[KLUG Members] RH 7.3...two more cents worth

[Adam Williams]

> As referenced in an earlier message to the list, I
>  installed Red Hat Linux 7.3 on my new Compaq Evo N600c
>  this week. It's a PIII 1.2 GHz, 256 MB, with the Radeon
>  Mobility graphics adapter.
> Since Ximian Gnome isn't available for 7.3 quite yet, I
>  figured I would give KDE 3 a good try in the mean time.
>  It's definitely a nice interface, but I have to say I am
>  not impressed with what it does to my PC performance. In
>  fact, I have this same beef with KDE 2. After awhile, my
>  machine seems to drag. It takes awhile for things to open,
>  to switch windows, to close apps. I thought hmmm...I
>  wonder if Gnome does this? 

GNOME does not do this (or as bad).  Ask over on the LTSP list about KDE.  
It fumbles badly and locks up in multi-user environments,  and several of 
its subsystems leak memory like a sieve.  Using KDE for production work 
where one stays logged on, hammering the system, for 8-10 hours straight 
is nearly impossible.  The focus of GNOME is to share! share !share! which 
has the pleasent affect of GNOME getting lighter (more or less) and 
definitely faster as time goes on.  KDE seem (IMHO) to be getting slower 
and heavier as time goes on.  Of course, I'm a pro bonobo bigot... go see:

http://www.ph.unimelb.edu.au/~msevior/abiword/evolution-abi2.png
http://www.ph.unimelb.edu.au/~msevior/abiword/abi-in-gnumeric.png

I can't wait till the OpenOffice to Bonobo bridge is complete.  Editing an 
OO spreadsheet from a message right in evolution, and then replying it 
back the the sender......sweeeeet.

>Not at all. Man, I can work and work on that thing under
>Gnome and it screams. With OpenOffice, vmware, Galeon, and
>Evolution all chugging along, I am getting a lot done with
>Gnome. 

Me too!  Takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin.

>I tried these same things with KDE 3, and it was
>difficult. I only gave KDE 3 two days worth of trial, but
>I had to get to work. Gnome came through for me and is
>performing well.

Yep,  if I ever get frustrating with something in GNOME I switch over to 
KDE for a little while.  Then I switch back.
 
>Another touted feature in RH 7.3 is Evolution. It's version
>1.0.3 (just shy of the latest version 1.0.4, I think).
>Nice still. :)

Very.
 
>Besides some of the cosmetic things like KDE 3 and
>Evolution, I am also glad they have a newer version of the
>X stuff in there. (4.2 I think?) It supports the Radeon
>chipset in my laptop, so I haven't had to compile anything
>yet. 

And lots of very subtle and nice things about fonts too.

>Is anyone using MrProject? 

I have tried.  By I don't know anything about the concepts of true project 
management,  so I didn't get anything out of it except some cool graphs.
Anyone want to do a presentation on MrProject?

>GnomeMeeting? 

I have, works great.  My VOIP client of choice.

>They come with RH 7.3 too. 
>I have REALLY started to appreciate what Ximian does for
>Gnome, now that I don't have it. :) 

Long live Ximian!

>As for my docking problem, I have a workaround: I start the
>PC out of the port replicator. Once X is running, I can
>slide it into the replicator and turn on the monitor.
>Since I cannot turn off the laptop display (even with the
>monitor on), I've started just leaving the monitor off and
>using the port replicator for my keyboard and mouse only,
>using the laptop display as primary. Maybe there's
>something I can do to the X configuration to tell it I
>have two monitors...laptop and external? Hmmm, sounds like
>a good weekend reading project. :)

I don't have a laptop yet,  or I'm certain I'd have an opinion about this 
too. :)