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**arochester** · Dec 12, 2008, 06:02 PM

Re: Clean install the only solution to fix install issues?

Have you tried to "kill" it?

Press Alt+Ctrl+Esc and your cursor should change to a red x. Put the red x on the menu bar and left click. Does it go?

**dibl** · Dec 12, 2008, 06:29 PM

Re: Clean install the only solution to fix install issues?

Originally posted by krnstv

So is that the only cure? Kubuntu/Ubuntu or any distro will never make it to prime time if that's the only solution for things like this.

Huh? You're saying the world is full of computer operating systems that let you screw up the screen display, yell for help, and then easy fixes are found laying around ready to apply? Can you name one? What the hell have you been smoking, anyway?

Why did you put a stupid Mac-bar on top of your screen, if you didn't actually want it? What were you thinking -- "Gee, I wonder what will happen if I click this"? Why didn't you make a note or two about the name of the package, and where it came from?

Since X session "features" are customized for each user, you could certainly set up a new user on your system, and have a clean KDE screen to start with, or simply delete the .kde folder for your existing user, and then start over with the goofy-assed settings that you don't actually want (again). No geek help needed!

Sheeeeeeeeeeesh!

**noelvh** · Dec 12, 2008, 08:26 PM

Re: Clean install the only solution to fix install issues?

Huh? You're saying the world is full of computer operating systems that let you screw up the screen display, yell for help, and then easy fixes are found laying around ready to apply? Can you name one? What the hell have you been smoking, anyway?

Why did you put a stupid Mac-bar on top of your screen, if you didn't actually want it? What were you thinking -- "Gee, I wonder what will happen if I click this"? Why didn't you make a note or two about the name of the package, and where it came from?

Since X session "features" are customized for each user, you could certainly set up a new user on your system, and have a clean KDE screen to start with, or simply delete the .kde folder for your existing user, and then start over with the goofy-assed settings that you don't actually want (again). No geek help needed!

Sheeeeeeeeeeesh!

Holy Crap I all most pissed my self when I read this LOL.

Thanks for making my night.

And by the way I looked at your post and did not know what you were talking about. The image did not show and thing that looked like a mac to me.

Noel vh

**krnstv** · Dec 12, 2008, 09:21 PM

Re: Clean install the only solution to fix install issues?

Thanks to arochester, who was the only one who posted an intelligent and polite response.

Before you guys blast me please read my original post which included a screen shot of the config that is MISSING from the current version of Kubuntu. It was nothing I installed - it was out of the box and present in the last. And the Mac-OS is what it was called, nothing I made up.

So I did want it there, I did use it and it now doesn't work. It is a completely featureless blank gray bar.

What are YOU smoking? If you can't help folks and all you want to do is ridicule them, then please don't respond.

**noelvh** · Dec 12, 2008, 09:39 PM

Re: Clean install the only solution to fix install issues?

You are correct! The issue I have is I just don't see what you are saying in you post with photo.
What I would do is log out log in a terminal and delete .kde folder.
here is my path /home/wncamp/.kde
I think the command would be sudo rm ~/.kde
I had to do this the other day, and i was back in business. I would hope some one else can confirm this before you do it. Or just get ready to do a clean install. I must say I have install KB 8.10 10 time before I got it right. I like to click all the pretty little check boxes, and buttons before I know what I am doing.

Once more Sorry, I was laughing at what dibl said not who it was said to.

Noel Vh

**claydoh** · Dec 12, 2008, 09:42 PM

Re: Clean install the only solution to fix install issues?

Originally posted by krnstv

I hope this doesn't come off as a rant, which claydoh says is expressly forbidden in his all caps intro to these forums. I would have replied to his post, but apparently am not allowed to, altho others who apparently have more geek-cred can.

I meant that this particular forum topic is for tech support, and there are other sub-forums for rants and raves, two of which I linked to in my topic by the way,.
I locked my topic later, as I had not done so earlier as I had intended when creating it. Others had replied before I did so. I never expressly forbid anything, just trying to keep the support areas for support. If that or using caps to direct attention is a problem for you, well then it is a problem for you.

Using Kubuntu pretty much from its beginning, I have seen and experienced many different problems when upgrading from one version to the next. Which is why in my opinion I personally generally recommend a fresh install (after backing up your home directory if it is not already on its own partition) over upgrading to a newer version of the *ubuntu OS if you are not comfortable with the possibility of having to troubleshoot issues that may arrive. Absolutely nothing about reinstalling just to fix a problem.

Now with that said, your post describing your problem really needs a screen-shot of what it looks like. It might give a clue as to what is going on, or maybe a starting point at least. A screenshot of a KDE3 configuration setting unfortunately does not help much in KDE4

With the upgrade from KDE3 to KDE4, the desktop infrastructure completely changed, and therefore all previous KDE3 desktop related settings, such as toolbars, backgrounds, etc. are not used at all in KDE4. Probably just deleting either kwinrc or plasmarc may fix it, assuming it isn't some strange video driver or compiz issue

**krnstv** · Dec 12, 2008, 11:05 PM

Re: Clean install the only solution to fix install issues?

To arochester: Ctrl+Alt+Esc and moving the red x did remove the bar, but killed the session and when I logged back in, the bar was back.

To noelvh and claydoh: I am attaching a screen shot. Look at the gray bar at the top. It sits on top of any new windows opened. Thanks for the constructive suggestions. I'll try them tomorrow. Been up for ~20 hours, too tired to do anything requiring concentration ;-)

To claydoh: I was not offended by either the caps (got my attention, and I read it!) or the suggestion to do a clean install. I thought my question was a legitimate support question but I couldn't reply to your post, so I was frustrated. Apologies if I offended you. It's mystifying that so many posts on different subjects suggest clean installs. I like your idea about putting the home directory on its own partition to insulate it from OS changes, thanks.

BTW, I ransacked this forum for solutions, googled & yahooed as well with no results, except that I found the original configuration in an old help doc on one of the forums here. It either originated in 8.04 or 7.1, I can't recall. I wasn't just looking for an easy fix - I put in a reasonable research effort first and tried a bunch of stuff on my own before posting.

Attached Files

**arochester** · Dec 13, 2008, 02:41 PM

Re: Clean install the only solution to fix install issues?

Double posting? Gets confusing! See http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...seen#msg161805

Please post only one message!

**krnstv** · Dec 13, 2008, 04:22 PM

Re: Clean install the only solution to fix install issues?

The reason I did that was because it was on point with the original topic, whereas this kinda went in a different direction than I originally intended. This thread I hoped to get feedback on clean installs as a solution. I run into it as a cure-all in a lot of threads. But it morphed into a discussion on my other post.

So the double post was in case anyone else blundered onto my post about the "Mac-Style menu bar" they could see what I had to do to fix it.

If that's bad form at the forum, then I won't do it again.

**krnstv** · Dec 16, 2008, 08:29 PM

Re: Clean install the only solution to fix install issues?

This sticky post from the Ubunutu forum by hikaricore says it best, and is the original intent of this thread.

URL:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1010875

Text:

>> Telling people to reinstall for every issue is not acceptable. <<
I've been seeing more and more of this lately and I'm frankly tired of it.
If the users issue can likely be solved in any other way PLEASE do not tell
them to reinstall. This is not the world of Microsoft people, we try and
pride ourselves on doing things better and providing answers and not just
cop outs. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE if the situation is not dire and you can't
think of anything else to say but "reinstall" just don't post and let someone
else help these people.

Thank you.
__________________

Food for thought... and please, no acrimonious replies.

**dibl** · Dec 16, 2008, 08:50 PM

Re: Clean install the only solution to fix install issues?

Wow -- was that me that wrote such a sarcastic post up above?

Sorry, the meds must not have been working that night.

I apologize for being so harsh.

OK, my fellow Buckeye hikoricore has a good point -- folks should not be advised to reinstall Linux for trivial issues like audio and video drivers and stuff like that. I don't often advise reinstalling, actually.

However, there is another perspective, which is fair to consider since the topic is on the table for discussion. Time is valuable -- everyone's time, mine, yours, and the new user's. The basic *buntu installation is maybe 25 minutes. Configuring the browser and other stuff is maybe another day or so. Given a choice between a mystery problem of unknown proportions, that might drag on for days, and a reinstallation that is likely to make the problem go away, what is the best advice to provide?

I've personally been monitoring this forum for 2 years now, and I don't recall anyone ever reporting the problem that you had with the MAC OS bar on the screen. You could still be fighting with it, 4 days later ....

**The Liquidator** · Dec 17, 2008, 08:07 AM

Re: Clean install the only solution to fix install issues?

See this thread which might help you.

http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3100187.0

Before deleting or renaming the files named in there, ensure you back up your data first.

**krnstv** · Dec 17, 2008, 08:06 PM

Re: Clean install the only solution to fix install issues?

Dibl - I get the point about saving time, but it's a royal PITA to reinstall every time something breaks. I see that advice frequently, and newcomers/newbies won't know how to save their docs. BTW, Ubuntu is pretty nice - when you reinstall, it generally picks up your settings, even to things like Thunderbird.

As for saving time, I like the sticky posts on the Ubuntu forums. It would be nice if the Kubuntu forums had a similar feature where vets such as yourself could post things like:
How to dual boot Kubuntu and Windows
How to triple boot Kubuntu, Ubuntu and Windows
The best way to install Kubuntu (i.e., / drive ~5 GB, swap drive ~1 GB, rest /home...)
How to reinstall Kubuntu (and not lose your documents and settings)
... etc.
And these items would stay "stuck" at the top of the How To forum.

Instead newbies and relative newcomers have to hope they type in the right magic words and maybe luck into the right post. It's a krap-shoot.

Liquidator: thanks for the link to the other thread. I don't want to get off-topic; already been slapped around on the forum enough as it is. But in short, I had to reinstall anyway due to an unrelated system failure.

**dibl** · Dec 17, 2008, 08:29 PM

Re: Clean install the only solution to fix install issues?

That was kinda-sorta the idea for this:

http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3099811.0

There are many How-Tos -- some more relevant than others, I suppose. But there's a lot of coverage there.

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