7 ms·

KDE was the first desktop environment I really stuck with on Linux, previously I'd just used Blackbox and whatever apps seemed to work. For me, it peaked around

by thom 10y ago

KDE was the first desktop environment I really stuck with on Linux, previously I'd just used Blackbox and whatever apps seemed to work. For me, it peaked around KDE 3.2 - it felt like a nicely structured, object-oriented system. You could open up KOffice documents in tabs in Konqueror alongside web pages, thanks to KParts. Every address bar and file dialog could connect to any protocol, thanks to KIO. KMail and KNode were functional and consistent. KDevelop was very nice, for someone coming from a Visual C++ background. And Atlatik stole more hours than I can remember. I have to admit I drifted off to OS X for most stuff, but I still have fond memories of how well thought out, consistent and tasteful everything was.

zaphar 10y ago
Same here, KIO was incredibly useful. As a young dev, I was amazed at the ability to open a file on the server as if it was on my hard drive. I still have fond memories of KDE in the early years before flashy looks became a must have feature.
- distances 10y ago
  KIO is very much still alive, and in frequent use for me at least. Treating remote folders over SSH straight in my favorite file manager is pretty indeed.
- Mister_Snuggles 10y ago
  > I was amazed at the ability to open a file on the server as if it was on my hard drive. I wish it worked as well as you describe. It only works if the application you are using is KIO-enabled. On Windows, you can use a "\\servername\sharename\path\to\file.txt" style path (a UNC path) virtually anywhere and it just works. It also has the smarts to pass along your credentials, etc, so it's virtually transparent. The only exception I've seen to this is that the command prompt doesn't understand a UNC path as a working directory, but commands like copy, etc, do work with it.
  - thom 10y ago
    Not sure this is a fair comparison. It works with basically any KDE app, for any protocol that has a KIO slave. There certainly must be a lot of confusion for users that don't understand why it doesn't work in random non-KDE apps they've installed, or the command line, but I suspect very few of them are typing in SSH URLs anyway. At the same time, Windows doesn't accept an SFTP URL in a file open dialog. Anyway, I use emacs on both platforms and it handles all of this for me, so my dog retired from this game many years ago.
    - david-given 10y ago
      KioFuse will let you mount KIO slaves as real filesystems: https://techbase.kde.org/Projects/KioFuse https://techbase.kde.org/Projects/KioFuse Never tried it myself, so I don't know how well it works.
      - Mister_Snuggles 10y ago
        It looks like it was last updated 8 years ago, so it could be abandoned.
    - Mister_Snuggles 10y ago
      The UNC paths in Windows are very much a Windows-ism. They work perfectly when you're in an all Windows environment, but there's no consideration to speaking non-Windows protocols. The key problem I have with KIO is that it's doing something that should be done at a lower level so that every application can benefit. As I see it, there are three classes of apps on Linux when it comes to file handling: * Apps that can open remote files using one set of protocols (KIO-enabled apps). * Apps that can open remote files using a different set of protocols (things that reinvent this wheel, like emacs in your example). * Apps that can only work on local files. So we get a situation where I can open a file on an SMB server using Kate, but I can't open the same file in Sublime Text. It makes for a terrible user experience. The Mac makes it easy to mount filesystems, but it's kludgey compared to using UNC paths in Windows. This is the one feature that I really miss from Windows.
etatoby 10y ago
Same here. First Linux desktop I ever used was running KDE 1. I kept using KDE for years, up to 3.x, because it was just incredibly integrated, fast, and functional. I cannot shake the feeling that it was engineered, or at least directed by a single competent person with a vision. I don't know if that's true, but KDE 1 to 3 had that "single mind" feeling, as opposed to "designed by committee." After that, I moved to OS X for various reasons, until recently when the latest OS X 10.11 and 10.12 drifted so far away from the original OS X concept as to turn me away. As a newly returned Linux user, I tried Gnome Shell in Ubuntu, but recycled its bytes in a couple of days. Then I tried the latest KDE 5, which was even worse, an ungodly monstrosity. I briefly toyed with the idea of using a supposedly modern fork of KDE 3 (http://www.trinitydesktop.org http://www.trinitydesktop.org) but then settled for Cinnamon on Mint. Still, KDE 3 was definitely some sort of pinnacle in desktop computing. Maybe the Trinity guys are not entirely crazy!
- Fej 10y ago
  How is KDE 5 a monstrosity?
  - soperj 10y ago
    he probably used the ubuntu version of kde.
    - Zitrax 10y ago
      And why is that a monstrosity ?
      - nickysielicki 10y ago
        Because the KDE project themselves have not described Plasma as a stable daily driver until just recently with the release of 5.8 LTS. https://www.kde.org/announcements/plasma-5.8.0.php https://www.kde.org/announcements/plasma-5.8.0.php
- problems 10y ago
tychuz 10y ago
Amarok 1.4 was the best audio player ever. My most beloved feature - changing queue position of song in a playlist with mousewheel. Second - could reorganize your files by Artis/Album/Song.mp3. I remember having my friends over for parties and when they saw Amarok - instantly wanted to try Linux. It was, imo, the killer app of Linux. When I switched to Windows 7 - tried to customize foobar2000 to make it feel like Amarok, but it wasn't the same. :/
- apetresc 10y ago
  So why not just run Amarok on Windows? https://community.kde.org/Amarok/GettingStarted/Download/Windows https://community.kde.org/Amarok/GettingStarted/Download/Win...
  - peller 10y ago
    There's also Clementine, which is a QT5 cross-platform clone of Amarok 1.4 https://www.clementine-player.org/ https://www.clementine-player.org/
    - iamcreasy 10y ago
      Careful when using Clementine. It reorganized all my music collection, and it took me several months to revert all those changes. It is partly my fault because I wasn't careful what I was doing. But I never thought a media player would do such extensive reorganization on file level.
      - snovv_crash 10y ago
        I've never had that happen and I've been using Clementine ever since Amorak 1.x was discontinued.
        Macha 10y ago
        Yeah, I used clementine for ages because it would just work unlike say iTunes which did import/copy/rearrange by default
shmerl 10y ago
I wouldn't trade the flexibility of KDE for anything else, including OS X.
LoSboccacc 10y ago
same. 3.x was my default environment for so long. it was nice to have all the basic working well out of the box, instead of having all the apps talking a different dialect, especially on how they talked to the clipboard.
partycoder 10y ago
KSokoban was my favourite KDE game.
dancek 10y ago
Yes, KDE 3.2 was a huge enhancement over 3.1. I had a slow PC and 3.1 was awfully sluggish, but 3.2 seemed to run fine on it from a Live CD (probably Knoppix). It took an awfully long time for KDE 3.2 to hit Debian unstable---I remember reading debian-kde archives on the edge of my seat...

by thom 10y ago

zaphar 10y ago

Same here, KIO was incredibly useful. As a young dev, I was amazed at the ability to open a file on the server as if it was on my hard drive. I still have fond memories of KDE in the early years before flashy looks became a must have feature.

distances 10y ago
KIO is very much still alive, and in frequent use for me at least. Treating remote folders over SSH straight in my favorite file manager is pretty indeed.
Mister_Snuggles 10y ago
> I was amazed at the ability to open a file on the server as if it was on my hard drive. I wish it worked as well as you describe. It only works if the application you are using is KIO-enabled. On Windows, you can use a "\\servername\sharename\path\to\file.txt" style path (a UNC path) virtually anywhere and it just works. It also has the smarts to pass along your credentials, etc, so it's virtually transparent. The only exception I've seen to this is that the command prompt doesn't understand a UNC path as a working directory, but commands like copy, etc, do work with it.
- thom 10y ago
  Not sure this is a fair comparison. It works with basically any KDE app, for any protocol that has a KIO slave. There certainly must be a lot of confusion for users that don't understand why it doesn't work in random non-KDE apps they've installed, or the command line, but I suspect very few of them are typing in SSH URLs anyway. At the same time, Windows doesn't accept an SFTP URL in a file open dialog. Anyway, I use emacs on both platforms and it handles all of this for me, so my dog retired from this game many years ago.
  - david-given 10y ago
    KioFuse will let you mount KIO slaves as real filesystems: https://techbase.kde.org/Projects/KioFuse https://techbase.kde.org/Projects/KioFuse Never tried it myself, so I don't know how well it works.
    - Mister_Snuggles 10y ago
      It looks like it was last updated 8 years ago, so it could be abandoned.
  - Mister_Snuggles 10y ago
    The UNC paths in Windows are very much a Windows-ism. They work perfectly when you're in an all Windows environment, but there's no consideration to speaking non-Windows protocols. The key problem I have with KIO is that it's doing something that should be done at a lower level so that every application can benefit. As I see it, there are three classes of apps on Linux when it comes to file handling: * Apps that can open remote files using one set of protocols (KIO-enabled apps). * Apps that can open remote files using a different set of protocols (things that reinvent this wheel, like emacs in your example). * Apps that can only work on local files. So we get a situation where I can open a file on an SMB server using Kate, but I can't open the same file in Sublime Text. It makes for a terrible user experience. The Mac makes it easy to mount filesystems, but it's kludgey compared to using UNC paths in Windows. This is the one feature that I really miss from Windows.

etatoby 10y ago

Same here. First Linux desktop I ever used was running KDE 1. I kept using KDE for years, up to 3.x, because it was just incredibly integrated, fast, and functional. I cannot shake the feeling that it was engineered, or at least directed by a single competent person with a vision. I don't know if that's true, but KDE 1 to 3 had that "single mind" feeling, as opposed to "designed by committee." After that, I moved to OS X for various reasons, until recently when the latest OS X 10.11 and 10.12 drifted so far away from the original OS X concept as to turn me away. As a newly returned Linux user, I tried Gnome Shell in Ubuntu, but recycled its bytes in a couple of days. Then I tried the latest KDE 5, which was even worse, an ungodly monstrosity. I briefly toyed with the idea of using a supposedly modern fork of KDE 3 (http://www.trinitydesktop.org http://www.trinitydesktop.org) but then settled for Cinnamon on Mint. Still, KDE 3 was definitely some sort of pinnacle in desktop computing. Maybe the Trinity guys are not entirely crazy!

Fej 10y ago
How is KDE 5 a monstrosity?
- soperj 10y ago
  he probably used the ubuntu version of kde.
  - Zitrax 10y ago
    And why is that a monstrosity ?
    - nickysielicki 10y ago
      Because the KDE project themselves have not described Plasma as a stable daily driver until just recently with the release of 5.8 LTS. https://www.kde.org/announcements/plasma-5.8.0.php https://www.kde.org/announcements/plasma-5.8.0.php
problems 10y ago

tychuz 10y ago

Amarok 1.4 was the best audio player ever. My most beloved feature - changing queue position of song in a playlist with mousewheel. Second - could reorganize your files by Artis/Album/Song.mp3. I remember having my friends over for parties and when they saw Amarok - instantly wanted to try Linux. It was, imo, the killer app of Linux. When I switched to Windows 7 - tried to customize foobar2000 to make it feel like Amarok, but it wasn't the same. :/

apetresc 10y ago
So why not just run Amarok on Windows? https://community.kde.org/Amarok/GettingStarted/Download/Windows https://community.kde.org/Amarok/GettingStarted/Download/Win...
- peller 10y ago
  There's also Clementine, which is a QT5 cross-platform clone of Amarok 1.4 https://www.clementine-player.org/ https://www.clementine-player.org/
  - iamcreasy 10y ago
    Careful when using Clementine. It reorganized all my music collection, and it took me several months to revert all those changes. It is partly my fault because I wasn't careful what I was doing. But I never thought a media player would do such extensive reorganization on file level.
    - snovv_crash 10y ago
      I've never had that happen and I've been using Clementine ever since Amorak 1.x was discontinued.
      - Macha 10y ago
        Yeah, I used clementine for ages because it would just work unlike say iTunes which did import/copy/rearrange by default

shmerl 10y ago

I wouldn't trade the flexibility of KDE for anything else, including OS X.

LoSboccacc 10y ago

same. 3.x was my default environment for so long. it was nice to have all the basic working well out of the box, instead of having all the apps talking a different dialect, especially on how they talked to the clipboard.

partycoder 10y ago

KSokoban was my favourite KDE game.

dancek 10y ago

Yes, KDE 3.2 was a huge enhancement over 3.1. I had a slow PC and 3.1 was awfully sluggish, but 3.2 seemed to run fine on it from a Live CD (probably Knoppix). It took an awfully long time for KDE 3.2 to hit Debian unstable---I remember reading debian-kde archives on the edge of my seat...