Hi Mark,

Mark Kirby wrote:
> 
> On 18 Dec 2007, at 00:28, Sarton O'Brien wrote:
> 
>> Hi all,
>>
>> Just a quick question (please ignore this if you are anti-kde), does 
>> anyone know if someone is tackling the underlying requirements for the 
>> kde desktop to completely function on netbsd (be it kde devs or netbsd)?
> 
> Kde works perfectly fine on NetBSD it doesn't have all the bells and 
> whistles but is perfectly usable as a desktop.

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply it wasn't usable. I've used it on NetBSD 
in the last 6 months with great success but unfortunately the 
software<->hardware integration side required me to switch to linux for 
the benefit of the end user.

> Is there something you specifically need?

Nothing specific, unfortunately it's the bells and whistles that make it 
an attractive alternative for windows users. Despite some permission 
configuration requirements, KDE is quite usable for somebody with no 
previous *nix experience. When everything on KDE functions, I consider 
it a drop-in replacement for windows and up to now, arch linux is about 
the only os/distro I can bare to use. Being bleeding edge, I was unsure 
as to how far behind NetBSD might be feature-wise, where KDE is concerned.

>> I'd sooner switch from linux even for at least testing/debugging 
>> purposes if there_is_ progress being made.
>>
> 
> Yes there is. The work that freza@ did for his soc is being incorporated 
> into some work that cube@ is working on. mjf@ is also working on a devfs 
> implementation both of which make the hal port easier. Once those two 
> bits are included in current sources i can continue with writing the 
> netbsd backend for hal, unless freza wants to do that too ;)
> 
> KDE 4 is currently in progress and preliminary packages are in pkgsrc 
> wip, that work is being done by markd@
> 
> So yes there is work around this area.
> 
> If there is anything else you would like to know just shout.

That's great to hear. I won't ask about a timeframe, I know how annoying 
that can be but I guess I'm waiting for at least the testing phase of 
hal integration, assuming that's KDE's last OS requirement. I'll keep my 
ear to the ground ... or is there somewhere I can look for info on the 
dev process?


Thanks a lot for the information.

Sarton