KDE's Stability.

[Roasted]

I don't mean to stir up the pot here but I just have a really sincere question. How stable is KDE 4.3? Reason I ask is I decided to check out Kubuntu based on a lot of good praise that KDE got on this forum. I've been running it full time on my spare computer here for a few days. Previously I hadn't used it much at all, but last night I used the computer 2 hours straight, and Plasma crashed 3 times in that time frame by doing simple things, such as adding a widget to the panel, closing Amarok from the system tray, and opening Firefox.

To me, this is a severe red flag, being I've been a gnome user for 4 years and I never recall having a crash. Then I fire up KDE and - 3 times in one night..?

What is Plasma, exactly, and what relationship does it have with KDE in general?

[lovinglinux]

Plasma crashes for me when trying to add the Microblogging widget. I get a black screen. I think everything is running in the background, but I have no desktop.

It also crashes if I click the "Kickoff" menu just after login in, while other panel widgets and the tray are still loading. In this case, I don't get a black screen, plasma simply freezes.

Other than that, it's pretty much stable.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_%28KDE%29

Plasma, part of KDE 4, is a fundamental rewrite of several desktop interaction technologies included in the KDE desktop environment for Linux and other Unix-like systems, focusing on eyecandy and special graphical effects. It most notably replaces the previous KDesktop shell, Kicker taskbar and SuperKaramba widget engine used in the KDE 3 series with a unified workspace for KDE 4. Plasma also provides a resolution-independent interface for KDE, making the desktop look identical almost regardless of screen size or resolution. Plasma's applets are collectively called plasmoids, but range from informative widgets to mini-applications like calculators and dictionaries. An important feature of Plasma is that there is no longer a distinction between panels (like the taskbar), desktop icons, and widgets; they are created the same way.

[Roasted]

Wow. That's a bummer. From all of the praise I was hearing the last thing I expected was 3 crashes in 1 night. *shrug*

EDIT - to be fair, I did install Ubuntu and then Kubuntu desktop on top of it. I also know this computer has weird graphics issues (HP dx2200, integrated video). Sometimes when I boot to an Ubuntu LiveCD, it'll show the Ubuntu splash screen in 3 different offset locations on my screen. It still boots, but looks weird.

So to be fair I should make those notations aware. I plan to install a native Kubuntu install on that machine later tonight. At the time I couldn't get the Kubuntu CD I had to work (ISO had an error). I'll give it another shot. I keep reading more and more people are speaking highly of KDE 4.3... so I gotta be fair and try it again in a more sensible environment with the native live cd.

[Zorael]

If DrKonqi starts (the KDE crash handler) when plasma crashes, consider sending the generated report to bugs.kde.org. Perhaps it's an unfortunate mismatch with your hardware, if you're having other graphics issues.

4.3.3 is also available from the Kubuntu PPAs; if it's a known issue, perhaps it has been fixed.

ppa:kubuntu-ppa/ppa
ppa:kubuntu-ppa/backports

Remember, unreported bugs can only be fixed by accident.

[captaincrook]

My only issue is that Plasma likes to chomp on my memory (~200MB) along with Xorg (200+), so I think something's connected there. Anyways, if you really want some KDE love, try OpenSUSE's latest release in a VM program.

[Melcar]

OpenSuse or even Fedora have better KDE desktops than Ubuntu.

[Roasted]

Yeahhhhh but I'm a sucker for debian.

EDIT - just installed Fedora KDE on my spare rig, on top of Kubuntu. What's the difference? How is Fedora's KDE better than Kubuntu's? Looks and operates the exact same way best I can tell.

[captaincrook]

Yeahhhhh but I'm a sucker for debian.

EDIT - just installed Fedora KDE on my spare rig, on top of Kubuntu. What's the difference? How is Fedora's KDE better than Kubuntu's? Looks and operates the exact same way best I can tell.

The implementation is better as is the integration. If you don't mind living on the edge, try giving Sidux a try. That's also a good KDE distro based on Debian Sid, although it is a "rolling release" due to the Sid base.

[Roasted]

KDE on Kubuntu seems much more stable than KDE on Ubuntu + KDE from synaptic. It just felt like the system in general was sluggish when I did that.

I definitely like KDE on Kubuntu even more now that I did a fresh install properly. This may be beyond what the user sees but, like I said, I tinkered with Fedora KDE more and more and comparing it to Kubuntu... I just don't see a difference. *shrug*

[Roasted]

EDIT - I'm an idiot. Deleted.