Jaunty Musings

Fri May 1 14:04:39 UTC 2009

Hello all,

I know I already wrote to the Kubuntu list, but I was not answered -
so I am trying the Ubuntu list too...

I recently upgraded from Kubuntu 8.04 to Kubuntu 9.04 using the online method.

I was actually surprised to see how smoothly the upgrade process was.
I was pretty sure it will break my system and I'd have to re-install
from scratch...

I am trying to get used to the new concepts introduced in KDE 4.2.2,
so I am guessing that my issues can be addressed - if someone points
me in the right direction.

I hope some of you out there can help me understand the cause for my
problems. I am wondering if it's related to yet unsolved bugs. I can
live with it - I just want to make sure it isn't something I am doing
wrong and it is fixable.

Here we go:

Firstly, my hardware configuration:

Main machine:

An HP DX2300 Mini Tower
2 GB RAM
NVidia 8400GS with 512MB VRAM
1x80GB HDD for the system, home and swap partitions.
1x160GB HDD for my data.
A USB Bluetooth dongle

Secondary machine:

Generic Intel PII
 1x20GB HDD for system, running FreeNAS Server
1x80GB HDD for my music files.

Secondary machine is mounted as an NFS share over the LAN through my
home router.

I use the Bluetooth dongle to transfer files back and forth between
the main machine and my Nokia E71 Smart Phone. It used to work
perfectly under KDE 3.5.10: I'd right-click a file choose
'Actions-->Send via Bluetooth' from the context menu. If I needed to
send a bunch of files, I'd enter obex://[My_Phone's_MAC_Address] in
the address bar of Konqueror - and I'd get my phone's drives in a file
browser window.

Now I got the 'Actions' sub-menu to appear, but no Bluetooth option
there. If I try to send a file to my phone using the KBluetooth4 tray
icon, I get the list of devices found (my phone between them) then it
starts to send the file (a progress bar completes to 100%) then it
gives me an error: "org.openobex.Error.Not.Found" - and my phone
thinks it's still connected. I have no idea how to debug this
problem...

Under KDE 3.5.10, I could press the F9 key in a Konqueror file window
and click the Bluetooth menu under 'Services'. Now, whatever I click
in that menu I get an error stating the 'protocol <service> is not
supported'. I couldn't find anything with 'apt-cache search' - maybe I
just don't know what to look for, which brings me to another issue:

I am missing some advanced control modules in the 'System Settings'
application. I really liked having all those modules and control
options in KControl, and I was able to enter whatever I am looking for
in the search field on the top, and it came up with all related
modules regarding my search. Now I can search, both in the existing
modules and with 'apt-cache' - but I am missing some fundamental
modules (to me, at least), like Bluetooth.

Another problem is related to my NVidia card and the OpenGL effects
(compiz-kde?). When I log in to KDE the screen goes black between the
KDM Greeter and the desktop. All the KDE splash screens I tried are
not displayed correctly - the elements are scattered around the screen
and it all looks very ugly - so I disabled the KDE splash screen
altogether. I'd like to have it back, though...

I am using version 180 of the NVidia driver, that got installed
automatically during the upgrade. I'd appreciate pointers to guides
and/or HOWTOs for all NVidia - Kubuntu issues... Googling got me very
confused and did not help much.

A small cosmetic issue regarding Amarok 2: I used to have my
collection listing sorted by the alphabet. Now they still are, but the
letters are nowhere to be found. I mean - the dividers in the list
between each letter. Is there a way to get it back?

Lastly, I am wondering if all of these issues are fixable now or will
be fixed with immanent upgrades. I really need my Bluetooth
functionality. if this cannot be resolved - I'll have to re-install
Kubuntu 8.04 from fresh...

I don't want to have to do it. There are a lot of things I like in the
new KDE, but still....

Thank you very much for taking the time!

.:====================================================:.

Amichai Rotman

UIN#: 6401746
Registered Linux User#: 201192 [http://counter.li.org/]
Registered Ubuntu User #12851 [http://ubuntucounter.geekosophical.net]

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PLEASE READ: http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

.:====================================================:.
Mark Twain  - "Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you
please." - http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/mark_twain.html