issue97:critique_-_kde_plasma_5
Différences
Ci-dessous, les différences entre deux révisions de la page.
Prochaine révision | Révision précédente | ||
issue97:critique_-_kde_plasma_5 [2015/06/04 12:23] – créée d52fr | issue97:critique_-_kde_plasma_5 [2015/06/21 18:21] (Version actuelle) – auntiee | ||
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- | This April’s version of Kubuntu is the first to come by default with the new KDE desktop manager version 5, based on the Plasma 5 user interface toolkit. Previously, in 14.10, two separate desktop environments were offered; the more classical KDE 4 for users more interested in stability, and KDE 5 for early adopters and testers. | + | **This April’s version of Kubuntu is the first to come by default with the new KDE desktop manager version 5, based on the Plasma 5 user interface toolkit. Previously, in 14.10, two separate desktop environments were offered; the more classical KDE 4 for users more interested in stability, and KDE 5 for early adopters and testers. |
KDE has long been known both for its quality graphics, and for its ease of use and configuration. Unfortunately, | KDE has long been known both for its quality graphics, and for its ease of use and configuration. Unfortunately, | ||
- | The impression we have is that the KDE project team members have been hard at work making the KDE desktop as a whole much more responsive, and ironing out the various defects that plagued original releases of KDE 4; it certainly seems worth testing out the new KDE, and seeing what progress has been made on this front, and whether the new Kubuntu 15.04 can be used today as a general purpose desktop distribution as it has in the past. | + | The impression we have is that the KDE project team members have been hard at work making the KDE desktop as a whole much more responsive, and ironing out the various defects that plagued original releases of KDE 4; it certainly seems worth testing out the new KDE, and seeing what progress has been made on this front, and whether the new Kubuntu 15.04 can be used today as a general purpose desktop distribution as it has in the past.** |
- | KDE versions 3 and 4 | + | La version de Kubuntu de cet avril est la première qui arrive avec, par défaut, le nouveau gestionnaire de bureau KDE version 5, basé sur la boîte à outils d' |
+ | |||
+ | KDE est connu depuis longtemps pour ses qualités graphiques et pour sa facilité d' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Nous avons l' | ||
+ | |||
+ | **KDE versions 3 and 4 | ||
The last version of Kubuntu that came with KDE version 3 (to be precise, 3.5) was Kubuntu 8.04, considered by many as a fairly advanced and stable desktop for the time. | The last version of Kubuntu that came with KDE version 3 (to be precise, 3.5) was Kubuntu 8.04, considered by many as a fairly advanced and stable desktop for the time. | ||
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Perhaps if KDE 4 had been released as beta software, still maintaining the version 3.5 desktop as an option, critical reception would have been better. In their defense, the KDE project members may have considered that working on a single version of their desktop manager was a better use of limited resources. | Perhaps if KDE 4 had been released as beta software, still maintaining the version 3.5 desktop as an option, critical reception would have been better. In their defense, the KDE project members may have considered that working on a single version of their desktop manager was a better use of limited resources. | ||
- | KDE 4 introduced a new concept of working with the desktop. Although some elements were distributed in much the same way -- the taskbar, for example, was remarkably similar -- the desktop itself was converted from a mere backdrop that supported icons, to a more global work area in which active elements, desktop widgets, could be placed. | + | KDE 4 introduced a new concept of working with the desktop. Although some elements were distributed in much the same way -- the taskbar, for example, was remarkably similar -- the desktop itself was converted from a mere backdrop that supported icons, to a more global work area in which active elements, desktop widgets, could be placed.** |
- | Furthermore, | + | KDE versions 3 et 4 |
+ | |||
+ | La dernière version sortie avec KDE version 3 (3.5 pour être précis) était Kubuntu 8.04, considéré par beaucoup comme un bureau assez avancé et stable pour l' | ||
+ | |||
+ | L' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Kubuntu 8.04 est réellement sorti en deux versions, l'une avec KDE 3.5 et l' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Ce ne fut pas un grand succès. D'un côté, les utilisateurs étaient contents de voir que le projet KDE ne s' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Peut-être que, si KDE 4 avait été publié comme une version bêta, tout en maintenant la version 3.5 de KDE comme option, les critiques auraient été meilleures. Pour leur défense, les membres du projet KDE ont pu considérer qu'il était préférable de travailler sur une seule version de bureau, au vu de leurs effectifs limités. | ||
+ | |||
+ | KDE 4 a introduit une nouvelle façon de travailler sur le bureau. Bien que certains éléments aient été positionnés de la même manière - la barre de taches, par exemple, était parfaitement similaire - le bureau lui-même était converti d'un simple arrière-plan qui portait des icônes en un espace de travail plus vaste dans lequel des éléments actifs, les gadgets du bureau, pouvaient être placés. | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Furthermore, | ||
This is a different concept than virtual desktops -- each activity could contain its own virtual desktops -- although in practice both mechanisms can be used for the same purpose of organizing windows. | This is a different concept than virtual desktops -- each activity could contain its own virtual desktops -- although in practice both mechanisms can be used for the same purpose of organizing windows. | ||
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The interested reader can still access the original distribution ISO images at http:// | The interested reader can still access the original distribution ISO images at http:// | ||
- | In any case, the KDE 3 series still lives on as the Trinity project (https:// | + | In any case, the KDE 3 series still lives on as the Trinity project (https:// |
- | On to Plasma 5 | + | De plus, les activités ont été introduites. Elles fonctionnaient comme des bureaux séparés ; l' |
+ | |||
+ | C'est un concept différent de celui des bureaux virtuels - chaque activité pouvait contenir ses propres bureaux virtuels - bien qu'en pratique les deux mécanismes puissent être utilisés dans le même but d' | ||
+ | |||
+ | C'est aussi à ce moment-là que la terminologie « Plasma » fut introduite, en référence à la technologie de l' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Le lecteur intéressé peut encore accéder aux images ISO originales de la distribution à : http:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | De toute façon, la série KDE 3 vit encore par le projet Trinity (https:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | **On to Plasma 5 | ||
Working with Plasma 5 should not give many surprises to users used to running KDE 4. KDE version 4.14 in Kubuntu 14.10 is much more refined -- and stable! -- than the original 4.0, and the new Plasma 5 environment seems to draw heavily on this now mature version of KDE 4. | Working with Plasma 5 should not give many surprises to users used to running KDE 4. KDE version 4.14 in Kubuntu 14.10 is much more refined -- and stable! -- than the original 4.0, and the new Plasma 5 environment seems to draw heavily on this now mature version of KDE 4. | ||
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Application and other icons have evolved towards a flatter presentation, | Application and other icons have evolved towards a flatter presentation, | ||
- | The new design is pervasive across the desktop environment. Besides the main (large) icon set used for files, the status bar, menu bars, the Dolphin file manager’s lateral bar, and various dialog windows, all share a second, understated and smaller version of the new icon set. This mini-icon set is based on pure line art, in black for informative icons and red for alerts, on a gray background. The lack of details combined with a very small base icon style can make for difficult reading at times. Perhaps the designers were thinking of higher resolution viewing screens, where the thin lines may be better rendered. | + | The new design is pervasive across the desktop environment. Besides the main (large) icon set used for files, the status bar, menu bars, the Dolphin file manager’s lateral bar, and various dialog windows, all share a second, understated and smaller version of the new icon set. This mini-icon set is based on pure line art, in black for informative icons and red for alerts, on a gray background. The lack of details combined with a very small base icon style can make for difficult reading at times. Perhaps the designers were thinking of higher resolution viewing screens, where the thin lines may be better rendered.** |
- | A window theme called Breeze replaces KDE 4’s Oxygen and replaces the light or dark gray gradients we know with wide, uniform dark window bars. Widget buttons show new OK and Cancel buttons with revised graphics based on thin lines, also similar in a way to Apple’s newest offerings. | + | Passons à Plasma 5 |
+ | |||
+ | L' | ||
+ | |||
+ | La première impression que nous avons en faisant tourner Kubuntu 15.04 Vivid Vervet concerne les couleurs. Le bureau par défaut a abandonné la traditionnelle palette de bleus de KDE et est allé vers un jeu de couleurs plus bariolées. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Les applications et les autres icônes ont évolué vers une présentation plus uniforme, laissant tomber la tendance skeuomorphique (voir https:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | La nouvelle conception est généralisée dans l' | ||
+ | |||
+ | **A window theme called Breeze replaces KDE 4’s Oxygen and replaces the light or dark gray gradients we know with wide, uniform dark window bars. Widget buttons show new OK and Cancel buttons with revised graphics based on thin lines, also similar in a way to Apple’s newest offerings. | ||
Notifications are rather low-key, appearing briefly in the low right-hand corner. Each individual notification can be managed on a granular basis: we can choose for each action whether we prefer a message, a sound, both or neither. | Notifications are rather low-key, appearing briefly in the low right-hand corner. Each individual notification can be managed on a granular basis: we can choose for each action whether we prefer a message, a sound, both or neither. | ||
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Clicking on the notification message gets us, in many cases, to the relevant program to solve the problem; for example, from an alert concerning lacking packages, we can run the relevant installer directly. After installing the public release version of Kubuntu 15.04, the updater came up immediately with a request to install a security update. This is not quite rocket science as far as user interface design is concerned, but is certainly helpful in day-to-day system management. | Clicking on the notification message gets us, in many cases, to the relevant program to solve the problem; for example, from an alert concerning lacking packages, we can run the relevant installer directly. After installing the public release version of Kubuntu 15.04, the updater came up immediately with a request to install a security update. This is not quite rocket science as far as user interface design is concerned, but is certainly helpful in day-to-day system management. | ||
- | The driver manager is also there, ready to inform the user about the availability of specific drivers for the hardware. | + | The driver manager is also there, ready to inform the user about the availability of specific drivers for the hardware.** |
- | Activities and virtual desktops work in the same way as KDE 4. So do the various types of desktop organization (“workspace type” in KDE terminology). KDE 5 includes two types of workspace that can be configured from the desktop settings window (right click on the desktop): | + | Un thème de fenêtre appelé Breeze remplace Oxygen de KDE 4 et les variations de gris clairs et sombres que nous connaissons sont remplacées par de larges barres de fenêtres noires et uniformes. Les boutons des gadgets présentent de nouveaux boutons OK et Annuler avec un graphisme revu, fait de fines lignes, assez semblable aux nouvelles présentations d' |
+ | |||
+ | Les notifications sont plutôt discrètes, apparaissant brièvement dans le coin inférieur droit. Chaque notification individuelle peut être gérée sur une base granulaire : nous pouvons choisir pour chaque action si nous préférons un message, un son, les deux ou aucun. | ||
+ | |||
+ | En cliquant sur le message de notification, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Le gestionnaire de pilotes est aussi présent, prêt à informer l' | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Activities and virtual desktops work in the same way as KDE 4. So do the various types of desktop organization (“workspace type” in KDE terminology). KDE 5 includes two types of workspace that can be configured from the desktop settings window (right click on the desktop): | ||
• A “standard” desktop view, in which no elements are actually located on the screen. | • A “standard” desktop view, in which no elements are actually located on the screen. | ||
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These seem to have disappeared in KDE 5 for some reason; they can no longer be downloaded from the repositories, | These seem to have disappeared in KDE 5 for some reason; they can no longer be downloaded from the repositories, | ||
- | Perhaps the most noteworthy feature of Plasma 5 is the lack of specific new additions. Some changes have been made, such as the login display manager (the new SDDM replaced KDM), or the Baloo file indexer replacing Nepomuk. As for the rest, the systems settings configuration panel, the file manager, and other components of the desktop environment work much in the same way as KDE 4. In this sense, KDE 5 can be seen more as a continuation of KDE 4 than a revolution. There are fewer differences between them from a user’s perspective than between versions 3 and 4. | + | Perhaps the most noteworthy feature of Plasma 5 is the lack of specific new additions. Some changes have been made, such as the login display manager (the new SDDM replaced KDM), or the Baloo file indexer replacing Nepomuk. As for the rest, the systems settings configuration panel, the file manager, and other components of the desktop environment work much in the same way as KDE 4. In this sense, KDE 5 can be seen more as a continuation of KDE 4 than a revolution. There are fewer differences between them from a user’s perspective than between versions 3 and 4.** |
- | Speed is important | + | Les activités et les bureaux virtuels fonctionnent de la même façon qu' |
+ | |||
+ | • une vue de bureau standard sur lequel aucun élément n'est réellement situé sur l' | ||
+ | • la vue « dossiers », dans laquelle le contenu du dossier / | ||
+ | |||
+ | Précédemment, | ||
+ | • une disposition « journal », qui organisait les fenêtres et les autres gadgets du bureau en colonnes; | ||
+ | • une vue « netbook », avec un menu principal qui couvrait tout le bureau, dans le style des interfaces utilisateur de tablettes et des téléphones. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Ceux-ci ont, semble-t-il, | ||
+ | |||
+ | La fonctionnalité qui est peut-être la plus significative de Plasma 5 est l' | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Speed is important | ||
As stated above, the final releases of KDE version 4 already gave better performance figures than previously. This tendency is confirmed by Plasma 5. We have tested the new desktop on two platforms. One was an Intel Core i5 laptop with an SSD hard drive, while the other was one of the original Acer Aspire netbooks, equipped with an Intel Atom 1.6 GHz processor, 1 GByte of RAM, and a spinning drive. | As stated above, the final releases of KDE version 4 already gave better performance figures than previously. This tendency is confirmed by Plasma 5. We have tested the new desktop on two platforms. One was an Intel Core i5 laptop with an SSD hard drive, while the other was one of the original Acer Aspire netbooks, equipped with an Intel Atom 1.6 GHz processor, 1 GByte of RAM, and a spinning drive. | ||
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On the other hand, I approached the small Acer with a bit of trepidation. I had abandoned all ideas of using a complete desktop manager with all the graphical bells and whistles on this particular piece of equipment; its purview was restricted to lightweights such as Xubuntu’s XFCE and MATE - where it did quite well, indeed. | On the other hand, I approached the small Acer with a bit of trepidation. I had abandoned all ideas of using a complete desktop manager with all the graphical bells and whistles on this particular piece of equipment; its purview was restricted to lightweights such as Xubuntu’s XFCE and MATE - where it did quite well, indeed. | ||
- | Rather to my surprise, the Kubuntu 15.04 (i386) software + small Acer hardware combination booted up in 1 minute 46 seconds. This may seem a tad slow at first sight, but is actually quite correct given the age of this (rather low-range) piece of hardware. Obviously, boot-up times are at a much faster 40 seconds on the Core i5 due to the combination of a more powerful processor and, most of all, the SSD hard drive. | + | Rather to my surprise, the Kubuntu 15.04 (i386) software + small Acer hardware combination booted up in 1 minute 46 seconds. This may seem a tad slow at first sight, but is actually quite correct given the age of this (rather low-range) piece of hardware. Obviously, boot-up times are at a much faster 40 seconds on the Core i5 due to the combination of a more powerful processor and, most of all, the SSD hard drive.** |
- | Sound and graphics work well out of the box on the Acer, as does WiFi. I was able to navigate the web and even view videos on Youtube with no hassle. Video reproduction is a bit choppy for any resolution over 400 pixels, which is perhaps excusable for the available hardware. The hardware manager immediately came up, and proposed the installation of the single proprietary driver applicable for this particular laptop (Intel CPU microcode). | + | La vitesse est importante |
+ | |||
+ | Comme indiqué plus haut, les dernières publications de KDE version 4 affichaient déjà des meilleures performances que précédemment. Cette tendance est confirmée avec Plasma 5. Nous avons testé le nouveau bureau sur deux plate-formes. L'une était un portable Intel Core i5 avec un disque SSD, alors que l' | ||
+ | |||
+ | La performance de Kubuntu 15.04 était bonne sur le Core i5, comme prévu. Le système apparaît de manière plutôt dynamique et après une navigation Internet assez intense et l' | ||
+ | |||
+ | En revanche, j' | ||
+ | |||
+ | À ma grande surprise, l' | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Sound and graphics work well out of the box on the Acer, as does WiFi. I was able to navigate the web and even view videos on Youtube with no hassle. Video reproduction is a bit choppy for any resolution over 400 pixels, which is perhaps excusable for the available hardware. The hardware manager immediately came up, and proposed the installation of the single proprietary driver applicable for this particular laptop (Intel CPU microcode). | ||
A specific tweak applied to this computer, that can be recommended for computers with slower hard drives, is to disable file indexing. The Baloo indexer can be configured to index only some volumes or deactivated altogether in the System settings > Desktop effects control panel. Otherwise, the user can expect some heavy disk usage, at least the first times the system is booted up. On the Core i5, Baloo’s activity resulted in one of the processor cores getting pegged at 100% capacity for some time, as it digested the contents of the hard drive. | A specific tweak applied to this computer, that can be recommended for computers with slower hard drives, is to disable file indexing. The Baloo indexer can be configured to index only some volumes or deactivated altogether in the System settings > Desktop effects control panel. Otherwise, the user can expect some heavy disk usage, at least the first times the system is booted up. On the Core i5, Baloo’s activity resulted in one of the processor cores getting pegged at 100% capacity for some time, as it digested the contents of the hard drive. | ||
- | The overall impression is that much attention has been given to staying more-or-less within the general desktop design parameters initially drawn up for KDE 4, while increasing actual usability on a wider range of hardware platforms. | + | The overall impression is that much attention has been given to staying more-or-less within the general desktop design parameters initially drawn up for KDE 4, while increasing actual usability on a wider range of hardware platforms.** |
+ | |||
+ | Le son et les graphismes fonctionnent bien dès le début pour l' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Un réglage particulier de désactivation de l' | ||
+ | |||
+ | L' | ||
- | All is not rosy | + | **All is not rosy |
Unfortunately, | Unfortunately, | ||
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The beta versions of Kubuntu 15.04 did contain quite a lot of bugs. For example, the installer simply locked for some testers, while, in my case, I got a system that went into sleep recurringly every two minutes while the installer was doing its job. Once the system was up and running, upgrading the kernel to version 3.19 did not work well for some, needing a reboot back into the previous version, 3.16. | The beta versions of Kubuntu 15.04 did contain quite a lot of bugs. For example, the installer simply locked for some testers, while, in my case, I got a system that went into sleep recurringly every two minutes while the installer was doing its job. Once the system was up and running, upgrading the kernel to version 3.19 did not work well for some, needing a reboot back into the previous version, 3.16. | ||
- | A noticeable quirk is that the kwallet application reported needing to migrate from a previous file layout to a more modern version. This happened to me even when performing a fresh install with the public release, which was a bit weird. | + | A noticeable quirk is that the kwallet application reported needing to migrate from a previous file layout to a more modern version. This happened to me even when performing a fresh install with the public release, which was a bit weird.** |
- | Perhaps the most obvious defect for the general user concerns the notification area in the menu bar. Although general operation is similar to KDE 4’s offering, the internal mechanisms seem to have changed a bit under the hood. This results in not playing well with many external software applications. Dropbox works well in the background, but with no status icon to inform the user about its state. It is difficult to know precisely what the program is doing, which can be a bit of a hassle - especially at the beginning, just after installation, | + | Tout n'est pas rose |
+ | |||
+ | Malheureusement, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Les versions bêta de Kubuntu 15.04 ont contenu un grand nombre de bogues. Par exemple, l' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Une bizarrerie notable est que l' | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Perhaps the most obvious defect for the general user concerns the notification area in the menu bar. Although general operation is similar to KDE 4’s offering, the internal mechanisms seem to have changed a bit under the hood. This results in not playing well with many external software applications. Dropbox works well in the background, but with no status icon to inform the user about its state. It is difficult to know precisely what the program is doing, which can be a bit of a hassle - especially at the beginning, just after installation, | ||
Some computers, such as a low-cost Acer AO-722 notebook, had issues with the screen flickering and window borders disappearing as soon as multiple virtual desktops were enabled. This seems to depend on the graphical hardware present, and can be cured by installing specific graphical drivers or, obviously, by deactivating virtual desktops. | Some computers, such as a low-cost Acer AO-722 notebook, had issues with the screen flickering and window borders disappearing as soon as multiple virtual desktops were enabled. This seems to depend on the graphical hardware present, and can be cured by installing specific graphical drivers or, obviously, by deactivating virtual desktops. | ||
- | More serious was a problem in Beta 2 that left the user looking at a blank screen. Rebooting did not seem to help, either. This seems to be related to a problem with the configuration files, that moved from directory ~/.kde to ~/ | + | More serious was a problem in Beta 2 that left the user looking at a blank screen. Rebooting did not seem to help, either. This seems to be related to a problem with the configuration files, that moved from directory ~/.kde to ~/ |
- | Once again, let us remember that detecting such problems is precisely why beta versions exist. But there do seem to have been a lot of them in this version of Kubuntu, most of which were corrected in the public release of April 23. | + | Peut-être que le défaut le plus évident pour un utilisateur lambda concerne la zone de notification dans la barre de menu. Bien que le fonctionnement soit identique à l' |
+ | |||
+ | Certains ordinateurs, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Le problème dans la bêta 2 qui laissait l' | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Once again, let us remember that detecting such problems is precisely why beta versions exist. But there do seem to have been a lot of them in this version of Kubuntu, most of which were corrected in the public release of April 23. | ||
To end on a more positive note, some of us were wondering if the -admittedly major- system component change towards systemd would affect system usability. I am happy to report this is not the case for Kubuntu 15.04, at least as far as general desktop or laptop use is concerned. I would be more concerned from the standpoint of server administration, | To end on a more positive note, some of us were wondering if the -admittedly major- system component change towards systemd would affect system usability. I am happy to report this is not the case for Kubuntu 15.04, at least as far as general desktop or laptop use is concerned. I would be more concerned from the standpoint of server administration, | ||
- | Aside from the minor difficulties experienced, | + | Aside from the minor difficulties experienced, |
+ | |||
+ | Une fois de plus, permettez-moi de rappeler que les versions bêta existent précisément pour détecter ce genre de problèmes. Mais il semblait qu'il y en avait beaucoup dans cette version de Kubuntu, la plupart ayant été corrigés dans la publication officielle du 23 avril. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Pour finir sur une note plus positive, certains d' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Hormis les problèmes mineurs rencontrés, | ||
+ |
issue97/critique_-_kde_plasma_5.1433413382.txt.gz · Dernière modification : 2015/06/04 12:23 de d52fr