Mandriva Linux 2009 Alpha 2

has changed my mind about KDE4.

It comes with KDE 4.1 pre installed, but what difference between it and the openSuSE live CD I was testing with.

I've discovered things about KDE 4 that I didn't know were possible on the openSuSE live CD I was testing with. There are still things missing, such as the fact that you can't hide the task bar, and you can't resize the task bar vertically, horizontally, yes. Also missing is the option to allow scrolling through the desktops, and currently any configuration change you make to one desktop applies to all, although you can still make the applications opened on one desktop appear only on that desktop.

Mandriva seem to have listened to the complaints about the Kicker menu, and made the classic menu the default on 2009.0.

I'm actually posting at the moment from Mandriva 2009.0 Alpha with the KDE4 Desktop, using FF 2.0.0.15. It's actually quite a pleasant experience.

I've discovered another thing, you can set a Desktop grid, sort of like an embedded version of the pager, that displays all of your desktops, 9 in my case, as a grid, and you can move windows between them. It's a bit like having a version of the Metisse Desktop, only this one works.

At least with this setup of the KDE4 Desktop, I'm actually finding useful functionality. I take back a lot of the things I've said about KDE4, it really is a lot better than I've given it credit for.

Aaron, and the rest of the KDE team, my apologies.

There are some nice functions that I am already finding useful.

@tracyanne:

It sounds to me like you have the beginnings of an LXer article.

Sounds to me like she's using the beginnings of the first Linux distro to get KDE4 right. I won't turn my install to 2009 for a little while, but now I don't feel as hesitant to do it. I think an article might well be a great idea.

I seem to remember an article explaining a new GUI for resizing the panel, both vertically and horizontally. During my 24 hour long escapade into KDE4 land I even did change the height of the panel, so I know it's possible :)