MATE Desktop 1.2 Released

[phoronix]

Phoronix: MATE Desktop 1.2 Released

The MATE Desktop, which is the fork of the GNOME2 package-set, just experienced its 1.2 stable release. Will this be a viable fork to allow GNOME 2.x to live on?..

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=MTA4ODI

[cl333r]

Without upgrading to at least Gtk3 it's stuck with old app versions too, dead-end. I'd rather use Gnome3 as much as I hate it with up to date apps, rather than Gnome2 with outdated apps.

[garegin]

I love how most people threaten to go kde or xfce but in their minds know that their bluffing.
kde- clusterfuck
xfce- apps are too feature light.

[schmidtbag]

AFAIK, you could just install gtk3 on MATE and still use newer programs. I use KDE and I have GTK3 programs, so I'm not sure what the big deal is.


Also, what is everyone's problem with KDE? KDE 4.3 and older were a complete utter mess, KDE 4.4 was the first release that was pretty good and didn't have many problems, and today I'd say my only complaint about KDE is how its a little too heavy (with all built-in features on). I'd really like to know what people's problems are with it as of its current release.

As for GNOME 3, I haven't tried it and I have no intention in using it as my main DE on any of my computers, but from what I've seen, it has plenty of room for improvement but it seems nice - I like how "new" and refreshing it is. It has its own personality in a way.

As for XFCE, I admit I haven't tried it in over a year but to me, that whole project is a failure. It strives to be lightweight but instead its just as resource consuming as MATE but lacks features.

[Imouto]

As for XFCE, I admit I haven't tried it in over a year but to me, that whole project is a failure. It strives to be lightweight but instead its just as resource consuming as MATE but lacks features.

When your computer is fast enough, you may not notice the difference between gnome2/MATE and XFCE. XFCE is now 4.8 and they have done very well to keep their DE light and useful. xfdesktop and thunar in particular open much faster than nautilus. Also, XFCE have build in a compositor and can handle desktop switching etc. It includes not many features, but just enough common ones so that I do not need to install compiz.

As you are using KDE, XFCE is definitely not for you. KDE is full of features.
But I guess for Linus and others that like XFCE, simpliness itself is a feature.

[uid313]

I use GNOME 3 but with gnome-panel instead of gnome-shell.
Then I get a desktop environment that resemble that of GNOME 2 but with the benefits of GNOME 3 and Gtk 3.

[Kivada]

When your computer is fast enough, you may not notice the difference between gnome2/MATE and XFCE. XFCE is now 4.8 and they have done very well to keep their DE light and useful. xfdesktop and thunar in particular open much faster than nautilus. Also, XFCE have build in a compositor and can handle desktop switching etc. It includes not many features, but just enough common ones so that I do not need to install compiz.

As you are using KDE, XFCE is definitely not for you. KDE is full of features.
But I guess for Linus and others that like XFCE, simpliness itself is a feature.

I'm using a 2Ghz Pentium 4 Northwood, a mid range CPU form a decade ago, w/ 1Gb of 266Mhz ram and have used XFCE, LXDE and Mate on it, it is not fast by any means yet I've never noticed any real performance benefit from using anything less then Gnome2.

[ChrisXY]

KDE 4.4 was the first release that was pretty good and didn't have many problems, and today I'd say my only complaint about KDE is how its a little too heavy (with all built-in features on). I'd really like to know what people's problems are with it as of its current release.

I often have problems with the little things. In gnome2 panel, why would the applets not be "pushed" to the right and to the left when changing to a bigger resolution? In KDE so far I don't have many of those details that bother me.

But programs from the KDE core or from the KDE "ecosystem" are still the most unstable I see around here. kmix segfaults often when adding or removing pulseaudio network sinks. akregator sometimes segfaults for no reason. In KDE 4.8.2 when I enable nepomuk/virtuoso kdeinit4 will crash as soon as I start krunner. I have recently again tried to use Kmail. It doesn't send emails, just disables every single widget on the screen and then sits there until I kill it.

Too many KDE related applications, not enaugh developers.

And yet another KDE related project: calligra 2.4... I have segfaulted calligrasheets and calligrastage both with simply dragging a spreadsheet "shape" in the working area. Could not reproduce it later. But calligrastage will consistently segfault when I enable the "presenter view", start a presentation and click on the left slide in the presenter view.

I recently "discovered" kontact. Nice gui for several things. But the ktimetracker thing there just doesn't work.

Also recently I decided to finally "fix" my old akonadi. It was slow, had undeletable mail accounts, and sometimes just segfaulted for no reason. akonadiconsole showed in the log that the mysql schemas were not really consistent with the new akonadi versions so I simply deleted the whole akonadi stuff from ~/.config/akonadi and recreated all configuraions. Turns out it doesn't store everything there, some mail filters went amok and only stopped wasting 100% cpu when I deleted the remaining agents in akonadiconsole. It kind of works now but my feeling that the whole thing is way too complicated to work well for everyone has been reinforced.

Plasma has stopped regularily segfaulting for me not before KDE 4.6. It then segfaulted until 4.7 I believe when trying to use the grid workspace layout but even that is stable now.

I have nothing against KDE per se. But everything in the KDE "ecosystem" seems to need a looong time to get somewhat stable.

[drag]

I often have problems with the little things. In gnome2 panel, why would the applets not be "pushed" to the right and to the left when changing to a bigger resolution? In KDE so far I don't have many of those details that bother me.

But programs from the KDE core or from the KDE "ecosystem" are still the most unstable I see around here. kmix segfaults often when adding or removing pulseaudio network sinks. akregator sometimes segfaults for no reason. In KDE 4.8.2 when I enable nepomuk/virtuoso kdeinit4 will crash as soon as I start krunner. I have recently again tried to use Kmail. It doesn't send emails, just disables every single widget on the screen and then sits there until I kill it.

Too many KDE related applications, not enaugh developers.

And yet another KDE related project: calligra 2.4... I have segfaulted calligrasheets and calligrastage both with simply dragging a spreadsheet "shape" in the working area. Could not reproduce it later. But calligrastage will consistently segfault when I enable the "presenter view", start a presentation and click on the left slide in the presenter view.

I recently "discovered" kontact. Nice gui for several things. But the ktimetracker thing there just doesn't work.

Also recently I decided to finally "fix" my old akonadi. It was slow, had undeletable mail accounts, and sometimes just segfaulted for no reason. akonadiconsole showed in the log that the mysql schemas were not really consistent with the new akonadi versions so I simply deleted the whole akonadi stuff from ~/.config/akonadi and recreated all configuraions. Turns out it doesn't store everything there, some mail filters went amok and only stopped wasting 100% cpu when I deleted the remaining agents in akonadiconsole. It kind of works now but my feeling that the whole thing is way too complicated to work well for everyone has been reinforced.

Plasma has stopped regularily segfaulting for me not before KDE 4.6. It then segfaulted until 4.7 I believe when trying to use the grid workspace layout but even that is stable now.

I have nothing against KDE per se. But everything in the KDE "ecosystem" seems to need a looong time to get somewhat stable.

If shit is just randomly segfaulting like that for you I'd say that you better check the memory on your system. Try memtest86+ and leave it running over night.

intermittent failure of tests (say passes 9 times out of 10) that is definitely a sign of bad ram.
constant and widespread failures means that you are lucky as it's just likely a misconfiguration. Ram is overclocked or something stupid like that.

[ChrisXY]

In KDE 4.8.2 when I enable nepomuk/virtuoso kdeinit4 will crash as soon as I start krunner.

Oh and now it won't work with either nepomuk enabled or disabled.

If anybody cares:

Connecting to deprecated signal QDBusConnectionInterface::serviceOwnerChanged(QString,QString,QString)
QDBusConnection: session D-Bus connection created before QCoreApplication. Application may misbehave.
KDE Daemon (kded) already running.
QDBusConnection: session D-Bus connection created before QCoreApplication. Application may misbehave.
kbuildsycoca4 running...
kbuildsycoca4(7275) KConfigGroup::readXdgListEntry: List entry application/x-openbenchmarking in "/home/chris/.local/share/applications/mimeapps.list" is not compliant with XDG standard (missing trailing semicolon). 
kbuildsycoca4(7275) KConfigGroup::readXdgListEntry: List entry x-scheme-handler/file in "/home/chris/.local/share/applications/mimeapps.list" is not compliant with XDG standard (missing trailing semicolon). 
kbuildsycoca4(7275) KConfigGroup::readXdgListEntry: List entry x-scheme-handler/trash in "/home/chris/.local/share/applications/mimeapps.list" is not compliant with XDG standard (missing trailing semicolon). 
QDBusConnection: session D-Bus connection created before QCoreApplication. Application may misbehave.
QDBusConnection: session D-Bus connection created before QCoreApplication. Application may misbehave.
X Error: BadValue (integer parameter out of range for operation) 2
  Major opcode: 53 (X_CreatePixmap)
  Resource id:  0x0
X Error: BadDrawable (invalid Pixmap or Window parameter) 9
  Major opcode: 14 (X_GetGeometry)
  Resource id:  0x4a00191
X Error: BadWindow (invalid Window parameter) 3
  Major opcode: 3 (X_GetWindowAttributes)
  Resource id:  0x1fe87a8
X Error: BadDrawable (invalid Pixmap or Window parameter) 9
  Extension:    149 (RENDER)
  Minor opcode: 4 (RenderCreatePicture)
  Resource id:  0x4a00191
X Error: RenderBadPicture (invalid Picture parameter) 163
  Extension:    149 (RENDER)
  Minor opcode: 8 (RenderComposite)
  Resource id:  0x4a00191
X Error: BadDrawable (invalid Pixmap or Window parameter) 9
  Major opcode: 55 (X_CreateGC)
  Resource id:  0x4a00191
X Error: BadDrawable (invalid Pixmap or Window parameter) 9
  Major opcode: 55 (X_CreateGC)
  Resource id:  0x4a00191
X Error: BadAlloc (insufficient resources for operation) 11
  Major opcode: 53 (X_CreatePixmap)
  Resource id:  0x172
X Error: BadDrawable (invalid Pixmap or Window parameter) 9
  Extension:    149 (RENDER)
  Minor opcode: 4 (RenderCreatePicture)
  Resource id:  0x4a00195
X Error: BadDrawable (invalid Pixmap or Window parameter) 9
  Major opcode: 55 (X_CreateGC)
  Resource id:  0x4a00195
X Error: BadDrawable (invalid Pixmap or Window parameter) 9
  Major opcode: 62 (X_CopyArea)
  Resource id:  0x4a00195
X Error: BadGC (invalid GC parameter) 13
  Major opcode: 60 (X_FreeGC)
  Resource id:  0x4a00195
X Error: RenderBadPicture (invalid Picture parameter) 163
  Extension:    149 (RENDER)
  Minor opcode: 5 (RenderChangePicture)
  Resource id:  0x4a00195
X Error: BadGC (invalid GC parameter) 13
  Major opcode: 60 (X_FreeGC)
  Resource id:  0x4a00195
X Error: BadGC (invalid GC parameter) 13
  Major opcode: 60 (X_FreeGC)
  Resource id:  0x4a00195
X Error: RenderBadPicture (invalid Picture parameter) 163
  Extension:    149 (RENDER)
  Minor opcode: 7 (RenderFreePicture)
  Resource id:  0x4a00195
X Error: BadValue (integer parameter out of range for operation) 2
  Major opcode: 53 (X_CreatePixmap)
  Resource id:  0x0
X Error: BadDrawable (invalid Pixmap or Window parameter) 9
  Major opcode: 14 (X_GetGeometry)
  Resource id:  0x4a00198
X Error: BadWindow (invalid Window parameter) 3
  Major opcode: 3 (X_GetWindowAttributes)
  Resource id:  0x1fe87a8
QPainter::begin: Cannot paint on a null pixmap
X Error: BadDrawable (invalid Pixmap or Window parameter) 9
  Extension:    149 (RENDER)
  Minor opcode: 4 (RenderCreatePicture)
  Resource id:  0x4a00198
X Error: BadValue (integer parameter out of range for operation) 2
  Major opcode: 53 (X_CreatePixmap)
  Resource id:  0x0
X Error: BadDrawable (invalid Pixmap or Window parameter) 9
  Major opcode: 14 (X_GetGeometry)
  Resource id:  0x4a0019a
X Error: BadWindow (invalid Window parameter) 3
  Major opcode: 3 (X_GetWindowAttributes)
  Resource id:  0x0
X Error: BadDrawable (invalid Pixmap or Window parameter) 9
  Extension:    149 (RENDER)
  Minor opcode: 4 (RenderCreatePicture)
  Resource id:  0x4a0019a
X Error: RenderBadPicture (invalid Picture parameter) 163
  Extension:    149 (RENDER)
  Minor opcode: 8 (RenderComposite)
  Resource id:  0x4a0019a
X Error: BadDrawable (invalid Pixmap or Window parameter) 9
  Major opcode: 55 (X_CreateGC)
  Resource id:  0x4a0019a
X Error: BadDrawable (invalid Pixmap or Window parameter) 9
  Major opcode: 55 (X_CreateGC)
  Resource id:  0x4a0019a
X Error: BadAlloc (insufficient resources for operation) 11
  Major opcode: 53 (X_CreatePixmap)
  Resource id:  0x172
X Error: BadDrawable (invalid Pixmap or Window parameter) 9
  Extension:    149 (RENDER)
  Minor opcode: 4 (RenderCreatePicture)
  Resource id:  0x4a0019e
X Error: BadDrawable (invalid Pixmap or Window parameter) 9
  Major opcode: 55 (X_CreateGC)
  Resource id:  0x4a0019e
X Error: BadDrawable (invalid Pixmap or Window parameter) 9
  Major opcode: 62 (X_CopyArea)
  Resource id:  0x4a0019e
X Error: BadGC (invalid GC parameter) 13
  Major opcode: 60 (X_FreeGC)
  Resource id:  0x4a0019e
X Error: RenderBadPicture (invalid Picture parameter) 163
  Extension:    149 (RENDER)
  Minor opcode: 5 (RenderChangePicture)
  Resource id:  0x4a0019e
X Error: BadGC (invalid GC parameter) 13
  Major opcode: 60 (X_FreeGC)
  Resource id:  0x4a0019e
X Error: BadGC (invalid GC parameter) 13
  Major opcode: 60 (X_FreeGC)
  Resource id:  0x4a0019e
X Error: RenderBadPicture (invalid Picture parameter) 163
  Extension:    149 (RENDER)
  Minor opcode: 7 (RenderFreePicture)
  Resource id:  0x4a0019e
X Error: BadValue (integer parameter out of range for operation) 2
  Major opcode: 53 (X_CreatePixmap)
  Resource id:  0x0
X Error: BadDrawable (invalid Pixmap or Window parameter) 9
  Major opcode: 14 (X_GetGeometry)
  Resource id:  0x4a001a1
X Error: BadWindow (invalid Window parameter) 3
  Major opcode: 3 (X_GetWindowAttributes)
  Resource id:  0x21e4f70
QPainter::begin: Cannot paint on a null pixmap
X Error: BadDrawable (invalid Pixmap or Window parameter) 9
  Extension:    149 (RENDER)
  Minor opcode: 4 (RenderCreatePicture)
  Resource id:  0x4a001a1
X Error: BadValue (integer parameter out of range for operation) 2
  Major opcode: 53 (X_CreatePixmap)
  Resource id:  0x0
X Error: BadDrawable (invalid Pixmap or Window parameter) 9
  Major opcode: 14 (X_GetGeometry)
  Resource id:  0x4a001a3
X Error: BadWindow (invalid Window parameter) 3
  Major opcode: 3 (X_GetWindowAttributes)
  Resource id:  0x0
QPainter::begin: Cannot paint on a null pixmap
X Error: BadDrawable (invalid Pixmap or Window parameter) 9
  Extension:    149 (RENDER)
  Minor opcode: 4 (RenderCreatePicture)
  Resource id:  0x4a001a3
X Error: BadValue (integer parameter out of range for operation) 2
  Major opcode: 53 (X_CreatePixmap)
  Resource id:  0x0
X Error: BadDrawable (invalid Pixmap or Window parameter) 9
  Major opcode: 14 (X_GetGeometry)
  Resource id:  0x4a001a5
X Error: BadWindow (invalid Window parameter) 3
  Major opcode: 3 (X_GetWindowAttributes)
  Resource id:  0x40
QPainter::begin: Cannot paint on a null pixmap
X Error: BadDrawable (invalid Pixmap or Window parameter) 9
  Extension:    149 (RENDER)
  Minor opcode: 4 (RenderCreatePicture)
  Resource id:  0x4a001a5
X Error: BadValue (integer parameter out of range for operation) 2
  Major opcode: 53 (X_CreatePixmap)
  Resource id:  0x0
X Error: BadDrawable (invalid Pixmap or Window parameter) 9
  Major opcode: 14 (X_GetGeometry)
  Resource id:  0x4a001a7
X Error: BadWindow (invalid Window parameter) 3
  Major opcode: 3 (X_GetWindowAttributes)
  Resource id:  0x80
QPainter::begin: Cannot paint on a null pixmap
X Error: BadDrawable (invalid Pixmap or Window parameter) 9
  Extension:    149 (RENDER)
  Minor opcode: 4 (RenderCreatePicture)
  Resource id:  0x4a001a7
X Error: BadValue (integer parameter out of range for operation) 2
  Major opcode: 53 (X_CreatePixmap)
  Resource id:  0x0
X Error: BadDrawable (invalid Pixmap or Window parameter) 9
  Major opcode: 14 (X_GetGeometry)
  Resource id:  0x4a001a9
X Error: BadWindow (invalid Window parameter) 3
  Major opcode: 3 (X_GetWindowAttributes)
  Resource id:  0x0
QPainter::begin: Cannot paint on a null pixmap
X Error: BadDrawable (invalid Pixmap or Window parameter) 9
  Extension:    149 (RENDER)
  Minor opcode: 4 (RenderCreatePicture)
  Resource id:  0x4a001a9
krunner(7333) KDevelopSessions::KDevelopSessions: INIT KDEV 
krunner(7333) KDevelopSessions::loadSessions: LOADSESSION!.>>> 
"/usr/bin/kdeinit4(7333)" Soprano: "org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown - The name org.kde.nepomuk.services.nepomukstorage was not provided by any .service files"
"/usr/bin/kdeinit4(7333)" Soprano: "QLocalSocket::connectToServer: Invalid name"
"/usr/bin/kdeinit4(7333)" Soprano: "org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown - The name org.kde.nepomuk.services.nepomukstorage was not provided by any .service files"
"/usr/bin/kdeinit4(7333)" Soprano: "QLocalSocket::connectToServer: Invalid name"
"/usr/bin/kdeinit4(7333)" Soprano: "org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown - The name org.kde.nepomuk.services.nepomukstorage was not provided by any .service files"
"/usr/bin/kdeinit4(7333)" Soprano: "QLocalSocket::connectToServer: Invalid name"
krunner(7333)/libplasma Plasma::Package::isValid: Could not find required file mainscript 
X Error: BadPixmap (invalid Pixmap parameter) 4
  Major opcode: 54 (X_FreePixmap)
  Resource id:  0x4a00195
X Error: BadPixmap (invalid Pixmap parameter) 4
  Major opcode: 54 (X_FreePixmap)
  Resource id:  0x4a00198
X Error: BadPixmap (invalid Pixmap parameter) 4
  Major opcode: 54 (X_FreePixmap)
  Resource id:  0x4a0019e
X Error: BadPixmap (invalid Pixmap parameter) 4
  Major opcode: 54 (X_FreePixmap)
  Resource id:  0x4a001a1
X Error: BadPixmap (invalid Pixmap parameter) 4
  Major opcode: 54 (X_FreePixmap)
  Resource id:  0x4a001a3
X Error: BadPixmap (invalid Pixmap parameter) 4
  Major opcode: 54 (X_FreePixmap)
  Resource id:  0x4a001a5
X Error: BadPixmap (invalid Pixmap parameter) 4
  Major opcode: 54 (X_FreePixmap)
  Resource id:  0x4a001a7
X Error: BadPixmap (invalid Pixmap parameter) 4
  Major opcode: 54 (X_FreePixmap)
  Resource id:  0x4a001a9
X Error: RenderBadPicture (invalid Picture parameter) 163
  Extension:    149 (RENDER)
  Minor opcode: 7 (RenderFreePicture)
  Resource id:  0x4a001a9
X Error: RenderBadPicture (invalid Picture parameter) 163
  Extension:    149 (RENDER)
  Minor opcode: 7 (RenderFreePicture)
  Resource id:  0x4a001a9
X Error: RenderBadPicture (invalid Picture parameter) 163
  Extension:    149 (RENDER)
  Minor opcode: 7 (RenderFreePicture)
  Resource id:  0x4a001a9
X Error: RenderBadPicture (invalid Picture parameter) 163
  Extension:    149 (RENDER)
  Minor opcode: 7 (RenderFreePicture)
  Resource id:  0x4a001a9
X Error: RenderBadPicture (invalid Picture parameter) 163
  Extension:    149 (RENDER)
  Minor opcode: 7 (RenderFreePicture)
  Resource id:  0x4a001a9
X Error: RenderBadPicture (invalid Picture parameter) 163
  Extension:    149 (RENDER)
  Minor opcode: 7 (RenderFreePicture)
  Resource id:  0x4a001a9
X Error: BadPixmap (invalid Pixmap parameter) 4
  Major opcode: 54 (X_FreePixmap)
  Resource id:  0x4a0019e
X Error: RenderBadPicture (invalid Picture parameter) 163
  Extension:    149 (RENDER)
  Minor opcode: 7 (RenderFreePicture)
  Resource id:  0x4a0019e
X Error: RenderBadPicture (invalid Picture parameter) 163
  Extension:    149 (RENDER)
  Minor opcode: 7 (RenderFreePicture)
  Resource id:  0x4a0019e
X Error: BadPixmap (invalid Pixmap parameter) 4
  Major opcode: 54 (X_FreePixmap)
  Resource id:  0x4a00195
X Error: BadValue (integer parameter out of range for operation) 2
  Major opcode: 53 (X_CreatePixmap)
  Resource id:  0x0
X Error: BadDrawable (invalid Pixmap or Window parameter) 9
  Major opcode: 14 (X_GetGeometry)
  Resource id:  0x4a0028e
X Error: BadWindow (invalid Window parameter) 3
  Major opcode: 3 (X_GetWindowAttributes)
  Resource id:  0x21e3a80
X Error: BadDrawable (invalid Pixmap or Window parameter) 9
  Extension:    149 (RENDER)
  Minor opcode: 4 (RenderCreatePicture)
  Resource id:  0x4a0028e
X Error: RenderBadPicture (invalid Picture parameter) 163
  Extension:    149 (RENDER)
  Minor opcode: 8 (RenderComposite)
  Resource id:  0x4a0028e
X Error: BadDrawable (invalid Pixmap or Window parameter) 9
  Major opcode: 55 (X_CreateGC)
  Resource id:  0x4a0028e
X Error: BadDrawable (invalid Pixmap or Window parameter) 9
  Major opcode: 55 (X_CreateGC)
  Resource id:  0x4a0028e
X Error: BadDrawable (invalid Pixmap or Window parameter) 9
  Major opcode: 73 (X_GetImage)
  Resource id:  0x4a0028e
Qt has caught an exception thrown from an event handler. Throwing
exceptions from an event handler is not supported in Qt. You must
reimplement QApplication::notify() and catch all exceptions there.

terminate called after throwing an instance of 'std::bad_alloc'
  what():  std::bad_alloc

I certainly don't care enaugh anymore to fill bug reports. I am not interested in a full time job.