Hi,

I've been using KDE on and off for several years. I love it and it's by far my favorite DE. But I also have to say it sometimes pi**es me off to no end. I normally don't rant, but I've just spent couple of hours trying to get some basic things to work, with no success. Basically, all I wanted to do is set my clock to adjust automatically, but that lead to more googling about some other issues...

Open "Date & Time", tick the "Set...Automatically" checkbox. KDE asks for password, and offers to "Remember Authorization", and I tell it to do so. Few seconds later you get "Unable to contact time server: europe.pool.ntp.org."
You decide to try with another server, so you repeat the procedure and when you hit 'Apply', you are prompted for password again. KDE did not remember it.
I found few bug reports about the "Remember Authorization" issue. KUbuntu people decided to remove the "Remember Authorization" checkbox(es), because the underlying code, they say, doesn't even check if checkboxes are checked. OpenSuse guys have their bug marked as 'Fixed'. If they fixed it, why isn't this fix included in latest KDE?
And that's just a side issue. More importantly, if I want my clock to adjust automatically, I have to read half the web and find out that KDE can't do this basic thing although it says it can, but I can do this manually, by calling sudo ntpdate -u servername...

I'm not really that **** about the clock thing. Or the fact that Network Manager always shows VPN tab as default, even though I have no VPN connections. Or that it doesn't allow me to connect/disconnect my DSL connection, only to 'connect automatically' (if it gets disconnected, you can reboot to get connected again :/). What really **** me off is that this is KDE 4.EIGHT, and basic things aren't working. I'm wondering what KDE team considers to be its priority, if not bugs related to basic functionality, like setting clock or remembering password...

/rant

I have no "VPN" tab in Network Management - unless you are referring to the "Manage Connections" settings - where I get Wireless by default.

For your DSL connection - it should be possible to manually connect by clicking on the applet, then selecting your DSL connection from the list of available connections. This same method (except on the Interfaces list instead) should allow you to disconnect the DSL connection.

As for remembering the password - this is down to policies defined in the PolicyKit definition files, and is not up to KDE. While KDE does ship default definitions, these may be modified by the user or the distributor. You may use the panel in System Settings > Actions Policy to configure this.

As for the clock problem - unfortunately this area (of setting the clock automatically) is known to be problematic unfortunately.

bcooksley wrote:I have no "VPN" tab in Network Management - unless you are referring to the "Manage Connections" settings - where I get Wireless by default.

For your DSL connection - it should be possible to manually connect by clicking on the applet, then selecting your DSL connection from the list of available connections. This same method (except on the Interfaces list instead) should allow you to disconnect the DSL connection.

As for remembering the password - this is down to policies defined in the PolicyKit definition files, and is not up to KDE. While KDE does ship default definitions, these may be modified by the user or the distributor. You may use the panel in System Settings > Actions Policy to configure this.

As for the clock problem - unfortunately this area (of setting the clock automatically) is known to be problematic unfortunately.

Thanks, bcooksley.

Yes, I was talking about "Manage Connections". It does allow me to connect/disconnect as you described, so thanks for that. That interface is ridiculously unintuitive, though (why click on list item on the right side to connect, and little red 'x' on the list item in the left panel to disconnect? Why isn't it labeled 'connect/disconnect'? Why entire window for such a simple functionality? Why have 'Show More/Less' button that does nothing... One button for connect/disconnect and 'Manage...' or 'Settings' would be much better, imo).

I don't have anything like 'Actions Policy' in System Settings. Search for 'Action' (in System Settings) highlights 'Desktop Behavior', 'Shortcuts & Gestures' and 'Device Actions'. Search for 'Policy' highlights nothing.

As for the clock... if the daemon doesn't work for whatever reason, maybe it should be replaced with a manual periodic call to ntpdate -u some.pool.ntp.org... Even calling it only once, on startup, would probably be good enough for most people.

Finally... I was kind of relieved to see someone cared enough to reply, and you tought me how to connect/disconect my dsl. Thanks

For the Network Management interface, you would have to ask the developers themselves.

As for why 'Actions Policy' is missing, I would advise you to ask your KDE distributor (your Distribution) in this case, as it should be available.