Kubuntu 12.10 installation and setup checklist (draft).

[Brian Cluff]

You have some questions at the bottom:
?? How to make resolution setting "Save as default"? (It doesn't work now.)
?? How to make network authentication automatic? (It is not now.)

The reason both of these don't work is you turned off KDE wallet.  It 
doesn't just store passwords, there are some configuration items stored 
in it as well, as cookies and other items that you might want password 
protected.  It's better to think of it as a centralized encrypted 
database, that is usually used for passwords.

 From the look of your checklist, it sounds like you just want things to 
work and don't want security items to get in your way.
My suggestion is to turn back on kwallet, and then when you use 
something for the first time that wants to use kwallet, and kwallet asks 
for a password to encrypt your wallet, just hit enter/click OK, then 
when it tells you that a blank password isn't very secure, tell it to 
use it anyway.
Then the next time that kwallet pops up and asks if something can 
connect to the wallet, tell it to always connect.  You should never see 
kwallet again and your wireless network connections will connect 
automatically on login (unless you have unchecked automatically connect 
for the connection) your cookies in konqueror and rekonq will work and a 
bunch of other programs that store items in the wallet will just work as 
well.

There are usually ways to turn off the wallet and still have the 
programs work correctly, but you would have to find the settings in each 
individual program and you usually still loose a level of security as in 
the programs just write their passwords to a plain text file.

There is a nice setting in the kwallet config that can let you have you 
cake and eat it too.  You can set use "different wallet for local 
passwords" in the config, and give that the no password and 
automatically connect, treatment, and leave the other one password 
protected.  With that config all your local settings will "just plain 
work", but when you connect to stuff on the Internet, it will ask for a 
password to decrypt your stored passwords, for how long to leave the 
wallet open before it asks for a password again is configurable (once, a 
few minutes, until the screen saver comes on, until you log out)

On my local machines that I'm the only user, I tend to go the least 
intrusive, low security, route.  On work machines or other machines that 
other people have access to, I tend to have kwallet pop up and ask for a 
password to decrypt my stored passwords.  If you trust the people around 
you, but worry about what would happen if your laptop was stolen, you 
can go for the ask once at login, and only once, and that should keep 
the bad guys out of your passwords.  Kwallet is a very configurable 
program...

Now what KDE really needs is not a way to do without it, but something 
that pops up the first time that kwallet is used that explains what it 
is, what it does for you and what options you have with it.  That would 
cut down on a lot of misunderstandings that a lot of people have with 
kwallet.  Perhaps they could add a "I don't care about security just 
make things work" button and a setup a separate local wallet button, so 
that the system stuff just works.  Maybe even an I hate kwallet, and I 
understand that I'll break a lot of things in the system, but turn it 
off anyway button.

Brian Cluff

On 01/12/2013 02:36 AM, joe at actionline.com wrote:
> While Linux is clearly superior in so many ways, it is little wonder that
> Linux has not yet found wider acceptance among "ordinary" computer users
> when it is still such an ordeal to achieve a fully satisfactory
> installation that "just works" for all of the most essential stuff.
>
> Ideally, it surely should be possible to have a *ONE-CLICK* Linux Live CD
> installation that would result in a system as complete and ready-to-use as
> a new computer purchased off-the-shelf at any retail store with micro$haft
> pre-installed.
>
> Sadly, such an installation is not even remotely close to reality.
>
> I have tried many dozens of different Linux distros, and I have done
> hundreds of Linux installations over the past 15-years, and (call me
> stupid) but I the process is still both daunting and highly frustrating.
>
> For several years, Mandriva and PCLinuxOS had been the most stable and
> usable (imho) and I was completely happy with PCL with KDE 3.5 for quite a
> long time ... until finally being forced to "upgrade" to KDE 4 with its
> endless problems ... and then, a series of problems with PCLinux so-called
> "rolling-release" updates royally screwed up all of my systems.  So that
> drove me to give up on PCLinux and start all over again.
>
> Kubuntu seemed like the best alternative for my needs -- first with
> version 12.04 and over the past few days, I have been transitioning to
> 12.10 which seems much improved.
>
> However, even so, getting 12.10 installed and working right on my
> computers has continued to be far more frustrating than I think a Linux
> installation ought to be.
>
> So, I have been attempting to compile a checklist of every step and every
> click required to complete an installation and setup to the "ready-to-use"
> stage, and I would appreciate any feedback, corrections, and suggestions
> that y'all might be willing to share to improve this checklist.
>
> Eventually, with guidance from my good plug friends, I hope to "remaster"
> a live CD that might get as close as possible to a *ONE-CLICK*
> installation of kubuntu 12.10. Click this link to see the checklist first
> draft:
>
> http://www.upquick.com/temp/cklist.pdf
>
>
>
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