KDE3 fan thread: There are advantages.

jesnow · l33t Joined: 26 Apr 2006 Posts: 858

OK I know I'm majorly swimming against the tide here, but KDE3 rules.

1) It is stable, that it, there are so few changes that nothing gets broken just because something else got updated.

2) OK it has vulnerabilities, but the remaining installed base is so small, it's not worth it for anybody to try to exploit them.

3) It is blazingly fast, and uses far fewer cpu cycles (ie battery life) than KDE4. Meanwhile XFCE and KDE4 are about equal.

4) It supports dual screens (not xinerama, which I hate).

5) It installs next to KDE4 if you have to use a KDE4 application (Bittorrent comes to mind).

6) It is not loaded down with crap you have to turn off. It just does the job.

So though I know I'm living on borrowed time, I'm grateful to the people who put together and appear to be maintaining the kde-sunset overlay, which keeps this fossil but still highly useful bit of open source history functional in an up to date environment.

Cheers,

Jon.

BradN · Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 1:48 am Post subject:

KDE 3... The one thing that made me feel horrible about doing a full reinstall on a functioning but beyond outdated gentoo box.

Now I'm using LXDE on my laptop and halfway upset that there's no good display (ie, login) manager for such a thing.

On the plus side, this message written using a KDE3/LTSP terminal that I'll probably cry about when I have to update. The terminal has a designed for NT/95 sticker on it and it runs plenty speedy for anything but watching videos...

jbouzan · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 23 Nov 2007 Posts: 138

I did like kde3 a lot, but even when early versions of kde4 were a feature downgrade, I switched just because it's fun to have things break and learn how to fix them. Maybe less fun for people with jobs beyond "full-time student with a Comp Sci minor."

nixnut · Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2011 6:25 pm Post subject:

Moved from Desktop Environments to Unsupported Software.
Not in portage, nor will it be. Your best option is an overlay
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ComaWhite · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 07 Oct 2008 Posts: 125

Yamakuzure · Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2011 1:23 pm Post subject:

A collegue of mine asked: "Why on earth should I upgrade to KDE4?" and I answered: "first, QT3 is dead and second, KDE3 is dead, too."
And that, as sad as it may be, is simply the truth. If I need a full-scale-DE, KDE4 is the choice for me. If I do not need something that big, I prefer OpenBox.
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pappy_mcfae · Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2011 9:28 am Post subject:

I have yet to find anything I like about kde-4. When it first came out, it was just plain broken. Each newer version I used was sometimes better, sometimes worse than what preceded it. The latest version, 4.6.1 has yet to finish full emerge on my amd64 because of a bug that has seniority from kde-4.6.0. It seems that bug is going nowhere. So is kde-4, at least on any other system than the one its on now.

Why I don't like kde-4

1. They threw out the baby with the bathwater.
2. From the first time I used it until now, it has always felt broken.
3. It can be very, very delicate. with settings changing and disappearing as if by magick.
4. It always reminded me of Gnome with uglier features, and more buggy operation.
5. It seems they don't fix anything before they're breaking new stuff.
6. The latest version won't finish installing because of a bug that's existed since the last version.
7. Eye candy: Meh!

Cheers,
Pappy
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Yamakuzure · Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2011 12:26 pm Post subject:

Hmmm... And again I feel strange... pappy, I have not witnessed anything you list since kde-4.1 (I did not try 4.0) KDE-4 worked out of the box from the beginning with no problems but one that the hibernation of my laptop broke around kde-4.3. So what exactly is "broken", "delicate" or which setting "disappear" or "change" as if by magic? Maybe I just overlooked it?
I'd like to know so I can understand those that are constantly trying to convince me how bad, ugly and broken KDE4 is, while it is working fast, stable and reliable like a charm on my laptop. I just don't get it.

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aCOSwt · Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2011 1:08 pm Post subject:

I still run 3.4 on one of my freeBSD's because of Quanta+.
I follow 4 on my Gentoo since 4.3 and currently under 4.4

I find far less annoying bugs under 3.4 than under 4.4

- The biggest drawback I find with V3 is its artsd sound daemon. To this matter, I think the move to phonon is a very positive one.
- I appreciate the possibility of different activities per desktop since 4.4
- I am very interested and find definitely clever the idea behind the semantic-desktop. This is potentially a significant move forward.
However... I must admit that... to date... it is only potential as... it is not working... Hmmm... very well... :evil:

The biggest complaint I would have regarding KDE 4 is that they simply do not care of their users. This project seems to work the fire & forget way. There are no migration tools, even no clean migration procedures when upgrading. The easiest way being to restart each new version from scratch with a new user. That is *not* convenient. :evil:

asturm · Developer Joined: 05 Apr 2007 Posts: 8967

pappy_mcfae · Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2011 8:35 pm Post subject:

These are my observations. If you don't like my opinion, say so. Do not call me a liar as to what I observed with my machines. That is really bad form, and it makes you look like a fool.

Now, for proof as to my present issue: https://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=353730.

Please note this bug is STILL not fixed. Also note the bug is well over a month old. Because of this bug, kde-4.6.x WILL NOT FINISH LOADING. And that is just the latest in a long line of bugs that has plagued my kde-4 setup since I started messing with that mess.

Cheers,
Pappy
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cach0rr0 · Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2011 7:24 am Post subject:

ah snap. forgot all about that bug. I just tossed a modified ebuild+patch in a local overlay and it sailed on through
two machines on 4.6.1, upgrading the third as we speak.

overall happy with it. Definitely some kinks to work out with the build process, but once it's up it's been quite pleasant to use (for me)
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BradN · Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2011 7:52 am Post subject:

Those kind of bugs kinda irk me - I mean it's a well recognized issue... why isn't it fixed upstream to allow building without it? I wonder if there's some kind of political (or maybe apple-like "we want all kde to have this") motivation in pushing the whole akonadi thing or what, or if it really is just laziness or bad communication somewhere.

It would seem like we're the wrong crowd to have something forced down our throats like that though.

Or maybe I'm reading too far into that issue...

Yamakuzure · Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2011 9:14 am Post subject:

pappy_mcfae · Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2011 4:37 pm Post subject:

You have your opinion, I have mine. I'm not going to waste more time arguing about it. kde-4 has been a waste as far as I'm concerned. If you think it's the greatest thing, fine. I think it's not, therefore, I do not support nor do I recommend kde-4.

Cheers,
Pappy
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daseinhorn · Apprentice Joined: 16 Jan 2009 Posts: 150 Location: Canada

I have been using kde4 since the 4.0.X releases, and I have seen major improvements since. I have excellent performance with 4.6.X, and I do not intend to look back.

Cyker · Veteran Joined: 15 Jun 2006 Posts: 1746

Good for you!

I am almost done divesting myself of anything DE-based (Still those few apps for which there is no good replacement! Aaaa!).

I never want to go through these stupid forced obsolescence issues ever again...!

joaopft · Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2011 3:27 pm Post subject:

kde 4 works ok for me, except for sound. phonon is just horrible, and everything using it (e.g. amarok) suffers from muffled sound and even lattency problems. And this is on a new 6 six core phenom system with a discrete sound card. It's a shame that windows plays sound much better than kde4/phonon.

From what I have read, this won't be solved. There are too many layers of software dealing with sound on kde4, e.g., if one is using amarok: amarok -> phonon -> xine -> alsa
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asturm · Developer Joined: 05 Apr 2007 Posts: 8967

Your phonon issues must be bugs and can't be layer/performance related. Right now I'm listening to amarok flawlessly playing my favourite webradio while one of two cores is at 100%.

Probably xine related, try out the vlc backend.

Ormaaj · Guru Joined: 28 Jan 2008 Posts: 319

KDE4 is pretty light. I run it with xmonad and don't use very many of it's features mostly because I don't understand them. The biggest thing I dislike about kde4 is the non-existent documentation, outdated documentation for what exists, and disorganized website. Basic kde install is ok. I like a lot of the QT applications anyway which is why I have it installed.

der bastler · Apprentice Joined: 13 Apr 2003 Posts: 262

KDE3 was great for getting things done. With the introduction of "semantic desktop" a KDE4 with default settings is not usable any more, at least not on notebooks. A file indexer is just a PITA with sub-5000-rpm notebook HDDs!

Nepomuk, strigi & Co. made me switch from KMail/KAddressbook/Kalendar to Thunderbird and from Akregator to Google Reader. Bye bye KDE PIM, it was a great time. Today I unmerged the last remains of kdepim-meta.

When Amarok demanded a SQL server it was replaced by Clementine.

Bluetooth support is broken, too. Worked perfectly in KDE3, the upgrade to KDE4 was in fact a severe regression and in the end bluetooth handling was broken beyond recognition. Last hope: bluedevil...

But: Up until now I can't find a better DE. Perhaps GNOME3 might be worth a look. Or *sigh* "one" has to fork KDE4 and reduce it to the essential parts (i.e. create a "KDE4 light").
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pappy_mcfae · Posted: Sun May 15, 2011 7:25 pm Post subject:

The kde-sunset overlay means you don't have to suffer through putting up with KDE4's myriad issues. The only proviso is that KDE-3 works best with xorg-server-1.7.7-r1, since both use the hal USE flag.

I have frozen this machine at xorg-server 1.7.7-r1. That means that KDE-3 is still fairly functional, especially as a system that allows for files to be stored on the desktop. After trying KDE4 on two machines, I can only wonder why it is that KDE continues to throw out the baby with the bathwater.

Cheers,
Pappy
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ComaWhite · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 07 Oct 2008 Posts: 125

pappy_mcfae · Posted: Mon May 16, 2011 5:58 am Post subject:

Scared of changes? It is to laugh. I am not afraid of any changes, as I continue to keep xfce4 updated.

I use KDE3 because it works for my purposes. I do not use KDE4, because it does not. No fear. No fright. No sitting at the keyboard hunched over like Gollum. Just what works versus what doesn't.

But thanks for the free psychoanalysis. I always appreciate that.

Cheers,
Pappy
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ComaWhite · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 07 Oct 2008 Posts: 125

What doesn't work? Have you ever bothered reporting the problems? Because if you aren't, then how else you expect them to be fixed?