Thinking and wondering out loud...

[jglen490]

That's something I am surprised I didn't catch. You probably want System76's video drivers over the ones from Ubuntu anyway, let alone any other drivers they provide via their repo.

Switching between different proprietary Nvidia drivers can be annoying or worse

Sent from my LM-V600 using Tapatalk

Again, that's just nuts.

<rant> A piece of hardware made to support an open source project, it's locked down tighter than Scrooge McDuck's vault, and requires that only it's provisions will run the damn thing. Yes, it's locked down with (hopefully) open source stuff, but it's beyond the scope of reasonably talented users to go off the reservation and load a different open source OS. And they want an arm and a leg to buy it. That's ridiculous, and all thoughts of ever buying one of their machines are gone from my mind. </rant>

There are a lot of really good new and used machines that can bought off the shelf, for several hundreds of dollars less. Within an hour of doing that, Windows will be gone and one of any number of Linux distros will be happily humming along, computing, being useful.

[claydoh]

I did something different yesterday, during my most recent reinstall: I unchecked 'install third-party software...' It referred to graphics and Wi-Fi drivers/software, but I figured it CAN'T get any worse, so what the hell?! Now I'm not saying I've found and eliminated the source of the connectivity problem, just that right now things look good.

That's something I am surprised I didn't catch. You probably want System76's video drivers over the ones from Ubuntu anyway, let alone any other drivers they provide via their repo.

Switching between different proprietary Nvidia drivers can be annoying or worse

Sent from my LM-V600 using Tapatalk

[DoYouKubuntu]

So far--today--everything's been working great! Haven't had to reinstall once!

I did something different yesterday, during my most recent reinstall: I unchecked 'install third-party software...' It referred to graphics and Wi-Fi drivers/software, but I figured it CAN'T get any worse, so what the hell?! Now I'm not saying I've found and eliminated the source of the connectivity problem, just that right now things look good.

I haven't done much customization to my look and feel yet. I've added icons to my taskbar for the handful of apps I use regularly, and that went off without a hitch. I'm getting ready to install some software...so we'll see!

[DoYouKubuntu]

In my opinion, you're making the clean install process way too complex. If your /home is on a separate partition, then when you clean install the new OS, and apps, they will build new config files as needed. Then when previous configs are restored to /home, they are out of sync with the new OS. That can cause issues, depending on which configs and how many.

But I've done it both ways: wiping and not wiping /home. I've also done it wiping /home and then not copying over ANY previous config files. The problem always returns. And it's always after some change, which--as I've pointed out--can be as simple as installing Inkscape or making a change in my desktop's appearance.

When I clean install, I leave /home alone. I don't know if that is at the root of all your issues, but I believe it contributes.

See above.

Of course, there are other considerations with drivers - especially wifi. Each issue MUST be dealt with one at a time, and a length of ethernet wire always helps. I keep one, I rarely need it, but it's there when I need it.

I'd agree--except that it doesn't apply in this case. HARDWIRED connections were failing, too--something I have never seen in 35 years. When the intermittent loss of Internet connectivity started, I grabbed an Ethernet cable and plugged it in, thinking, there!, that'll fix that! WRONG. I sat with my mouth open as it spit out the 'failure in name resolution' error, just like on Wi-Fi. I know I sound like a broken record, but this is an absolute first for me, and I'm not some newbie. I started computing on UNIX [well, unless you include my VIC-20 and Commodore 64] and have used *nix continuously since 1985. I'm glad I'm no longer responsible for a company's system...I'd be beyond screwed if a problem like this happened and I was useless figuring out its source!

ETA: I totally forgot about something else I've tried, after the connectivity issue rears its ugly little head: creating a brand-new user and logging in with it. Nope! Didn't help. My theory, or anyone's theory, that the issue is somehow in my $HOME isn't it. The new user has nothing but the stock $HOME created by the system, but the problem exists for it, too.

[jglen490]

During my most recent seven thousand reinstalls, I've taken to formatting /home so I'm starting clean and fresh each time. But I save my old $HOME prior to that, and then pick and choose what to restore from it. So how can I use ~/.local/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons to make my taskbar icons as I want them? Right now, they're being pulled in from somewhere with no effort on my part. I need to know their default location which, again, used to be /usr/share/kde4/apps/desktoptheme/default/icons/. Back then, you'd just copy the icons you wanted to that directory, restart KDE and you were good to go!

In my opinion, you're making the clean install process way too complex. If your /home is on a separate partition, then when you clean install the new OS, and apps, they will build new config files as needed. Then when previous configs are restored to /home, they are out of sync with the new OS. That can cause issues, depending on which configs and how many.

When I clean install, I leave /home alone. I don't know if that is at the root of all your issues, but I believe it contributes. Of course, there are other considerations with drivers - especially wifi. Each issue MUST be dealt with one at a time, and a length of ethernet wire always helps. I keep one, I rarely need it, but it's there when I need it.

[DoYouKubuntu]

I'm not sure this point is relevant to your problems, but you haven't mentioned this location:

Wherever there's files in "/usr/share", they're normally customized in "~/.local"; so in the example above "~/.local/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons". This is some kind of desktop standard and KDE plasma seems more compliant with the standard than previous versions of KDE, hence there's no .kde5 or .plasma directories.

The only thing in my ~/.local/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons is a directory containing the icon set I use [and have carried with me for 20+ years!]. On a fresh reinstall, the icons in my taskbar/system tray are nowhere I can find, therefore I don't know how to change them--and, in my not humble at all, downright mean opinion, they're ugly! I want them replaced with pretty ones. But I am still at a loss as to where to look, since /usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons wasn't it.

Customizing in .local avoids an update overwriting your changes.

During my most recent seven thousand reinstalls, I've taken to formatting /home so I'm starting clean and fresh each time. But I save my old $HOME prior to that, and then pick and choose what to restore from it. So how can I use ~/.local/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons to make my taskbar icons as I want them? Right now, they're being pulled in from somewhere with no effort on my part. I need to know their default location which, again, used to be /usr/share/kde4/apps/desktoptheme/default/icons/. Back then, you'd just copy the icons you wanted to that directory, restart KDE and you were good to go!

Also, with icons beware of icon caches, they seem to make the icons you get unpredictable. Some icon cache or caches are large and persist across logins; deleting them and restarting KDE may be needed to reset them.

Great point. Thanks!

IME stepping away from the default breeze themes (IMO execrable iDreck-inspired rubbish) can cause trouble, especially with GTK apps. I've spent a lot of time hacking icons just to get something usable, that also doesn't spew screeds of warnings if started from a terminal. Anyway, the breeze themes cause a 600 ms delay starting gvim for me so I can't use them. IME KDE plasma the "get new..." functions improve with each release, in that they sometimes work now, and the choices are better and more robust.

Right now, on yet another reinstall [yes, really, I mean since posting this thread!], I'm just sticking with default EVERYTHING. No fancy, schmancy plasma stuff, just the bare-bones settings that came with it, with the exception of my icon set. So far, my ping test hasn't burped...but you never know when it's going to rear its ugly little head again!

The part of me that used to love solving mysteries needs to get reactivated. I'd REALLY like to hone in on what's causing this first in my lifetime problem. I simply have never seen this issue before, in 35 years of using *nix, and it's killing me that I can't figure out its source. Every time I think I've gotten closer...it happens again!

[jlittle]

I'm not sure this point is relevant to your problems, but you haven't mentioned this location:

...
/usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/

Wherever there's files in "/usr/share", they're normally customized in "~/.local"; so in the example above "~/.local/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons". This is some kind of desktop standard and KDE plasma seems more compliant with the standard than previous versions of KDE, hence there's no .kde5 or .plasma directories.

Customizing in .local avoids an update overwriting your changes.

Also, with icons beware of icon caches, they seem to make the icons you get unpredictable. Some icon cache or caches are large and persist across logins; deleting them and restarting KDE may be needed to reset them.

IME stepping away from the default breeze themes (IMO execrable iDreck-inspired rubbish) can cause trouble, especially with GTK apps. I've spent a lot of time hacking icons just to get something usable, that also doesn't spew screeds of warnings if started from a terminal. Anyway, the breeze themes cause a 600 ms delay starting gvim for me so I can't use them. IME KDE plasma the "get new..." functions improve with each release, in that they sometimes work now, and the choices are better and more robust.

[DoYouKubuntu]

UPDATE: For the source of the Internet connectivity problem, see this post.

==========================

If you've followed my recent threads, you're well aware that I've had an extraordinary amount of problems with my new laptop, a beautiful System76 Gazelle 17.3". Kindly note that I am not condemning System76 in any way. I believe all the problems have been flukes, user [that would be me] error, and so on.

But they've left me really scratching my head! Things that I've done a million times have fuc... mucked up! I mean, right from the get-go, I received it, powered it up, saw its installation of Ubuntu 20.04, got to a command line, and installed Kubuntu. Bam! Dead laptop. I mean dead dead. I couldn't do anything, get anywhere, NOTHING. I didn't have a USB thumb drive, so I patiently waited after ordering one--that was supposed to arrive the next day...but ended up coming several days later.

(And for this I pay Amazon's Prime fee annually? They were very apologetic, but late is late, you know?, especially when you're in desperate need of what you're waiting for.) So it came, I burned 20.04 on it, used it to successfully resuscitate the brand-new laptop, and things were looking good, until they weren't. I've had a LITANY of problems, everything from being unable to mount USB drives to losing my Internet connection in a seemingly random manner.

Regarding that last point, it happened again yesterday. Things had been running really beautifully for several days. I'd tweaked and customized my desktop/menu/taskbar/environment almost as much as I wanted. Note that I've been saving my $HOME directory, with all its settings, periodically, always before making ANY changes. So yesterday, when this happened, I reinstalled the OS--again!--and then restored the last known working $HOME, and all was fine. So what caused this sudden mess? I don't know. I literally had done only two things right before it started: one, I installed and used Inkscape, and, two, I copied a few svgz icons to /usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/ -- which I assumed to be the new location of the default taskbar icons. Years ago, that location was the now-nonexistent /usr/share/kde4/apps/desktoptheme/default/icons/.

That was it.

Bam! No Internet connection. Once again I had the inexplicable "temporary failure in name resolution" [or however it's worded].

As usual, *NO* other devices were affected in any way. My other System76 laptop, sitting right next to it, had no problems. Nor did two Android phones--one of which was running a continuous ping/sleep test in Termux. No blips whatsoever--ONLY on the new laptop.

How on earth could installing Inkscape and/or copying a few icons to /usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/ screw up my Internet connectivity?! I'm really at a loss...

And it turns out /usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/default/icons/ isn't where *my* taskbar icons are stored--the ones located there do not match what I see in my taskbar, but neither do any of the other icons I've seen while trying to figure out where they are! Where are they?! The ones from my plasma theme are not the ones I see in my taskbar.

Okay, /rant.