Major update in etch (kde 3.5)
 

I see that most of kde 3.5 hit etch today.

(No, I'm not gonna be the first one to try it!!)

I see kopete is not in the batch of new kde stuff in etch. If someone upgrades their kde, will the old kopete still run? How does this work in debian? Does a new kde break old kde applications?

Al

If it will install without removing the application then most likely it will work with the older version. The way it works in Debian is if a newer package has an incompatible version of a library for example then everything that uses that library will have to be rebuilt in sid before it gets a chance to enter testing/Etch.

I hear a few rumblings about problems with udev with Nvidia.

Also, the new udev causes hal to be uninstalled. Not sure what that is all about.

However the boards have been quiet about this huge upgrade so my guesses are:

1. It just goes really well and there are no issues with breakage

or

2. No one on the planet uses etch!!!

or

3. No one who does use etch has done the upgrade!!

Al

Well, I did the big upgrade which also included an upgrade from X.org 2.8 to 2.9 (if I remember correct) Though after upgrading it I couldn't get my x working anymore, so I had to downgrade to 2.8 again. I don't had any other problems (I'm not using KDE myself)

why not sid ?
 

Why is it that people don't like Sid so much ? True, it has it's issues sometimes, but most of the time everything works fine...:scratch:

Well I early adopted into kde 3.5.x using the alioth. No real problems. I also have a completely testing/unstable system with no issues other then I can't run xorg 6.9 on it because it has an older nvidia card and the drivers are an issue there.

Both X and KDE upgrade were ok fro me. Though, it seems Xorg 6.9 doesn't support some of the configuration commands 6.8 did, so xorg.conf needed some fixing to get it up.

Edit: And.. I had to ditch the ATI proprietary driver as it doesn't support xorg 6.9 :-(

Wow this sounds exiting! Im doin the upgrade in a day or maybe three.... :)

My Debian Etch drive contains alot of work I don't want to loose, so perhaps I should wait...at least to read some more feedback :study:

I've got a few butterflys as well. I think it has been several months since Etch had such a large influx of "important" upates (as opposed to minor cosmetic fixes for fairly simple programs.)

What is the scary part is that if a package (say udev) does not work right, where do you get the previous copy from? Maybe it's in snapshot? Or do you take it from stable? At least with Sid if something goes bonkers on you, you can grab it from Etch to restore.

I've been hearing about problems with sound and mounting after the new upgrade but its only been a few postings about problems on the various boards and newgroups I follow. IF this upgrade has been done by a lot of folks, it looks like it has gone well considering how few problems I've seen. However I tend to think most folks use either Sarge or Sid leaving just a few of us on the Etch 'fence.'

Al

Xorg 6.9 and ATI fglrx
 

Upgrading to the latest Xorg seems to have removed the ATI driver. Has anybody else had problems with the upgrade?

I had to revert to the "radeon" driver, but that is a problem because I plan to install UT 2004 in Linux and so I need the full 3d driver.

KDE 3.5 is also missing a few apps. Not a very smooth upgrade, but not broken.

Yes, but why not get new drivers ? I haven't tried yet though, here's the link:
http://xoomer.virgilio.it/flavio.sta...installer.html

Well since the drivers were already in Debian repos, I feel a bit lazy to get them myself. Ah well, I guess it'll come back eventually. :p

I had no problems doing the upgrade, even though I had to manually apt-get install some stuff that was not going to be updated/upgraded with an ordinary apt-get upgrade. The udev/hal thing was no problem. KDE 3.5 is great.

The ATI Radeon drivers doesn't work with X.org 6.9, so they won't work after the upgrade anymore (I got the same problem)
I hope ATI will upgrade their drivers in a short time but I don't count on it. I guess I have to live without a 3d driver for quite a while :(

I also had to purge my X.org install before upgrading because the old (6.8) config file didn't work with the new (6.9) one.

I notice that Kmail is not in the new 3.5 collection. Will old Kmail work? I would assume so or we would have heard the yelling and screaming before now?

What is the most sane way to do this large install? Seems to me that the following would be the way to go (after apt-get update):

1. apt-get upgrade: this will upgrade existing packages and not remove anything. You will get a new X and some other stuff, but not udev or KDE.

2. Restart X (ctl-alt-backspace) and see if it works.

3. Using synaptic, mark all of the packages prefixed by 'kde' for upgrade and let it rip.

4. Again, restart X and see how things look.

5. apt-get install (or use synaptic) hal (I'm not sure what hal does or if it is even needed anymore... but it must be installed before udev.)

6. apt-get install udev

7. Reboot and see if all is OK.

8. apt-get dist-upgrade anything else that is left in the repos.

I think above is a conservative way to upgrade Etch, but maybe it is over-klll and that there is not that much need for concern?

Al