minor problems after major disaster

[kubicle]

kded --version
No command 'kded' found, did you mean:
 Command 'kded4' from package 'kdelibs-bin' (main)
 Command 'kde4' from package 'kde-runtime' (main)
 Command 'ksed' from package 'keysafe' (universe)
kded: command not found

Sorry, my bad, I meant kded4 --version

however, Kontact tells me that i'm running Platform Version 4.11.00

env | grep KDEHOME || echo $HOME/.kde
/home/salamandir/.kde

well, it points to the pre-upgrade, pre-disaster /.kde directory, which i restored after the disaster... but if ~/.kde/share/apps/RecentDocuments is really the same directory that it gets the "Recent Documents" menu from (which it appears to be), then why is it not updating with the documents that i have used most recently?

The bug (https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=323747) in 4.11.0 is that new .desktop files aren't put in the correct directory (missing path component), so you only see the items that were in the directory before installing 4.11.0. You can test by copying one of items in the directory under a different name (keep ".desktop" in the end) this new item should show in the recent documents list.

Like I mentioned, this bug is marked as fixed in 4.11.1 which should be only days away.

dpkg -l | grep  udisk
ii  libudisks2-0                         2.1.0-4~ubuntu12.04~ppa1                           GObject based library to access udisks2
ii  udisks                               1.0.4-5ubuntu2.1                                   storage media interface
ii  udisks2                              2.1.0-4~ubuntu12.04~ppa1                           D-BUS service to access and manipulate storage devices

um...
that's interesting, but it doesn't mean anything to me... is it possible that i'm running two different versions of udisk?

You have both installed, but KDE 4.11 should use udisks2. I see you mentioned that your problems started after "security upgrades"? I'm pretty sure you shouldn't get KDE 4.11 through security upgrades on 12.04 (to avoid just this sort of thing), as the latest KDE in the repos for 12.04 is 4.8.5...do you have kubuntu backports ppa enabled?

[przxqgl]

running 'kded --version' is one way, all kde applications also show version info in Help>About KDE

kded --version
No command 'kded' found, did you mean:
 Command 'kded4' from package 'kdelibs-bin' (main)
 Command 'kde4' from package 'kde-runtime' (main)
 Command 'ksed' from package 'keysafe' (universe)
kded: command not found

however, Kontact tells me that i'm running Platform Version 4.11.00

You can check running 'env | grep KDEHOME || echo $HOME/.kde'. If the output of that points to your current .kde directory, kde should be able to find the Recent documents data location (~/.kde/share/apps/RecentDocuments) no matter if you use a backed up .kde or if $HOME was moved.

env | grep KDEHOME || echo $HOME/.kde
/home/salamandir/.kde

well, it points to the pre-upgrade, pre-disaster /.kde directory, which i restored after the disaster... but if ~/.kde/share/apps/RecentDocuments is really the same directory that it gets the "Recent Documents" menu from (which it appears to be), then why is it not updating with the documents that i have used most recently?

If I understood correctly, the fact that "/media/home/salamandir" changed to "/media/salamandir/home/salamandir" is a fairly strong indication of a switch to udisks2 (mounting removable media into /media/$USER/ instead of /media/ is udisks2 default behavior)...you can check which version of udisks is installed by running 'dpkg -l | grep udisk'

dpkg -l | grep  udisk
ii  libudisks2-0                         2.1.0-4~ubuntu12.04~ppa1                           GObject based library to access udisks2
ii  udisks                               1.0.4-5ubuntu2.1                                   storage media interface
ii  udisks2                              2.1.0-4~ubuntu12.04~ppa1                           D-BUS service to access and manipulate storage devices

um...

that's interesting, but it doesn't mean anything to me... is it possible that i'm running two different versions of udisk?

[kubicle]

i don't know which KDE version i have. how do i tell?

running 'kded --version' is one way, all kde applications also show version info in Help>About KDE

by the way, i don't think this is because of a bug: the "recently used" list worked up until the "disaster" spoken of previously, and now (after the "disaster" has been solved), it doesn't. i don't think this is because of a bug, i think it's because the upgrade moved the "recently used" directory to somewhere new, and (because of the fact that i replaced my /.kde directory with a pre-upgrade backup) it is now looking in the wrong place for the "recently used files"...

You can check running 'env | grep KDEHOME || echo $HOME/.kde'. If the output of that points to your current .kde directory, kde should be able to find the Recent documents data location (~/.kde/share/apps/RecentDocuments) no matter if you use a backed up .kde or if $HOME was moved.

once again, it may be because of a switch, but again, because of the fact that i replaced the /.kde directory with a pre-disaster, pre-upgrade backup, it may be looking in the wrong place for a disk that doesn't really exist at all...

If I understood correctly, the fact that "/media/home/salamandir" changed to "/media/salamandir/home/salamandir" is a fairly strong indication of a switch to udisks2 (mounting removable media into /media/$USER/ instead of /media/ is udisks2 default behavior)...you can check which version of udisks is installed by running 'dpkg -l | grep udisk'

I didn't actually have time to read through the thread of your "disaster" (sorry for that), I just posted possible causes because the symptoms seem to match recent kde bugs/changes. But you can rule out these causes if you don't have kde 4.11 or udisks2 installed.

[przxqgl]

1. "Recently Used":
Which kde version do you have, IIRC there is a "recently used" bug in 4.11.0 (which should be fixed in the upcoming 4.11.1)

i don't know which KDE version i have. how do i tell?

by the way, i don't think this is because of a bug: the "recently used" list worked up until the "disaster" spoken of previously, and now (after the "disaster" has been solved), it doesn't. i don't think this is because of a bug, i think it's because the upgrade moved the "recently used" directory to somewhere new, and (because of the fact that i replaced my /.kde directory with a pre-upgrade backup) it is now looking in the wrong place for the "recently used files"...

2. "0 B Removable Media":
This is likely due to the switch to udisks2 (if you use a recent kde)...although on my saucy (13.10) it only shows this if the machine actually has a floppy drive

once again, it may be because of a switch, but again, because of the fact that i replaced the /.kde directory with a pre-disaster, pre-upgrade backup, it may be looking in the wrong place for a disk that doesn't really exist at all...

at least that's my impression... 8)

[kubicle]

1. "Recently Used":
Which kde version do you have, IIRC there is a "recently used" bug in 4.11.0 (which should be fixed in the upcoming 4.11.1)

2. "0 B Removable Media":
This is likely due to the switch to udisks2 (if you use a recent kde)...although on my saucy (13.10) it only shows this if the machine actually has a floppy drive

[przxqgl]

update

i still haven't found solutions to most of the problems i have listed, but i did get my dropbox problem fixed: after installing, de-installing and reinstalling dropbox and nautilus-dropbox twice without any success, i de-installed and reinstalled dropbox a third time, and it worked...

still no clue why it didn't work the first two times, and still no clue how to fix the other minor annoyances that are still plaguing my system, but i've got dropbox working again...

[przxqgl]

i had a disaster after running the security upgrades a few days ago, which you can read about here -- http://www.kubuntuforums.net/showthr...-hard-disk-woe -- if you're interested.

i'm now "recovering" from the disaster. i've got most of the computer back to the way i want it, but there are a few details that really bug me, that i still don't know how to fix.

before the disaster, when i opened a URL from my email client, it immediately switched to the browser, and proceded to open the URL without making any sound. after the disaster, it opens the URL in a new browser window, but it doesn’t immediately switch to it, and sometimes (but not always) it makes a “swishyswishy” sound that i haven’t been able to figure out where it’s coming from, and (naturally) haven’t been able to figure out how to turn it off.

before my disaster, i had the ability to change my volume by pushing buttons on my keyboard, but since the disaster, my sound system settings are completely wonky, the buttons on the keyboard no longer work, and i can’t figure out how to make them right: instead of having two channels in my “Volume” settings (in the systray), one of which controled the volume for everything, i have three, or four if there’s a youtube video in my browser, and one channel controls the settings for the system bell, another channel controls the volume in amarok, and one channel controls the volume in the youtube video… i believe that, when i’m using something like VLC Media Player, i can show another channel in my mixer.

there’s one, in particular, that i already find fairly annoying: i have a “K” menu (rather like the “Start” menu in windoesn’t, but not so confusing) in my task bar, which has a “Recently Used” tab... but the fact is the recently used documents part of the tab hasn’t updated since i recovered my data… the recently used applications seems to work as expected, but the recently used documents hasn’t updated at all since i recovered my data.

i have a “0 B Removable Media” device that appears to be a floppy drive in my "Most Recent Devices" menu, in my task bar, but i don’t have a floppy drive at all… i seem to recall being able to turn drives that i don’t have off in the devices menu, but there’s nothing in System Settings -> Removable Devices that does anything. also, my secondary internal drive, which should mount automatically at boot time, doesn’t actually mount until i click on it, at which point it demands a password before i can access any of its contents.

my “Dropbox” folder is no longer linked, and i can’t figure out how to re-link it. it was “moved” when it went from /media/home/salamandir/Dropbox to /media/salamandir/home/salamandir/Dropbox as a result of the disaster, and when i finally figured out how to get it back to /media/home/salamandir/Dropbox it still told me that my dropbox folder wasn’t installed in the correct place, and instructed me to reinstall dropbox, but when i did, it didn’t do any good, so i “unlinked” my linux box from my dropbox account, and now i can’t figure out how to re-link it… BUT, for some unknown reason, my “Fremont Philharmonic” dropbox is still working the way i expect it to… which is REALLY weird…