[Errors] Multiple Problems that did not exist in former Versions

[StarCat]

The last stable and useful installation I had with Kubuntu was around 08. I don't recall the versions number but I can pull it out of my archive if necessary. After that I moved away from Kubuntu due to multiple issues that were all very difficult to resolve from my perspective. Colossal time wasters in other words. I ran the last version of Mandriva seemingly before it disappeared which worked over all but also with the typcial list of things that always refuse to work unless you are a Linux guru.

With 14.04 here is a list of things that do not work in the least which are proving to be not worth the time they take to sort out.
Some have been fixed, the rest remain unresolved.
The Scrollbar in Firefox is too narrow. Fixed with installation of ADD ON.
Firefox 50 will not allow file attachments in gmail, it just opens a file window and then stalls to all mouse commands from that point. Mouse comands in the window opened have ZERO effect.
The desktop icons have a very annoying fade out to the right or shadow on the Icon text. What controls this appears to be so down deep in the labyrinth as to be impossible to find. There is WAY too much emphasis on this OS on people changing the way things appear on screen which translates into lots of things not working well at all.
The Terminal KONSOLE does not behave like the older versions did. Commands like cut, copy, and paste as used in the past do nothing and other commands used as in the past have no effect, yet some commands do things that are unexpected like install software packages you were not asking for. Very strange.
The older System Settings Group was way more logical and allowed adjustment of things that mattered. Now things have gotten very cryptic and hidden. This is devolution of functionality. Those icons in SYSTEM SETTINGS in former days actually took you to adjustments that worked in real terms.
I am going to try so other distributions including desktop environments that run under GONME ito see if anything works out of the box without so many time wasting problems that ruin the experience.
Again the older versions were far easier to get things working in.
Also web searches for Linux command line references back in those days returned pages that were concise and that worked.
Now everyone is posting pages on command line that are both impossible to make sense of and useless.
This is right in step with a lot of functionality on the internet getting worse every year, and also forced obosoletion of older hardware and software setups in favor of the mobile generation.

This is a major mistake.

If anyone has quick fixes for the above, please advise.

SC

[TWPonKubuntu]

StarCat:

First, let me say that you will "catch more flies with honey". While I can relate to your "rant", it does not provide enough solid information for us to offer suggestions.

That being said, I too have been forced to move away from the KDE DE (Desktop Environment). Probably (not sure, but likely) for the same reasons that you are experiencing difficulties.

So, my suggestion matches your hinted action. DO try other distributions. I did this and found one which meets my needs almost as well as Kubuntu 14.04 LTS did, before it become unusable ON MY SYSTEM.

No guarantees, but you might look at Linux Mint 18.x xfce. DO NOTE that it IS NOT KDE. KDE continues to be a no-go on my system, so the XFCE desktop is now my DE of choice.

YOUR MILEAGE MAY VARY!

Finally, here is the information which might help others on this forum (A VERY GOOD AND HELPFUL FORUM) to suggest ways of addressing your problems with Kubuntu:

1) State your system specifications. Brand, CPU, RAM, Video, etc.
2) Tell exactly which Linux distro(s) you are testing.
3) If possible, give screen shots of the problem areas
4) DO upgrade your Firefox browser to the current distro version (at this writing, it is Firefox 51.0.1, from the repository)
5) Check that you are doing either a clean install (overwrite everything) or an upgrade over an existing install, it does matter and we would like to know.

I hope I've not managed to discourage you. There are plenty of knowledgeable and friendly people on this forum who are willing to help. I, however, am a curmudgeon with firm views and a total unwillingness to negotiate (that is a joke, in case it is not clear).

[StarCat]

I'd not call it a rant mate...
Firefox 50.1.0, Kubuntu 14.04.
Firefox will not attach files.
Its not hardware related.

[Snowhog]

I'd not call it a rant mate...
Firefox 50.1.0, Kubuntu 14.04.
Firefox will not attach files.
Its not hardware related.

I know it's likely a silly question, but what do you mean when you say "Firefox will not attach files."?

[TWPonKubuntu]

Snowhog beat me to it

Are you (Starcat) referring to this line in your original post?:

"Firefox 50 will not allow file attachments in gmail, it just opens a file window and then stalls to all mouse commands from that point."

I have to assume some things about what you're trying to accomplish:

Are you using the gmail email client?

Have you tested this using some other Linux browser using Kubuntu 14.04? This would help point to the source of the problem. It might be the gmail client or it might be the Mozilla interface code...

I don't use gmail, so I cannot advise on testing.

Have you checked the Google(r) gmail forum for similar problems? I believe they have a bug reporting system which could offer either fixes or work-arounds.

[EDIT] I was surfing and found this, possibly related, post RE gmail and file attachment.
The post is new and you might want to bookmark it for replies which might help you resolve this issue on your system.

https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtop...e4e529d672a8fe

[Rod J]

@TWPonKubuntu: I think StarCat is having problems with using Gmail as webmail in Firefox. This has been a recent problem with Firefox versions since around v47 I think. Navigation in file dialogs is very difficult if not impossible using the mouse. It appears to be related to Firefox switching to GTK3. See this thread.

@StarCat: The fix in that thread works (change the Firefox start command to "MOZ_USE_XINPUT2=1 firefox %U") and I tried it for a while on my install (K14.04) but I found it introduced another bug which annoyed me more: If the Firefox window is not focused I can no longer scroll the window with the mouse (a behaviour that is the default in Windows, one of the things that really irritates me using that OS).

[TWPonKubuntu]

RodJ; Thanks for the input. I stopped using the webmail interfaces some time ago due to the advertising they carry. They only time I open them is to clear my mail queue of junk. I was not aware of the problem you reported. I'll have to do some checking. My "workaround" is that I use the Thunderbird email client, so no more advertising and all of my email accounts are in one tool.

Starcat; Have you tested using another web browser?

[Rod J]

My "workaround" is that I use the Thunderbird email client, so no more advertising and all of my email accounts are in one tool.

+1 for Thunderbird. That's all I use too except when working on another PC I sometimes use webmail in Firefox.

[Rod J]

Firefox 50 will not allow file attachments in gmail, it just opens a file window and then stalls to all mouse commands from that point. Mouse comands in the window opened have ZERO effect.

Further to what I said in post #6:
After some experimentation I have found a more satisfying fix for the difficulty in navigating file dialogs in Firefox v46> (KDE4). The fix restores the functionality of the dialog but aesthetically it's not so good. I favour functionality over aesthetics any day myself.

In System Settings, Application Appearance, GTK, Select a GTK3 Theme: Switch to the Emacs theme from the oxygen-gtk default. You may have to try different fonts/sizes in the font box to get it back to what it looked like before. DejaVu Sans 8 worked for me. BTW, you need to close and restart Firefox to see the changes.

Now the dialogs work as expected but the downside is that it does look odd and doesn't match the KDE theme so much. YMMV.

I did try downloading other GTK3 themes but didn't have much luck. The "Get New Themes" function isn't working (here at least).