convert to kde on Windows 7

[Duncan]

Doug posted on Mon, 16 Jul 2012 21:07:11 -0400 as excerpted:

> On 07/16/2012 07:06 PM, Duncan wrote:

>> I don't know enough about [kde on windows] to know what particular
>> apps are ported, but it doesn't appear that's what you're after
>> anyway.  You appear to be after the kde environment, on MS, and
>> that's not available.
>>
> OK, I guess I misunderstood what KDE on Windows was about.  But--
> If I could have Find Files/Folders and Konqueror (or Dolphin) file
> manager, I would be a lot happier than I am now, and if KPatience were
> to run, I'd be even happier yet!

FWIW, konqueror in file-manager-mode uses dolphin's kpart, just with a 
different wrapper around it, different menus, etc.  So if it was one or 
the other that had been ported to MS as a file manager, it would be 
dolphin.  If konqueror (well, its file management side) were ported, 
dolphin would have to be available first/as-well.

As I said I don't know much about kde on MS Windows, but I /think/ 
dolphin /might/ be one of the ported apps.  I believe kate is ported as 
I've seen it mentioned somewhere, but that's the only one I'm fairly sure 
of, with dolphin being a less sure but I /think/ I saw it mentioned too.


> 
> Recently I've run into several situations where Windows just drives me
> crazy.
> 1. It puts files in odd places, and their file finder can't always find
> them.
> 2. If the file finder can find them, it won't put you in the directory
> where they are so you can a) unzip them or b) attach one onto an email.
> It thinks you always want to "open" the file.
> 
> Anybody know if that's on the list of stuff that runs? And where can I
> find such a list?

Do note that depending on what version of dolphin/kde you're running, a 
lot of the filefinder type functionality is based on nepomuk's semantic-
desktop indexing.  Again, I don't know if that module's ported, so you 
might find dolphin available but without the same file-finding 
functionality...

Meanwhile, as a former MS power user (back in the 90s I even beta-tested 
IE4-5.5, and was in line at midnight for the MS Windows 98 release, but 
MS crossed the line with the anti-feature of activation in eXPrivacy, 
thus pushing me off the platform I'd used for a decade, so I have MS to 
thank for finally forcing me to Linux! =:^), I can say with quite some 
confidence that there's quite a lot of file-management alternatives, free-
to-download (tho not necessarily free-as-in-freedom, but it's possible 
there's more of that these days as well, I've been off it for so long I 
can't say), shareware, and reasonably low cost pay-up-front, all three.

It's also worth noting that there's a Unix-like environment available for 
MS Windows, with a lot of native Unix/Linux tools ported to it, as well.  
I've never used it since when I jumped, I left MS for good (at least 
until they begin respecting the four software freedoms... not likely!), 
but it may be worth investigating.  I just have to remember the name...  
google to the rescue!  Cygwin:

http://cygwin.com

That actually may be a dependency for kde on MS Windows, or may not, 
since qt (the toolkit on which kde is based) runs on MS natively just as 
it does on Linux, I don't know.

Which brings us back to the topic of kde on MS.  While your question fits 
the guidelines here AFAIK (so no worries there), there is actually a kde 
on MS Windows (web) forum that's likely to be far better at answering 
your questions, simply because it's dedicated to the topic.  The 
following link is courtesy of Anne Wilson, another regular here who has 
posted it in reply to others a number of times.  I just saved it to be 
able to post it too if I got to it before she did. =:^)

http://forum.kde.org/viewforum.php?
f=59&sid=20cf28399eeaa382a3f074e0d0af9a5a

Hmm... a bit of browsing of the kde site and I found this as well.  I'd 
read-up before asking on the forum, as I'm sure a lot of questions you'd 
have are answered.

http://windows.kde.org/

It appears there's more ported to MS Windows than I had believed, 
including plasma, and there's instructions in the FAQ for switching the 
desktop shell from MS Explorer to plasma if you want, but they do say 
it's fairly limited on MS, no multiple virtual desktops, etc.  And it's 
noted IN BOLD that it's not considered stable yet, as well, but it can be 
uninstalled (see the techbase link, then the FAQ) if you decide it's not 
for you.  Of course there's installation instructions as well...


Meanwhile, to your original question about copying everything to an 
external drive... in general it should work.  But there's a caveat.  As I 
said, I'm no authority on current MS Windows, but I do know that if you 
change too much out from under it, it'll force you to reactivate.  (That 
was one of the reasons I left, after all.  I had spent quite some money 
on MS over the decade I was on them, never risking pirated software, etc, 
yet they decided to treat their users as if they were pirates, forcing 
them to activate, etc.)

It may be fine, but if you don't know how far you can go before 
triggering reactivation, and what that entails, etc, I'd be sure to do 
some research on it before doing the external drive thing, just in case.

-- 
Duncan - List replies preferred.   No HTML msgs.
"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
and if you use the program, he is your master."  Richard Stallman

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