KubuntuKDEMedia

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 * (Simon Edwards 18-10-2006) http://www.simonzone.com/software/kdebase_3.5.5_sime_kio_v8.diff  * (Simon Edwards 18-10-2006) http://www.simonzone.com/software/kdebase_3.5.5_sime_kio_v9.diff

This page is about modifying and simplifying how KDE handles and exposes the file system heirarchy, storage devices and removable media to the user.

This wiki page is a continuation of the work started here http://www.kdedevelopers.org/node/2231

This is a work in progress and not final. EdgyEft includes these patches and if they prove to work nicely they may end up in final release of Kubuntu 6.10.

Features

The patch implements the following features:

  • Only the /home and /media directories are shown in the file system root. These are the only two directories in the root that a typical user really needs to deal with. The other standard directories are hidden (using .hidden file which is also respected by GNOME).
  • The URL in the location bar is the standard unix path and most importantly, the paths here will be understood by any program on the system.
  • The current user's home directory automatically has a house icon.
  • Hard disks and removable media also have the correct icons just like in the standard media kio-slave. The icons have the same functionality as the icons in media:/. The context menu for these icons show the expected "Safely Remove", "Unmount" etc options.
  • The "media inserted" notification dialog opens directories in /media instead of system:/.
  • Eliminates the concept of mounting/unmounting media where possible. Removable media like disks and USB sticks are either connected/inserted and available, or they are disconnected/ejected. There is no middle state called "unmounted" where the media is inserted/connected but unusable. From a technical point of view this means that clicking on "do nothing" in the "media inserted" notification dialog does mount the medium, but doesn't open konqueror. (this is a change from the old behaviour).

Known issues

  • SOLVED: (Simon Edwards 13-8-2006) HAL doesn't send the mount point info for unmounted partitions. This stops unmounted mount points from being matched with their meta-data. (Simon Edwards 22-8-2006) . Solved in version 2 of the patches.
  • Automatically generated mount point names need to be more friendly. (like what media:/ does now).
  • Sometimes /media doesn't appear to refresh properly after a mount/unmount.
  • The audiocd:/ and its friends need to be accessible in some way. (Solution: Context menu entry perhaps?) (Simon Edwards 13-8-2006) CDs opened through the notification dialog go to audiocd:/. (Simon Edwards 30-8-2006) audiocd:/ is also reachable through the Storage media kicker applet.
  • SOLVED: The "media inserted" notification dialog must open directories in /media instead of system:/. (Simon Edwards 22-8-2006) . Solved in version 2 of the patches.
  • Numerous changes to the default file management view in Konqueror. Removing unneeded sidebar tabs etc.
  • SOLVED: The "important system places" menu on the panel needs to open directories in /media, instead of system:/. (Simon Edwards 30-8-2006) Fixed. See patch below.
  • SOLVED: Hiding other users' home directories might not be such a good idea. See http://www.kdedevelopers.org/node/2231#comment-5266 (Simon Edwards 22-8-2006) . Solved in version 2 of the patches. Other home directores are now shown.

  • SOLVED: Should the "Storage Media" applet be added to the kicker by default? (and also patched so that it opens konq windows using the real path instead of media:/)
  • (Simon Edwards 23-8-2006) There is at least one report of blank CDs being automatically mounted and tripping up K3B. Needs investigating.
  • (Simon Edwards 31-8-2006) The "Storage Media" applet refuses to display unmounted device types.
  • (Simon Edwards 14-9-2006): Opening an audio CD via /media/cdrom0 doesn't work.

Download & Installation

Patchs Simon Edwards

Applied in Edgy

Pending in Edgy

Fixes for audio CDs on KDE 3.5.5.

Feedback

First of all, I'd like to say that this is pretty cool. However, there are two behaviors of this new system that I believe have regressed from edgy.

1. Newly inserted media, if not mounted first, show up on the desktop properly as unmounted, but do not show up in /media. On the desktop I get a "1.0GB Removable Media" item with a USB stick icon, with menu entries to mount it. That is correct behavior. However, in /media, I only see a usbdisk folder. Clicking on the folder gets me a blank konqueror (i.e. it does not trigger mounting), right clicking gives me the usual folder options (again, no mounting). (The icons on the desktop should be fixed in the next update. -- Simon Edwards 18-9-2006)

Simon, the most recent patches actually made the problem a bit worse. Now, if I don't choose to mount the USB stick when I insert it, I must take it out before it'll ever mount again. To reproduce, (1) Insert USB stick. (2) Press Cancel on the KDE Daemon dialog. (3) Look on the desktop and notice no unmounted USB stick icon. (4) Look in /media and note no unmounted USB stick icon. (5) Remember that prior to these newer patches, the desktop icon was at least still present. (6) Remember that in Dapper, media:/ and the Desktop provided these icons for mounting the USB stick.

2. Unmount media's progress dialog is gone. By default, Ubuntu mounts USB media async, and it's already been discussed and agreed in Launchpad that this is the desired behavior. In Dapper, when unmounting a USB stick, it displays an Unmounting Media progress dialog, which stays there until all the data has been written to the USB stick. This progress dialog is missing from Edgy, making it REALLY easy to accidentally pull out the media before it fully syncs.

(Simon Edwards 6-10-2006) Appears to be some problem introduced in 3.5.4 itself. My dapper workstation has the same problem although I think it was working before I upgraded to 3.5.4.

--- JohnDong

3. BUG: Insert Audio CD, dialog appears, select "open with konq", Konq opens to /media/cdrom0 but nothing is shown. (Tonio) (Simon Edwards 6-10-2006) Latest update should fix this.

4. If a process is busy using the block device for a CDROM (etc) (dd if=/dev/hdc of=/dev/nul), choose "Eject" in KDE to eject the disk. A cryptic error message is shown.

5. Putting files in / violates the FHS. (just because nobody else seems to have complained about it yet, sistpoty) ;).

KubuntuKDEMedia (last edited 2008-08-06 16:30:38 by localhost)