kubuntu focal live

Kubuntu 20.04 LTS ("Focal Fossa") was released last week. I downloaded the iso and took a look around in the live session; I haven't installed it yet, still hanging with 19.10. Some shots:

Discover and Muon:

This was my first look at the Elisa music player (see https://kde.org/applications/multimedia/org.kde.elisa and https://github.com/KDE/elisa), playing some music files from a flash drive. The VLC media player is also included.

An online review of Elisa: https://technastic.com/elisa-music-player-kde/.

Doesn't look like it'll be replacing Audacious on any of my installed systems.

Overall, the live session feels very nice, and it's loaded with enough useful apps to get the user up and running. I finally went into the settings and added a virtual desktop -- I don't see the sense of being limited to only one desktop/workspace, and haven't had to do that since my Windows XP days -- but other than that I didn't tweak the default configurations at all. Nothing but love here for KDE Plasma! I'll get around to trying Kubuntu 20.04 on bare metal soon, hopefully.

pesky address bar

Others besides Dedoimedo have written about how to get rid of the revamped address bar in Firefox 75 and get back to what folks were used to in earlier versions. (See: https://www.ghacks.net/2020/04/08/how-to-restore-the-old-firefox-address-bar/ and https://lifehacker.com/how-to-disable-firefox-75s-new-address-bar-1842728031)

I haven't tried any of that stuff, but I did get rid of the annoying automatic drop-down list in FF 75. It seems that the following combination of steps was required to get what I wanted:

I removed the "Top Sites" from the New Tabs page, as mentioned in yesterday's post and here.

In Firefox's "Preferences" on the "Home" tab, I have every box unchecked under "Firefox Home Content".

I also have everything unchecked under Search > Search Suggestions.

On the "Privacy & Security" tab, I have every box unchecked in the "Address Bar" section.

Result: No more drop-down list obscuring part of the window when I click in the address bar, suggesting stuff that I don't want to see or click on.

When I open a new tab and start typing in the address bar, the behavior is almost (but not quite!) the same as how I have things set with the current Firefox ESR (68.7.0) from Debian Stable. Very close.

FF 75 in Kubuntu 19.10:

FF ESR in Buster GNOME:

Oh, well, I tried. I can live with it, but others might not be able to.

i can work with it

Dedoimedo had some complaints about (and fixes/workarounds for) the new Firefox 75 address bar in "Firefox 75 - Not bad but also not necessary" and "How to change the address bar in Firefox 75 (and beyond)".

I've been using FF 75 in Arch and in Kubuntu 19.10. Got used to it quickly, and now I like it, for the most part. I'd like an easy way to edit the alternate search engines that appear when I open a new tab and click in the address bar:

I have no need for Facebook or Twitter but I'm okay with the other three. Just a minor annoyance (for me), though. I dug around and figured out how to do it. First, I took a look at this page: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/search-firefox-address-bar

A link there took me to the "Customize the New Tab page" instructions, which show how to add or remove the so-called "Top Sites". The result here, with Firefox 75.0 in Arch:

Looks like I could easily get rid of the other three as well (I can always use DuckDuckGo !bang codes for those), but I'll leave 'em for now.

I can completely see where Dedoimedo's coming from. It can be irritating sometimes when changes come down the pipe, especially when you don't really want something to change. Still, I'm finding the revamped address bar to be more useful than what it replaced. Not a problem here.

skip the "hero" stuff

Article at The Atlantic by Karleigh Frisbie Brogan: "Calling Me a Hero Only Makes You Feel Better"

Brogan writes, "Cashiers and shelf-stockers and delivery-truck drivers aren’t heroes. They’re victims. To call them heroes is to justify their exploitation." I agree.

happy music

Lively, upbeat sounds coming from KUNM radio tonight. Listening to the "Salsa Sabrosa" show.

kubuntu focal beta

Kubuntu Focal Fossa (20.04 LTS) Beta Released

I took the beta for a spin in a live session.

Oh yay, an emoji picker.

The Kubuntu 20.04 beta looks pretty good. I'm very tempted to proceed with an installation, replacing Kubuntu 19.10, especially since I've got some time on my hands right now. But I'm very pleased with Kubuntu 19.10, which I'm using on my "home base" computer. Support for that release doesn't end until July, so there's no rush.

I prefer to go with the LTS releases (of Ubuntu and "Ubuntu Flavours" like Kubuntu), but the in-between releases have worked out great for me, too. I wish they had a longer support period, like they did in the past; now the EOL comes around after only about 9 months.

Anyway, I'll stick with Kubuntu 19.10 for now.

no hoop

Forget March Madness and the NBA.  Cats can't even find a pickup game anymore: "Coronavirus has stopped basketball across America"

Sad.

Well, folks who have a hoop in the driveway (or over the garage or whatever) can still shoot around...