I found viewtopic.php?f=15&t=82920&start=0, so I thought I'd do something similar in case there's answers to these problems or its useful to someone to see what kind of problems people upgrading get. Maybe these are really easy problems to fix and I'm just tired.

I'm on gentoo, version of kde looks like 4.3.1.

- I can't set multiple desktop pictures and viewtopic.php?f=17&t=9248&start=10 doesn't seem to work. My plasmarc is almost empty so maybe its unused or something. There's one [$Version] entry, that's it.

- kde seems confused about whether to use plasma or konquerer. Icons don't open in plasma (I assume the windows are plasma?) but konquerer is used for other things and looks just like kde3. Which is fine, but then I should just go back to kde3

- several applications have a system beep that's really annoying. I know I've fixed this a dozen times before, but I'm not sure where this time or why its back. Maybe I set it in a config file somewhere that kde4 doesn't use that kde3 did, I don't remember. But going into "notifications" and setting audio to off, doesn't fix it ?!?!

- I can't seem to add applications to the launcher and some of the apps I had there before, like Kdevelop and eterm, aren't there anymore. But I can't figure out how to edit the menu.

- my graphics drivers broke in an update a few months ago and so opengl is unusable, but so in trying to find a multiple desktops setting the "enable desktop effects" button did some strange things. I think if someone just clicks that on and off some or something, there's a bug there.

-konsole won't let me set transparent terminals, I had them before or maybe I was using eterm...

Okay, that's it for now I guess.

Transparent terminals will require the presence of a compositing window manager. KWin has these capabilities, but will only activate them if it believes your hardware is capable enough. Unfortunately it appears your OpenGL configuration is broken, so this will not be available.

You should be able to run the command "kmenuedit" to access the Menu Editor. If its changes fail to apply, close the menu editor, run "kbuildsycoca4 --noincremental", and try again.

Transparent terminals worked fine in kde3, same broken graphics drivers. (Edit: you know what, they were pseudo-transparency, and I bet kde4 is supposed to have actual transparency. Do you know how to turn pseudo-transparency on?)

(Edit: As it turns out, they added a "video" group a few months ago and didn't mention and I figured out that was why I didn't have opengl, so forget the terminal stuff.)

kmenuedit runs but its empty. You can't right click on the launcher menu?

Also, is plasma the filemanager?

- I can't set multiple desktop pictures and viewtopic.php?f=17&t=9248&start=10 doesn't seem to work. My plasmarc is almost empty so maybe its unused or something. There's one [$Version] entry, that's it.

In 4.3.1 you can do like this:


Link activities to virtual desktops

- kde seems confused about whether to use plasma or konquerer. Icons don't open in plasma (I assume the windows are plasma?) but konquerer is used for other things and looks just like kde3. Which is fine, but then I should just go back to kde3

Sounds like you're the one who is confused.
Plasma = desktop shell. The background, widgets on your desktop, panel + widgets (taskbar, clock etc.) all belong to Plasma.
Konqueror = file manager / web browser / Swiss knife. If Konqueror looks odd, it's possible that you still run the KDE3 version. Check the version in Help -> About Konqueror.

- several applications have a system beep that's really annoying. I know I've fixed this a dozen times before, but I'm not sure where this time or why its back. Maybe I set it in a config file somewhere that kde4 doesn't use that kde3 did, I don't remember. But going into "notifications" and setting audio to off, doesn't fix it ?!?!

System Settings -> Accessibility -> uncheck "Use system bell". Possibly also System Settings -> Notifications -> System Bell -> uncheck "Use system bell instead of system notifications".

Yes this is messy, and a bug regarding this can be found here: https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=56903

- my graphics drivers broke in an update a few months ago and so opengl is unusable, but so in trying to find a multiple desktops setting the "enable desktop effects" button did some strange things. I think if someone just clicks that on and off some or something, there's a bug there.

Huh?

Transparent terminals worked fine in kde3, same broken graphics drivers. (Edit: you know what, they were pseudo-transparency, and I bet kde4 is supposed to have actual transparency. Do you know how to turn pseudo-transparency on?)

Generally pseudo-transparency isn't supported anymore in KDE4 (the reason being that it's considered a hack). If you want transparency, you should use composite.

kmenuedit runs but its empty. You can't right click on the launcher menu?

Yes you can: right click -> Menu Editor. If it's empty, it's likely something wrong with your system. Is it the same for a new user?

Also, is plasma the filemanager?

No, it's the desktop shell (as explained earlier).

Hans wrote:In 4.3.1 you can do like this:

Thanks, that does work. I never would have thought to click "zoom out", I've never used compiz before although I did consider it a while ago. The problem is, it now takes several seconds to switch desktops. It took me a full thirty seconds to get out of the zoomed out mode. If you have any suggestions on that let me know.

Hans wrote:Sounds like you're the one who is confused.
Plasma = desktop shell. The background, widgets on your desktop, panel + widgets (taskbar, clock etc.) all belong to Plasma.
Konqueror = file manager / web browser / Swiss knife. If Konqueror looks odd, it's possible that you still run the KDE3 version. Check the version in Help -> About Konqueror.

You're right, I do still run 3.5 konqueror. I think what confused me is that there was this translucent blue file manager like window that appeared on the desktop when I first started it up, its gone now. But it was there for a while.

Hans wrote:System Settings -> Accessibility -> uncheck "Use system bell".

This one seems to have fixed it.

Hans wrote:Yes you can: right click -> Menu Editor. If it's empty, it's likely something wrong with your system. Is it the same for a new user?

I'll have to see, I'm not sure.

Thanks a bunch. I guess the only thing left is how slow it is. It looks nice, but I feel like it shouldn't be so slow. I have an ati radeon x850 xt 256mb. How good does the graphics card have to be? Any ideas about how to speed it up? I mean I don't want to have to wait 3 seconds for it to change desktops just so I can have translucent windows.

Moved topic to Workspace since it's mostly questions.

You're right, I do still run 3.5 konqueror. I think what confused me is that there was this translucent blue file manager like window that appeared on the desktop when I first started it up, its gone now. But it was there for a while.

That's the Folderview widget for Plasma. Very useful if you ask me. You can also choose Folderview as your desktop type (see the first link in my signature if you want more of these ).

It looks nice, but I feel like it shouldn't be so slow. I have an ati radeon x850 xt 256mb. How good does the graphics card have to be?

The screencasts I linked to were recorded on a computer with NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200. I also used KDE4 on a netbook with an integrated Intel GMA 950. So it doesn't have to be the newest and best graphic card.

Any ideas about how to speed it up? I mean I don't want to have to wait 3 seconds for it to change desktops just so I can have translucent windows.

Fix your graphic drivers.

Hans wrote:Fix your graphic drivers.

Yeah, that's never going to happen. Thanks though for the other stuff.

You could check through http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/dri-howto.xml and see if you find anything useful (you can probably skip step 2). Someone might be able to help if you post your xorg.conf, but I think you'll get more help if you post in the Gentoo forum.

Well I may have fixed it. Option "MigrationHeuristic" "Greedy".

I must have searched at least a hundred times trying to fix the damn thing.