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List:       kde-solaris
Subject:    Re: [kde-solaris] Looking for suggestions
From:       Darin Perusich <Darin.Perusich () cognigencorp ! com>
Date:       2001-08-29 12:30:10
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when i moved about 40+ users from CDE on solars 2.6 to kde 1.44 last
year to make the transition as painless as possible i built a
custom/default desktop for everyone that has all the apps that they use
on a daily basis, netscape, framemaker, emacs, ./etc. our environment
isn't multiple workstation but thin-clients, xterminals, sunray
appliances, a few ultra workstations, and win2k desktops via xwin32. at
the time everyone except the ultra workstation log into a e450, this has
since changed to an e4500 running solaris 8 with about 80+ users.

the migration went very well, except for those users that are inflexible
or who just loved CDE, how anyone could like CDE is beyond me. training
new users on KDE is much easier then CDE because it's look and feel is
more windowsish. once they understand how the virtual desktops work they
think it's the coolest thing!

creating your sites config in $KDEDIR/share is the easiest way to push
out a default desktop. but unless you plan to share your kde install out
to the workstations from a fileserver or build a custom kde package for
installation this may not work for you. what i did was create the
desktop on a test/guest account, tar up the .kde and Desktop directories
and they blast the tar ball into everyones $HOME. if your using
auto_home to share $HOME's out to all the workstation it's a simple for
loop at the root level of that share to untar and chown.  

what i'm facing now is moving from kde 1.44 to 2.x, i'm just unsure
which version to move to. i just grabbed 2.2 from ftp.kde.org the other
day but haven't had a chance to try it out yet, thanks for building it
for us anonymous, hehe. i've been testing 2.1 for a few months and i'm
happy with it but i think 2.2 is going to be the way to go.


-- 
Darin Perusich
Unix Administrator
Cognigen Corp.
darinper@cognigencorp.com


Eva Brucherseifer wrote:
> 
> Hi Brian,
> 
> > Now that we are upgrading the OS, this could be the ideal time
> > to introduce a new desktop.  My preference has always been KDE.
> > There are several basic functions I know they would like about KDE,
> > such as the Window list pop-up with the middle mouse key
> > (They use lots of windows and desktops).  I would hope they
> > would slowly grow into KDE, but am worried they might be
> > overwhelmed by all its features.  They are starting to ask
> > for new capabilities such as Java apps, and better email, etc.
> > Any suggestions on ways to give them a good functional KDE
> > environment with good controlled menu and launch control
> > now and leave growth room in the future?
> 
> All configuration is made in the directory $KDEDIR/share/
> 
> In $KDEDIR/share/applnk are the menus made. Each .desktop file corresponds to
> a meny entry and the directory structure corresponds to the menu structure.
> If the user edits his menu with the menu editor or uses kappfind, the changes
> are saved in $KDEHOME/share/applnk. This usually corresponds to
> $HOME/.kde2/share/applnk.
> The first time the user logs in, the Desktop content is copied from
> $KDEHOME/share/apps/kdesktop/ to $HOME/KDesktop.
> 
> You can add own desktop files for your users here, e.g. I used to have an URL
> to our lab tutorial of our intra web pages. You also could add desktop files
> to start special apps. I also added for my user a submenu with non-kde
> applications. Maybe you already know this from e.g. the SuSE menu.
> For the panel buttons check the file $KDEDIR/share/apps/kicker/default-apps
> 
> In $KDEDIR/share/config are the application configuration files
> Most of the apps don't have config files yet, because they are written after
> the user used the app for the first time. All files that differ from default
> are written again to $KDEHOME/share/config. Here you can add pre-configured
> files to the server, too.
> 
> Another possiblity is, to patch the app "kpersonalizer". This is a new app in
> KDE2.2. It starts up the first time the user logs in and afterwards only, if
> the user starts it. Right now it has 5 pages for the basic desktop setup.
> Some linux distributors already added pages for their own needs. E.g. you
> could ask for the users mail settings, etc.
> 
> My experiences with new users on KDE is very good. I regularly advise
> students during their thesis and often they never used unix/linux and
> sometimes even no windows. Usually they have no problems with the desktop.
> Users with no windows experience often explore the desktop much more, because
> windows users mostly search for what they know from windows ;-)
> 
> I hope I got everything right. Everything I told you is for KDE 2.2, I didn't
> check for old versions.
> 
> Looking forward to your reports,
> eva
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