Fun w/ Synaptic and KDE 4.5
Today's post is going to be me more or less venting a little bit about Synaptic and the Kubuntu PPA. So earlier this week I read about the KDE 4.5 Release Candidate and I decided to give it a little spin. I added the Kubuntu Beta PPA repositories and installed the KDEBase packages, etc. etc.
I guess I should first talk about my experience with KDE 4.5. From the probably 4-5 hours of me using it I can definitely see that this is going to be a release focused heavily on fixing bugs and stability. I noticed a few changes here and there to features, but I haven't really seen any new SIGNIFICANT features in KDE 4.5 RC. I would also like to say that the problems I had previously w/ Audio in KDE 4.x, where if you use a GTK app in KDE it would try to take control of the audio and not let any KDE apps use the Audio, is actually fixed, and I can now actually have the really annoying result of listening to a Youtube video in Chrome and Amarok at the same time, or just simply be able to hear an IM notice from Pidgin or Emesene while listening to music in Amarok. I did noticed a few bugs here and there, since it is a release Candidate, however, the issues I have previously with it have been fixed, and once its finally released next month I will heavily consider going from GNOME over to KDE! 
Soo... if you managed to get anything from that mess of a paragraph, you can probably guess that I am still using GNOME for now. So, earlier Today I decided to try and install KVIRC, and this is where the troubles began. The .deb package was looking for older versions of the KDE packages and not the version that indicated it was the Release Candidate, so I just decided "hell with it" and started to remove the KDE packages anyway since I don't plan on using it until the final release of 4.5 anyway. Well, first I removed the repository, and I had to keep going from Dependency to Dependency until I found the one package that was still using the version from the repository. Needless to say, I finally managed to get it removed, but to remove that package it did ask me of one bizarre thing, that I had to remove fglrx. In the end I was able to reinstall my ATI drivers, but that was a bit weird (I haven't rebooted yet, so I hope nothing screws up). In the end I was actually able to install KVIRC, but that did take up about half an hour of my time trying to fix it and find out which packages I needed to remove/downgrade.
In the past 4 years of me having used Ubuntu (off and on of course), this is the first time where removing a repository and downgrading/removing packages from it has really given me any issues like this. But I guess it happens to most people at one point or another.
Oh, and while typing this I just thought of another thing I might do is ask a question at the end of each post in relation to what the topic was, so for example Today's question is:
So, have you had an issue w/ any repositories like that? And have you been able to fix them, find the root of the problem, or did you just say hell with it and reinstall Ubuntu?
Please leave a comment answering the question, or just what you think of the post in general. Also, if you like what I write, please subscribe to me using your favorite RSS reader. Have a great Weekend and Check back for a New Post Monday!
- Tyler J. Brown (Condoulo)
The post is brought to you by lekhonee v0.7
Lekhonee – A blogging Application for WordPress Blogs
Ok, so the first piece of software I would like to touch upon this month would be the piece of software I've started to use for this blog this month called Lekhonee. There is both a KDE and GNOME version, and the UI is essentially similar on both versions (though I think there may be some favoritism towards KDE). You can easily find Lekhonee in the Ubuntu Software Center/Synaptic Package Manager for Ubuntu!
Lekhonee (Click for Larger Image)
So, to start off with the Basics, Lekhonee's UI is pretty straight-forward. You have an area to input your blog's message, a right sidebar for selecting categories, area to add your tags, and to include a Title. One thing I would like to mention is formatting is kinda limited to a few options, such as bold, Italics, including a link or Image, however, you do have the ability to include HTML formatting as you like. Overall I have to give the UI a 7/10, although it is very straight-forward and easy to use, you do have limited formatting options in the toolbar.
Now some of the not so obvious features of Lekhonee include being able to browse through and edit older posts (Edit > Old Posts), The Last Post (Edit > Last Post), or you can actually upload files as well (FIle > Edit) which I actually just learned about when writing this post.
Now, there have been a couple differences I've noticed between the KDE and GNOME versions of Lekhonee, one of which is how the Categories are selected on the right sidebar. On the GNOME version, if I want to select more than one Category, I have to press Ctrl (like I would in the file manager), while in the KDE version I can just select more than one w/o having to press Ctrl. Its a tiny annoyance and wouldn't prevent me from using the GNOME version of Lekhonee, however, it was a bit annoying when I when from first testing the KDE version to using the GNOME version. Another difference is probably due to the KDE version is ahead in development compared to the GTK version, but the bottom area in the GNOME version where it has the WordPress Tab it just says "For Future Use", whereas in the KDE version I see a button that says "Add Page". Although the button does nothing when pressed, I just found that interesting (as well as the fact that the KDE version had another tab at the bottom that was faded out that had the text "Future Work").
So overall I would have to say that Lekhonee is a pretty good, straightforward application for Blogging using WordPress, although it could use more options, it definitely does the job I need it to do. I would personally give Lekhonee a 8/10.
Anyway, thanks for taking the time to Read Today's Blog Post, Subscribe and Check Back for Friday's Post in a couple days, and tell your friends about my blog as well. Another thing I would absolutely appreciate is Feedback in the comments section, whether you liked the blog post, disliked it, etc.
- Tyler J. Brown (Condoulo)
The post is brought to you by lekhonee v0.7
My thoughts on Ubuntu 10.04
So, why did I go back to Ubuntu? Why did I not stay on PCLinuxOS? Well, because KDE and GTK apps fought over control of Audio, and it forced me to use mostly GTK apps in a KDE environment. So, I wanted to go back to a GNOME distribution that offered great PulseAudio support, and something I haven't tried yet. So, although I've used previous versions of Ubuntu, I have had yet to give 10.04 a try. Not to mention Ubuntu 10.04 is normally my fall-back distribution where I normally expect everything to work.
So anyway, to start off with, I kind of avoided using Ubuntu 10.04 for the first few weeks after release. Not because it was a new release or anything, but I wanted to give other distributions a try, and I wasn't really agreeing with some of the things Canonical was doing, and the attitude they had towards their users when the users were showing their discontent on the changes that Ubuntu had made to the titlebar, or the fact Ubuntu was trying to look and act like Mac OS X. Also, I tried the Beta out and I wasn't too big of a fan of it, even though I tried it in a VM. With the factors of the last time I tried 10.04 that it was in beta and that I tried it in a VM, and that I was getting a bit ticked off at PCLinuxOS KDE not wanting to properly install PulseAudio, I felt “Why not give Ubuntu 10.04 a try.”
So the first thing you notice thats new with 10.04 is the new theme that it has, and the change of the titlebar buttons being on the left instead of the right. Since the beta they re-arranged the buttons to make sense on the left side, so that is definitely a good thing. This is all part of Canonical changing Ubuntu's branding from “Linux for Human Beings” to “Light.” Some say it gives Ubuntu too much of a Macish look. I do agree, it does remind me a bit of OS X, but, it also has its own unique factors. What does bother me though, is the fact the designers Canonical chose to design this theme used Mac OS X to design it because they were too used to Photoshop. What bothers me about that is the fact I've seen HUNDREDS of great themes for GNOME on gnome-look without requiring the use of Photoshop. So I just saw that as a pretty pathetic excuse on the designers part. Now, I don't mind the buttons being on the left – and I can get used to them very quickly. However, I will say that back in the Alpha or beta, Canonical executed the change pretty badly pissing off quite a few people. I think if Canonical had decided to re-arrange the buttons to make sense on the left BEFORE releasing the Alpha with it, that there would have been much less of a negative response (however, don't underestimate the thousands of people who complain at the slightest change).
So besides a new look, and maybe some obvious software updates (Such as Firefox is now 3.6, OpenOffice.org is now 3.2, etc). One thing that I noticed in 10.04 that I didn't see in 9.10 is in the Ubuntu Software Center, it will now list software listed in repositories that are not in Ubuntu by default, which is pretty cool. Also, I think this could have been in response to the removal of a few apps in 10.04 such as GIMP, Ubuntu added a “Featured Applications” Section to the Ubuntu Software Center. I have to say, with each release of the Ubuntu Software Center (despite only having two releases so far), its looking really good, and definitely better than the old Add/Remove programs. Don't worry, theres still the good ol' Synaptic Package Manager for those who like to have more control.
Ubuntu Software Center 10.04
One of the major new features in Ubuntu 10.04 is the integration of a Social Networking tool called Gwibber. Gwibber allows you to integrate Facebook and Twitter right onto your desktop, and send status updates through the Social Menu on the top right. You can also manager your social media accounts, your Instant Messaging Accounts (through Empathy), and change your IM Status through that menu as well, and pidgin does support that last feature (although that was available in 9.10 as well). I have given it a try – through the menu and through the actual application, and it is very very nice for an integrated tool.
The Gwibber Window
Another major item that people made a big deal about in Ubuntu 10.04 is the Ubuntu One Music Store. This is a feature that I think is going to help Ubuntu out big time, and allows people to get music very easily from one source, and with prices that can compete with iTunes.
Ubuntu One Music Store
One of the other things I would like to talk about is performance. I have yet to run into an issue with it. Even with the default open source drivers, Compiz will run decently and without an issue. Even the proprietary ATI drivers are running Compiz Fusion just fine. And the reason I switched back to Ubuntu, PulseAudio, is working just fine.
I haven't really run into too many issues with Ubuntu 10.04. The first issue I ran into was the fact Ubuntu chose my 80GB to put GRUB on, and to fix that I basically put my 80GB on the first to boot, so that wasn't that much of a problem in the end. Another couple problems were due to the lack of features in GNOME, such as the lack of the ability to set different wallpapers per monitor, or the lack of ease of use in terms of setting up a panel on the second monitor. Again, beyond that, I haven't had all that many issues.
So overall Ubuntu 10.04 is a very nice distribution. I did have a few issues with it here and there, but nothing too much. Some of the issues I did have with it before even using the final version were more to do with Canonical's decisions, and the attitude towards the users that were showing their discontent towards the changes they made. Overall, I would definitely recommend it to somebody who is looking to start out with Linux – that, along with Mint, PCLinuxOS, or Mandriva. I would definitely say give this a try and tell me your thoughts on it in the comments! Thanks for reading, and if you want to, subscribe clicking on the link at the top right of my blog!
- Tyler J. Brown (Condoulo)