Hi,

On 18 Dec 2007, at 23:23, Sarton O'Brien wrote:

>
> 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.

I'm interested to know what integration or lack thereof made you  
decide to switch? I ask because it may be an area we can improve on.  
HAL integration doesn't really buy you anything you cant do already.  
Granted the kde -> hal interface make mounting a disk user friendly  
but in terms of functionality it doesnt add much else. But i agree  
with you that linux integration does produce a more user-friendly  
desktop for the more casual 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.

Again if you could let me know what features you are missing i'll see  
what i can find out about it.

>
>
> 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?
>

I cant give any times and i don't want to make estimates for other  
people :) I would expect that the kde4 packages will be ready around  
the time kde4 is released or a little after. But it depends on  
peoples free time. As for hal and associated things that may be a  
long way of, but i guess it will get there in the end :)

>
> Thanks a lot for the information.

Not a problem

Mark