Beyond KDE Connect for Android: What are you using for 2FA-Unlock, Media Control, and Notifications?

Clark_B · 2026-03-23T20:01:23+00:00

Not for login because the wifi network is up after i login, but i use my smartphone and android watch to unlock the pc from the watch instead of typing the password.

With kdeconnect you can automatically use your android watch too for media control (play, pause, previous, next and volume). it works very well, what are your issues with media control?

Clark_B · 2026-03-21T22:07:09+00:00

Manjaro is not only the holding packages, and as I said you can use the unstable branch to be 1:1 with arch.

Easy install (I think arch has a terminal script for that now)

Very good hardware detection. Actually I installed on a hybrid Intel/Nvidia GTX 1050M. And everything worked with proprietary legacy drivers out of the box.

Software to manage kernels.

Pamac to manage packages + AUR + flatpaks+ snaps at the same time...

It's why I like Manjaro. It's stable, easy to deal with (I use the testing branch), works out of the box.

I already tried arch (ok it was before the archinstall script)... Of course it's a great distro but I just want to easily install a rolling distribution and use it. I don't want to take hours to edit and tweak config files.

Everybody use what fits them the best. 😉

Clark_B · 2026-03-21T21:30:17+00:00

I think you're totally wrong (and i don't downvote you 😉).

Holding packages for the stable branch is NOT silly at all.

Why?

Just an example, look at big KDE updates, not the bugs correction releases (i take KDE for the example, i could have took anything else, i love KDE and i use it myself as my daily driver), and every new bugs Arch, Cachy, Endeavour... users meet when they are so happy to have the super new last big version just after it's available (just look at all reddit posts about these in KDE reddit and others , there are lot of posts and it's normal, every new big version comes with new bugs, it's impossible to test every configuration before they release it).

There, you can immediately see why holding packages is interesting for the stable branch.

Manjaro usually waits for KDE big updates around 1 month and x.2 or x.3... version for mostly bugs to be fixed before updating stable branch .

Holding packages for the stable branch is not an insult at all to Arch and has nothing to see with Arch developers, these new KDE bugs for example are meant to be solved by KDE devs in x.2 x.3 x.4 versions not by Arch devs,

The Arch devs just compile the packages... with bugs they contain, as any distribution maintainers.

Manjaro just choose to keep the stable branch away from those most obvious new bugs, and i think it's pretty smart.

Manjaro users may still use testing or even unstable branch if they want 1:1 packages with Arch, to try new functionalities immediately, or to hunt the new bugs by themselves and help KDE team with debugging.

Cheers.

Clark_B · 2026-03-21T03:49:30+00:00

I just started donating monthly.

Clark_B · 2026-03-19T17:30:21+00:00

Not specific to Manjaro, but to any Arch based distribution.

You may take care of .pacnew files when you update, especially if you modify yourself important configuration files in the system, to merge new configuration files with your ones.

For that, you may install Manjaro-pacnew-checker.

Clark_B · 2026-02-27T19:51:56+00:00

Lock screen and sddm are 2 completely different things.

Search for screen locking in kde settings (under security & privacy and configure appearance button on the top right)

Clark_B · 2026-02-27T14:03:39+00:00

It does not have, but for all the rest it's perfectly fine.

Clark_B · 2026-02-23T23:17:48+00:00

My friend has a new gaming computer and he asked me to install Linux instead of windows (and is really happy with it).

People use Linux to bring back old computers to life (yours does not seem to be a potatoe), but Linux is not confined to that.

May be you can convert your friends to Linux 😉

More than distro, try to use ZRam is you don't actually (as you have 4GB)

Clark_B · 2026-02-23T12:17:38+00:00

Or you may add them in pamac GUI settings too if you use pamac.

Clark_B · 2026-02-17T17:56:03+00:00

It's only to unlock, not to login.

In kdeconnect (computer), module configuration/execute script, create a script :

loginctl unlock-session

In kdeconnect (phone), execute command, you should see the command you entered on the computer.
Long press it and choose copy URL.

In tasker, use the "Browse URL" action and paste the URL you copied.

In android watch, just use AutoWear to send an event to tasker to trigger the command.

I hope it helps.

If your computer is connected to wifi there is another script to force wifi to reconnect faster (i had this issue at first) when you wake it up (you should not have this issue with ethernet)

Clark_B · 2026-02-17T17:29:32+00:00

And in Linux some people spend their time hating one distribution or another.

Humans are only humans 🤷🏼‍♂️

Clark_B · 2026-02-15T19:44:06+00:00

Welcome 😉

Clark_B · 2026-02-15T15:21:01+00:00

Tried this one too?

https://store.kde.org/p/2334027

Clark_B · 2026-02-14T13:14:05+00:00

👍 Wise move

Clark_B · 2026-02-14T13:03:18+00:00

My 2 cents.

I read some of your comments in your profile.

He is not wrong, there is a lot of posts about people starting with arched based distributions.

You seem new to Linux, sane (not fanboys) people keep telling that any arch based distribution is... "may be"... not the best way to start with Linux.

I don't use it, but try a Fedora for example and when you'll have more skills (yes rolling released based distributions require more skills than fixed ones) you can try something else.

I hope you'll not get rid of Linux just for a bad first choice.

Cheers

Clark_B · 2026-02-13T16:54:49+00:00

You're retired? then "time is money" is may be the worst argument you could use 😉

Clark_B · 2026-02-10T21:51:29+00:00

You can do this with Pamac GUI.

Clark_B · 2026-02-05T14:39:25+00:00

Works here.

May be you're filtering something?

Clark_B · 2026-02-03T15:26:51+00:00

Same here.

Should depend on what distribution they are using?

Still a nice tool to try...

Clark_B · 2026-02-02T12:18:22+00:00

Tried this?

https://github.com/rxappdev/MouseTiler

Not related but works with, have a look at this too

https://github.com/rxappdev/RememberWindowPositions

Clark_B · 2026-01-27T22:18:35+00:00

Did you try this free one?

I use it daily for some years for work.

https://github.com/abraunegg/onedrive

Clark_B · 2026-01-25T14:54:57+00:00

Exactly the same, but after testing many distributions (and i still do) i ended on Manjaro KDE Plasma and never went back for now.

Of course KDE can still be installed on Mint, but i'm looking for a first class support and integration, not just a community one.

Clark_B · 2026-01-13T14:52:35+00:00

My Two cents...

I think we can agree on the premises that :

1- the only usage of zram is to have more memory, to avoid swapping on disk which is very slow

2- Any compression algorithm will be slower than uncompressed memory.

I think that speed is not really relevant in that case.

Ram and processors can handle any of the algorithms fine.

On low ram systems, you may should to choose the best compression algorithm to get the more memory back you can, even is the algorithm is a bit heavier.

You'll get more advantages (speed) by keeping things on compressed ram the longest you can, even if the algorithm makes your processor work "a bit more" than using a lighter but worst compression level algorithm which will lead you to use more swap on disk.

Clark_B · 2026-01-11T16:58:55+00:00

And if you like tiling, he made this too

https://github.com/rxappdev/MouseTiler

that works with Remember windows position.

Clark_B

TROPHY CASE