Mark Kirby wrote:
> 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.

You're spot on, but it's that feature alone that makes the difference to 
a windows user. I've never enjoyed the 'mount/unmount' conversation. 
Detecting the button push on a cdrom and it tranparently performing what 
is required, with the icon appearing/dissappearing makes more sense to 
your casual PC user than telling the OS to do it for you.

>>> 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.

I believe, with hal, I'd be content. Having used a lot of *nix 
derivitives (if you can call them that now) arch is the only one that 
can do everything almost out of the box 
(kde/hal/dri/compiz-fusion/suspend/resume) and do it leanly. I can 
install the whole kit on an ibm R51 with a radeon 7500m and it runs 
better than vista on something 2 - 4x as powerful, with better 3d effects.

I'm hoping down the track that I can start to use NetBSD, it just needs 
that superficial 'wow' factor. Personally I feel NetBSD is already 
superior in performance, it's just the standard desktop integration 
stuff that everyone has been plugging away at for as long as I can remember.

So short answer, no, there's nothing else KDE related (although I 
haven't checked on the windows mobile pda sync stuff for a while) and 
everything else is being tackled in current, which I find quite exciting :)

> 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 :)

Yep, that's what I thought. My hope would be mid to late next year, I'll 
keep my fingers crossed :)

Sarton