SysAdmin Adventures

For those hoping to update to slackware-current (2.6.33.1) and make use of alienBOB’s KDE SC 4.4.2 with PolicyKit packages, you need to be aware of one caveat. If you use the proprietary NVidia driver, you will need to blacklist the nouveau driver in order for it to work.

/etc/modprobe.d/nouveau.conf

UPDATE: 20100428
A package has been added to slackware-current to do this for you:
x/xf86-video-nouveau-blacklist-noarch-1.txz

I am pleased to report my desktop is no longer Slackware-13.0, but is now Slackware-current and using KDE SC 4.4.0 as provided by alienBOB: http://alien.slackbook.org/blog/its-been-released-kde-sc-4-4-0/

I’m very pleased with the new KDE. With the exception of the polkit argument that’s going on every new release of KDE brings fresh delight, and I hope it never stops.

There’s one little thing it took me a short while to realise and so is worth mentioning here. I use “Desktop Grid” and “Present Windows” a lot and have them mapped to the top corners of the desktop for quick-access. After upgrading to KDE SC 4.4.0, my panel started disappearing whenever I used “Desktop Grid” and, while it’s not exactly a problem, it doesn’t look very good. The panel always disappears in “Present Windows” but that is expected behaviour.

The reason I discovered is that “Desktop Grid” now includes a per-desktop “Present Windows” by default, so if you have multiple windows open in a desktop, they will be “Presented” within that desktop in the grid view, and for this reason the panel disappears. Some may like this feature, and I see how it could be very useful, but I don’t want it. As I have, you can turn it off:

System Settings -> Desktop -> Desktop Effects -> All Effects -> Desktop Grid (Configure)

Uncheck “Use Present Windows effect to layout the windows”.

If following a new install (or an upgrade for people not previously using Akonadi/Nepomuk/Strigi) Akonadi is whinging at you because the mysql log has errors such as this:

[ERROR] Can’t open and lock privilege tables: Table ‘mysql.servers’ doesn’t exist

Then the following should sort you out:

It worked for me. Your Mileage May Vary.

DO NOT follow this if you have Akonadi data you do not want to lose.