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KDE GUI Software Linux

KDE 3.5 RC 1 Released 47

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the happy-days-and-jubilation dept.
HatofPig writes "The KDE Project has released the first release candidate for KDE 3.5, the last of the 3.x versions. There are many added features and bugfixes such as easier Kicker configuration and many UI tweaks. Get the source, Suse packages, or packages for Kubuntu and start filing bug reports today!"
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KDE 3.5 RC 1 Released More

KDE 3.5 RC 1 Released

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  • What use... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by markild ( 862998 )
    ...is this without a screenshot of some sort!!

    • Re:What use... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Homology ( 639438 ) on Sunday November 13, 2005 @05:37PM (#14022281)
      ...is this without a screenshot of some sort!!

      Why don't you read about the added features and bugfixes [kde.org]? There is much more to KDE than just eye candy.

      For me, it's very useful to read that client side IMAP filtering is at last beeing added (but still in progress, though), and thus I can use KMail and ditch Thunderbird. However, I've no need to see a screenshot of a dialog box for IMAP filtering rules.

  • Time to get sued. (Score:3, Funny)

    by Seumas ( 6865 ) on Sunday November 13, 2005 @05:15PM (#14022165)
    How long until SCO sues them and demands that they hand over all data regarding KDE 3.6?

  • Try without installing.. (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 13, 2005 @05:19PM (#14022183)
    Here ya go, for your pleasure.

    Klax [kde.org]

    Here's a LiveCD with the new KDE RC on it. Please follow the instructions at the bottom of this page to get the best resolution/quality display of X & KDE.

  • At last KMail gets client side IMAP filtering... (Score:4, Informative)

    by Homology ( 639438 ) on Sunday November 13, 2005 @05:28PM (#14022222)
    The only reason I don't use KMail is that it lacks client side IMAP filtering into folders, but now it's in progress (from changelist):

    Client side IMAP filtering. Till Adam , Don Sanders

    Perhaps this will be completed before release, or to the next minor release. Looking forward to ditching Thunderbird.

  • Links for source, Suse, a screenshot (Score:5, Informative)

    by HatofPig ( 904660 ) <(clintonthegeek) (at) (gmail.com)> on Sunday November 13, 2005 @05:41PM (#14022316) Homepage
    Submitter here (w00t!).

    The link for the source and Suse packages [kde.org] didn't get through for some reason.

    Also, since I can't find any screenshots anywhere, here [clintonthegeek.com] is a (highly compressed -- don't kill my server!) screenshot of my own desktop with some of the cool features. You can see that they changed the Plastik window decoration a bit, and added a nifty "Lock/Unlock Panels" menu option to quickly hide and unhide the handles beside each applet. The new pager applet is really cool, with the ability to go transparent and show different program windows (desktop 2 has KPilot running) that you can drag around from desktop to desktop inside the applet!

    So far no bugs have cropped up either, which is good. I really suggest you check it out.

    • I like the binary clock icon on your screenshot... At first I thought it doesn't have an icon at all (and almost switched to rant mode to complain about it) when I realized that it is just perfect for the kind of app it represents.

      Here is mirror [unideb.hu] for your jpeg. Send me (email) more (preferably less compressed ones, or even png) if you wish, and I'll put them up there :)

    • I guess this is why I prefer Gnome. No offense, but that is the most hideous trainwreck I've ever seen.

      Mine is this:
      http://johnnowak.com/temp/screenshot.png [johnnowak.com]
      • Hahahaha, no offense taken.

        I like having everything available just like that. To anybody else it looks like a convoluted mess, but since I set it up I know where everything is and why it's there. I can check my mail status, change the volume, control my media player, open any program that I use regularly, change all my KDE settings, and loads more without minimizing my open window. I also have a rather interesting colour scheme set up too. ;)

        To me your desktop seems bland and empty, although I'm sure that e

        • Re:Links for source, Suse, a screenshot (Score:4, Informative)

          by John Nowak ( 872479 ) on Sunday November 13, 2005 @08:47PM (#14023264)
          I use Quicksilver (quicksilver.blacktree.com) which is absolutely amazing. I haven't seen anything like it for Gnome or KDE or anything else. Everything from adjusting the volume to uploading files via ftp to selecting songs from iTunes can be done with simple predictive key commands. This is what allows me to keep everything so nice and clean otherwise. :-)
          • "me too!"--It's like a command line for the GUI, except better, and with automatic tab completion. Just brilliant.
          • Katapult is a Kubuntu app, not part of KDE, but rather a part of the Kubuntu desktop. It's brand spanking new with the latest release so it's fairly primitive, but it has the basic framework in place and supports a few basic tools. I know there's a list of planned extentions, but I have no idea what state they are in: I don't really use it that much. It's launched via Alt-Space.

            Personally, I just use Alt-F2, which brings up a KDE command field... launch any kind of KDE url (locate:2005 report, imdb:Seve

            • Can it do more complex things though? With quicksilver I can do this (with my current set of predictive commands):

              D st

              That'll let me browse my desktop, select a file, and email it to someone all at once. Sexy, eh?
              • Yes. As I said, that is what Katapult is for. Predictive and it can theoretically access all of your desktop and running apps via dcop, although only a few capabilities are currently configured since it just squeezed in before Kubuntu shipped. As I say, the framework is there, the apps already have the hooks, but there's not much yet in the default config tying the two together. Right now it's a quick predictive launcher, file browser and bookmark access tool, as the only three verbs (that I could find)
      • That is just silly. His screenshot is awful, but not because that is how KDE looks like. It is awful because you (or me for that matter) would not feel confortable using it. But that is how he configured it, that is what probably fits his way of doing things.

        Essentially, you compared your preferred way of organizing the desktop with his preferred way of organizing the desktop, and concluded that GNOME is better. Congrats.

        You can pretty much configure anything in KDE. You can make it plain and simple (by default, it is pretty plain and simple) - you can even lock it down with kiosk and associated tools (read why the Dutch Record Shop Chain Migrated 1000 desktops to KDE [kde.org] to limit it's functionality to accessing one page on the internet and 4 apps if you wish to. And configuring it is rather easy via kcontrol. When I switched to linux 5 years ago, the first thing I really felt comfortable with was kcontrol. I knew that I can't screw up anything with a desktop config utility, and playing with it for a week or so got me accustomed to using it (of course I tried a few apps as well, but the inevitable "now what" question that comes up after installing a new and different operating system is best answered by providing harmless customization tools. At least, that's a good way for noobs to get confortable. Since than, I spend ~10-30 minutes (depending on the amount of new features) with configuration when a major release happens, and I am really glad that I can customize the hell out of it. I won't use something like parent's desktop, but I'm also glad for his ability to use KDE the way he wants without the need to edit obscure values in the registry or download 3rd party apps to do that more easily ;)

        • I suppose you are right. I guess for me, Gnome is very close to what I'd want out of the box (save for Quicksilver (quicksilver.blacktree.com)). I guess I don't understand why anyone would want so much of what KDE offers, but I guess it is good that it is there for people that aren't like me. :-)
          • Aha, I understand it now. GNOME might seem more confortable out of the box if you are coming from a Mac. On the other hand, KDE can look and behave just the way you want, and a big plus here is that configuration is easy. And when it comes to the application stack, you'll find more many many great tools that don't have free software equivalents.

            Give KDE a try sometime (when 3.5 comes out?) if you have the means ... you might be pleasently surprised. Consider the time you spend configuring it to your liking

            • I think the best part about KDE, being a former GNOME user, is that Debian actually has the latest KDE 3.4.x programs. Debian has GNOME 2.10, which kinda fucked over some basic functionality like menu editting and other basic customisations. That, and there's no way I'm going to upgrade half my packages via Ubuntu just to get some updated GNOME applications. For now, I'll just deal with the fact that Firefox and Thunderbird will look quite like ass in KDE.
            • Thanks for the link.

              "One specific commonality worth mentioning may surprise Quartz-proud OS X users: Both allow the creation of PDFs from any application's print dialog. KDE's implementation is arguably better, since it gives much more fine-grained control over PDF output."

              Does this apply to Gnome as well, or is it KDE only? This is one feature I just love about OS X, and I find myself using it a few times every month for some odd thing.
    • PNG screenshots of parent poster (HatofPig).

      First. [unideb.hu]
      Second. [unideb.hu]

      Thanks :)

    • Ever heard of PNG? Compresses images of your desktop to GIF-like file sizes, but it's lossless. JPEG is only good for really detailed images (like your cluttered desktop almost). That discrete cosine transform compression technique really looks like ass when you have a non-textured block of image.

  • Acid2 here I come (Score:4, Informative)

    by molnarcs ( 675885 ) <csabamolnarNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Sunday November 13, 2005 @06:48PM (#14022728) Homepage Journal
    Acid2 Test here I come :)))

    Seriously - KDE has become soo good, that I couldn't work without it. I became so accustomed to its excellent apps, both for my admin work and my desktop usage.

    • Scribus for newsletters from one of my sites, (is there any other Desktop Publishing software with similar quality and standards support?)
    • Krita (part of Koffice) - in scribus, the edit image default app was gimp until koffice 1.4.1 - now krita begins to become a viable replacement for gimp.
    • Quanta - YES!
    • kdissert for my dissertation (yeah, a week ago I began using it, and I found it really helpful).
    • Kmail - I didn't know it was missing imap support, I use pop access with my gmail accounts. But it is stable, fast, easy to use, feature rich.
    • And the whole integration thing: kaddressbook with kmail with korganizer with kalarm with the rest of the desktop. It is simply amazing.
    • Lisa to browse network shares in konqi sidebar - no more mounting/unmounting of samba shares, it works much much better than winxp's network neighborhood...
    • Amarok for my music needs: is there such a feature complete player out there? Not just providing one or two features of amarok, but all - wikipedia, lyrics, easy tag editing, ipod support, dynamic playlists, visuals, and first and formost easy to use. I think amarok is the prime example against the "an app must be simple and dumbed down to be easy to use" philosophy. kmplayer
    • KONSOLE! I tried replacements like mrxvt for puters where kde is not installed, and they don't come even close.
    • Konqueror. And I miss the up button from every other browser :))). What I like about Konqi is its stability - there are some pages where firefox simply bails out (some flash pages) - and I don't see a separate process to kill. With konqi on the same pages (to tell the truth, there aren't that many) I can kill the offending process (usually nspluginviewer) without taking out the entire browser (and all my opened tabs).
    • Lots and lots of other apps I couldn't live without - the list goes on.
    I'm really really thankful for the work these people do.

    • Re:Acid2 here I come (Score:4, Informative)

      by Hoplite3 ( 671379 ) on Sunday November 13, 2005 @09:31PM (#14023431)
      I'll go on and on:

      * kdvi -- xdvi is a joke. It crashes all the time and the interface is unintuitive. kdvi is bulletproof, has inverse search (click in dvi to have it scroll emacs/kate/vim to that spot in the .tex file). Plus it has the sweet kde file picker.
      * kpdf and kghostview -- while I'm here, it's worth mentioning that the whole suite of "kviewshell" programs are awesome. They embed in konqueror or run by themselves. kpdf may not render as well as acroread, but it doesn't phone home and the file picker doesn't suck.
      * kile -- If you want a gentle introduction to LaTeX, look no further. This editor will set you straight.
      * kio -- Not so much an application as glue. Kio allows me to save files downloaded at one computer on another via ssh. I mean, I can put a graphic I found on the net at school on my home computer securely with one click.
      * k3b -- The only CD burner program worth mentioning.

      KDE has some awesome apps. If you've ever tried qt/kde programming, it's clear why. Things are (mostly) simple and the API's are well laid out. It's just ... cool.

      There are some problems, namely the default configuration does a poor job of selling KDE to new-comers. Memory use is a bit out of hand. I tried to start 3.4 on a laptop with 192 MB, but gave up after 30 minutes of watching it load. Resource use has fallen slightly, though. And no one ever said KDE was "lightweight". However, 3.5 is moving in the right direction and fixing some of these problems.

      When the transition from 3.3 to 3.4 happened, the changes were small and subtle, but the quality of the desktop really improved. It was like they crossed an important line of usability. 3.5 promises to be better yet.

      Even if you don't run KDE, run some of it's applications. You'll like what you find.

      • Re:Acid2 here I come (Score:3, Informative)

        by darkwhite ( 139802 )
        And on and on...

        Here's another testimonial to how much KDE rocks. When I started exploring the desktop options on Linux, I was very unhappy with Gnome's suite of apps and design methodology. I was just as unimpressed by XFCE's minimalism and other WMs' total lack of desktop component integration. Then I saw KDE 3.3 and was somewhat interested. By the time 3.4 came out (with lots of polish upon 3.3), I was hooked. At 3.5, I'm a fan, and KDE 4 will rock the world of desktop environments.

        But as I found out ver

      • Re:Acid2 here I come (Score:3, Insightful)

        by MrHanky ( 141717 )

        There are some problems, namely the default configuration does a poor job of selling KDE to new-comers. Memory use is a bit out of hand. I tried to start 3.4 on a laptop with 192 MB, but gave up after 30 minutes of watching it load.

        Which distro's KDE was that? I've started KDE on a slow laptop (266 Mhz) with only 64 MB RAM (but with quite a bit of swap), and although it was too slow to be usable, it certainly didn't take 30 minutes to start. (Gnome on the same computer was nearly usable, though a bit painfu

        • This was Fedora Core something. Living in Redhat town, when I get a computer from schools, it's all Redhatted up. Not my favorite distro, but at least it's linux. I believe this was 3.4, but I didn't do careful checking. I tried to load it from KDM and didn't get anywhere.

          I am heartened that resource use went down with 3.4 compared to 3.3. I hope that's a trend that can continue. As for comparison though, I can't speak about osx or winxp, but kde is a bit nicer than gnome on small systems I've run it

          • Re:Acid2 here I come (Score:3, Informative)

            by molnarcs ( 675885 )
            That's a distro problem, not a KDE problem. For years, I ran kde (till 3.4.x series) on a 700Mhz Duron with 256SDRAM and it was snappy. Start up time was reasonalbe as well (less than 20 secs).

            I saw comments complaining about RAM hungryness of KDE. This is quite ironic, since at that time (Konqueror failing on some important sites I used) I used Firefox, and only when starting FF up did the OS begin swapping, especially with multiple tabs open. Now I wouldn't run KDE with 128, but 256 is enough if you don'

  • I'm glad (Score:3, Insightful)

    by vga_init ( 589198 ) on Monday November 14, 2005 @03:22AM (#14024429) Journal

    It makes me a bit happy to see KDE growing strong.

    Throughout the time that I used open source on the desktop, there were often various times where I felt one of the desktops was lacking (sometimes KDE, sometimes GNOME). At times I would clearly prefer one, and sometimes I would prefer neither.

    Lately, however, I have found both desktops only getting stronger and more pleasurable to use. Right now I am using KDE, but I will continue to switch back and forth between the two simply because I honestly can't tell which is better.

    Everyone has their favorites, and these two are pet projects for a lot of people, but I definitely take it as a good sign that I can no longer have a definite favorite (especially after I was once so sure that I could never prefer one to the other).

    Bravo, KDE team, and cheers for all lovers of Free software.

    /warmfuzzies

  • From the release note:
    Sex up the user switching ui.
    Whom are they targeting with this release? Geeks?
    Sheesh.

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