Can't find KDE system settings after upgrade to 4

anw · 10-23-2009, 08:01 PM

My underlying problem is that I want to change my desktop fonts; not just for things like the page in a browser or in a text editor, but even the window titles, menu entries, decorations and icons. After upgrading to kde4, it seems I've lost the ability to do that in the applications menu. According to what I've seen on the web, I should go to the menu in the task bar, and go to System Settings->Appearance and I will find a place there I can adjust these fonts. Problem is, I don't have a System Settings->Appearance. I have top-level categories titled "Settings", with a folder icon beside it, "Settings" with a crossed hammer and screwdriver icon beside it, and "System", with a gear icon. None of the above have an "Appearances" subchoice. What do I need to install, or, for that matter, just run from the command line?

Something else may be screwed up. When I try to run kcmshell from the command line, I get:

Quote:

kbuildsycoca running...
Reusing existing ksycoca

and it just quits with neither further output nor a graphical screen.

TIA,
anw

{BBI}Nexus{BBI} · 10-24-2009, 12:20 AM

Can you post a screen print of what you see when you click the crossed spanner & screwdriver? What happens if you type: systemsettings in a terminal?

lutusp · 10-24-2009, 03:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by anw

My underlying problem is that I want to change my desktop fonts; not just for things like the page in a browser or in a text editor, but even the window titles, menu entries, decorations and icons. After upgrading to kde4, it seems I've lost the ability to do that in the applications menu. According to what I've seen on the web, I should go to the menu in the task bar, and go to System Settings->Appearance and I will find a place there I can adjust these fonts. Problem is, I don't have a System Settings->Appearance. I have top-level categories titled "Settings", with a folder icon beside it, "Settings" with a crossed hammer and screwdriver icon beside it, and "System", with a gear icon. None of the above have an "Appearances" subchoice. What do I need to install, or, for that matter, just run from the command line?

Something else may be screwed up. When I try to run kcmshell from the command line, I get:

and it just quits with neither further output nor a graphical screen.

TIA,
anw

But kcmshell is a shell, not a command -- it's used to launch commands:

Code:

$ kcmshell --help

Usage: kcmshell [Qt-options] [KDE-options] [options] module

A tool to start single KDE control modules

You actually want:

Code:

$ systemsettings

John VV · 10-24-2009, 03:38 AM

ARE you running fedora ??
If so WHAT version?
and HOW did you "upgrade to 4" please provide more info than that .

anw · 10-24-2009, 11:17 AM

Hey, folks, thanks for the response. I'll answer each question here, starting with my distro and version: I'm using Debian 2.6.26:

Quote:

anw-dev:~/.kde/share/config$ uname -r
2.6.26.nvidia

I upgraded to KDE version 4 "accidentally", when I did

Quote:

apt-get upgrade

I figured kcmshell was a shell, but also figured that when you ran it like "kcmshell module", it would execute "module" in the same way that "bash <script>" executes a script. When I run "kcmshell" or "kcmshell module", where module comes from the shared libraries in /usr/lib/kde4/ that start with "kcm_", I get exactly what I said in my original post:

Quote:

anw-dev:/usr/lib/kde4# kcmshell dolphingeneral
kbuildsycoca running...
Reusing existing ksycoca

and then nothing.

If I run "systemsettings" from the command line (as two of you suggested, and which I had tried), it just immediately comes back to a prompt, as though the program just immediately exited; I don't even get the output like I get with kcmshell.

The first attachment is my "Applications" menu (sorry these are so hard to read, but therein lies the problem I'm trying to solve).

When I click on the crossed "spanner" (do I detect a UK contributor here?) and screwdriver, I get the second attachment (notice no "Appearance" selection).

As it turns out, I had a helluva time getting those screen shots; my "Print Screen" button doesn't work either!

anw · 10-24-2009, 11:21 AM

And, oh, when I click on a selection in the second menu, the program appears in the task bar at the bottom of the screen, I get a little terminal-looking icon that bounces around my screen for about 30 seconds, then both the icon and the task bar entry just go away; again, as though the program just exited, but this time after a delay.

Elv13 · 10-24-2009, 07:50 PM

Upgrade to newer version of KDE. The one in stable is old and was "work in progress", not a version intended for general users. Upgrade to 4.2 or 4.3 (assuming you currently have 4.1)

anw · 10-24-2009, 11:40 PM

How do I find out which version I have, i. e., if I do dpkg -l, what do I put as the package argument? I think I'm on the latest version.

anw · 10-25-2009, 01:03 PM

Well, when in doubt, brute force it. I reinstalled kde (via apt-get install kde-full/unstable), and I now have the correct system settings with its graphical subscreen (with the "Appearances" icon I can select), I've set up the fonts (as I was told this screen would let me do), so life is now good. Thanks for all the help!!