The quest for a pure KDE computer

[Shimapan]

So Ive been trying lately to get all gnome programs off my computer and replace them with KDE programs. My thoughts:

- Kopete sucks. I hate it and cant for the life of me figure out how to get it to work. Ive tried several times to use it but have never managed to even set up my accounts. Why is this the Kubuntu default?? It is ALWAYS the first thing to get purged after a fresh install and Pidgin is one of the first things to get installed. Pidgin is, however, a gnome program so it doesnt integrate too well with KDE and pulls in all sorts of dependencies. Today, I tried Kmess. Wow...nice program. Set up was simple and it has some nice features, like a drawing pad, and looks great.

Try out Konversation, works fine for me. Supports Xdcc as well.

-Opera is still my number one web browser choice. Integrates well with KDE, works great, and is faster than anything else Ive tried.

Still think that nothing reaches Firefox. You can use the Blueshell ppa archive for Kde integration, so you e.g. can use the Kde dialog for saving files.
https://launchpad.net/~blue-shell/+archive/firefox-kde

Install the packages "firefox" (patched Firefox for Kde integration) and "firefox-kde-support" from that repository, then lock the "firefox" package. If Firefox should be overwritten with a package from a different repository, the Kde integration won't work anymore.

-I love Dragon player, but there are still some times when I have to fall back on VLC which just kind of does its own thing. It doesnt follow the themes I set, it doesnt like the icons I choose, and it looks like crap at all times. If Dragon player advanced just a little more, VLC would be gone.

Dragon player has way too few features for me, and Vlc still has its flaws - although it got a lot better with version 2.0, versions before 2.0 were a disaster.

Try out Smplayer+Mplayer2 combo. Smplayer is a native Qt program, so it integrates well with Kde. The Quantal repositories have a very recent version: 0.8.0.

-Ive always used Guake as my primary terminal. I like the easy drop down functionality of it. But, its a gnome program so doesnt always integrate well. Ive been trying to like Yakuake, but it doesnt seem to support background transparency, which is a must for me. Konsole is a good backup terminal, but I dont like having my terminal in its own window. Hmmm....need to do some more exploring.

I'm always using Konsole and never had any problems with it. Transparency works fine, too.
Did you know that you can integrate a Konsole window into Dolphin? It's very useful! In Dolphin, click on the "Settings" button, and a terminal will open below the file view. The path will be automatically set to the path currently displayed in Dolphin. If you have several tabs open in Dolphin, the path in the terminal window will always change to the path of the currently opened tab. Very convenient! I've added a "Terminal" button to Dolphin's toolbar, as I use it often and don't want to use Settings > Tools > Open terminal every time.

-Office programs. This one is a killer and it drives me fricking nuts. I need to make spreadsheets for work that show variable line size between cells on the screen. LibreOffice Calc for some idiotic reason doesnt do this. The lines are either normal, or massive, no in between. So Ive been using Gnumeric, again a Gnome program. I havent tried Caligra Sheets yet because it gets pretty aweful reviews. Any ideas??

If everything was KDE, life would be perfect!

I don't use spreadsheet programs, but I'd take a look at the Calligra program and try it out.

[whatthefunk]

Try out Konversation, works fine for me. Supports Xdcc as well.

Ive had several issues with that one, so Im sticking to Kmess. It only works for MSN, but thats all I really use anyways.

Try out Smplayer+Mplayer2 combo. Smplayer is a native Qt program, so it integrates well with Kde. The Quantal repositories have a very recent version: 0.8.0.

Dragon Player is my number one choice. It plays most things I want it to, but yeah, it does lack the features that other media players have. Im going to have to try out Smplayer.

I'm always using Konsole and never had any problems with it. Transparency works fine, too.
Did you know that you can integrate a Konsole window into Dolphin? It's very useful! In Dolphin, click on the "Settings" button, and a terminal will open below the file view. The path will be automatically set to the path currently displayed in Dolphin. If you have several tabs open in Dolphin, the path in the terminal window will always change to the path of the currently opened tab. Very convenient! I've added a "Terminal" button to Dolphin's toolbar, as I use it often and don't want to use Settings > Tools > Open terminal every time.

I would absolutely love to ditch Guake and go for Konsole and Yakuake, but the transparency issue is a deal breaker for me. Its completely messed up, the worst application Ive ever used. I seem to be the only person on earth who has problems with it.



So useful!

I don't use spreadsheet programs, but I'd take a look at the Calligra program and try it out.

I would, but I need to be able to save documents as Excel docs and Calligra Sheets doesnt do that.

[Snowhog]

I'm going to suggest that you have a screwed up konsole configuration within your /home directory. With konsole not running, I'd be removing:

~/.kde/share/apps/konsole/ (the entire /konsole directory)
~/.kde/share/config/konsolerc

and then re-installing konsole.

[SteveRiley]

I would absolutely love to ditch Guake and go for Konsole and Yakuake, but the transparency issue is a deal breaker for me. Its completely messed up, the worst application Ive ever used. I seem to be the only person on earth who has problems with it.

Here's mine:



Yakuake uses the same profile settings as Konsole, so if you have Konsole's default profile configured to your liking, then Yakuake should just use it.

I'm not sure what's going on in that screenshot of yours. It looks like a Konsole (not Yakuake) window, but containing the upper right corners of other windows? Oh, and what's with the blue stripes, black borders, and orange close button -- miss GNOME much?

[whatthefunk]

I'm going to suggest that you have a screwed up konsole configuration within your /home directory. With konsole not running, I'd be removing:

~/.kde/share/apps/konsole/ (the entire /konsole directory)
~/.kde/share/config/konsolerc

and then re-installing konsole.

Still no go. Purged Konsole, deleted all Konsole and Yakuake config files and folders, reinstalled and still have the problem.

I'm not sure what's going on in that screenshot of yours. It looks like a Konsole (not Yakuake) window, but containing the upper right corners of other windows? Oh, and what's with the blue stripes, black borders, and orange close button -- miss GNOME much?

Thats Konsole with an after-image of a window that used to be behind it. I didnt even realize it, but yeah youre right....it does like a bit GNOMEish!

[Snowhog]

Have you tried disabling the Blur desktop effect?

[whatthefunk]

Have you tried disabling the Blur desktop effect?

Yeah, that does nothing. I dont understand this at all. I have transparency in a dozen other programs with no problem.

[Snowhog]

This is getting to be a long thread, and I haven't read through it all, so, have you tried creating a new user account and seeing if the behavior happens with that log in?

[whatthefunk]

This is getting to be a long thread, and I haven't read through it all, so, have you tried creating a new user account and seeing if the behavior happens with that log in?

User management in System Settings has magically disappeared.... Hmmm....thats weird.....

[SteveRiley]

User management in System Settings has magically disappeared.... Hmmm....thats weird.....

Is the userconfig package still installed?

[whatthefunk]

Is the userconfig package still installed?

It was missing so I reinstalled. The icon is now in System Settings but when I click it, it doesnt come up. It asks for my password then nothing. Calling userconfig from the terminal gives "command not found."

[Snowhog]

I'm beginning to think that you have, at some point in time, partially removed the KDE/Plasma Desktop environment. That would (in part) explain why your Konsole window decorations appear to be Gnome.

Me thinks it's time to do a complete (re)installation of the KDE/Plasma environment. What do you thing SR?

In fact, given the title of this thread, how many apps has whatthefunk removed in the quest for a 'pure KDE computer'?

[SteveRiley]

It's a Python program. Kubuntu ships with its own user configuration program rather than the KDE default. Try:

kcmshell4 userconfig

in a Konsole and see if you get anything interesting. Try this while you're at it:

kdesudo kcmshell4 userconfig

Perhaps you simply need to rebuild the system configuration cache:

kbuildsycoca4 --noincremental
sudo kbuildsycoca4 --noincremental --global

Alternately, if you want KDE's default user admin tool, install the kuser package.

[whatthefunk]

I'm beginning to think that you have, at some point in time, partially removed the KDE/Plasma Desktop environment. That would (in part) explain why your Konsole window decorations appear to be Gnome.

Me thinks it's time to do a complete (re)installation of the KDE/Plasma environment. What do you thing SR?

In fact, given the title of this thread, how many apps has whatthefunk removed in the quest for a 'pure KDE computer'?

Thats what I was beginning to think as well. I may well have borked things up enough to justify such an action.

[whatthefunk]

It's a Python program. Kubuntu ships with its own user configuration program rather than the KDE default. Try:

kcmshell4 userconfig

This brings up the User Management program but without root access.

kdesudo kcmshell4 userconfig

This brings up the normal kdesudo password prompt, but then does nothing after I enter my password. The exact same thing happens when I click on user management from the System Settings menu.

Perhaps you simply need to rebuild the system configuration cache:

kbuildsycoca4 --noincremental
sudo kbuildsycoca4 --noincremental --global

Nothing. Does this require a reboot?

EDIT: Reboot did it. Thanks for the help guys!