I prefer working in the KDE environment, but I've noticed one particular application on the GNOME side which I'm having a hard time find with KDE.

Network browsing

This app is ideal for getting access to the other computers (WindowsXP machines) which have files and other resources I would like to gain access to. Is there a KDE equivalent to this?


-Andrew

Xfsamba,perhaps?

http://linux.imp.mx/xfsamba/

Regards
Martin

there is also :
LinNeighborhood &
xSMBrowser <-- thats the one i prefer.

Are these applications available - out of the box? Is there a solution available within the KDE environment?

I've tried installing the newer version of KDE, hoping to get some more front-end functionality. Unfortunately, the RPM install bitches about all of these dependant apps which I don't have installed. I think I'm supposed to install the KDE development stuff which comes with Red Hat, but doing that get's me another list of dependant files which I have no clue how to find.

Is it just me, or does this remind anyone of those RPG games where you end up doing 200 hundred sub-missions to complete a task?

I'll be honest - this whole Linux/Red Hat thing has gone from a mild curiousity to a serious commitment. I think my personal life and career may be suffering. I wish I had done this while I was still in school.

The dependency hell you are describing is why many of us choose not to use rpm based distros. It's much easier with Slackware. It has no dependency checking at all. Believe it or not, keeping up with dependencies yourself is a lot easier than chasing your tail for hours trying to work out dependency conflict in redhat/mandrake. Personaly, rpm hell reminds me too much of the type of thing that made me frustrated enough with Windows to ditch it in the first place.

Since you've stated that you've made a commitment to learning Linux, Slackware migt really be the distro you want to use, as a degree of commitment is required to get the thing up and runing the first time, you pretty much have to learn to swim after being thrown in the deep end. Once you get it figured out, you'll end up with a system that is much more simple and stable than anything else out there (imho, ymmv).

Elvis, I too run Slackware and am a big fan of SWARET! I have tried just about every distro of linux and ended up going back to slack. To say that I prefer slackware isn't biased when you consider I am an HP-UX systems engineer by trade

To see the network computers in the konqueror browser, you need to run lisa. This tool sends netbios-name-lookups or icmp messages (ping), which is very effective to find all users. It even lists my home router in the network list lisa can be configured from the kde control center. (local network browsing option)

Then, open the services tab in konqueror (yellow star), and open the lan browser. Another nice program I came across is SMB4K. This program also lists all computers in a nice tree, and can be used very easy to mount the smb shares.

Network browsing is simple with LinNeighborhood.

There are other ways to install new software.

sort of like:
Debian: apt-get upgrade kde
Slackware: swaret --upgrade kde
Gentoo: emerge --upgrade kde

these package managers download the correct dependencies automatically for you.

Another way I still would recommend, is using a source install, and run checkinstall to create an RPM/DEB/TGZ package. (can be uninstalled with your package manager). However, you might need to upgrade these packages automatically...

Redhat was the first with a package manager, before RPM everyone was required to install from source. For this reason, RPM is often provided. However this RPM system is getting outdated, and I've heared there are improvements, but I'm not familliar with those. (stuff like 'apt for rpm')

My only hesitation to trying another Distribution is all of the CD's I've already gone through playing with Suse and Red Hat. Nevertheless, this isn't enough of a reason not to try Slackware. I wish I had read the Distro reviews first. It seems like Slackware gets top reviews.

Slack 9.1 is 2 disks. 8.1 is 1 disk. I think 9.0 is still 1 disk because it doesn't have all of the multi-lingual packages for KDE or something along the like.

For example:

ftp://ftp.heanet.ie/mirrors/ftp.slac...ckware-9.1-iso

The 3 and 4 cd's are what?

souce files probably

I dunno guys...we generated quite a discussion on this whole KDE / GNOME / RPM crap...and then I come across Ximiam. I read about this today in the Introduction to Linux HOWTO guide. I thought I was going to find a nice front-end installer for KDE - it turns out to be a whole solution, and it includes a nice rounded package for the person who wants a nice touchy-feely environment. This makes me question whether I should still get into Slackware. I think I would still consider it if I knew I would get a performance boost on my system. One of the original reasons for getting into Linux was to squeeze more out of my aging PC.

I bought this computer when I was in second year University.

Dell XPS Dimension, Upgraded to 333 MHz, Pentium II, with 384MB SDRAM, plus all the trimmings (SCSI, Zip drive, bla bla bla... STB Velocity 4MB AGP Video)

Red Hat is nice, but I can't say I've noticed any major performance improvements. Hmm...