Re: improving the UX with the default KDE installation

[fradev <fradevpub@inventati.org>]

On 19/03/17 22:26:28 CET, Jimmy Johnson wrote:
> Hello, Francesco, I was thinking as Users we could discuss the options
> here first and then make a proposal of the "debian-plasma-desktop" to
> the KDE team.
> 
> Utilities= ark, kcalc, kwrite, spectacle.
> 
> System= bleachbit, kinfo, partition-manager or gparted, konsole,
> kwalletmanager, synaptic, dolphin.  Personally I prefer konqueror and
> kdf over dolphin, maybe just because I've been using konq and kdf, it
> seems like forever.
> 
> Settings= systemsettings
> 
> Office= okular
> 
> Multimedia= vlc, k3b
> 
> Internet= firefox, kget
> 
> Graphics= gwenview
> 
> Things like sddm, plasma-networkmanager, kdeconnect, bluetooth and
> wireless should just work.

Thanks for your suggestions Jimmy. However I'd like to start from the top by 
discussing the dependencies required by the *task-kde-desktop* package and 
then the other meta-packages.

Here are the dependencies of task-kde-desktop, on the right my suggestions.

task-kde-desktop
  Depends: tasksel
  Depends: task-desktop
  Depends: kde-standard
  Depends: sddm
  Recommends: kdeaccessibility        --> change to: Suggests
  Recommends: gnome-orca              --> change to: Suggests
  Recommends: k3b                     --> change to: Suggests
  Recommends: k3b-i18n                --> change to: Suggests
  Recommends: plasma-nm
  Recommends: kdesudo
  Recommends: libreoffice-kde
  Recommends: apper                   --> substitute with: synaptic
  Recommends: gimp
  Recommends: firefox-esr
  Recommends: libreoffice
  Recommends: libreoffice-help-en-us
  Recommends: mythes-en-us
  Recommends: hunspell-en-us
  Recommends: hyphen-en-us
  Recommends: system-config-printer
  Recommends: dragonplayer            --> substitute with: vlc

# kdeaccessibility and gnome-orca
Accessibility tools not essential in a basic installation, they are needed 
only in particular cases. These packages should be marked at most as 
"suggested" or removed from the dependency list. IMHO the installation of 
accessibility tools should be triggered differently and already via the 
debian-installer and not listed here.

# k3b
CD and DVD are not completely abandoned but is a fact that by now they are 
superseded by flash drives and other portable storage devices. This package 
should be marked as suggested.

# apper
It should be dead upstream (it is written in the changelog!) and the 
alternative is plasma-discover that is really bugged. The only sane 
alternative is synaptic. IMHO package management should be entrusted to a 
distro specific tool. However it remains the issue of updates notifications. 
They didn't work, at least for me, nor with apper nor with discover. But with 
synaptic only? Maybe we should try pk-update-icon (but it has Gnome 
dependencies).

# dragonplayer
It is a really simple player but other applications provide a better user 
experience. I prefer smplayer and mpv but I recognize that vlc is a better 
choice for the general public and it integrates well with the Plasma Desktop.