FINALLY works with kmix in kde 4.1 where as it never did in kde 3.5x unless i used a gnome alsa mixer…
Its a great looking Desktop, and im quite impressed with the native Desktop effects/widgets.
My Nvidia card seems to be installed without me doing a thing too!
probably still not ready for prime time, until 4.2. But I think it is definately worth replacing your old Kde 3.5 gui
Like you said, it is kinda weird and taking a little bit to get used to. It is a little unstable but I’m trying to get used to it.
I think it has great potential. I don’t know if 4.2 is the magic bullet, but like most things in Linux as time goes on it just keeps getting better and better and even faster and faster (a complete opposite of most apps that get more and more bloated as time goes on).
I do have 3.5 as my stable back-up but I am trying to do everything in 4.1 to both test it out (for myself) and to get used to it.
I am used to having the taskbar and systray at the bottom of the screen, but can’t figure out how to get it there.
It took a dozen tries to get a systray in the task bar.
I can’t get icons into these trays, as you say. This is the most annoying thing to me.
I can’t figure out any use for the folder view. I thought it was designed to reduce desktop clutter. It does the opposite.
Plasma looks beautiful, but it hasn’t improved my user experience. I do agree that the more I use it, the better I like it, so maybe I’m just at the bottom end of the learning curve.
Taskbar and systray at the bottom? I thought that was the default.
Last night I just moved by Taskbar to the top of the screen into a new panel, as well as my pager and clock. It took a bit to figure out how to do that, though now I’m trying to figure out how to shrink the panels because the pair of them are taking up too much of my screen but I don’t like the squashed all-in-one panel view either.
To add the taskbar to a panel along the top
right-click on the pane and select “Add Panel”, this will create a new panel
right click on the new panel and select “Add widgets”
Select the widgets you want and click the “Add” button if drag-and-drop is giving you trouble
If you right-click on the panel and select something like “Panel Properties” or “Edit Panel” then it opens a … um… something or other right under (above) the panel with a couple of choices including “add widget”, “lock widgets”, “close panel”
hover over the widget (icon) on the panel and you’ll notice the cursor change to a 4-way arrow, this will allow you to move it
click “lock widgets” and they won’t move around accidentally
Also, to add an application launcher to the panel you just need to find it in the menu slab and right-click it. There you have the option to add to desktop or to panel. I did this for my most frequently used apps and then moved them as described above.
Unfortunately my system tray takes up like 2x the space it needs to like it is holding the space it MAY use, instead of dynamically resizing as the need arises.
I have a folder view on my desktop of my server folders for quick access.
Actually… im getting use to the Design they intended. At first i put all my icons on the desktop like I always do, But I started to just use the Desktop Folder view plasmoid thingy and leave it sitting on my Desktop with the icons and folders in it that i want quick access to.
Its a Strange and totally new way of thinking to have this design, But I can see how it is useful.
The more i use kde 4.1 the more i love it! Man… I cannot! go back to gnome now. I’ve been using opensuse and ubuntu, but i can’t stand looking at gnome after using Kde 4.1.
Kudo’s to the KDE Team!
Kaddy
So did I. But after reading your suggestions, I tried moving the thing from the top by dragging that series of little bumps in the middle of the panel “adjustment bar” that you mentioned. Instead, I discovered that resizes the panel and pulling on it made the panel completely fill my desktop and it wouldn’t go back. I had to delete the panel and start over. But, the new panel jumped to the top of the desktop and wouldn’t move.:mad:
Last night I just moved by Taskbar to the top of the screen into a new panel, as well as my pager and clock. It took a bit to figure out how to do that, though now I’m trying to figure out how to shrink the panels because the pair of them are taking up too much of my screen but I don’t like the squashed all-in-one panel view either.
Apparently, the default size is the smallest size. I would like to shrink the icons as well to get more room there.
Also, to add an application launcher to the panel you just need to find it in the menu slab and right-click it. There you have the option to add to desktop or to panel. I did this for my most frequently used apps and then moved them as described above.
I’m having an issue that I put down to my own ignorance. I have an app that runs by launching a script. The script just changes to the app’s directory and runs the app from there. I cannot get a working link to this onto my desktop. If I link it in any way, the script opens with kwrite instead of running. If I open a terminal, switch to the directory and run the app it works. The problem is that there is no slab menu entry for this app. So, I can’t do it the way you describe.
I have a folder view on my desktop of my server folders for quick access.
I still don’t see how this is any different or any better than dragging directories to the desktop in 3.5. While it sounds like I’m full of complaints, I like kde 4.1 and plasma. I’m just anxious to get more out of it.
The difference is that you can have different areas on your desktop showing different file repositories (directories, server based, ftp, whatever) and you can have them filtered on criteria. It basically means you can have more dynamic control over the desktop icons displayed.
Personally, I’ve never been a fan of desktop icons, so I was actually happy to see them disappear. But folderview gives far more flexibility to the desktop icon paradigm that virtually every other desktop uses. Give it time and experiment with it, depending upon your requirements, you may find it extremely useful.
I’ve been using KDE4 from 4.04 to 4.1 it has gotten way better especially since beta2. Since the official release 4.1 is the only DE I use. I just love it!
It’s merely an example - I can rollback any changes at will due to my snapshot system but for the “average user” it’s unacceptable - “features” like this should not exist in a released software, especially something the team considers to be “major version plus one” - any reasonable QA/UI design team should’ve picked it up on the first day of testing.
I understood it now and yeah that is a good idea, it would be nice to have a feature that brings back the default panel with the default plasmoids in it
