KDE is my new favourite

I have been an active Ubuntu user for 6 years now. I have been using its default desktop. It is stable and has some advantages but it is also a bit boring.

A week ago I switched to Ubuntu 13.10 64-bit, still in alpha.The KDE version is 4.11 and is working very well.

What is good about KDE (k)ompared to standard Ubuntu unity desktop?

1) Looks: Looks way better than Unity/Gnome 3. On par with Linux Mints MATE desktop.

2) Plasmoids: They work way better than in earlier versions of KDE 4.X. I use:

* favouries launcher: Gives a nice application start menu when right clicking on the desktop

* yaWP: Weather prediction

* Some of the built-in plasmoids for CPU, MEM, DISK, NET monitoring, Folder viewer etc

3) Yakuake. Drop down shell. Press F12 and it is there. Again and it is gone.

4) Clementine: Great looking music player

5) Dolphin: Great file manager. Nautilus is also good, but Dolphin has some advantages.

6) Krunner: Press Alt-F2 to start applications or use any of the plugins

7) Short-Cuts: CTRL-ESC for task manager, CTRL-Alt-Esc for kill window.

What is missing:

Some bugs (alpha of Ubuntu). More apps should be based on QT instead of GTK2 in my opinion. Example: Firefox, Filezilla, Shutter, Wine (Gtk2 right?), IBM Notes etc, apps that I use everyday. That would offer a better looking desktop experience and less resources would be needed.

Favourites launcher: http://kde-apps.org/content/show.php?content=117639

yaWP: http://kde-look.org/content/show.php/yaWP+%28Yet+Another+Weather+Plasmoid%29?content=94106

IBM Notes 9 on Ubuntu 13.10 Alpha 64bit

I did an upgrade of Ubuntu from 13.04 64bit to 13.10 64bit where IBM Notes 9 stopped working.

After some try and error I finally got it working again after installing some compatibility libraries. These I selected to remove during upgrade (Ubuntu asked nicely if it could remove these and I accepted by mistake)

Install this:

sudo apt-get install libgnomeprint2.2-0:i386 libgnomeprintui2.2-0:i386 unzip:i386  libart-2.0-2:i386 libasound2:i386 libatk1.0-0:i386 libbonobo2-0:i386 libbonoboui2-0:i386 libc6:i386  libfontconfig1:i386 libfreetype6:i386 libgcc1:i386 libgconf2-4:i386 libgtk2.0-0:i386 libglib2.0-0:i386 libgnome2-0:i386 libgnomecanvas2-0:i386 libgnomeui-0:i386 libgnomevfs2-0:i386 libglib2.0-0:i386 libice6:i386 libjpeg62:i386 liborbit2:i386 libpam0g:i386 libpango1.0-0:i386 libpng12-0:i386 libpopt0:i386 libsm6:i386 libstdc++6:i386 libx11-6:i386 libxcursor1:i386 libxext6:i386 libxft2:i386 libxi6:i386 libxkbfile1:i386 libxml2:i386 libxp6:i386 libxrender1:i386 libxss1:i386 libxt6:i386 libxtst6:i386 zlib1g:i386 alsa-base:i386 alsa-utils:i386

Now it was up and running again!
Since I am using KDE. To get a less blocky IBM Notes it could be a good idea to install:
apt-get install gtk2-engines-qtcurve:i386

And then set this theme in the System Settings.

Do not use oxygen-gtk as a theme since IBM Notes might crash after a few minutes if this theme is used. Se more info here:

http://sgh.dk/2013/07/30/ibm-notes-9-0-on-kubuntu-13-10-alpha/

Also take a look here for a complete guide to installing Notes 9 on Ubuntu 13.04 64bit: http://wp.me/p1CuQM-hQ