i should be working (but i'm fixing my computer).

I posted a number of really positive things about 4.2 after it's release. It is, after all, my primary desktop.

...

And, it's important to note that I am using 4.2 through the "lens" of OpenSUSE, since I install from the Factory repository.

But actual releases are supposed to be stable. With betas, on the other hand, you should enjoy the new features -- but you should expect that some things will occasionally be inconveniently broken. And, if you're not ready for that, don't use the beta.

A number of things have regressed in my KDE 4.2 install SINCE THE RELEASE DATE. I update at least daily, so my install has whatever OpenSUSE has put in their 4.2 repositories. We are talking many megabytes of updates. So, here's what's broken so far.

1. First and foremost WIRELESS NETWORKING DOESN'T WORK!!! Several interations ago, it actually got so far as to be able to make manual connections, and store everything in KWallet. Then it quit using KWallet and would only do DCHP connections. Now its "sort of" storing data in KWallet, because KWallet opens when you modify the connections -- but KWallet does not open when you try to make a connection! So, the only connection I can make is to my bare DCHP ethernet connection. And nothing else.

2. At first, the "blue" was missing from the oxygen panels. Minor, but it's a nice effect. But, in any event, then it was only in two of my three panels and now it is in none of them (though I get a blue halo around items in the taskbar). And, two of them have a grey "shadow" effect, one has no effect at all.

3. Not only do the plasma widgets not stay where they belong on the desktop, they also won't go away. In frustration, I decided to just get rid of some of the widgets. I click the "x". They go away. I restart the computer. They come back again. As for the system monitor widget, even though I never installed more than one of them, I get two on startup. One is "open" as I set it -- but in the wrong place. Underneath it is a second one, which is not "open."

Does anyone think this is NOT beta behavior? Yes, there are plenty of things that are working. I can live with the plasma widget annoyance, though it gets more annoying by day, especially as I can't make them go away. (Well, I probably could kill the .kde4/config and start over again, AGAIN, I guess.)

BUT -- NETWORK CONNECTIONS HAVE TO WORK. This is fundamental to being able to use the computer. How are the KDE4 programmers getting by with this sort of problem? Are their computers working and just not mine? Why isn't it priority 1 for fixing? Why can't we regress a couple of iterations to where it was working?

Yeesh.

And arrgghhh.

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Of course, in semi-sort of fairness, I will note that officially from OpenSUSE, KDE 4.2 is a "Factory" package -- and therefore, officially beta. OpenSUSE 11.1 is officially tied to KDE 4.1 -- which has other disabilities that make 4.2 preferable.