I've been trying out TDE off and on since the project started; ever since they 
killed KDE3, and I looked around for something as usable and practical as the 
KDE3x desktop (which I first used on PC Linux, and later on Ubuntu Hardy 
8.04). 

When trying to install over various 'buntus (mostly Ubuntu, Kubuntu or 
Lubuntu), I always ran into problems, and always was forced to abandon TDE. I 
kept a running copy of Hardy 8.04 on a separate partition, just so I could 
get work done, but it kept getting more and more outdated, and seriously 
insecure; yet none of the alternatives were working. Finally Hardy 8.04 
ceased to be functional or practical, and I was forced to do something new 
and different, so I resolved to learn how properly to install and configure a 
Debian system with TDE, and am glad to report nearly complete success, with 
only a few nagging bugs, most of which are fairly small. 

My big breakthrough came when I realized that even after I had installed TDE, 
and no longer ran the newer versions of KDE4/5 (whatever) or Gnome, that my 
newer KDE settings were somehow "bleeding over" into my TDE desktop 
environment. (I mean, for example, colors, and various other configurations, 
in Firefox, soundKonverter, Mousepad, and lots of other programs; these use 
the KDE settings, and look like the KDE4/5 desktop, whereas other programs 
have a TDE appearance, even when they are not programs specific to KDE4/5.) I 
believe that this has something to do with TDE's use of that /opt folder, 
since it is installed to ride piggyback, as it were, on top of another 
system, and has yet to be released as its own stand-alone system. (I've tried 
the TDE installation discs for Kubuntu 10.04, 12.04, 14.04, as well as 
Devuan, Q4OS, exeGNU, and maybe three or four others; and had those same 
problems, where the system eventually became unusuable, and I was forced to 
abandon it.) 

What I did seems a little counterintuitive, but it might help others. Then 
again, it might seem obvious to many of the readers out there, but perhaps it 
will help some users, at least the n00bs. And maybe others will have their 
own observations to add to this thread. 

I installed Debian Jessie 8.8.0 with the latest KDE desktop, and did not 
bother at all with TDE for at least a month or two. Instead, I went through 
all my settings for KDE, and tweaked and reconfigured obsessively, until I 
got KDE to run fairly smoothly. I disabled all the unnecessary bells & 
whistles in KDE that hog the CPU; I went into window-specific settings, and 
forced "focus stealing prevention" (set for "extreme" in most cases). I 
disabled my network managers (wicd, et al.) from connecting automatically; 
and so on, and so on. There are a million little tweaks and configurations 
and refinements I could list, but maybe I will start separate threads for as 
many of them as I can remember, and others can add their own. 

Sorry to run on, and risk making this into an epic tale; but the short version 
is: Only after I had got KDE running as well as can be expected (from such 
piece of crap), then I enabled the Trinity repositories, and installed the 
TDE desktop; and, voila! presto! TDE works almost without a hitch, the same 
desktop pretty much that I have used, which keeps all my work organized and 
accessible, and allows me to be in control of my own system - the only 
desktop I've ever loved. 

In other words, it was the KDE desktop environment, and the default settings 
therein, which were interfering with the smooth operation of TDE. It seems to 
me that TDE is pretty much ready for release into the standard repositories; 
although my brief bit of research has discovered that a lot entities out 
there want to block its inclusion in the repositories. 

So I am wondering: Is there is some way that TDE can get into the regular 
repositories (Debian, Ubuntu, etc.)? or if a dependable stand-alone 
installation disc image can be developed (which does not ride on top of 
another desktop like Gnome or KDE4/5)? Then we could get out of that /opt 
folder, and my hunch is that everything would run better. 

It seems to me that TDE is nearly ready for release; and if not, it ought to 
be released through the Trinity repositories. (I mean, not as separate 
packages, but as its own installation disc.) T

Bill