[opensuse] First impressions and questions from 11.0
- From: HG <hg.list@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 20 Jul 2008 16:36:58 +0300
Hi!
I've skipped 10.3 as I do not like to be updating the server all the
time. So now I've heard good things about 11.0 so I decided to take a
look. Unfortunately I have problems. So far, I've tested this only in
virtual machines.
BTW, I've been away from here some time. I remember that people are
quite sensitive here and start fights over everything. I do not try to
provoke fight here even though I realize that my first impressions are
not good. But giving this kind of feedback is about all I can offer
for openSUSE development. So take it as it is, feedback and not
attack. And remember, that I'm a openSUSE fan, been from SuSE 9.0.
Ok, let's start from getting it. Web-site is good and it was fairly
easy to get the network installation going. Finally I didn't need to
look up the servers IP addresses! Progress! :-)
Next thing I noted: GUI's moving forward, I select the new KDE version
wondering why they would left the old 3.5 there - yes I did note that
it says it's not quite as mature (*).
Installation is easy and fast. Nice.
Opening KDE 4.0 for the first time. Looks good. In the top right
corner there is something strange. Dashboard. If I move mouse there,
only a menu appears. I still have to select "show" to see the
dashboard. I add some widgets, although I cannot seem to find anything
interesting or useful (not even weather widgets?). Then I click "hide"
and the widgets are still visible. I'm getting confused. I open file
browser and when I click on "show dashboard" the windows disappear.
Ok. Seems that the dashboard is a cross between OS X and Vista I
think. But I can not understand it. Currently not user friendly, so I
decide not to use it as it's confusing and without relevant or useful
widgets. How can I remove the strange menu from the right top corner?
Moving on, I notice that the file browser has changed. Looks like
Gnome, but I'm sure I checked KDE 4.0 in the installation. I try to
find a useful tree-like presentation but I can't. Only folders and
some strange columns view. I do not understand the meaning of that.
There is no useful metaphor that the column view is trying mimic. At
least I cannot understand what it would be. Can somebody explain? The
thing with tree-view is that although it doesn't try to mimic any
metaphor, it is actually very well visualizing where everything is.
Having shortcuts, like home folder or documents, is excellent in
getting around the tree fast. But the column view is confusing.
Then I decide to see if the great konqueror has been killed off. I
fire up the web icon expecting to get konqueror. I did. It's trying to
get to www.opensuse.org. It's forever "waiting for reply..." In the
mean time, I open firefox, which goes directly to the same address
without any problems. Konqueror is still waiting. I try www.google.com
on konqueror - I get that immediately. I go back to www.opensuse.org.
Konqueror says that the "Page (is) loaded." but I'm still seeing
Google. So, Konqueror web is broken. But I can still use it as file
browser, right. (Later on, it seemed to browse internet also.)
Yes, I can. Except that all the great tree-view modes have been
deleted from konqueror also. And further more, if I select the details
view, I need to do that to each new folder I open. How frustrating!
Where is the usability? :-( :-( It is not even trying to mimic OS X in
that you could move and order the icons any ways you want. Not that I
like that either... my (real) desktop is a mess, but I still (or
therefore?) like my computer to organize things for me!
So, I go back to Dolphin as it seems that Konqueror has been killed
of. No use for that anymore. In Dolphin, I find out that I can at
least change the location so that it is editable. I click on "Network"
and then try to see the windows (actually samba) servers. Nothing.
Well, I get "Could not connect to host for smb://smb-network/". The
URL seems to be "remote:/smb-network". I'm obviously now concerned
that I'm running this in a Sun xVM VirtualBox over Windows. So I
quickly install Ubuntu as I do not have older openSUSE available. I
install that exactly the same way onto the same VirtualBox and I can
easily see all the Samba shares right out of the box - like it used to
be with openSUSE! :-(
So I go to update the installation. There is a great new surprise in
YaST. Finally it is easy to add the community repositories there with
just a few clicks. Provided that you know where to look. However,
after the official updates (few) I go to community and install some
3rd party stuff with great 1-click script. That also added the needed
repos. Good going. And now it seems that I can actually use YaST and I
do not need to go the smart route.
However, after the updates, the konqueror is still crippled, samba KDE
client didn't work and the everything seems the same.
So, anybody know hot to get the samba shares to show up in KDE?
BTW, I didn't mention yet that the only thing I like about the new
start menu is that there is the search field. I know this has been
discussed earlier on, but no changes have been made to it. Actually,
the old menu has been a little crippled with removing some features.
But do you guys really like opening and closing the programs menu
pages by clicking with mouse? I mean really? Didn't SUSE conduct some
usability test at some point? I find it still extremely hard to find
programs from the Applications menu specially with with laptop. When
you are exploring what is in there, you need to be doing tens of
unnecessary clicks to small targets. to go back and forth. Really
frustrating.
Anybody know how to get the search field also to the classic menu? Or
the most used items?
BTW, my brother tried 11.0 with KDE 4.0 on a dual screen workstation.
Has anybody tried it? :-) Excellent stuff. The login screen appears on
the second screen. After that again stuff happens on the first until
you get to desktop. When you click on the star menu, it pops open on
the second screen and not above the icon. Quite visible bugs.
(*) So, now I know why they kept the KDE 3.5 there. Except that I'm
sure that it will not be supported much as now the main seems to be
Gnome and KDE 4.
So, am I happy? No. Will I update my server? I do not think so. This
seems like another .0 release to me. I will try reinstalling with the
old KDE to a virtual machine also. Maybe that gives me confidence. But
then again, if that does not give me anything more feature wise, then
why would I upgrade? Well, yes, it seems faster in the virtual
machine. And better supported. So, I think I will try it out with KDE
3.5.
--
HG.
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