Kde On Arm!

[Alec]

Kubuntu 9.10 was released and it includes an ARM version. This means that KDE on Pandora should be possible!

http://dot.kde.org/2009/10/29/kubuntu-910-release-adds-plasma-netbook-preview

The release is available for common i386 processors, but is also available in experimental form for ARM processors (pictured).

 

[lulzfish]

Well, of course it's possible.
But KDE 4 is not known for being a lightweight desktop environment, so for a device with 256MB of RAM, most people aren't considering it seriously.

 

[Consequence_9]

oh boy! Bloat on the go!

 

[skeezix]

Kde is independant of kubuntu; it works on ARM last I checked, but yeah, is not exactly ideal for handhelds

jeff

 

[renwils]

KDE4 isn't very friendly to unusual hardware, unfortunately. It's nice to look at though, if you can keep it from crashing.

 

[ssj195]

Here's a very brief demo of Plasma on the n900:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=040BbTRLKdM

 

[dflemstr]

KDE4 isn't very friendly to unusual hardware, unfortunately. It's nice to look at though, if you can keep it from crashing.

What you're talking about was true about a year ago. KDE 4.0 to ~4.2 was horrible (And I even used GNOME back then). However, KDE has gotten quite a few optimizations and niceties since then, and the netbook shell has a really small footprint (as do most KDE applications too actually, being written in C++ instead of Python/Mono (as is the case for many GNOME apps) and all)

I'll definitely be using KDE in some shape or form on the Pandora eventually; the integration possibilities with my main desktop are almost endless.

 

[chuckr]

Actually, I was truly pleased when I saw that someone (I didn't see who, but thanks to them!) had gotten some level of XFCE working on Pandora. This Window manager is far, far more lightweight than any version of KDE, but it doesn't look like a toy, either, it's commonly used on big machines. I'd been intending to port it self, but I am really pleased that someone else has beaten me to it.

I'm more of a Gentoo person, but that relatively newer Gentoo spinoff, "Funtoo", might be an OS better adapted for a smaller environment like the Pandora. Also (and this reveals one of my perhaps less popular prejudices) I'd kinda like to see "bazaar" used as a VCS for Pandora code. I've really never liked the idea of tracking commits by hash values, I liked the way that CVS used to do it, which is closer to what bazaar does (with allowances for having directories be 1st class objects). It also has both a really nice graphical UI, and a plugin for eclipse, and the nice job they've done on docs is good too. Bazaar will work for any project currently running either a git VCS, OR a svn/cvs one, its very flexible. I don't mean code compatible, don't misunderstand me, just in terms of architecture & usage.

Far as I know, neither funtoo nor bazaar are Pandora-ported, so maybe that leaves me things to do, doesn't it?

 

[renwils]

KDE4 isn't very friendly to unusual hardware, unfortunately. It's nice to look at though, if you can keep it from crashing.

What you're talking about was true about a year ago. KDE 4.0 to ~4.2 was horrible (And I even used GNOME back then). However, KDE has gotten quite a few optimizations and niceties since then, and the netbook shell has a really small footprint (as do most KDE applications too actually, being written in C++ instead of Python/Mono (as is the case for many GNOME apps) and all)

I'll definitely be using KDE in some shape or form on the Pandora eventually; the integration possibilities with my main desktop are almost endless.

This is merely anecdotal, but my recent experience with KDE 4.3 hasn't been pleasant. On my Asus laptop, Power Daemon and Compositing were causing a lot of trouble, along with some other problems that I couldn't successfully replicate. Though there are some problems with kernel support for my hardware as well. I fully intend to keep trying out future releases just because of some of the improvements you mentioned. And I do use KDE on my desktop. Plasma looks fantastic on a large LCD.

 

[GizmoTheGreen]

Still, I don't see why you'd want KDE on a handheld with limited power/resources.

Something like openbox + lxde would suffice!

 

[mindlord]

It's the flashiness value. I imagine someone firing up XFCE and going "Look what the Pandora can do!" and the firing up KDE and going "LOOK at what the Pandora can DO!". But I dunno, KDE 4.3 has really started to bring the footprint down. It might actually work well.

 

[Alec]

For anyone doubting that KDE can fit in 256 MB, here's a screenshot of my laptop running KDE, with less than 190 MB of memory in used up.

And this is my laptop, which is running regular KDE 4.3. If it were to use the netbook shell, and built with more unnecessary stuff disabled and with more space-conscious compiler flags, it will take up even less.

(For anyone who doesn't know, Linux tries to fill up as much free memory as possible with caches, and and if it needs more memory, it purges them)

 

[#1 GameMaster]

Well, of course it's possible.
But KDE 4 is not known for being a lightweight desktop environment, so for a device with 256MB of RAM, most people aren't considering it seriously.

Yes I agree with you that KDE would be the last thing you would want to put on a handheld device with only 256MB of RAM. Although I do like KDE on my laptop but it has 4GB of RAM. Plus think of how long it would take to boot up because before my current laptop I had an old dell that had a pentium 3 (900mhz) with 256MB of RAM and it would take around 5 minutes at least :angry: so I don't think it would be wise to run KDE on the Pandora.

 

[sebt3]

outch , a few troll here...

KDE isn't that fat.
The netbook shell work well is fast and have a very small memory foot-print.
It's interface is intutive.
All those who want moblin running would love to see the kde netbook shell on the pandora.

KDE people are working on an even smaller interface to completly remove hildon from their N800/N810/N900.
QT and KDE support openGLES for GPU acceleration.
Actualy the only thing missing is compositing support in Xorg.

They even managed to get plasmoid running on an S60 device (which is _VERY_ far from having 256M of memory).

In productivity mode, plama-netbook will be far more interresting than enlightement.

(all this was IMHO)

 

[skeezix]

We're fiddling a lot with xfce right now .. yes yes, matchbox to E17 to xfce, but its all in the name of 'best fit, best compatibility, best performance' etc ... xfce is the current target, but we'll see

To the lad above.. yeah, you're saying you can run KDE and only burn 190 of your 256MB of RAM .. great to have 256, and leave only 60 for your apps

If I have my way we'll have the QT libs on there, but doubtful we'll have a full KDE by default (or Gnome), but djw is on top of that business.

jeff

 

[Tensuke]

Here's a very brief demo of Plasma on the n900:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=040BbTRLKdM

This does look pretty nice, but I wonder how it'll be when you actually run applications plus boot up/shutdown time. I'll bet with enough optimization KDE could run just fine on the Pandora, however.

 

[beboper]

Here's a very brief demo of Plasma on the n900:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=040BbTRLKdM

doesn't n900 have the same amount of memory as pandora? if so, then that's really good news!

 

[lulzfish]

Here's a very brief demo of Plasma on the n900:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=040BbTRLKdM

doesn't n900 have the same amount of memory as pandora? if so, then that's really good news!

Yes, it has 256 MB of RAM as part of its OMAP 3430 (according to Wikipedia), so it's in the same hardware class as the Pandora. In fact, the Pandora might be using the 3430, I can't remember.

 

[Yoyobuae]

Pandora uses OMAP 3530. Which is pretty much equivalent:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Instruments_OMAP#OMAP3

 

[bzar]

We're fiddling a lot with xfce right now .. yes yes, matchbox to E17 to xfce, but its all in the name of 'best fit, best compatibility, best performance' etc ... xfce is the current target, but we'll see

To the lad above.. yeah, you're saying you can run KDE and only burn 190 of your 256MB of RAM .. great to have 256, and leave only 60 for your apps

If I have my way we'll have the QT libs on there, but doubtful we'll have a full KDE by default (or Gnome), but djw is on top of that business.

jeff

So E17 is a secondary option now? I for one would really like it to be Qt ready, I just love that framework