kubuntu: Try-1

Tried kubuntu 5.04 live-cd today (actually wanted to see the inbuilt compositing of kde - how does the eye candy do on my 845GL). More or less OK. Enabled transparency/shadows are things are pretty much OK (didnt crash during the 30 minutes I was working in Kubuntu).
I was using the live cd, so I had to fix a few of the default settings (below), but other than that Kubuntu lived up to its reputation of flawless hardware recognition (ummm... perhaps my hardware is pretty common, recent Mandrakes did the same too).

• Anyway my first reaction was the small vga boot screen - used live vga=791 as boot parameter for subsequent times.
• Next, X server started in a small screen. Changed the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file to add Modeline:
  ModeLine "1024x480" 65.00 1024 1032 1176 1344 480 488 494 563 -hsync -vsync
• If the modelines arent proper, you would see the following in /var/log/Xorg.0.log
• The resolution you want (e.g. 1024x768) is listed as "*Mode ... (1024x768):" - so the video card can support this video mode (look for the '*' before 'Mode'; only "Mode ..." means that video mode is unavailable).
  
• But, right after the mode listing you will notice that the monitor rejects this mode
  not using mode 1024x768 (no mode of this name)
  
• Also, fixed the hsync and vsync values (ubuntu used values for a generic monitor). For my Dell laptop panel, they were
  HorizSync 31.5-48.5
  VertRefresh 59.0-75.0
• Enabled Composite extension.
  Section "Extensions"
  Option "Composite" "Enable"
  EndSection
• Logged out of Kubuntu and then used ctrl-alt-backspace to restart X.
  

Didnt have much time to test the other features of KDE 3.4. Will do so (and report interesting findings, if any). But I did make one observation, the eye candies are good. Gradual menu opening, smooth window appearing but all of these come at the cost of time. Without any animation, the menu, windows would show up instantly and now with them, there is some delay before they are fully displayed in a usable state. It looks like I wouldnt like these fancy animations (as I didnt like the minimization genie effect of OSX). But its too early now - let me install KDE 3.4 fully and let it speak for itself.
Thats all for now,
- d.