Kubuntu 9.04 Review: 2 Steps Back

So I’ve now had a couple of weeks of use with Kubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty).  I did a standard update from 8.10, which thankfully went very smoothly.  However, I must say that generally I think this version is a step down (well, two very big steps in fact) in functionality and usability.  Here are the main areas I’ve run into trouble:

Bluetooth
If bluetooth was troublesome before, it is now practically unusable.  I’ve got a Microsoft bluetooth mouse and keyboard, both of which worked fine under 8.10 Intrepid, and which now work none only some of the time.  The mouse has a success rate of about 70% connecting to my computer and staying connected.  My keyboard has a 0% success rate.  The built-in KDE bluetooth manager is now completely useless, and does nothing as far as I can tell.  The default Gnome bluetooth-wizard works some of the time, but I can’t get my keyboard to keep a constant connection even when I’m using it.

Word on the street is that this is all due to the upgraded Bluez stack.  But, I can’t understand how functionality that existed and worked really well in the previous version has totally tanked in the current version.  I’ve basically given up using my bluetooth peripherals until a fix comes out (hopefully soon!).

Wireless
Again, the Kubuntu developers have delivered a downgrade in functionality and preformance with wifi in 9.04.  What used to be a manageable, if not quite elegant, solution in KNetworkManager has been replaced by a completely useless KDE 4 native plasma widget.  It looks pretty but is mostly broken.  First off, the new network manager has no way to connect to an unbroadcast SSID.  Second, it rarely remembers to reconnect to existing networks, usually prompting you to enter the password about 3 times before giving up in a confused befuddlement.  Third, the graphical elements are all fucked up.  The list of available networks in the panel is usually cut off so you can only see the first 1.5 entries.  You have to drag it off the menu and onto the desktop for the full list to display.  The proximity display view is even worse – all the networks are just overlayed on top of each other so as to make it illegible.

Both of these may seem like small issues, but they concern the two biggest uses of a computer: typing and using the internet.  What’s all the more disappointing is that the release has been out for over a month, and there have been no patches to address bluetooth, which is barely functional, or the network manager, which is in little better shape.

Upsides
There are a few upsides to this release.  First, KDE looks generally more polished with each release.  There has been a fix to font rendering so that now the font size doesn’t get all screwed up if you use a second monitor.  The fonts in previous versions of KDE 4.x were much too large and bold faced.  Kde 4.2 seems to have fixed this.  And FINALLY the display bugs in Firefox seem to be fixed.

Summary
In summary, there are some new features to make this release worthwhile, but overall there is clear lack of polish in key areas.  I’m still stumped as to how the Kubuntu developers thought it a good idea to issue release with a non functioning bluetooth stack and a really, really crappy network manager.  And I’m even more baffled that its been over a month since this release and there are still no bug fixes to address the display issues in the network manager (not to mention the crippling lack of features) or the non-functioning bluetooth stack.

Kubuntu + KDE 4.2 Bluetooth and Wireless Tips

It’s been about a week since I made the switch from XP to KDE 4.2 as my primary desktop.  Overall, everything has been very smooth, however I’ve run into two mildly annoying problems.  Both my bluetooth mouse and keyboard and my wireless connections seems to time out after I put the computer to sleep, never to return until I reboot.  With bluetooth, this is especially annoying as I depend on the external keyboard and mouse with my laptop.  So, after some forum searching, turns out there are two pretty easy fixes.  First off, wireless.

Wireless Sleep Fix
First thing you’ll need to do is figure out which wireless kernel module you’re using, there are various ways to do this – my computer is using a proprietary Atheros module, so I could go to the hardware app in KDE.  Second, add the following line to /etc/default/acpi-support:

SUSPEND_MODULES="$SUSPEND_MODULES ath_pci"

Now, when your laptop goes to sleep, the ath_pci module will be suspended as well. This will allow it to gracefully start up again once your computer awakens.

Bluetooth Sleep Fix
To do the same for bluetooth, edit the same file and find the line ‘MODULES_WHITELIST’, and add an entry for ‘bluetooth’.  You should get the resulting line:

MODULES_WHITELIST="bluetooth"

Conversely, this will keep the bluetooth module from being removed from the kernel on sleep – I think that it was not getting loaded back in correctly.

Anyway, these two things worked for me on an Intrepid Kubuntu machine, so best of luck.