tde-users April 2025

users@trinitydesktop.org

28 participants
36 discussions

TDE 14.1.3 32-bit on Single Core Computers
by Darrell Anderson 14 Apr '25

14 Apr '25

I like to tinker some with vintage computers. Kind of fascinating. I am able to use much of TDE on single core computers (compiled in a 32-bit VM on a 4-core system :-)). The systems are running Slackware 14.1 32-bit with Seagate Barracuda IV spinners. One system has 256 MB RAM, the other 448 MB. As might be expected booting takes time but once that completes can TDE be used? With nominal patience, yes. Even with 10/100 Mbs NICs, Konqueror is responsive traversing network directories. The spinners are a bottleneck but TDE is usable. RAM usage after logging in (console/startx) and letting everything settle: 256 MB RAM: console: 14 MB; TDE: 239 MB 0 MB swap 448 MB RAM: console: 15 MB; TDE: 292 MB 0 MB swap This is with Konqueror preloaded in the configs, minimal system daemons, etc. Further usage eventually sees swap get used because of the limited RAM. Before anybody chuckles too hard, back in the KDE 3.5.x days these systems were my daily drivers. Mostly with Windows NT4 but dual booting into Slackware and 3.5.x. Likely some responsiveness could be squeezed by using older Slackware releases matching the hardware of 20 years ago. Use as a daily driver? Probably not. :-) That I can attempt this let alone actually succeed is nonetheless remarkable. As a proof-of-concept test I think this is a fine testament to how TDE is designed and maintained. Just nice to see this work. Big smile!

2 1

Cursor movement after searching text
by Darrell Anderson 13 Apr '25

13 Apr '25

Is there a way to configure katepart to provide a more "intelligent" cursor movement after searching text? I do not see anything relevant in the Cursor & Selection Behavior configuration. 1. In kate or kwrite invoke a normal search/find. 2. Close the Find dialog. 3. Notice the text is highlighted. 4. Press the keyboard left or right arrow navigation key. When pressing the left key, my expectation is the cursor should move to the immediate left of the selection highlight. Instead the cursor moves to the character on the immediate left of the end of the selection. Similarly, when pressing the right arrow key the cursor moves to the next character to the right rather than just end the selection highlight and keep the cursor at the same place. My expectation is the cursor movement I have seen in other text editors. Thanks. :)

1 0

Kate KTextEditor Incremental Search Plugin
by Darrell Anderson 12 Apr '25

12 Apr '25

There is a collection of Kate plugins in the tdeaddons package. One of the plugins is called KTextEditor Incremental Search Plugin. I am scratching my head how to use the plugin. The respective plugin Comment shows Also known as "As you type search". If I start typing I simply add text to my document. If I invoke the Find dialog nothing happens unless I press the Find button, just like normal search. The Kate Plugins Handbook does not include the plugins from the tdeaddons package. So -- how to use the plugin? And second, is this information cleverly hidden in a handbook? Thanks. :)

1 0

VirtualBox bidirectional clipboard
by Darrell Anderson 12 Apr '25

12 Apr '25

Does the VirtualBox bidirectional clipboard function with TDE? I am unable to get that to function with TDE VMs. Thanks.

2 1

TDE Benchmarks
by Darrell Anderson 10 Apr '25

10 Apr '25

This might be a controversial topic and might bring the wallflowers out screaming with high opinions, but has anybody tried to run meaningful benchmarks with TDE? I'm not talking about click-bait or hardware benchmarks. More like how snappy TDE actually is. Another benchmark is energy consumption. Both types of benchmarks probably need several days of data collection to be meaningful. Data that is collected with more than 10 minutes in a virtual machine and an author bio photo wearing sunglasses. I tinker with vintage computers. Earlier today I installed TDE 14.1.3 on some dual core clunkers with SATA II spinners. I do not expect spinners to impress anybody these days, let alone SATA II, but the desktop is way snappier than I was expecting. No hanging or stuttering. The most important benchmark is solitaire (KPatience) runs nicely. With these observations, I realized could survive for a while with these computers if my main rig bit the dust. (I am going to test TDE on some single core systems too. :-)) I am not much surprised TDE runs well on these systems. After all, KDE 3.5.10 was released in the same time period these computers were sold. With these spinners Konqueror responds nicely, even with network shares. And that raises a different topic to enjoy favorite beverages -- why are most GUI file managers/explorers so slow compared to Konqueror? Kudos to the devs, past and present. Yesterday I was doing some oddball testing of the dual batteries on my T580 laptop. Although the laptop was idle much of the day, I noticed overall energy consumption was low. I never really looked at that before with other desktop environments, but the trivia got me thinking. Is TDE more energy efficient than other modern desktops? Is that even measurable? So let the vampires and werewolves loose. I am not looking for mere confirmation bias slaps on the back. Let me know if you have some ideas how to test TDE in a meaningful manner. Yes, all things considered, nobody really gives a hoot. Just use whatever tickles your fancy. If you can't tell, I am going a bit stir crazy. Spring just refuses to come this year. :-(

3 6

Scrollbar width redux
by Darrell Anderson 10 Apr '25

10 Apr '25

With respect to scroll bar widths, I'm looking for documentation and ideas how this design element functions. Except for Keramic, seems the built-in widget styles from tdebase mostly are inflexible except for common elements. Those common elements are the check boxes below the KControl Widget Style drop-down control. The challenge is I am the square peg in a world of round holes. Nothing new there, been walking through my life like that for many decades. I much like the simplicity of the TDE Classic widget style. To many people that style is boring, but I prefer boring in my desktop environment. I like the raised button look. I don't much like any other style. Not into fancy sheen, gloss, flatness, and all that. And my eyes scream at anything resembling a full dark theme. I almost get violent every time I visit a web site designed with dark themes. That crap hurts my eyes. I don't know how much effort is involved to get a scroll bar width control into TDE Classic. Probably too much. I'm guessing I need to create my own theme style, using one of the widget styles already supporting scroll width controls such as Lipstik, QtCurve, or Polyester. From there try to tweak the look-and-feel and raised buttons like TDE Classic. I don't have every single theme package installed. Perhaps there are more supporting scroll bar widths and raised buttons. Let the hounds loose. Share your thoughts. :) Thanks.

1 0

Scroll bar width
by Darrell Anderson 10 Apr '25

10 Apr '25

I think I asked this question a really long time ago. Is there a way to adjust the width of TDE scroll bars? Is this theme dependent? Thanks.

4 5

Error with QtCurve style
by Darrell Anderson 10 Apr '25

10 Apr '25

TDE 14.1.3, Slackware 15.0 64-bit. I built the QtCurve style theme. When I select the KControl Configure dialog I receive the following error: KLibrary: /opt/trinity/lib64/trinity/tdestyle_qtcurve_config.so: undefined symbol: allocate_tdestyle_config tdestyle_qtcurve_config allocate_tdestyle_config My limited understanding of C++ is the error implies something not declared or defined correctly in the sources. I presume the package functions correctly for you Debian folks, which implies some kind of adjustment or patch needed in Slackware. Help appreciated. Thank you.

1 0

Reading epubs
by Darrell Anderson 09 Apr '25

09 Apr '25

Does KBookReader actually work? Or am I demonstrating Yet Another PEBKAC issue? The tool loads fine but when I open an epub all I get is gobbledygook. There is no handbook. Before any Horshacks respond, yes I tried TDE Ebook Reader ported from FBReader. Kind of user hostile with the non standard interface. The design seems to presume a user has create some kind of library. The formatting is less than pleasing. Installing both packages creates no epub file associations. Odd.

1 0

Reordering konsole tabs with mouse
by Darrell Anderson 08 Apr '25

08 Apr '25

Konsole supports reordering tab sessions with keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl+Shift+Left|Right) and the tab context menu. Is reordering possible with the mouse using drag-and-drop? I am unable to do that, but perhaps I have something misconfigured. Thanks!

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tde-users April 2025