KDE 4 some show stopping problems
 

I really like the new 11.0 but KDE 4 just has too many problems for regular daily use on a laptop -- KDE 3.5 seems (so far) just fine.

1) Panel can't be hidden -- if you've never used this feature then you won't miss it. If like me you enable auto hiding then it is a real mess as you have to change your whole way of working with multiple windows.

2) You can't copy applications from the menu to the desktop -- or you can 'sort off' but you can't change the name from application.desktop to yourname . Makes for a hideous looking desktop.

As an ex Windows user I like having Icons available for my most frequently used applications.

3) Network Manager is intermittent - especially when logging on to KDE and wanting to connect to wireless networks. There's nothing wrong with the wireless but you still have to keep connecting manually -- tiresome when you are in a hotel or a public place with a standard open wireless connection.

4) Synaptics touchpad module is missing so I've got that wretched cursor jump problem making data entry a somewhat random process -- it's slightly better than the effect I had on SUSE 10.3 but on SUSE 10.3 I could disable the touchpad -- this option has disappeared from KDE 4.

5) This one is really stupid and should have been fixed before the public release but if you are using Wireless and need to change the hardware (for example using wireless pcmcia cards) you can't configure it because YAST keeps saying Can't connect to Repository XXXX. Of course you can't if there's no internet connection.

You temporarily have to disable the remote Repositories --- this seems REALLY idiotic.

Now also it seems activating COMPIZ desktop effects is incompatable with general DVD and Video playback. This appears to be a general problem -- I think this is also in KDE 3.5 ( I never had it in SUSE 10.3 because I never tried using the compiz desk top effects). If you enable the desktop effects cube, wobbly windows etc etc then you won't get any video when playing DVD's with either Kaffeine (unhobbled version from Pacman) or Videolan's LC player).

Now I use DVD's far mor than I need wobbly windows so switching of compiz is not a big deal but it's a pity this doesn't work together with Video playback.

I'm using (as are a lot of modern laptops) the Intel 965 integrated accelerated graphics driver. 3D is fine - even with DVD playback.

All in all SUSE 11.0 is a GREAT effort but I'd suggest that if you actually want to do serious work on a laptop either stick to SUSE 10.3 for a while longer yet or by all means install 11.0 but DO NOT INSTALL KDE 4 just yet and DISABLE THE WRETCHED SYNAPTICS TOUCHPAD.


For KDE 3.5 you need to install gsynaptics -- the gnome version -- you don't need to install gnome of course and run it as a command (works on kde) -- gui interface is identical to ksynaptics on 10.3. just disable touchpad and you are fine).


(All my comments apply to 64 bit versions of SUSE and running on a Dual Core Intel laptop with 2GB RAM).

Cheers

-K

You could report those issues as bugs if you are not happy with them. Some of the problems you mentioned about KDE and Compiz are upstream issues, so they are not entirely limited to openSUSE. I personally am satisfied with openSUSE 11 and it works fine for me. I am using it extensively on my laptop with very few problems since release. Saying that, I am not using KDE 4.

Hi there

KDE 3.5 is great --works fine with SUSE 11.0

I hate to report stuff as a Bug immediately since sometimes what looks like a bug is sometimes just user error or a bad case of "RTFM".

I think that like a lot of people we'll stick to KDE 3.5 and wait for KDE 4.1 which is about to be released anyway. I just posted my observations with KDE 4 in case others had similar issues.

The DVD / Video issue crops up on a lot of different video cards as well -- you usually have to disable xgl to get DVD Video to work again. As you say this is an upstream issue which I hope eventually gets resolved - but so far SUSE 11.0 looks like one of the most polished distros EVER.

Cheers

-K