kde4.5.2, kmail and very profligate use of drive space question

[gene heskett]

On Monday, October 18, 2010 08:28:41 pm Nils Kassube did opine:

> gene heskett wrote:
> > On Monday, October 18, 2010 12:24:12 pm Nils Kassube did opine:
> > > gene heskett wrote:
> > > > I believe it is the ~/.kde tree that is surplus, I just renamed
> > > > it to ".kde-test" & we'll see who complains.  If nobody does, it
> > > > gets nuked.
> > > 
> > > ~/.kde is the current config directory. ~/.kde4 was used for some
> > > time when both KDE3 and KDE4 were available from the repos, IIRC.
> > > But no application will complain if the directory is missing. They
> > > just start from scratch which may not be what you want. E.g. kmail
> > > stores your mail somewhere in ~/.kde/share/apps/kmail/.
> > 
> > This may depend on the distro's.  In an hour, nothing of kde's has
> > complained because the directory is missing.  Everything has
> > duplicates in the .kde4 tree, and its these duplicates that seem to
> > be the ones actively being used.  Bear in mind this isn't ubuntu,
> > but pclos.
> 
> OK, I don't know pclos and as this is the Kubuntu-users list I was (by
> mistake) expecting we were talking about Kubuntu. :)
> 
> I think you could check the time stamps of the files in ~/.kde/* and
> ~/.kde4/* if you aren't sure which one is used. The unused ones should
> be quite old.
> 
> 
> Nils

They are all dated in the June 14 to June 11 range, and since they haven't 
come back, now has anything objected, I believe its safe to nuke the ".kde-
test" the was .kde.

The kde4 tree does have quite a few files that are either much newer, or 
currently dated.

Now, as far as not talking about kubuntu, I figure that the mailing lists of 
those distro's that do support kde, are a heck of a lot better source of 
information than the pclos forum, which seems to needlessly want to catalog 
each question into a separate directory tree, and whose response time to a 
query can be weeks.  I have several open queries on that forum that have 
never even been read by another user.

Its all linux, and to me that is what counts.  And there is a question here 
occasionally that I can contribute an answer to as I do have 2 other boxes 
running 10.4.  So I'm not exactly an outsider.

My concern re the open core discussion is that there is an open source 
program that can run milling machines and lathes with up to 9 axises or 
degrees of motion.  It requires the RTAI package that handles all the I/O 
in real time, and that needs to be built specifically for the kernel it will 
be asked to run with.  That is not a trivial ".configure;make;make install" 
operation, taking our guys weeks to get it all running correctly.  Because 
of this labor overhead, the kernel version is generally frozen and it will 
be updated only if a huge security hole is found which would require a new 
build of both the kernel and RTAI.

Now we go off-topic even farther because I want to explain why its 
important.

This software is the outgrowth of the original NIST program for controlling 
factory machinery from back in the very dim, before there was a linux even, 
past.  Today it is carving engine blocks for Toyota, and running complex 
manufacturing operations all the  way from teeny little table top machines 
like mine, to a 50 year old Cincinnati MilliCron that is being retrofitted 
with it right now, and which just last week was asked to carve some bearing 
recesses for some big ball bearings that needed a 5" diameter pocket, and 
did it to a working accuracy of .0005", and did it several times faster 
that any other machine in that job shop could think of doing it.  Pretty 
decent for a 50 year old machine.  This machine probably weighs in excess 
of 30 tons.

The software, emc, is under active development yet.  Yes, there are also 
very high dollar commercial machine control packages.  Funny thing is, the 
interface electronics and hardware some of them use is decades old.  Emc 
can drive it, at zero cost for Emc, today, whereas the commercial folks 
have either failed and are no more, or their 5 digit/seat charges have 
knocked them out of consideration.  Where time is money to a job shop, the 
increased production emc offers because its faster makes the choice a no 
brainer.

<http://wiki.linuxcnc.org> will explain it better than I can as it won't 
bore those that are interested.

I'll be like Andy Capp, and shaddup now.


-- 
Cheers, Gene
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
 soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
Wisdom is knowing what to do with what you know.
		-- J. Winter Smith