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Plasma 5.5.3 & KDE Frameworks 5.18 Backported To Kubuntu 15.10

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  • Plasma 5.5.3 & KDE Frameworks 5.18 Backported To Kubuntu 15.10

    Phoronix: Plasma 5.5.3 & KDE Frameworks 5.18 Backported To Kubuntu 15.10

    For KDE Ubuntu users wanting to run the latest upstream KDE software components without switching over to the 16.04 "Xenial Xerus" development repository, backports of the new packages have taken place for Kubuntu 15.10...

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  • #2
    I've always had a bone to pick with Ubuntu and its backports system, from a UX perspective. A fresh install has "unsupported software" as a checkable option in software sources, but that only activates ubuntu-backports rather than kubuntu-backports which you have to manually add.

    And even when you enable it, you will only get backports when you force-install them, rather than just having more up to date software because you checked the "update my software" button.

    For anyone that is not tech literate, the whole process is a disastrous mess, and the alternative and default situation is to simply be stuck on outdated software for 2+ years on an LTS. For something like Plasma, where each release is a magnitude of improvement and stability fixes, each Kubuntu release in 2015 was an insane PITA because having to manually setup Kubuntu-backports every time it updates to try to keep it updated is terrible UX to get a more stable system.

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    • #3
      I've had that for about three weeks now, but it might have come from a PPA. The only thing I see is that the occasional flickering in the top part of the screen (not sure if due to KDE or video drivers) has gotten worse.

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      • #4
        I try KUbuntu from time to time since 5 years and always found it buggy...
        BTW this announce is strange, why do not they focus on the LTS instead of backporting things on this release, what a loss of time : the LTS is only in 3 month.

        KUbuntu could be the perfect desktop environment but it seems to require too much work from Canonical and mainteners so basically for a KDE env I stick with OpenSuse, much more solid.

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        • #5
          Originally posted by Passso View Post
          I stick with OpenSuse, much more solid.
          I don't understand OpenSuSE... I've tried it on and off for a few years and it always is like pulling teeth to install software, especially new KDE releases. That, and everyone makes PPAs and packages for Ubuntu.

          I keep going back to Kubuntu, ever since ditching Gentoo (neat, but a waste of time waiting for things to compile).

          That said, I still feel like desktop linux lags *far* behind Android levels of usability (Nexus 5 with Android 6 Marshmallow).

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          • #6
            Originally posted by Passso View Post
            I try KUbuntu from time to time since 5 years and always found it buggy...
            BTW this announce is strange, why do not they focus on the LTS instead of backporting things on this release, what a loss of time : the LTS is only in 3 month.

            KUbuntu could be the perfect desktop environment but it seems to require too much work from Canonical and mainteners so basically for a KDE env I stick with OpenSuse, much more solid.
            Three months is a long time for anyone using Kubuntu 15.10 and supposedly Plasma 5.5 comes with lots of useful fixes. Even if none seems to address any of the issues I have.

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            • #7
              Originally posted by lunarcloud View Post
              I don't understand OpenSuSE... I've tried it on and off for a few years and it always is like pulling teeth to install software, especially new KDE releases. That, and everyone makes PPAs and packages for Ubuntu.
              It's simple: `zypper up` updates your software, including KDE releases, as long as you're using Tumbleweed. And it's definitely easier to install software on openSUSE than it is on any Debian-based distro (messing with configuration files just to add a repository is terrible). Also, everyone builds packages on openSUSE's OBS, and there's even a quick package search available on software.opensuse.org. (And building your own package variant on OBS is hilariously easy. No compiling anything from source ever.)

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              • #8
                Originally posted by lunarcloud View Post

                I don't understand OpenSuSE... I've tried it on and off for a few years and it always is like pulling teeth to install software, especially new KDE releases. That, and everyone makes PPAs and packages for Ubuntu.
                I rarely found a RPM not available on Opensuse and available on Ubuntu... and vice versa! IMO 99.9% of packages are the same but in another format.

                I regularly hear critics about Opensuse from people who test it and find it difficult to understand.
                I think it is the fault of Yast that a lot of people do not know as it is specific. Yast is like "Control panel" under Windows: from here it is very simple to install softwares and configure all your machine, only with clicks.

                In Opensuse you too have "1-Click installs" which saved me hours for things like primus or codecs.

                Last way is "zypper in" to install from command line, just like "apt-get install", but shorter

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by Passso View Post
                  Why do not they focus on the LTS instead of backporting things on this release, what a loss of time : the LTS is only in 3 month.
                  Who are 'they' you refer to? Most of the 15.10/Wily backports in that PPA were done by one person (Philip Muskovac), and a lot of the work could have been heavily influenced by the work he's done for 16.04. Don't take it as a sign that the Kubuntu team is not focused on making 16.04 a good release.

                  Also, I haven't seen any confirmation that Kubuntu 16.04 will definitely be an LTS. Obviously, the underlying non-KDE packages will have 5 years of support because Ubuntu 16.04 is an LTS. That doesn't guarantee that the Kubuntu devs will commit to 5 years of support for the KDE packages though.

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                  • #10
                    By the way, we only do backports once the work has been packaged and tested on Xenial first. And then, when someone has time to both do the backporting work, and that work has been tested by users, we finally announce the backports. Kubuntu 16.04 is an LTS; Kubuntu is part of Ubuntu, and that's the way the release schedule works -- for all of us.

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