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

This will not necessarily solve all of the problems, but it will definitely waste a lot of time!

In any event, I loaded the 8.10 Kubuntu onto the HP 5290. My hunch was right -- the runaway CPU usage by X is now solved. In addition, Kubuntu recognized my hardware better, so my external screen is displaying at the correct 1280 x 1040 instead of 1040 x 768.

However, I don't have any "effects" or transparency. In a bit of irony, while using the opensuse install, the settings system would report that effects could not be enabled. In Kubuntu, effects are ostensibly enabled, but there are no effects.

Oh, well, can't have anything.

I have a considerable trouble finding my way around Kubuntu. Also, installing via "live CD" on an underpowered system with only 256 meg ram is tedious -- it takes quite a while for the live CD to load and arrive at a stable desktop so one can run the install.

The first thing to notice is that the Kubuntu implementation is graphically more pleasing -- I'm sorry for insulting the graphics artist, but does OpenSUSE realize how ugly their branding is? I spend a lot of time reverting it all to KDE 4.1 defaults. (OTOH, in the default setup, Kubuntu does not save window sizes, which I find really annoying.)

Here are some steps I undertook, as best as I can recollect them:

Install the synaptic package system.
Install kpowersaver.
Install cairo-dock*
Install songbird.
Install a number of IceWM packages.
Install compiz fusion-icon (so I can switch from KWIN to IceWM as the window manager).

So, I'm running KDE 4.1.3 as a photo/music server with the following setup:

KDE 4 login

IceWM as the windows manager with the "infadel2" theme. (I find it is necessary to switch away from it and back again using the fusion icon to get the panel to show -- but it is set up better than the default IceWM installed by OpenSUSE.)

Slideshow running on the background.

cairo-dock running at the bottom of the screen on top of the IceWM panel. I especially like the weather widget and the logout widget (configure to "pkill -u [username]). However, this logout will not save plasma settings that have changed.)

KDE panel to right. (removing default icons/tools that are duplicated in cairo-dock or IceWM).

plasma clock on desktop.

KDE clock screensaver. (I'm not yet certain whether the powersaver will shutdown the screensaver, though. If not, I may go to xscreensaver, but I like the KDE clock.)

songbird running my music collection.

The system is idling at between 5% and 20% cpu usage. With songbird running, cpu usage is between 70% and 80%. (In the IceWM setup I did, cpu usage was at around 40%, but I did not get the benefit of the slideshow, which I like because it displays my photo album little by little.) Idling at about 8% with screensaver on (but no music player running).

In any event, music playback is not breaking up and the system hasn't overheated and crashed yet. Nevertheless, I'm still in the testing stage and not ready to put this same system on my actual music server (as opposed to my "test" music server.)

One minor problem for the other users in my family -- it's inconvenient that the IceWM panel doesn't come up on login, because it makes it problematic for other users to start up the system.

Thank you for visiting and have a pleasant tomorrow.

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*cairo-dock -- do not install from the version in synaptics, because it is not up-to-date and will have a problem when you do try to update it; and lastly it doesn't have the extras that are what make cairo-dock useful. Go to cairo-dock.com to get the current respository instructions.

errata: I had been using Kubuntu on this computer previously ("Feisty" install), but all of my Feisty installs crashed when I tried to autoupdate to "Gutsy". Since I find it easier to hack stuff in OpenSuse, I prefer the OpSu install anyway, so I switched over. But, I had started using Kubuntu previously because OpSu didn't support the hardware correctly. And then it did, for awhile.

errata#2: No kde 3.5 in this distro. Don't know if it can be added, don't know that I need it or want it -- except I miss the KIMA applet.

errata#3: I couldn't get the screen to automatically power down while running the screensaver -- a problem that has afflicted several of my KDE4 installs for awhile -- so I switched to xscreensaver (running xdaliclock).