Not too impressed
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| Libervis Aug 03, 2007 2:50 AM EDT |
Well, ever since I heard about KDE4 being in development and all those nice buzzwords being thrown around about it (Plasma, Oxygen etc.) I thought this thing is gonna look significantly different than what we've seen so far, with a new really innovative interface. And I've seen some really cool brainstorms for that on kde-look.org. And now the beta is out and KDE4 doesn't really look new at all. One could get KDE 3.5 to look like this just by installing a couple of themes. The worst part is it still looks a bit clunky compared to GNOME. So what's the deal? Are interface changes coming yet or is this it? I know KDE4 brings a lot more than visual changes to the table, but I really expected visuals to be significantly new. |
| rijelkentaurus Aug 03, 2007 3:37 AM EDT |
What scares me is that the file management is split from Konqueror into Dolphin. I use Konqueror a TON, and I don't want to work with two programs to do what I did with one before, that is a step in the wrong direction. Hopefully Konqueror will retain its power...... |
| dinotrac Aug 03, 2007 4:19 AM EDT |
> that is a step in the wrong direction. Sounds like it, but might not be. I find that I am not generally using konqueror in the command-line sense, ie, invoking the command "konqueror". Instead, I am clicking an icon, or, more likely, entering an url or file location. In other words, my use is more document-centric than program-centric. With my use pattern, I really don't care what the program is called. I do care that, if I'm using two programs, they don't work in different ways. If, however, each is a little cleaner and smoother at its particular function, that's a step in the right direction. |
| jacog Aug 03, 2007 4:26 AM EDT |
I do believe they said that the look & feel type stuff is not in the beta, which makes this more like a pre-alpha in my opinion, but anyhoo... |
| rijelkentaurus Aug 03, 2007 4:39 AM EDT |
Quoting: Sounds like it, but might not be. I guess it depends on how you use it. I generally have many tabs open, using file management, ftp client, web browser, text viewer, pdf viewer, etc. I'll have to setup a VM to play with it and see what Konqueror can do, and what Dolphin can do. I'm fearful that Konqueror will now be little more than another web browser. Hopefully that's just panic on my part. |
| Bob_Robertson Aug 03, 2007 6:11 AM EDT |
> I'm fearful that Konqueror will now be little more than another web browser. Agreed. The "Swiss Army Knife" is what I use it for now also, with 6 tabs open right now, one being local file system and another a "fish://" session to a server. I _like_ being able to drag links from a web site to the server and have the target file copied directly. It's what "integration" is all about. Splitting things out is very much a bad idea. Are we the only two who do this? Not likely so. |
| jacog Aug 03, 2007 6:36 AM EDT |
Welll... correct me if I am wrong, but being able to handle fish:// bluetooth:// ftp:// http:// smb:// etc. type tasks uses kparts, and in theory those should be usable in any application. Perhaps the KDE4 version of Dolphin can handle those? If not... then I'm with you on the booing and hissing. |
| uknewbie Aug 03, 2007 11:05 AM EDT |
IANAH (I am not a hacker) but these issues have come up on the discussions on previous kde dot news items so from what I have read: -The only stable thing about this release is the API everything else (including the look) is still under heavy development. -Dolphin now handles file management, it does not handle other kparts. Konqueror handles kparts and can load dolphin as a kpart to do file management, the difference form a users perspective is minimal. -Plasma makes it easier to make new widgets combined with cocoon which allows easier theme development, I expect weired and wonderful themes and widgets to match those mockups will be up on kdelook.org by the time the official release rolls round. for more info on plasma see the videos on various comitt digests which give a much better idea than the screenshots or release announcements of what plasma does. (The kwin composite videos are worth a look too.) |
| rijelkentaurus Aug 03, 2007 12:32 PM EDT |
Quoting: -Dolphin now handles file management, it does not handle other kparts. Konqueror handles kparts and can load dolphin as a kpart to do file management, the difference form a users perspective is minimal. If that's true and I can rather seamlessly integrate Dolphin into Konqueror, and it really won't change in the actual usage, then I'm good. Konqueror, however, is THE thing that separates KDE from GNOME, etc. Even if I am using a GNOME-centric distro (like Red Hat or Ubuntu), I still install and use Konqueror. Linux in general is a lesser thing without it, at least for me. |
| dinotrac Aug 03, 2007 1:06 PM EDT |
>Linux in general is a lesser thing without it, at least for me. Agreed. Konqueror is what makes my Linux desktop so much better than some Windows thing. |
| Libervis Aug 04, 2007 12:01 PM EDT |
Well if everything including the looks is still so early in development (apparently earlier than "beta" would suggest), then I'll hold my horses. :) I agree about konqueror being a significant app. I am mostly using GNOME, but konqueror is always there for remote file management simply because it is the best for that, most usable. Cheers |
| hkwint Aug 04, 2007 4:15 PM EDT |
Disclaimer: I do almost all my file operations from the CLI, and if not, I use Krusader. If I remember correctly, Dolphin is added to KDE because Konqueror is 'intimidating' for newbies (probably no Konqueror newbies in this thread, so we can't say something about that, can we?) Therefore, Dolphin was developed. Dolphin would be aimed at to newbies, and Konqueror would be 'further tailored to the power user'. (How comes I heard this and Konqueror fans didnt? I can remember it was at LXer a while ago...) Also, I can confirm all KDE-4 alpha's didn't have the new graphics in, so it seems probable they are left out in the first beta's also, like 'uknewbie' above says. |
| hkwint Aug 04, 2007 4:38 PM EDT |
Seems I was not entirely right about Dolphin, but you can better read for yourself: "The road to KDE4: Dolphin and Konqueror" http://dot.kde.org/1172721427/ To take the stress away a bit, Quoting:When KDE 4 is released, Dolphin will be configured as the default application for the local file:/ protocol, as well as the default file manager listed in the applications menu. Konqueror will ship as the default web browser, and will still be usable as a file manager to those that prefer the historical lifestyle. Users of KDE will have the ability to set the default file browser, much like how KDE 3.x can use third-party applications such as Krusader as the default file manager. Stay tuned for more information as Dolphin and KDE evolve towards 4.0. Furthermore, I read KDE 4 beta mainly means the libraries of the _KDE framework!_ are frozen and 'ready'. So, KDE4 beta doesn't mean K Desktop 4 beta, but it means KDE framework 4 beta, if I understand correctly. From now on, the technologies present in this libraries have to be implemented in the applications. In my own words, this means only after those new, now mainly stable, libraries are implemented in the applications, the difference with KDE3 can be seen, because at this moment, the applications (mainly) still use the KDE3 libraries. You may ask "why this late?", but the answer is rather trivial: It isn't sensible to update your application to the KDE4 libraries if those are changing everyday. Now the KDE4 libraries are frozen, now is the time to make the applications use them. I think about anything (at least 95%?) of what can be seen on screenshots, are applications. Also, this means this release isn't that usable I think, because KDE4 isn't meant as a desktop with applications that use KDE3, and that probably explains a lot of the stability issues and bugs in the current 'KDE4 beta desktop experience'. |
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