Amarok 2 Kutie Technology Preview Released

A pre-alpha release of the wonderful Linux media player for KDE, Amarok, was released today.

There are many things that are broken, non existent or flat out ugly, and we are well aware of that. Some things also work rather well. The purpose of this release is to inspire folks to stand up and help us finish Amarok 2.0. We need developers and artists…[more]

If you are brave and need to play, install it in Kubuntu by following these steps:

1. Add deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/kubuntu-members-kde4/ubuntu gutsy main to your sources in /etc/apt/sources.list
2. Run sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install amarok2 amarok2-phonon

How to Install the New KDE 4.0 in Ubuntu 7.10

Release 4.0 of the KDE Desktop Environment for Linux begins the KDE 4 series. It brings you a brand new interface. New icons, new window borders, new K-menu.

No more blue! More Black. And you’ll probably think, more like Vista. But wait! Microsoft did not invent the black ice look.

UPDATE:

If you are using Ubuntu only (and not Kubuntu), you can install the KDE Desktop Environment in Ubuntu (Gnome) by doing a:

sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop

This will download all the packages required and install them. It may take a while. UPDATE: See this post for more information.

Once it is installed, you will have the option of choosing KDE in your session options at log in. Once Kubuntu is installed, you can then follow the steps below to install KDE 4.0.

Yes, packages are available for (K)Ubuntu 7.10.

1. Add deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/kubuntu-members-kde4/ubuntu gutsy main to your /etc/apt/sources.list.
2. Open a terminal and type in: sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install kde4-core

3. Answer yes to the prompts and wait for the download and install to finish.
4. KDE 4 applications should appear in your KDE 3 K-menu or you can run a full session by selecting “KDE 4″ from your login manager.

With that said, you’ll notice that you can choose between KDE 3 or KDE 4 in your Session options from your login manager.

UPDATE (2008.01.30): I suggest you backup all of your KDE settings as you may overwrite/clear application-specific settings and preferences. Your Amarok library and preferences will most likely get reset. It happened to me. Look for hidden folders in your Home directory that start with .kde. Those folders should be backed up.

GDM (Login Screen) Resolution Too Big to Fit Screen? Try this…

For the longest time after installing KDE in Ubuntu, my login screen became too big to fit my screen. The resolution was permanently set to 1600×1200. I tried everything to change it back to 1280×1024 and nothing worked. I searched the Ubuntu Forums, Googled my head off, and eventually gave up.

Today, I decided to try again with different keywords and found the solution on the Ubuntu Forums.

Edit your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file:
sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf …and remove all 1600×1200 references (or the offending resolution) under the Section “Screen”. Perfect!

UPDATE (2008.01.29): Only remove all the offending resolutions if you do not plan on ever using them. I removed them all because I never change resolutions. And as Anne suggests in the comments below, changing your “Virtual” line to the correct resolution may also fix your problem. I say “may” because this had no effect in Ubuntu 7.10. It should work in Ubuntu 6.04 and 6.10. Anne suggests:

Choose the resolution you want for the login (say, 1280 x 1024)
edit your xorg.conf file.

In the Section “Screen”, SubSection “Display”, you have two entries:
Modes and Virtual.

For the login, X will default to the first resolution defined in the “mode” entry. Thus, you must select the resolution you want (say, “1280×1024@60″) and move it at the first position.

Next, the “Virtual” entry is used to have a larger desktop resolution than screen resolution (you can reach the zones “outside the screen” by moving your mouser pointer to the edges). Your Virtual section should have the same size you want for the login resolution (say 1280 1024).

Thank you Ubuntu Forum Users!

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