I was wondering what the reason was why in Slackware 12 kde is installed under / and not under /opt as was the case in Slackware 11. It seems a bit that the way you select your partitions depends on the distribution.

since gnome was removed kde is our main xwindow (evenif most of us are not using it) so now the root folder or kde is /usr not /opt !!

may be, more precisely X.Org has made --prefix=/usr the standard for X11

also my partitioning setup is / and /home no /opt) for any linux distribution
regards rkrishna

That is the official reason.

Is that true - i.e. most slackware users don't use kde?

Not saying it's wrong - I assumed most would given it's the default.

i use KDE

I never use the default, because it is chosen by popularity and the populace is never right (or very very rarely). There are so many examples of this (defaults): ext3 filesystem, KDE, GNOME, Micro$oft, QWERTY layout, TV, tap water, and many many more. Of course, I know you won't agree. (and you probably think I'm mad )

Well when was Gnome actually removed (and from where)? I understand that it has not been there when KDE still did install to /opt (the official reason for that "move" was mentioned above), so that sounds absurd And Gnome is there, just not in the official Slackware release/reposities. There are projects that offer Gnome for Slackware if you wish.

Yeah, a lot of Slackware users don't use KDE. I have not heard estimations about if the Slack+KDE users are greater in number than Slack+something else, or vice versa, but definitely not everybody is using KDE (count me, for example). Slackware comes with a few very nice window managers and other desktop options, like Xfce, which is indeed great. Not to mention WMaker, Fluxbox, ...

In my own case I tend to think that if I have a reason to use Slackware, I don't have reasons to stick to something as - sorry for the mediasexy word - bloated as KDE is. I do run bigger desktop environments on some machines, but not where I need to really work and have resources used where I need them. Gnome (well, KDE too if you tune it) is a nice one when it comes to outlooks, but pure insanity if you want to do something and not just watch I'll try KDE 4 series too when they get usable some time in the not-so-near future, but anyway on my Slackware box there either runs no X at all, or if there does, I use something that is light - namely Fluxbox, WindowMaker or Xfce. Depends on what I'm doing.

But really - if you can't live without KDE or Gnome, you better buy some heavy hardware to do all the 3d desktop effects at full power and stick to the distributions that make your overall system management as user-friendly as the desktop is. It's like choosing between a good-looking and a usable car (up to today, they haven't succeeded in packaging those two properties under the same skin - or hood).

And of course you are free to compile your own packages of KDE and make them install to /opt/. On Slackware it shouldn't be a problem.

I do a full install, and use whichever WM/DE suits my mood, but I mostly use KDE.

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to stop and reflect. - Mark Twain
Mark Twain is one of my favorites, and no, I do not think he is mad. But I do use tap water myself.

You don't have to use all the flashy effects. I used to use flux but switched to kde because it's so much easier when you can plug in say a usb stick and have the icon on desktop.

Hmm, I haven't heard that quote from him, but he's right on this one.

You can use tap water, but think twice before drinking it in many places unless it is filtered. The nasty taste should already alert you that it is not good for you anyway.

I think you can make a udev rule that will do that. No need for KDE that way.

I'm using KDE day to day just now, but only because I haven't found the time to start playing properly with gnome, fluxbox etc. I enjoyed using twm recently - memories of simpler days.

What if the majority decide to stop and reflect?

They cannot do it, by definition majority behaves like herd.

I doubt it. In fact, going by last year's LQ poll results, where KDE and Slackware both fared pretty well, I would propose the opposite.

Desktop Environment of the year 2006
Distribution of the year 2006

Completely and ignorantly bypassing all of the benefits of running a truly dynamic system...

Apart from USB memory sticks, KDE also recognises my camera, scanner and printer.

Then there are the SD cards, CF cards, and many other type of memory cards from various devices which my family have. Not to mention all the different types of music players.

Would you also advocate writing udev rules for every single one of those devices, when I can use KDE and have everything working straight out of the box?

That's just silly.
I bet your car (or bike) has round wheels. I dunno if you've noticed, but they are very popular these days. Like it or not, you are a conformist...


Now, to answer the OP, I was a bit disappointed Pat chose to take KDE out of /opt. But now I am used to it. You have to move with the times. I still install things like OpenOffice.org, Opera, RealPlayer and Adobe Reader under /opt anyway, so it doesn't stay empty for long. These days, I don't put anything except /home on it's own partition. Everything else goes onto a 25 gig root partition (way too big for Slackware - but at least it has heaps of room to grow!).

i never touches kde, junk - bulky : of course i like their konqueror sometime on other machines with different os i do it in kde, just because of konqueror

i found that the desktop which suits for slackware is XFCE, i remember, that when slack 12 was released there were many threads regarding xfce4,

may be someone can post a poll
regards