this post was submitted on 15 Mar 2025
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Linux

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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 16 hours ago

Mmm delicious.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 days ago

Official KDE community btw: [email protected]

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (3 children)

File transfer progress bars generally aren't worth shit, I have no idea how this is still a problem. It dates back to the early 90's, and it's still not done properly.
Almost everything to do with file transfer report it to be finished before it actually is, because it doesn't consider write back cache. So it's only the reading part that is finished, not the writing part. Meaning the transfer isn't actually finished. Never never never trust it is my motto. Personally I'd rather not have the dysfunctional progress bar, if I could have an actually accurate completion notification.

PS: I just switched back to KDE/Plasma after many years. Overall I'm pretty pleased, but also a bit puzzled about a lot of the simplifications.
like inability to disable caps lock, and the inability to change double click speed for the mouse. So now I need a startup command for the caps lock, and I needed to edit an ini file for the mouse for such simple things, that used to be accessible through settings???
But they finally added the ability to use numpad for hotkeys, which I found out, and was what made me switch back to KDE. Now I only miss the ability to use the scroll wheel on hotkeys too. To finally have similar functionality like I had 10-15 years ago with Compiz. 😜

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Yeah I learned that the hardway when comparing MacOS/linux USB speed...

Took like "seconds" on Linux. I looked quite dumb asking a question and asking for help on Lemmy while shitting (again) on my Mac !

I have somewhere in my notes a command to show interactively how the memory cache gets dumped into my USB stick.

Kinda boggus that's an over 20 years old known "issue".

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

GNOME does exactly the same thing.

very noticeable and annoying when transferring to slower media like usb sticks, sometimes it takes tens of minutes to unmount after copying a large file because its actually still writing.

i bet MANY people are left with halfway stuff written on their usbs after being in a rush and removing it insecurely on linux after the transfer is "done". this should absolutely NOT be a thing.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 days ago (1 children)

i bet MANY people are left with halfway stuff written on their usbs after being in a rush and removing it insecurely on linux after the transfer is “done”.

AFAIK it can actually destroy the USB if it's removed while being written.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

no way to know for sure if its still writing if the progress bar is inaccurate.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

You can use sync in terminal. But it's tricky because it sometimes returns even when the writing isn't finished.
My method is to use sync multiple time, if it returns immediately 2 times it should be clear,
Only then do i dismount the stick, because I don't like to dismount a device with pending operations. But when the dismount says the stick is ready to be removed, you should be clear.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

exactly. thats unnecessarily complicated for someone on a rush because of something that should be a functional progress bar.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

What annoys me is that this was an issue as far back as the early 90's. On DOS and Windows 3.11. It's such an annoyance that I don't get how this problem still exist?!
If the unmount function can see if write is finished, a file copy function should obviously be able to see it'¨s own copy state.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I'm pretty sure you can disable caps lock (or at least rebind it)

I currently have caps lock rebound to backspace. Maybe it's a Wayland only feature and you're using x11? idk

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I'm using X11 so that could be. I just don't get why it would be different between X11 and Wayland?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

I'm not entirely sure. It could be similar to HDR support (only available on Wayland), but I would need to look into it to be completely sure.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 days ago (3 children)

One of these days, I will switch to KDE.

My OS paradigm started off as a super-lightweight desktop around Openbox, but more and more I got forced to pull in Gnome dependencies to the point that I switching those to KDE dependencies probably wouldn't make a dent in performance.

Speaking of which, what's KDE's mail client like?

[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 days ago

The performance impact of these systems really aren't a problem for most modern computers. If your computer is running other GUI applications, I think worrying about that is insane. If you're running a server, sure keep it minimal because you aren't going to interact with it directly much. For your desktop if you're running games and stuff, it's going to be the smallest of your issues. Just do what feels best.

Even Valve, optimizing their handheld device for maximum battery life, includes KDE. You shouldn't worry about it probably.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

There is kmail tho it's not the best, far better to use something like thunderbird!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Thanks. Does it support multiple accounts? How are remote calendars & contacts integrated into KDE generally, or kmail specifically?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Kmail has its quirks, but I actually find it quite nice to use, especially with multiple accounts because it distinguish explicitly between IMAP accounts, SMTP accounts and identities.

Integration with contacts and calendars is quite smooth as well. KDE PIM suite is well integrated in Plasma in general.

[–] NotAnArdvark 1 points 2 days ago (2 children)

How long have you been using Kmail?

I tried maybe 3 years ago and I found it incredibly buggy. I've been using Thunderbird, but definitely wish there was a KDE or Qt-native mail app that did what I wanted.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

Setup of KMail is very janky, but after that it works well. I’ve been using it for probably at least 7 years at this point as my main mail client on Linux. There’s nothing better Qt-based as far as I know really.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

I have been using for more than 10 years. Again, I'm not saying it's without bug, but every time I tried to go back to Thunderbird, I quickly realise I miss Kmail's interface and great integration in Plasma.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

There is also Merkuro Mail which has a more modern design that some might prefer (to Kmail).

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

That is a work in progress and isn't finished.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago

Neat, have been wanting something like this for a while now. The current value shown is pretty useless when transferring over network and the speed fluctuates quite a bit.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (4 children)

Honest question, what use has data transfer graphs?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

Very useful to see if your source/dest are performing as expected.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 days ago

Long transfer (possibly over network), you start wondering what's going on. All you have to go on is a bar that doesn't move. Would be useful to get more info in situations like these.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 days ago

No use, it just looks nice. Back when I first tried using Linux coming from Windows, that was a feature I missed. Not so much now, but it’s a nice to have

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

They look nice