Ubuntu For Free

I first installed KDE4 yesterday, and I’ve been impressed with it. Not in the ways I expected, but at the same time disappointed and frustrated in other ways I was not ready for. Ctrl-F12 fortunately doesnt require three keys on the left hand for a normal US keyboard, but instead does require both hands, almost universally. It’s interesting now, because I’m beginning to see a shift in the interfaces of operating systems. It is very apparent comparing KDE and Vista, and it’s amazing how the interfaces parallel the user base. I see this reflected in the new Ctrl-F12 desktop with the widgets, and I expect to find it as the foundation for future interfaces. I’ve seen other programs like Yahoo widgets try to do something like this, but it was more of an encumbrance with the operating system. This instead seems more naturally integrated, of course because it is part of the OS. It would still be nice to be able to use Ctrl-Alt-Del to see what I would previously expect for the “Desktop”. Another disappointment, is the missing alt+f1that I’m so used to. It makes me reluctant to use the new spectacular Kickoff menu. Also significantly lacking is the ability for me to lock my terminal. Having my personal laptop around in my office is usually ok for me, but I’d like to be able to lock it when I’m not at my desk.

My greatest pleasant surprise of installing KDE, was the improved performance. The core system seems extremely refined, fast, and immediately responsive.

Sometimes it’s so frustrating that I almost want to give up and logout and switch to the KDE 3.5 session, but instead I hop on IRC in Konversation and look for help in one of the channels. So far, it’s been an experience. Somewhat of a struggle, but I think I’ll keep trying.

My first install of Ubuntu was Dapper Drake, and it was the original flavor, with the Gnome desktop. It included XChat, which seemed an easy transition from mIRC. Since I’d previously managed IRC connections using telnet, it wasn’t daunting. However, after switching to Kubuntu, I found myself presented with Konversation. It might have been my previous experience with mIRC, but I almost felt right at home.

In comparison to XChat, I feel it’s better at managing connections to multiple servers. The servers are spawned as separate tabs, where XChat *tried* to do it in a tree-like view, it failed and inserted the additional servers as child-nodes of the first-connected server.

Using bash scripts, we can make Konversation take action. It requires the DCOP protocol, a newer method permitting KDE applications to communicate between each other. Known as an Inter-Process Communication, DCOP providesthe ability to send DCOP messages to/from any other KDE app, allowing Konversation to integrate nicely with Amarok (i.e. to announce the “now-playing” track) and other KDE software (i.e. getting data from “weather” or sending/retrieving information with “kate”).

One of my favorite features, is the On-Screen Display, abbreviated as OSD. This feature provides a miniaturized display of text in a separate screen area. For example, we can see entire messages directed to us, even when Konversation is minimized, through the OSD, when Konversation is able to determine our nick.

You can also configure notifications, or specific actions when selected events occur, including pop up messages (optionally passive), sounds, shell commands, log insertions, etc.

I have plans for a couple of scripts for the application, so I think I’m going to try my hand coding something different.