Plasma 5.8 is an LTS release: https://www.kde.org/announcements/plasma-5.8.0.php

airdrik wrote:Plasma 5.8 is an LTS release: https://www.kde.org/announcements/plasma-5.8.0.php

And how does that help?

For example, take this bug: https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=365047

Despite they fixed it, after checking and installing automatic updates in Opensuse Leap 42.2,
the problem is still there. Appearantly, nobody cares about implementing the fixes into the distro.

So, where do I find a stable, LTS distro that backports bugfixes into their LTS release?

I see what you mean. The LTS of Plasma is just the desktop and related components, while you'd also like to see LTS releases of the applications and everything else so that LTS distros have a stable set of versions to bundle which then get bug fixes and security patches for the full lifetime of that version of the distro.

On the one hand the LTS distros could go through and backport the changes themselves, but that would end up being a lot of duplicated effort as each distro would need to do it for whatever versions they've packaged into their LTS. Pushing for LTS releases of KDE applications in addition to the LTS releases of Plasma would help consolidate those efforts.

Teuniz wrote:For example, take this bug: https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=365047

That's a bug report about okteta, an application.
Totally unrelated to Plasma.

Despite they fixed it, after checking and installing automatic updates in Opensuse Leap 42.2,
the problem is still there. Appearantly, nobody cares about implementing the fixes into the distro.

You should file a bug report with your distribution, then they probably will backport the fix...

We cannot just add all possible commits/fixes to a stable distribution, because that would mean that we just ship random git snapshots.
Also, openSUSE's policies require an openSUSE bug report to be able to submit an update to a stable release (i.e. Leap).

If you always want the latest versions of all software, you are not looking for a stable/LTS distribution but rather a rolling one like Tumbleweed (or KDE Neon).
For Leap 42.2 it is possible though to get the latest KDE Applications via additional repos.

Btw, an update to Plasma 5.8.6 is currently in the works for openSUSE Leap 42.2.

Well, obviously, Plasma 5 is the continuation of Plasma 4. WIndows 8 had to do something really bad to be worse than 7, and Plasma has not done anything of that sort.
Everything KDE 5 is an improvement upon KDE 4. Except for the fact that the Oxygen KF5 theme doesn't seem to exist...

that's interesting.. I'm a longtime KDE user too.. one could say from the beginning, used it in Redhats before there was Fedora.

I have been happy with each of the major versions.. they all had bugs, they all had nice new features, some missing features..
they all seemed weird at first because I had been using the old one so long and gotten used to how it worked.

I like new software.. so I'm always keen on trying out the latest ones. so I'm used to programs having glitches here and there.. it's also a bit of an adventure when you find bugs, to try to get around them, fix them.. etc. if nothing else, just reporting bugs, so that things can be fixed in future.. to me that is what opensource is about.

with all the bugs, the glitches, missing features... I've always enjoyed KDE.. version after version it's gotten more interesting.. and I like learning new things. past couple of days I've been finally learning QtQuick/QML/Python combination to produce apps and applets. documentation is sparse and very techy.. and lot of it seems to still be in QT4 time.. but, I'm getting there

so, I myself love Plasma5.. it's modern, fast, customizable and just works for me. I run it in laptop, with 3 monitor setup (sometimes one monitor and a picopix beamer) ... I have 4 workspaces.. two activities (work and play) .. it's been very flexible, allowed me to make my desktop work just the way I want it.

I also run the bleeding edge versions of all my main tools, Blender, Krita, Gimp, Inkscape, Scribus ..
so ofcourse that is part of the reason also to keep the whole distro as fresh as possible..

anyways, just wanted to tell a bit different kind of experience on running this beast

.b

KDE Plasma LTS has fewer bugs.
If you don't like KDE 5, then use Enlightenment. If you don't like Enlightenment, use Cinnamon. If you don't like that, then I honestly don't know what you would like in a DE.

Hi everyone.
Just wanted to know if I'm the only person still using KDE4

I am practically unable to move to Plasma 5 because the display managers sees my 4K Dell display as 2 desktops because its connected via display port 1.2a as HDMI2 did not exist at the time I purchased the monitor. I have 2 HD monitors on either side and they have 4 virtual desktops each so I am unable to use xinerama.

Aesthetically, the 4K display has 8 virtual desktops with differing widgets/shortcuts/icons on each desktop and Konqueror profiles to match each virtual desktop.
Why did they remove Konqueror profiles in Plasma 5?

Kubuntu 14.04LTS will be End Of Life in March.
I would like if someone could advise me on how to:
1) Retain a copy of KDE4 installation files.
2) If I then move to say Ubuntu 18.04 that does not have KDE5, how I could then install KDE4.
3) How to configure Ubuntu or any other Debian based Linux to boot into KDE4 on startup.
4) What ever else you can advise would be very very appreciated.

Thanks in advance......

I'm still on Plasma 4 on Kubuntu 14.04 at work, though we are hoping to get 18.04 vetted for general use "soon" (hopefully in the next couple months?). I'm planning on (and looking forward to) switching to Plasma 5 when we do, though.

As for keeping Plasma 4, you'll need to find all of the packages for KDE+Plasma+Qt 4 and keep those around (you'll probably need to make adjustments to the packages to work on the newer version of ubuntu and/or expect instability) or plan on downloading the sources and re-compile from scratch (similarly expect to make some changes and/or expect instability).

I think the obstacles for switching to Plasma 5 are not insurmountable. I'd recommend starting separate threads for each so we can help find solutions to those problems. (I think it'll be easier to resolve the blockers and proceed to use Plasma 5 than to try and get Plasma 4 working on a newer version of Ubuntu which doesn't have it in the repos).

Thats a GOOD idea, thanks for the advice airdrik, much appreciated.
I was unable to find a copy of the KDE4 .deb or .rpm files but I had a openSUSE-13.2 install disk.
Soooooo.......
I will have to leave Kubuntu and go back to using openSUSE because:-
1) YaST has the ability to use DVD ISO's as a repository
2) I have not yet figured out how I can retain KDE4 install files in a separate repository and prohibit Ubuntu/Kubuntu from upgrading them to Plasma.
If anyone knows how to do this, please advise.


The Solution!
1) Download and install openSUSE-Leap-15 or whatever the latest version is and reboot.
A) During installation DO NOT choose the "KDE Desktop Environment" option. Choose "Gnome Environment"!
B) Complete the installation and reboot.
C) Using YaST, install all the applications that you require.
Or you can "zypper install application1 application2 application3" from the command line.
D) Use YaST >> Software >> Online Update
Or you can "zypper update" from the command line
E) Reboot

2) Install Proprietery Codecs & Drivers
A) Click the "Add" button in YAST >> Software >> Repositories
B) Select the "Community Repositories" option and click next.
C) Tick "Packman", "Libdvdcss" and nVidia if you have an nVidia graphics card then click the OK button.
D) Go back to YaST >> Software >> Software Management.
E) Click on the Repositories tab, if it is not present click on the "View" button then select Repositories.
F) Make sure the Packman repository is highlighted and click the link "Switch system packages"
G) Within the Warnings Dialog box select the option on each resolution:-
"Install <Whatever-the-package> (with vendor change) openSUSE -> http://packman.links2linux.de"
H) Click the "OK - Try Again" button and if re-appears go back to step H.
I) Click the "Accept" button.
J) Use YaST >> Software >> Online Update
K) Reboot

3) Configure the KDE4 repository.
A) Download openSUSE-13.2 from:-
https://ftp5.gwdg.de/pub/opensuse/disco ... x86_64.iso
B) Go to YaST >> Sofware >> Software Repositories.
C) Take note of the Enabled repositories and disable them all by un-ticking the enabled option.
D) Click the "Add" button and select "Local ISO Image..." option
E) Click the Browse button and locate the openSUSE-13.2 ISO that you downloaded earlier.
F) Give the repository a name then continue and add it.

4) Installing KDE4
A) Go to YaST >> Software >> Software Management
B) Click on the Patterns tab, if it is not present then click on the "View" button then select Patterns.
C) Tick "KDE4 Desktop Environment"
D) Click the "Accept" button
E) Accept all file conflicts because we want KDE4 files only.
F) Reboot
G) Upon the Login screen, click the Cog and select KDE4

5) Prohibit openSUSE from upgrading to Plasma 5!!!
A) Go to YaST >> Software >> Software Management
B) Click on the Patterns tab, if it is not present then click on the "View" button then select Patterns.
C) Highlight the "KDE4 Desktop Environment" in the left panel.
D) Right mouse click on the "patterns-openSUSE-kde" package in the right panel and select:-
"Protected - Do Not Modify", if the option is not present then got to "All in this List"
E) Do the same for the patterns-openSUSE-kde4_basis package.
F) Click the "Accept" button
G) Go to YAST >> Software >> Repositories and re-enable the repositories that you took note of earlier.

Yes! 36 steps seems like a long process but its not really, it can be done in less than an hour (if you have an SSD not a HDD)
I'm still using Kubuntu 14.04 on my main workstation but this process works beautifully OK on my laptops with NO instabilities and NO conflicts.

I am very much hoping that I will be able use this process with Kubuntu. I think it is possible using Synaptic Package Manager as it allows you to protect installed applications from upgrades, but I'm not familiar enough with the .deb packages and Ubuntu repository management.
There is no rush at the moment but Kubuntu 14.04 goes out of support in March 2019
If anyone could advise me on a similar process that I can use for Kubuntu it would be very much appreciated.

Thanks in Advance
Sydney

kbrannen wrote:I too dislike my first post here to be negative, but if there is no feedback then corrections can't be made.

Same here. The thing that finally drove me away from Windows was....

kbrannen wrote:To those who like the flat design, I'm glad it works for you -- really I am, but I'd like to know why the rest of us have to suffer that. KDE has always been known for giving the user options, but I guess that's changed. I'm sorry, but it's not "a clean and visually clear user experience" for me (from http://www.kde.org/announcements/plasma5.0). It's ugly and confusing and hard to use -- in short, a UI failure. Where do I click? I can't tell because there are no borders on buttons and other things I need to click on. Is that text there a link or not? I can't tell. Where are the controls? I can't tell, hidden I suspect. (KDE5 has all the stuff I [sorry to use this word] hate on the flat design and anti-skeuomorphic web sites, the sites I leave immediately without using.)

THIS. I don't know where this craze for flat design came from, where everything is white on white (with teeny tiny little obscure icons, and worse, with no real menus -- the hamburger menu is a poor substitute) and boundaries are invisible, but it does nothing but degrade usability, and yes, it's unbelievably ugly -- and hard on the eyes. It is THE factor that finally made me hate the Windows I'd loved for decades (where we have the same problem: what idiot thought looking AND behaving like a cellphone made for a productive desktop??), and into looking seriously for a permanent replacement. I need my desktop to be readily usable all day every day, not a struggle to locate stuff, and both painful and tiring for my eyes.

And I've always far preferred KDE over the other linux desktops for 3 critical reasons: 1) the UI was both easy on the eyes and easy to use (everything was in the expected place), 2) I could configure *everything*, and 3) it was way more stable. I've managed to concoct a more-or-less usable desktop with a weird hybrid of Oxygen-Dark and Plastik (which as found in PCLOS seem to be a little more ...retro... than in other distros, which is helpful), but it's not really the same as being able to configure everything as best suits my aging eyes, I'm still stuck with a lot of workspaces that are either glare-white or nearly-black, and not every app lets me configure that (and why should I have to do each individually? Never used to have to do that, except for braindead GTK apps.) No, folks, the only options should NOT be "blazing white" and "black cat in a coal mine".

The problem here is that if one truly prefers KDE, there's nowhere else to go, because nothing else really comes up to that standard. And if you can't stand the wretched flat interface -- increasingly there are no alternatives to it. Well, there's Trinity, thank ghu, but it's a generation behind and sometimes that restricts applications to what was available for KDE4 (OTOH we still have Konqueror, which for those of us who live in the file manager, is miles ahead of Dolphin).

It's incredibly frustrating to watch what was THE superior linux desktop become just another Metro also-ran... yeah, it's still better than the abomination of Windows 10 (seriously, why do I have to edit the registry to at least partially fix workspace colors??! why is the file manager so bloody broken??) but when you make a better turd, you still have turds.

For haters of the flat interface, there are yet alternatives to the default flat Breeze theme. Most notably Kvantum which has many themes on the KDE store. It does come with the unfortunate drawback that the color scheme is defined by the theme, so you have to edit the theme to change the colors.

Also, QtCurve is still around with it's own collection of themes on the KDE store with a long history of non-flat design. (and QtCurve does obey the system color scheme, which makes for much easier customization of colors)

I too tried very hard to like Plasma 5 but failed.

There are a couple of Linux distros (in addition to CentOS) that still support KDE4.

MX-16 "KDE Added" version works well enough but is a community release. As such you can expect some issues with the raft of updates required.

ROSA FRESH R10 on the other hand is the complete beast. Beautiful to look at and on my three very different machines, error free. They also have a Plasma 5 release so you can dual boot the two for an objective comparison. Supported until the end of 2020 so plenty of time for Plasma 5 to improve else I'll go back to Q4 OS and Trinity.

http://wiki.rosalab.ru/en/index.php/ROS ... _Fresh_R10