KDE Neon is NOW AWESOME, First Impressions/Fixes/Comparison_to_Gnome

[woodsmoke]

I vaguely saw the Maui thing which uses the "Hawaiian" desktop? lol

But, I've been fiddling with Neon and Kubu.

I'll check it out if time permits.

woodsmoke

[vinnywright]

I read that it might be necessary to purge the kubuntu backports after 'upgrading' (?) to Neon using Kubuntu as a base instead of Ubuntu. I made my change a few weeks ago but didn't purge the backports. Is this necessary? Why? And what command do I use to do this? So far my Neon/Kubuntu hybrid (got the term from GreyGeek) seems to be working well, although at the moment I can't change wallpapers and I have four packages kept back (I'm using the Neon dev-stable edition).

to fix you wallpaper selection in desktop settings copy and paste this

 
[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=image


Type=Service
ServiceTypes=Plasma/Wallpaper
Icon=preferences-desktop-wallpaper
X-Plasma-MainScript=ui/main.qml
X-KDE-PluginInfo-Author=Marco Martin
X-KDE-PluginInfo-Email=mart@kde.org
X-KDE-PluginInfo-Name=org.kde.image
X-KDE-PluginInfo-Version=1.0
X-KDE-PluginInfo-Website=http://kde.org/
X-KDE-PluginInfo-License=LGPL
X-KDE-PluginInfo-EnabledByDefault=true

in a text file named "metadata.desktop" place the metadata.desktop in /usr/share/plasma/wallpapers/org.kde.image/ ,,,,,,,,,,,,,you will have the wallpaper setting back in desktop settings

the metadata.json that is in their now dose not get read correctly.

I edited the metadata.desktop from the org.kde.hunyango to get this and took out all the other lang's ,,,,,lazy

VINNY

[claydoh]

I read that it might be necessary to purge the kubuntu backports after 'upgrading' (?) to Neon using Kubuntu as a base instead of Ubuntu. I made my change a few weeks ago but didn't purge the backports. Is this necessary? Why? And what command do I use to do this? So far my Neon/Kubuntu hybrid (got the term from GreyGeek) seems to be working well, although at the moment I can't change wallpapers and I have four packages kept back (I'm using the Neon dev-stable edition).

You can use the ppa-purge command, using the ppa's url you used to add it via the add-apt-repository command.
But realistically at this point you are probably fine , at least until/if Kubuntu-backports gets the same plasma/frameworks/applications versions that are in Neon

[oldgeek]

I read that it might be necessary to purge the kubuntu backports after 'upgrading' (?) to Neon using Kubuntu as a base instead of Ubuntu. I made my change a few weeks ago but didn't purge the backports. Is this necessary? Why? And what command do I use to do this? So far my Neon/Kubuntu hybrid (got the term from GreyGeek) seems to be working well, although at the moment I can't change wallpapers and I have four packages kept back (I'm using the Neon dev-stable edition).

[woodsmoke]

unfortunately i'm older than dirt and stuck in my ways I'll be with Kubu until it fades away into the digital jungle!

woodsmoke

[MoonRise]

Think Maui.

As the first derivative of Neon, it's sweet.

Yep!! Using Maui here and love it!

[DrGeoffrey]

What I, personally, and it is ONLY.........my PERSONAl..observation , think is going to happen is that there are going to be some really enterprising people who make new and beautiful distros FROM neon...

Think Maui.

As the first derivative of Neon, it's sweet.

[woodsmoke]

Hi Ack0329

Thanks for the very nice listing.

KDE Neon is stated on it's page to NOT be a distro that it is a "bunch of packages", most bleeding edge.

I don't think that Riddel even wants it to be a "distro' I think that quite possibly it is his way of poking a finger in the eye of some people at Canonical.

What I, personally, and it is ONLY.........my PERSONAl..observation , think is going to happen is that there are going to be some really enterprising people who make new and beautiful distros FROM neon and somehow promote them in a way that increases KDE "market share" versus Unity/Canonical.

Your listing of the stuff certainly makes available for the person who might so do a "frame" of thought about it....

Thanks again

woodsmoke

[oshunluvr]

Also of note from the OP: glxgears isn't a good graphics benchmark. You get 60fps because vsync is on. Either use gtkperf or run glxgears this way:

__GL_SYNC_TO_VBLANK=0 glxgears

This turns off vsync temporarily.

So what's your point? The OP didn't claim it is.

Apologies, the OP said "So here I am writing from Ubuntu's KDE Neon" which I misunderstood to mean that he believed KDE Neon was a Ubuntu project. I was merely pointing out the it is not.

[oshunluvr]

• Bad
• BTRFS not recognized during install or after

Don't know why you would think this. My KDEneon User Edition install is running (as well as many other installs) on my btrfs multi-disk filesystem. I installed it there at it's first release. Here's a screen shot of a Vbox install offering btrfs as a disk format. So KDEneon does recognize btrfs both before and after install.

[Tahaan]

First my Comparison to Gnome
__________________________________________________ _____________
KDE vs Gnome

KDE Neon,

[LIST][*]Preface[*]First underst...[snip]

Try this: Install KDE-Connect on your Android device.

Ensure bot your phone and your computer is on the same Wifi network and "pair" them using the KDE-connect that is included with KDE Neon.

Next select a piece of text, maybe a text message you received, or a URL in your browser on the phone.

Then COPY to clipboard.

Go to your computer and open a test editor.

PASTE.

Now go to Dolpin.

Look at the down to the bottom left under devices. Ensure your phone is not "locked" and click on the phone to browse it's files. Drag-and-drop-sugar

When you receive messages on your phone, a desktop notification shows up on your computer as long as they can see one another.

More things to discover in there.

[Tahaan]

[/LIST]

I'm afraid to tell you that Ubuntu has nothing to do with KDE Neon, bar providing the underlying system(Xenial). The KDE Neon project is entirely maintained by KDE people on KDE infrastructure. They provide a repository, which is installed on top of Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. For more details of what KDE Neon is and is not, https://neon.kde.org/faq

So what's your point? The OP didn't claim it is.

[DrGeoffrey]

EDIT: It is amazing to me that KDE developers are taking time out of their busy schedules to visit these forums and offer advice. It is certainly above and beyond the call. It also suggests that a well documented problem posted to these sites is as good as a bugzilla report that has passed through triage (help from members of these forums). Heartfelt thanks, folks!

Agreed. Many, many thanks.

[GreyGeek]

Installing Neon on top of Kubuntu without reinstall

I noticed a thread in the KDE Forum about this topic. It was so good I decided to link to it here, and to copy it here as a backup.
https://forum.kde.org/viewtopic.php?f=309&t=135278

 Installing Neon on top of Kubuntu without reinstall
Mon Aug 08, 2016 4:58 pm
Neon project website recommends to do a clean install. While I understand that this makes some sense, especially for inexperienced users, many of us are already running Kubuntu + backports PPA and reinstalling everything from scratch needs significant effort to copy all your settings/data properly.

So I have decided to install Neon on top of my Kubuntu-16.04 (+ backports PPA + libreoffice PPA). I am a professional software engineer dealing with Linux daily, so I was not afraid of possible problems. The update went quite well, so I decided to share my experience in case if somebody else would like to do the same.

# apt-add-repository http://archive.neon.kde.org/user
# apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys E6D4736255751E5D
# apt update
# apt dist-upgrade

after that you will see some minor errors - conflicting files in old and new packages, e.g.

dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/kdeconnect_0.9g-1+16.04+build14_amd64.deb (--unpack):
trying to overwrite '/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libkdeconnectinterfaces.so.0.9.0', which is also in package kdeconnect-plasma 0.9+p16.04+git20160702.0005-0

Unpacking libkf5screen7 (4:5.7.3-0neon+16.04+build13) over (4:5.6.5-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1) ...
dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/libkf5screen7_4%3a5.7.3-0neon+16.04+build13_amd64.deb (--unpack):
trying to overwrite '/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libexec/kf5/kscreen_backend_launcher', which is also in package libkf5screen-bin 4:5.6.5-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1

dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/kpmcore_2.2.0-0+16.04+build2_amd64.deb

(--unpack):
trying to overwrite '/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/qt5/plugins/libpmdummybackendplugin.so', which is also in package partitionmanager 1.2.1-0ubuntu1

Errors were encountered while processing:
/var/cache/apt/archives/kdeconnect_0.9g-1+16.04+build14_amd64.deb
/var/cache/apt/archives/libkf5screen7_4%3a5.7.3-0neon+16.04+build13_amd64.deb
/var/cache/apt/archives/kpmcore_2.2.0-0+16.04+build2_amd64.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

At this moment you can either use 'dpkg -i --force-all' on new packages or remove the conflicting old package (and later reinstall it). For example:

# apt remove kdeconnect-plasma libkf5screen-bin partitionmanager

and after that

# apt install partitionmanagers packages


and just in case to pick up any unprocessed packages

# apt update; apt upgrade; apt clean

Then rebooting - and everything works fine!

I would like to thank Neon team for their outstanding effort - Kubuntu-backports PPA was getting very old and I was tired of waiting forever.

A minor issue: I wanted to installl Libreoffice-5.2 but it seems that there is a problem

# apt-add-repository ppa:libreoffice/libreoffice-5-2
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/bin/apt-add-repository", line 95, in <module>
sp = SoftwareProperties(options=options)
File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/softwareproperties/SoftwareProperties.py", line 109, in __init__
self.reload_sourceslist()
File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/softwareproperties/SoftwareProperties.py", line 599, in reload_sourceslist
self.distro.get_sources(self.sourceslist)
File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/aptsources/distro.py", line 89, in get_sources
(self.id, self.codename))
aptsources.distro.NoDistroTemplateException: Error: could not find a distribution template for neon/xenial

This is not a big deal - I have added the needed file to /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ manually, but as Libreoffice PPA is quite popular, this needs to be fixed.

Alex


User avatar Menak Vishap
Registered Member

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Re: Installing Neon on top of Kubuntu without reinstall
Mon Aug 08, 2016 11:05 pm

    alexsid wrote:
    A minor issue: I wanted to installl Libreoffice-5.2 but it seems that there is a problem

    # apt-add-repository ppa:libreoffice/libreoffice-5-2
    Traceback (most recent call last):
    File "/usr/bin/apt-add-repository", line 95, in <module>
    sp = SoftwareProperties(options=options)
    File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/softwareproperties/SoftwareProperties.py", line 109, in __init__
    self.reload_sourceslist()
    File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/softwareproperties/SoftwareProperties.py", line 599, in reload_sourceslist
    self.distro.get_sources(self.sourceslist)
    File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/aptsources/distro.py", line 89, in get_sources
    (self.id, self.codename))
    aptsources.distro.NoDistroTemplateException: Error: could not find a distribution template for neon/xenial

    This is not a big deal - I have added the needed file to /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ manually, but as Libreoffice PPA is quite popular, this needs to be fixed.



I suspect that this problem could be solved by editing file '/etc/lsb-release'. Just replace in it 'DISTRIB_ID=neon' to 'DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu'. At least, the problem with non-working 'software-properties-kde' was solved in such way.


User avatar apachelogger
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Re: Installing Neon on top of Kubuntu without reinstall
Tue Aug 09, 2016 12:51 pm
nah, what you need to do is make sure neon-desktop is installed, otherwise the system is just not properly aligned to the name

Annoyed with bbcode since 1999.



User avatar Menak Vishap
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Re: Installing Neon on top of Kubuntu without reinstall
Tue Aug 09, 2016 5:48 pm
The 'neon-desktop' is big metapackage which has in its dependencies a bunch of *-dev packages, and some strange unnecessary things like Plasma theme for GRUB. It seems that all important config files are located in 'neon-settings' package, which is one of its dependencies.

Right now I ran 'apt-get install neon-settings' and after that the 'software-properties-kde' began to work with correct 'etc/lsb-release' version. Anyway, a lot of thanks to apachelogger for this important information!

sasha
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Re: Installing Neon on top of Kubuntu without reinstall
Sat Oct 08, 2016 7:28 pm
Thank you for the report Alex.
I am considering switching to Neon myself due to Plasma 5.7 updates which might take a while to get to Kubuntu.

Did you have kubuntu-backports repo enabled before you added Neon repo and did you disable it or apt-purged it, before starting the upgrade?



alexsid
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Re: Installing Neon on top of Kubuntu without reinstall
Tue Oct 11, 2016 3:06 pm

    sasha wrote:
    Thank you for the report Alex.
    I am considering switching to Neon myself due to Plasma 5.7 updates which might take a while to get to Kubuntu.

    Did you have kubuntu-backports repo enabled before you added Neon repo and did you disable it or apt-purged it, before starting the upgrade?



Hi Sasha,

1. yes, I had kubuntu-backports repo enabled, then added Neon repo and proceeded with upgrade
2. After upgrade to Neon has been completed, I have disabled kubuntu-backports

Hope this helps,
Alex



alikazmi
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Re: Installing Neon on top of Kubuntu without reinstall
Fri Oct 21, 2016 4:55 pm
Thank you :) this worked for me. I am now proudly running KDE Plasma 5.8 on Kubuntu 16.04.

The only problem I had was with multiple monitors (post installation the monitors were mirrored instead of extended and the 'Displays' option was missing from System Settings > Display and Monitor). If anyone else runs into this problem, I solved it by installing 'kscreen'.

    sudo apt install kscreen

EDIT: It is amazing to me that KDE developers are taking time out of their busy schedules to visit these forums and offer advice. It is certainly above and beyond the call. It also suggests that a well documented problem posted to these sites is as good as a bugzilla report that has passed through triage (help from members of these forums). Heartfelt thanks, folks!