USB Drives Give Malformed URL From Device Notifier

[kilgoretrout]

I don't know if others have run into this problem but it is known upstream bug:

https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=391381

Essentially, when I plug in a usb flash drive or hard drive the device notifier pops up. When you click on the option to open with file manager, instead of opening in dolphin a box with an error message comes up stating "Malformed URL". However, if you open dolphin, there is an entry for the drive and the drive is mounted and accessible.

[GreyGeek]

I noticed that when I was running a LiveUSB, but not after I installed it. ?
(Slipped my mind when I posted my experiences with Bionic. I know, I know, slipping my mind is easy to do these days!)

[kilgoretrout]

For anyone experiencing this issue, if and/or when kubuntu updates from 5.12.4 to 5.12.5 the malformed url issue will probably be corrected. Had the identical issue on systems running Arch/KDE and KDE Neon and when they updated to 5.12.5 the issue went away.

[YAFU linux]

Hello.
This is the report in launchpad:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...d/+bug/1762163

I made the report on 2018-04-08. I was surprised that no one was added as affected by the problem. Has Kubuntu significantly reduced the number of users in recent years?. I've been using Kubuntu 14.04 until a few months ago, but I was having problems by keeping libraries updated in 14.04.
(sorry for my English)

[claydoh]

Hello.
This is the report in launchpad:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...d/+bug/1762163

I made the report on 2018-04-08. I was surprised that no one was added as affected by the problem. Has Kubuntu significantly reduced the number of users in recent years?. I've been using Kubuntu 14.04 until a few months ago, but I was having problems by keeping libraries updated in 14.04.
(sorry for my English)

It may not be affecting everyone, and many probably have already updated to Plasma 5.12.5 via the kubuntu updates ppa

[GreyGeek]

I only tried Bionic to see how it compared to 16.04. Very favorably, I should add.
Bionic -- stable edge KDE
Neon User Edition -- leading edge KDE
Neon Dev Edition -- bleeding edge KDE
When I was done playing with it I reverted back to Neon User Edition.

[YAFU linux]

Hi.
@claydoh, That PPA does not yet include the fix to this problem.

@GreyGeek, I was thinking about trying Neon user edition. Do you know if it is possible to add Neon repository to Kubuntu 18.04 without having serious packages conflicts?

[GreyGeek]

There be alligators in that swamp for those who lack the technical skill to carry it off. Personally, I'd never do it.

IF you decide to install KDE Neon User Edition I recommend that during the install you delete all partitions on your drive and create one partition, sda1, and use Btrfs as the root file system and "/" as the designation. During the install Btrfs will create @ and @home, two subvolumes that are essentially partitions. After installation you can make other partitions if you wish, such as @opt or @data, and bind them in fstab to what ever normal directory name they'd have, like /opt in the case of @opt, or /data in the case of @data.

Then, before you do an update or make any other significant changes that might blow up on you and be hard to reverse, you can create snapshots of @ and @home, or what ever), which takes just a couple seconds. If things work out well you can delete the snapshots. If they work out poorly, rather than taking hours or days to repair the problems you can rollback to the saved snapshots and reboot, restoring your system to what it was before your experiments or upgrades began.

Personally, I will NEVER run any Linux system that doesn't offer Btrfs as a choice for the root file system, that's how powerful it is.

[oshunluvr]

I was thinking about trying Neon user edition. Do you know if it is possible to add Neon repository to Kubuntu 18.04 without having serious packages conflicts?

Possible, but not advised. Early on in KDEneon doing this caused breakage. Now? Maybe not. As GG said, if you're using btrfs just snapshot and try it. Otherwise, be prepared to restore a backup. However, today, I don't think there is any reason to jump the KDEneon this way. The real advantage (IMO) of KDEneon was having a solid 16.04 LTS core while still getting the latest-and-greatest Plasma updates. I think at this moment, Kubuntu 18.04 is ahead of KDEneon in many ways. Switching to KDEneon woudl actually be a backwards move.

BTW, I'm noticing the same USB issue as you when I boot to Kubuntu 18.04. Honestly, I don't switch to the new release for daily use until all the show-stoppers are gone. I'm hoping the new KDEneon comes out soon so I can compare it and switch to either of those choices in the coming months.

I also need to upgrade my server this year, but there's no desktop on that so it's just a matter of when I have time.

[YAFU linux]

@GreyGeek @oshunluvr , Thanks you.

I have been a Linux and Kubuntu user for many years, I'm not really interested in creating snapshots. I also always have a couple others Linux installations just in case. But I will investigate about the current state of Btrfs. A few years ago I was waiting for Btrfs to finally support compression because I had a low capacity hard drive. Then I bought a larger hard drive and did not become interested in Btrfs again. So it's a good opportunity to finally try Btrfs and at the same time KDE neon.
Thank you.

[GreyGeek]

I don't know when KDE Neon User Edition using 18.04 will come out, but my policy is to never upgrade, always do a fresh install.

However, Neon is a rolling release and I do not know if that will include rolling up to 18.04. If it is a rolling upgrade as well I will try it out of curiosity. I will save my latest snapshots to make it easy to restore SageMath and my dozen or so AppImage installations. If I am forced to do a fresh install the snapshot will make updating those apps easy. My recommendation is that you wait until the 18.04 version comes out. Meanwhile, read Oshunluvr's posts on using Btrfs on this forum.

If you decide to go with Neon 16.04 it will be good till 2021. The 18.04 release EOL is 2023. Five years from now I'll be 81. By that time I don't know if I'll be able to run a computer, , so 2023 will be a good EOL, if this six year old Acer can last another 5 years. IF not, then my laptop running days are over. But, I can't complain. I've had a great run!

[SpecialEd]

>>>>>>>

However, Neon is a rolling release !

But that's just the KDE/Plasma part, The actual distro is not a rolling release.

[GreyGeek]

But that's just the KDE/Plasma part, The actual distro is not a rolling release.

Ah, you're right. The definition appears to have changed since I last looked it up... I'll have to be more careful. Consult my sig.

Is it a rolling distro? ��

Not quite, it's a package archive with the latest KDE software on top of a stable base. Unlike rolling distros only the KDE software will be updated continuously.

[stratacast]

Hello, returning Kubuntu user, I thought I'd pipe in and say I've had this issue since day 1 too, and thought I'd chime in and say you're not alone waiting for 5.12.5, already have it on Fedora 28 on my other box. I have the same problem with clicking on links some of the time as well. For example, links in the Atom text editor

[CharlieDaves]

Hello, returning Kubuntu user, I thought I'd pipe in and say I've had this issue since day 1 too, and thought I'd chime in and say you're not alone waiting for 5.12.5, already have it on Fedora 28 on my other box. I have the same problem with clicking on links some of the time as well. For example, links in the Atom text editor

I've been having this problem since re-installing Kubuntu 18.04 several days ago. I am using Plasma v5.2.15 and it is still occurring. My system is "up to date". Anything else I should be checking?