First time kde user

[kwokyinc]

I have used Ubuntu for a year (8.04 and 8.10) and now decide to try out Kubuntu since the release of 9.04.

Playing with KDE for two days, in general I think KDE looks great and I really like the launcher (alt + F2), the panel bar and I found Kate is much more advanced than gedit .

My questions are:

1. Even after I've turned off all desktop effect, video playback (H264) using dragon player seems to be laggy and has lower frame rate when compared to totem (Gstreamer) in Ubuntu. What does dragon player use? is it also Gstreamer?

2. some of the global shortcut keys are not working, no matter how I change the key binding. e.g. the shortcut key to open a terminal just won't work. Is this just my problem or is everybody having the same problem?

4. Is there a way to assign a shortcut key to the mouse click. (e.g. alt + mouse click)? I used to be able to do that with Compiz.

3. I read that Kontact isn't working with opensync. Hope they can fix it soon.

[Rog131]

Re: First time kde user

1.

The Dragon player is the default but you don't have to use it. Have you tried the Totem with the KDE ? More players >Topic: Media Players. I'm using SMPlayer/VLC/Kaffeine trio...

As default the Kubuntu 9.04 is using the Xine. If you want to use the GStreamer you need to install package: phonon-backend-gstreamer. After installation System Settings > Multimedia > (Backend tab) > Prefer/Defer...


2. It seems that the khotkeysrc file is hosed . With the development version there was working khotkeys/input actions but now there are only the keybindings. To add the actions back: System Settings > Input Actions > Configure Hotkey settings. Right click will bring a pop up: New Group/New Global Shortcut/Delete.

Note
It will whine if you choose existing shortcut (Ctrl+Alt+T) but that is only a notification.




4.

It was (is) with the KDE 3.5 maybe it will be back with the KDE 4.3...

[kwokyinc]

Re: First time kde user

Hey Rog, thanks a lot.

Using your method, the shortcut to open terminal now works great. As for PIM, I am now using "evolution" and opensync to sync my contacts with my PDA phone, just like the old days in GNOME.

[muzicman0]

Re: First time kde user

I also suggest Yakuake for KDE if you haven't tried it yet...press f12, and a konsole drops from the top of your screen...I know that the key binding you mentioned was just an example, but it made me think f how much I couldn't live with this app!

mm0

[kwokyinc]

Re: First time kde user

Wow...Just installed it. This Yakuake is very handy and cool !!

But it crashes whenever I attempted to adjust the width and height of the terminal. It's not really a big deal and I can live with the default width and height setting. So the verdict is it will stay in my system.

Thanks for this useful info.

[sithlord48]

Re: First time kde user

you can install compiz and set it as you default window manager in
System Settings -> Default Applications.

the packages you will need to use compiz are from the main and universe repos

required packages:
emerald libemeraldengine0 compiz-wrapper compiz compiz-core compiz-fusion-plugins-main compiz-fusion-plugins-extra compiz-plugins

Optional packages:
compiz-fusion-plugins-unsupported <- Install for more plugins (most work ok)
compizconfig-settings-manager python-compizconfig <- For Setting Compiz's Options

Don't know why but there installed but there on my system:
compizconfig-backend-gconf compiz-gnome

after you install the packages you will want to first off make sure the normal effects work... then to enable compiz (in mid session)
type in to krunner dialog (alt+f2 is default) compiz --replace then emerald --replace (if you don't get window borders)

then just set it to default as described above and restart X

[HavocXphere]

Re: First time kde user

For smother playback, the video output needs to be opengl. The others don't make use of hardware acceleration properly and look less fluid.