[svlug] sid, amd64 and kde (but also gnome)

[Ivan Sergio Borgonovo]

On Mon, 6 Mar 2006 09:31:07 -0800
Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com> wrote:

> > It seems that kde apps can work in Windowmaker at least.

> That's always been the case with Window Maker (my personal usual
> preference for window manager, as it happens).

I was used to use WM too. But I think that if Linux will get into mainstream desktop it will go thanks to kde or gnome, so I've to know them.
I'm currently thinking what I'll miss of KDE once I move back to WM. Of course it is not only a question of applications since I already tested some and they seems to work even with a mangled sid kde install.

> Your question is sort of the flip side of lordSauron's question
> concerning rationale for a [K]Ubuntu server variant:  One thing
> aobut sid (unstable), and more so with Debian-testing, is that

I code and I don't like sysadmin tasks. When I put something into production it generally runs on a Debian server. Getting used to more than one distro is a waste of brain cells.
Yeah... they are almost equal, Linux and BSD and what not are unix... but why do emacs guys don't start to use vim just for sport (and vice versa)?

> certain dependency hairballs (GNOME, KDE, and -- at times in the
> past -- Mozilla derivatives) sometimes get their pieces upgraded
> not all at the same time, occasionally leading to "you can't get
> there from here" problems that persist until things are in harmony
> for a stretch.  This is part of the price of being on the bleeding

Yep. I've been using sid for several months now and I'm pretty satisfied. I had few minor glitches but less then what I was ready to tollerate so I'm happy. It seems I just found the wrong moment to jump on sid for amd64. The update from 3.5.1-2 to 3.5.1-3 on i386 is recent (I think 2 weeks) and the one from 3.5.1-1 to 3.5.1-2 wasn't too far in the past... but well I was actually expecting a better welcome on amd64 and that scared me a bit.
I've some hopes that thing will be fixed shortly. After all it is not a new version of the library, just a new release of the package.
Is it the amd64 so immature or it was just chance? What should I expect? Will my experience on sid amd64 be similar or appreciably worser than on sid i386?

> At the risk of seeming like I'm on an Ubuntu kick, I'd encourage
> you to consider cutting that AMD64 workstation over to
> Kubuntu-AMD64.  If you do this _now_ (March 2006), you can be on

I noticed that even kde packages seems newer on ubuntu than on kubuntu. Maybe just cos ubuntu released later. But anyway I got the impression that ubuntu is more community supported so it looks more solid, uptodate etc...


> Since you're interested in both "desktop environments", you'd want
> to install both metapackages.

At this moment I think kde is more promising. As I previously wrote I enjoy few kde apps but I still have to rationalize what do I use of the features of the desk top manager.
I like many ideas of kde but I use very few of them.
It just look a waste of resource to use eg. kontact in WM since I've the feeling that WM + Kontact footprint is not different from Kontact in kde

OK. Let's see what happens in the coming week and if I find a window of time when everything is consistent in sid/kde to jump in.

-- 
Ivan Sergio Borgonovo
http://www.webthatworks.it