I do understand what You're feeling 100%. 2 years ago I was starting with Linux and I was very very very frustrated user. I know that You are not a troll that just complains for no reason.
Every complaint I have made regarding linux has been truthful, and valid - to me. Others seldom understand however, so I'm branded as a troll regardless, and subsequently drowned out by the fanbois and/or the CLI-hardliners.
You just want to have things done and You're annoyed by the fact that You cant achieve this goal. I believe that I have exploaded few times in my noobie times myself and that now it does not happen anymore. Why? Because the fact that I am getting angry / cranky / grumpy / etc... changes nothing... Well nothing good comes from it anyway.
On that point, I'm afraid I would have to disagree somewhat though - for throughout it all I have learned that my forum questions are disregarded otherwise. Simple questions do get answered - but my questions seldom turn out to be simple, or even vaguely similar to what others wish to do anyway. Therefore the 'squeaky wheel' gets the grease - and yes; even a total a-hole still gets answers (it's simply reverse psychology, really - challenge the fanbois a bit and you will get flamed, but amidst the ashes and general wreckage the answers lie, regardless.).
Take this whole taskbar transparency question, for instance; how 'simple' did this one turn out to be? How many others in this thread are even remotely curious, about how to accomplish the same thing? I have a definite need for such - but others don't, so unless a GUI dev drops by and admonishes/enlightens me, I'm not holding much hope that this thread shall ever see a [SOLVED] tag tacked onto it.
What You have to understand is that the problem You are experiencing is a change. Change is a dangerous game but its inevitable... I loved MS Windows 2000 and I disliked XP and hated the followers... They were all changing. I could do nothing about it. I once thought that KDE4 is a Linux Vista version. No its not... Trust me. Its just a matter of time and we will have another upgrade. Then another. Then another... And then someone will say ah KDE4 is stable at last. Everyone will be happy and someone will say GUYS we have a great news. KDE5 beta is out... And some of us will be happy as a puppies and some of us will be complaining BUT before this happens KDE4 will be rock solid. Trust me.
Like KDE3 was "rock solid"? That's not really so true, is it - after all; it too had plenty of unresolved issues and problems. KDE 3.5.9, for instance, was about as good as they made it - 3.5.10, on the other hand, was more problematic. But hey! KDE4 is now here to... ummm... 'save' us? Again, not really. I predict that by the time KDE5 rolls around (if ever), KDE4 will be in about as much disarray as KDE3 was - or possibly even worse.
I've been taking looks at linux since its beginning. I had a brief go at it once some years back, with Slackware 2.4 - but; like Win2KPro, it couldn't do what I needed at the time anyway. Neither could RedHat 7.0, nor any of the other few distros I had on hand at that time... linux was far too multimedia-deficient then, so I had to remain with Win9x. Win2KPro on the other hand was severely driver-deficient, and it only confused me anyway - at the time, to me it seemed that to force Windows onto an old Kaypro would have been an
insult towards Alan Kay. ;-)
No - I stayed with Win9x until about four or five years ago, and then went straight from that into linux.
Hang in there just like I am. We will get what we want eventually.
That explains why Windows still rules the desktop arena - and also why business (other than large Corporations) hasn't adopted it in a significant way. Some people really
can't wait, you see - they
need something that works
now, and shall continue working for at least a decade. Linux, unfortunately, doesn't work that way - so outside of the server room door, it is continually losing. KDE4 will simply ensure that this trend continues, I think.
Open synaptic package manager and search for package gtk-qt-engine
Mark it for installation (oxygen-molecule will be removed with it)
Reboot
Open KMenu > System > Configuration > Configure Your Desktop
Find and Click Look and Feel > Appearance > Gtk Themes and Fonts
in GTK Styles choose Use another style and pick QtCurve
in GTK Fonts choose Use KDE fonts in my GTK applications
Click Install scrolbar fix below
Click apply
Reboot or restart X server.
Try opening Firefox / Synaptic / Gimp / Inkscape... See the difference in speed?
From a full reboot: Firefox; opens up tabs in 20 seconds; fully-refreshed in a bit over a minute. GIMP; fully-opened in 43 seconds. Inkscape; fully-opened in 58 seconds, does not shut down quickly or cleanly (sits there for a bit, then up pops the 'Terminate?' message).
"in GTK Styles choose Use another style and pick QtCurve" - that choice was not available (please refer to attached image), so I chose 'QT4' instead.
Like it? If You do... Keep it if no...
Open synaptic. Find and install GTK-Oxygen-Molecule (gtk-qt-engine will be removed) and reboot. This will bring You back where You are now.
No, not really - unless I've cocked up and got it wrong, there seems no real improvement; indeed, it now seems more degarded, if anything. Scrollbars are not the only thing that changed - this Reply entry textbox, for instance, is now blue instead of white (but KSnapshot won't capture it!).
Edit: Whoops! Forgot to attach the image:
[attachment deleted by admin]
