KpackageKit "issues"

[Oceanwatcher]

A couple of qucik observations.

I just started the update of Kubuntu and everything slows to a grind. It would be very nice if a few extra things could be included in this application.

1. The ability to pause and resume at will. Then I can start it and if anyone else in the house needs more bandwith to the internet, I can pause.

2. QoS - I would like to be able to tell KPackageKit to be less bandwith hungry. I want to give priority to other applications and let KPackageKit to only download on "the unused" bandwith.

3. Scheduling - It would also be nice to tell KPackageKit to only download during the night.

Of course, a combination of these would not be bad. Download at full speed during the night, but just on idle during the day. And pause when needed :-)

[Fintan]

Re: KpackageKit "issues"

As far as I know kpackage is still very much under development:

https://bugs.kde.org/buglist.cgi?query_format=specific&order=relevance+ desc&bug_status=__open__&product=&content=Kpackage

I use synaptic for most of my installing and:

synaptic:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SynapticHowto
to install:

sudo apt-get install synaptic

and

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

in a terminal for upgrading.

I don't know if you can "time" you upgrades with synaptic but it is definitely NOT a good idea to pause upgrades / updates.

Bytw: welcome to the party I take it your install went well

[flarson]

Re: KpackageKit "issues"

The ability to limit the bandwidth and to tell it to download all packages at night are built into APT, the backend Kpackagekit uses. You might want to look at "man apt.conf". Here is a /etc/apt/apt.conf file that will download but not install all updates and to limit the bandwidth. By default apt updates daily at 6:25 AM. You can change that by editing /etc/crontab.

************************************************
APT {
Periodic {
Update-Package-Lists "1";
Download-Upgradeable-Packages "1";
};
}
Acquire
{
http {
dl-limit "7" // 7Kb/sec maximum download rate
};
}

There are other you might find of interest, such as Queue-Mode. In /usr/share/doc/apt/examples you will find an example with the available options.

While apt is downloading you can safely use Ctl-c to stop it at any time and resume later. After the download using Ctl-c might be more problematic. Note that the stopping only works if you are updating from the command line rather than the GUI.

[Oceanwatcher]

Re: KpackageKit "issues"

I don't know if you can "time" you upgrades with synaptic but it is definitely NOT a good idea to pause upgrades / updates.

Bytw: welcome to the party I take it your install went well

Thank you for the welcome! Yes, the install went well and I am now trying to install a few things I really need to be able to work on Kubuntu. The first being Skype. As I live far up in the mountains in Brazil, I need this to communicate with customers, family and friends. And I am not going to try to run a campaign to move all of them over to something else

A thing that seems strange to me... Where do I find the terminal window? I have been looking around, but can not find it... They say your eyes are the first to go blind... I am sure it is here somewhere, but I am totally ovelooking it.

What are my choices for MSN clones? I have used Pidgin, but it is not too good on MSN and they have stated very clearly they do not intend to work too hard on video and audio for MSN (currently missing). I also know about aMSN. But all my experience so far is with Gnome based applications. I am not too familiar with KDE stuff yet. After looking a bit more, I found Kopete. Looks like a better Pidgin. So I am now online in MSN, Yahoo and ICQ :-) Only Skype missing.

I am not a big fan of games, but I do like to occasionally play solitaire and Mahjong. Have not found a nice solitaire version for KDE yet, but found a package of games that included Mahjong. I know I will get questions about this from a friend. He is planning to go for Kubuntu as well and his wife is addicted to solitaire...

Regarding commands in CLI - I use it a lot, but do not have to like it :-) I really prefer a good GUI where the options are "in your face". The best I have seen so far is the package handler on Linux Mint.

I have some other questions I will start separate threads for. thank you for taking the time to reply.

[Fintan]

Re: KpackageKit "issues"

Terminal: kmenu->system->terminal / konsole

Skype and other neat stuff:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Medibuntu

In the terminal do:

sudo apt-get install skype

For solitaire:

sudo apt-get install kpat

or search for games in synaptic

As for cli. I used to hate them but now I find them faster in a lot of cases (like the above).

You can also just copy / paste.

One thing to remember. When using sudo (root access) you will be asked for your password (userpassword).
when tying you won't see anything.
Don't worry just type and press enter.

[Oceanwatcher]

Re: KpackageKit "issues"

Thank you for that. I have Linux Mint running on one PC and as far as I know it has most of the Medibuntu stuff already added :-)

Getting Skype again now. Let us hope it works this time.

Agree that some things can be done very efficient in CLI. But over the 15 years I have been "playing" with Linux, I just lilke it less and less. As I do not run servers etc. for a living, I tend to forget commands and syntax, so I have to search for it or ask someone every time. It has nothing to do with lazyness, it is just the way things are. If you do not use things on a regular basis, you tend to forget some of it. So I am happy for every little advance the GUI is making

Again - thank you for the help. I found something I think might be a bug. Should I just make a new thread and post it so others can try to verify it?

[PJJ]

Re: KpackageKit "issues"

I am running Skype on 9.04.
No problems whatsoever.

Uninstalled KpackageKit and things sped up. I am using Adept or the command line. Easiest way to get updates/upgrades in my opnion.
Synaptic is still screwed up, I guess.

[Oceanwatcher]

Re: KpackageKit "issues"

Regarding updates -

Should I dump KpackageKit? The update notifier say there are 11 updates available. When I open KpackageKit it say there are 5 blocked updates. Not sure what to do.

What should I use instead? Is Adept a graphical updater? I really love the updater in Linux Mint. It works very well and give you a number next to the update that indicates the level of importance and how well it has been tested.

I can not find Adept in the program list (if it is a GUI program) and assume it has to be installed?