The Evolution of KDE Desktop

 From its humble beginnings as a Unix type OS desktop package, KDE (K Desktop Environment) is now a cross platform application which will run on Linux, Unix, FreeBSD, Solaris, Mac OS and even MS Windows.

Mainly used as the main desktop on Linux systems such as OpenSUSE, Mandriva and Kubuntu.

This is just a light look at the evolution of KDE, mainly pictorial and a few comments thrown in.

KDE 1

July 1998

With the release of KDE1, Linux now had a functional desktop to complete with MS. By today's standards you would sat it is very basic, but it did the job well.

KDE 2

October 2000

KDE2 saw improvements, but it was not until we saw KDE3 that the layout became a lot slicker.

KDE 3

KDE 3.2

KDE 3.4

KDE 3.5

April 2002

From the first release of KDE3 to the final version in 2008 KDE3.5.10 saw the greatest changes. KDE3 was still being developed when the first release of KDE4 came along.

KDE 4.1

January 2008

This was a very different environment to anything else the KDE team had release before.

The first KDE4 saw a new look and feel with no task bar and the option to position any of the normal desktop functions anywhere on the desktop. I must admit that the early versions of KDE4 were very unstable.

KDE 4.5 Plasma Desktop

KDE 4.5 Netbook Desktop

The KDE team have now had 2 years get it right. Now with KDE4.5 being the stable version and KDE4.6 beta also being developed. It now has a slick desktop to match anything MS Windows7 can do. With its plasma desktop or netbook desktop, widgets, glass like window frames and unlimited amounts of desktop features, KDE has come a long way.

My desktop KDE 4.5

My desktop  KDE 4.6 beta Glass frames.

I still do to this day get very frustrated with KDE, but this is due to the fact that I run the development version all the time, which can be rather unstable.

Why not give it a try and you will be surprised.

ColinH

Who would put themselves out for you ?

 Now I sure if some people I know will take this the wrong way, but it is not a dig at anyone. Just my thoughts on what is happening in this modern world we live in.

There was a time when you would not think twice about helping your neighbours and living on a road which is ¼ of a mile long and only has 6 houses, I always try to help them. All be it that sometimes it is not the help but the time of day they ask for help which may get to me from time to time. Saying that, both of the 2 nearest neighbours to me always thank me to the stage I get very embarrassed.

Back to my point. If someone is talking about something and I think I can help, I will jump in and offer. I know that is my fault and I am learning not always to do that now. But if I think I can help then I will say.

I have done such a wide variety of jobs helping people from repairing computers, rewiring a friend kitchen, completely fitting a kitchen, repairing unlimited amounts of electrical good, helped a friend with a little bit of tractor driving and even went to catch a hamster under a friends floorboards. The list goes on and on, which I must add I did not charge a penny for.

Now this is where it gets my back up. Most of the time I will offer to help. It is only rarely that someone asks me for help. This is my choice and I am not bothered. But how many times does someone offer to help you? Very few. Now when I have ask for help. Sometimes I will get a little, but most of the time I get “ Sorry I am a bit busy at the moment”. In other words, I don't really want to help you. Even my best friend was going to help me with these blog postings, typing and grammar, but I have ended up doing them myself. And that is not another dig either.

I will throw a question in at this point. Is it just built in to some of us to help others or is it something we learn? If we learn it I do not know where I learned from as I can not remember my Dad helping many people.

I have really shortened this posting because no one want to be reading about these sort of things at time of year.

So to sum up. Who would put themselves out for you? And the answer is a lot different and not as many as you think. To start with I thought loads, but after careful thinking I got down to a few you could count on 1 hand. After that I also started thinking how many of these few would offer help and the answer you would probably find is none.

Just remember, this is not a dig at anyone I know but an observation by me. Also things can change in your life which can also change other people thinking.

ColinH

Dual boot laptop

Dual boot laptop.
When I went out and bought myself a laptop with no O/S installed, I got some strange look and people asking me why I wanted to spend £320 on a laptop that has nothing on it. My reply is “I want a laptop to do what I want to do and not what everyone else wants to see or work”.

Special delivery arrives and there is my brand new laptop. I unpack it and all I have is the machine, PSU, handbook and a disc. I then went through the normal things, charging and preparing for installing the O/S`s.

First I installed a copy of XP that I had but never used. No problems there, all the updates and motherboard drivers installed and I was away. One laptop with XP installed.

Now I am not very happy at this point as I would rather use Linux. So now it is time to install my Linux O/S. My choice is openSUSE and at the time it was version 11.2. Now before you ask why I installed XP first, this is because with a dual boot machine it is better to install the FAT32/NTFS first. This also helps set up the grub boot loader in Linux.

So armed with my openSUSE DVD I rebooted the laptop and let it boot from the disc. OpenSUSE boot options appear and I select the installation option. This in turn loads a Linux kernel and proceeds to the install section. This can be quite daunting if you have never installed Linux before or you start to worry whether it is going to overwrite your windows that you have already installed. You are now presented with a graphical install screen, select your country, e.g. UK and then continue.

 It will then check your machine and ask you what graphical desktop you want to use, e.g. KDE, Gnome. Linux is different to windows in that respect as the desktop is only another program running on top of the kernel, hence different desktops. I selected KDE and continued. This then checks again and comes up with a standard program list for a running O/S.

 The partitioner gives you a default option, at this time it wanted to shrink the 240Gb HDD down to 30Gb for the NTFS and the rest for Linux. I manually alter this to 80Gb for the NTFS and the rest for Linux. There are a lot of other manual configuration options if you require, but I will not go into that to deep for now.

The complete install options are now shown again with the changes I have made. I agree and push the install button.

This take about 30 – 40 minutes, which is a similar wait and things to installing windows.

When complete the machine will reboot and on reboot I have a grub loader screen asking me which system I would like to use. I have openSUSE set as the default option.

I have kept it very simple as it is one of my first blogs, but there are plenty more options with multiple desktop options in Linux. But that is for another day.

ColinH

What to expect.

After a long time saying I was going to start a blog I am finally here. Taken from my original attempts at writing a book, which seems to have gone on the back boiler or even fallen behind it. It did not seem appropriate to carry on with the book as it was, so time for a blog instead.

This is a summery of what to expect from my postings. Going back to my original book idea, The thoughts and findings of a 40 something man. These will take the form of humorous things that have happened to me, witting and funny stories, a few tech related blogs and a spattering of nonsense.

When you get to a curtain age the world seems to start looking a lot different, with a grown up child at university and another just starting secondary education. It all starts hitting home, your getting old! I think I should really put older there. Okay so I hear you say, 40`s is the new 30`, or even 20`s. The mind might tell you that but the body has got a completely different idea. And then there is the stress levels. No one ever told me about the stress, they were all to stressed out to say anything. In these days of kids having everything they want, the stress level reach 12. I was only told to count up to 10, so 12 maybe quite high. Anyway enough about that, there is plenty of time to do a posting about that later.

What you will see in the future.

Postings on tech stuff, not so much about gadgets and the likes, but more my findings with Linux OS and Windows. From installing Linux, installing a duel boot laptop, a triple boot PC and Windows 7.

Postings on questions that I have ask in the last few years on Twitter and have never got any answers to. Why do? What is? etc

Postings on family life. Nothing very heavy, just long term marriage, A 12 year old who is bigger than me and also has more injuries than me. Now that is saying something.

Postings on friends, lost friends and new friends. Also finding that one of your best friends is the opposite sex. I would have not believed it myself a year ago and it also got people talking at work. Nearly a year on and I think it has finally sunk in. Just friends. The other thing is that my wife also works in the same office.

Postings on tales and funny stories I have been through.

I also may throw in a posting on agriculture, that will fool a few of you.

Whatever I blog I will try and keep it witty and funny, with maybe a few pictures on the way.

I may also do a few postings on my findings when I am out taking pictures. From not being able to work my new camera , to taking pictures in the dark on bright sunlight settings. I may have some very funny pictures to post of things that have gone wrong. On the other hand I may post a few which I am very pleased with.

Keep reading as there maybe something that will make you smile in the future.

Colin H