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KDE GUI Software Linux

KDE 3.5 Released 385

Posted by CmdrTaco from the i'm-up-to-my-neck-in-gui-gui-code dept.
WhiteFoxBR writes ""The KDE Project is happy to announce a new major release of the award-winning K Desktop Environment. Many features have been added or refined, making KDE the most complete, stable and integrated free desktop environment available." Here a Visual Guide to new features, including build-in ad-block for Konqueror and support for MSN and Yahoo! webcams in Kopete. "
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KDE 3.5 Released More

KDE 3.5 Released

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  • Kool! (Score:5, Interesting)

    by suso ( 153703 ) * on Tuesday November 29, 2005 @09:18AM (#14137269) Journal
    Way to go KDE folks and supporters. Even though I'm a Gnome user (actually, I'm a closet FVWM user), KDE never ceases to impress me and I do try it for periods of time. The last 8 years I've been using Open Source Software and Linux have been amazing. The amount of progress that all of us have made. There is still more to go, but its not hard to see that the gap is really closing in now. All the hard work and patience has paid off. Everyone give yourself a pat on the back.

    • Re:Kool! (Score:2, Funny)

      by ramrom ( 934556 )
      The Webcam support for Yahoo was what I was waiting for. I had to switch to windows to do this before.

    • Re:Kool! (Score:3, Interesting)

      by MBGMorden ( 803437 )
      I'm also a Gnome user (and XFCE on slower machines), but it is amazing to see what these folks are doing. I used KDE exclusively up until 3.1 or so and it has always gotten better with every release. In my view Gnome has only just surpassed it in the last few releases (though purely from a usability standpoint, which will vary from person to person), but in general all of the "big" projects tend to feed off of each other. When one improves the other does, and it's great to see it in action.

      I too have bee

  • What's that sound? (Score:4, Funny)

    by Bananatree3 ( 872975 ) * on Tuesday November 29, 2005 @09:18AM (#14137272)
    That sound you heard was the developer's Gears grinding away for this release.

  • Lopete link (Score:5, Informative)

    by Cougem ( 734635 ) on Tuesday November 29, 2005 @09:22AM (#14137291)
    The link to Kopete actually links to Konqy. You want this [kde.org].

  • It's About Frickin Time!!! (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    It is about frickin time that open source IM clients integrated voice and video. Congratulations to Kopete and KDE for implementing this LONG OVERDUE feature. Welcome to the 2000 chat world.

  • Webcam - yes! (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Zoidmann ( 869204 ) on Tuesday November 29, 2005 @09:26AM (#14137322)
    The missing ability to use a webcam easily under KDE, is actually an argument for some people I know to stick with Windows. So this is great news - now I might convince them into actually trying this "Linux-thing", so I can stop supporting their infected Windows XP Home machines (yes, then I would have to support them with Linux, but with a little help from CrossOver they can keep using most of the software they are dependant upon).

    I haven't got a webcam myself at the moment, so I have no idea how it works in Kopete. If you have tested it, and can recommend a webcam that is working nicely under Linux, I would like to hear about it. Are there webcams out for Linux that actually support face-tracking?

    • Re:Webcam - yes! (Score:3, Informative)

      by big_groo ( 237634 )
      Be careful which webcam you buy. The Logitech Quickcam Messenger is a Windows only POS. The chipset is incompatible, IIRC. I have the Logitech Quickcam Pro 4000, and it runs like a champ in Gnomemeeting. If you want a really good cam, get the iSight - it works under linux. From what I recall, most of the head tracking stuff is Windows only. Can't wait to try this out tonight - we'll see how it works from Linux->Windows and Linux->Mac.

  • Great work (Score:4, Interesting)

    by geo_2677 ( 593590 ) on Tuesday November 29, 2005 @09:27AM (#14137327)
    The features seem to be pretty impressive. Now, not only do we have a two good browsers for Linux desktop, the healthy competition between FF and Konqueror will only make them richer. The ACL GUI feature is certainly a good enhancement.
    Way to go KDE!!

  • KDE.org mirror (Score:5, Informative)

    by Bananatree3 ( 872975 ) * on Tuesday November 29, 2005 @09:27AM (#14137328)
    Sicne it seems like Kde.org has taken somewhat of a hit, here is a mirror for it: http://kde.mirror.fr/ [mirror.fr]

  • Already slashdotted! (Score:4, Interesting)

    by bogaboga ( 793279 ) on Tuesday November 29, 2005 @09:30AM (#14137358)
    The site is already slashdotted. I will have to slow down a bit, till all the rush has calmed down. Meanwhile, let the rest of the Slashdot community begin the flames here on slashdot.

    Anyone here using KOffice in a "real world" environment? The last time I attempted using it, I found it had tonnes of bugs!

    • "Anyone here using KOffice in a "real world" environment? The last time I attempted using it, I found it had tonnes of bugs!"

      I primarily use OpenOffice.org 2.0, but keep KOffice around because it's very fast and seems to work well. I may be able to replace OOo with KOffice if I bothered trying to figure out how to do the same things. OOo has an excellent dialog for parsing fixed-width delimited files in Calc and their Save as CSV dialog is second to none.

      KOffice is good, but with OOo 2.0 around it always se

    • Re:Already slashdotted! (Score:4, Interesting)

      by robgamble ( 925419 ) on Tuesday November 29, 2005 @10:31AM (#14137879)
      I used the KMail / contact / calendar app for 2 months straight and found it to be very stable and reliable. It was also a TON faster than Evolution.

  • What I didn't see (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Hoplite3 ( 671379 ) on Tuesday November 29, 2005 @09:32AM (#14137366)
    I'm a big KDE fan, and KDE has really improved since 3.4 when the new series just gelled. 3.5 promises to be more awesome. I especially look forward to konqueror improvements, as it's my browser of choice. I really appreciate its speed, especially on lower-end systems. Plus, it uses the KDE file picker that I find easier to use than the gnome one with firefox.

    What I didn't see was much change in KDE's horrible default settings. The desktop is very configurable. Why does it have to look like some terrible pudgy windows clone? And what's with two toolbars on every app? Why not save some screen real estate for the body of the application? That toolbar for konqueror could easily be paired down to one row of icons with the location bar along side. I'm sick of a print icon on every application. I print things rarely enough off the web. That should be left to a menu, or just alt-p.

    Still, if you're willing to configure KDE a little bit, it's awesome. The good news is that much of the configuration is easy, right-click kind of stuff.

    • Re:What I didn't see (Score:5, Funny)

      by aesiamun ( 862627 ) on Tuesday November 29, 2005 @09:39AM (#14137425) Homepage Journal
      Yes because KDE was designed with you and only you in mind. No one else prints...NEVER! How can the KDE people be so thoughtless as to include something as useless as a printer button.

      I hate KDE! Damn them for making useful stuff. :(

      • You've got to admit he's got a point though. Even my parents have started to give up trying to print the Internet out so things must be changing for the better. Think how many trees we could save by simply removing that one little button.

    • Re:What I didn't see (Score:5, Informative)

      by 10Ghz ( 453478 ) on Tuesday November 29, 2005 @09:57AM (#14137589)
      What I didn't see was much change in KDE's horrible default settings.


      KDE4 is what you need. Not only are there some serious usability-improvements, polishing, cleaning and other improvements in the pipeline (yes, seriously. Lots of KDE-devels seem to be fed up with the clutter), there seems to be some really low-level changes thought of as well.

      Good things come to those who wait, and KDE4 will deliver lots of goodies. KDE3.5 is "just" an extension of KDE3.
    • "Why does it have to look like some terrible pudgy windows clone?"

      So as not to scare off the pudgy Windows users.

      KFG

  • Cool! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Omicron32 ( 646469 ) on Tuesday November 29, 2005 @09:32AM (#14137368)
    Congratulations KDE team!

    Now, knowing Gentoo this will be in the tree in the next 5 minutes. Woo, emerge is gonna be hot tonight, and tomorrow, and the day after, and probably some time after that too.... ;)

    (Disclaimer: I use Gentoo, it doesn't actually take that long with kdeenablefinal flag on!)

    • knowing Gentoo this will be in the tree in the next 5 minutes.

      Actually, it's been in the tree since before the release. If you unmasked them and tried to emerge them, portage would just complain that it couldn't download any of the distfiles.

    • "knowing Gentoo this will be in the tree in the next 5 minutes"

      Kubuntu already has it, just as they've released the beta and RC releases the same day as release.
    • Yes, but when will they mark it as stable?

      Also, what does kdeenablefinal do?

  • Visual Guide Mirror (Score:4, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 29, 2005 @09:37AM (#14137406)
    Courtesy of Mirrordot [mirrordot.org]

  • Kould you kindly kan the naming konvention? (Score:4, Funny)

    by digitaldc ( 879047 ) * on Tuesday November 29, 2005 @09:40AM (#14137434)
    Kareless konnotation kauses konsiderable konsternation.

  • Google Maps and Blogger (Score:5, Informative)

    by p0z3r ( 626621 ) on Tuesday November 29, 2005 @09:41AM (#14137443)
    Two things.. if you want google maps to work, you have to add a user agent for maps.google.com/local.google.com to Konqueror as Safari.
    If you want blogger.com to not post blank blog entries, add a user agent for www.blogger.com to Konqueror as Firefox.

    Now email google to fix both of them so we don't have to do these silly workarounds.
    • Also, if you like to be able to click on links, add a user agent for mail.google.com to Konqueror as Mozilla/Firefox.

    • Re:Google Maps and Blogger (Score:5, Interesting)

      by digidave ( 259925 ) on Tuesday November 29, 2005 @10:12AM (#14137722)
      "Now email google to fix both of them so we don't have to do these silly workarounds."

      I did email Google about that issue (I emailed Google Local because that's where I was at the time. Same problem there). I simply asked that they add Konqueror's user agent to the supported browsers after stating that the browser did work when I switched the user agent. This is their response.

      --------------
      local-help@google.com to me
      Nov 17

      Thank you for your note. It appears that you're having trouble using
      Google Local because you're using a browser that is not fully supported.
      In order to obtain full functionality of Google Local, please use one of
      the supported browsers listed in our Help Center at
      http://local.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answ er=16532&topic=1499 [google.com]

      We appreciate your taking the time to send us your feedback regarding the
      use of Konqueror with Google Local. We'll keep your comments in mind as we
      continue to make improvements to this service.

      Regards,
      The Google Team
      ---------------------

      Utterly frustrating. Sounds like a bot may have wrote that :(

  • Notable changes (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 29, 2005 @09:42AM (#14137449)
    • Konqueror is the second major web browser to pass the Acid2 CSS test, ahead of Firefox and Internet Explorer
    • Konqueror can also free webpages from adverts with its new ad-block feature
    • SuperKaramba is included in KDE, providing well-integrated and easy-to-install widgets for the user's desktop
    • Kopete has support for MSN and Yahoo! webcams
    • The edutainment module has three new applications (KGeography, Kanagram and blinKen), and has seen huge improvements in Kalzium
  • KDE 3.5 packages have been released for Kubuntu http://kubuntu.org/announcements/kde-35.php [kubuntu.org]

  • Filterset? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Vo0k ( 760020 ) on Tuesday November 29, 2005 @09:47AM (#14137490) Journal
    I wonder if the adblocker from Konqueror is compatibile with firefox Adblock.

    (...As you've certainly noticed...) Adblock by itself is worthless. Its empty filter base makes it inactive and only weeks of careful building it would make the extension normally useful. Only combined with a good killfile like Filterset.G [pierceive.com] it really kicks ass, at once. Same applies to any other adblocker - what filters are available for Konqueror?
  • Because it appears that their Pentium II 233 box with 32 megs of RAM isn't quite cutting it as their web server for kde.org. :)

  • "Stable?" "Stable" is for Isotopes (Score:5, Insightful)

    by RobotRunAmok ( 595286 ) on Tuesday November 29, 2005 @09:51AM (#14137533)
    Really. I love Linux, have been a user since the early 90's, but some of the language conventions just vex me. "Stable" for instance. Yeah, yeah, I know what is meant by it in this context, but it never fails to make me contemplate what an "unstable" desktop would be like, and the vision has nothing to do with BSODs. "Stable" is for relationships and isotopes, and is valid only in the context that most examples in kind are given to falling apart. It's part of the "I was happy to hear you are no longer beating your wife!" phrase family that achieves a "positive" slant only by dragging the listener through scary negative spaces. Linux deserves better than this.

    It also deserves better than having its major graphics package called "The Gimp," but that's a discussion for a different day...
    • Whatever. I'll take something called 'stable' over something called 'beta' any day, which seems to be what all free services are called today. Need I slashlink? Nah, I'll just wait for the dupe.
    • I think of "stable" as a trusty stable for horses you can take for a ride.
      A horse is an OS here, and the stable is a state of security for the horses... I mean, OS.

      And an "UN-stable" is rather a horse stable controlled by the United Nations.
      So it's more for users who truly understand the implications of having a horse/OS there.

      I hope it's more clear now.

  • gentoo (Score:4, Funny)

    by PePeBoTiKa ( 903062 ) on Tuesday November 29, 2005 @09:53AM (#14137549)
    Arrggg, I've just finished the compile of KDE 3.4.3 on my gentoo system about an hour ago! And it's not a joke :-(

  • If 3.5 is a major release... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Call Me Black Cloud ( 616282 ) on Tuesday November 29, 2005 @10:00AM (#14137613)

    ...what will 4.0 be? A stupendous release? An amazing release? A "Moses came down with KDE 4.0 on some tablets" release?

    I'm not knocking them, but I thought there was an accepted custom to releases. If the number to the left of the decimal point changes it's a major release and if it doesn't it's a minor release. Kids today and their releases...I can't keep up.

  • Now we just need... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by squoozer ( 730327 ) on Tuesday November 29, 2005 @10:16AM (#14137741)

    ...one of the major distributions to get behind KDE and push it a bit. Debian is about the closest I can think of (yes, I know I'm going to get flamed for that) and that is desktop neutral. There's kubuntu but that could hardn't be called major (although I think it will do pretty well).

    It's a real shame because IMVVHO I think KDE is the better Desktop system. I know under the hood Gnome is supposed to be better but quite frankly as long as it works I don't really care. I want different things from my desktop than from my API. I want my desktop to be inviting and fun to use I want the APIs I use to be like my bank manager (boring and predictable). Gnome seems to have the API right but the desktop wrong and KDE has the desktop but not the API. I might be totally wrong here because I have never used the API of either (roll on (a fast) swing) but that's the impression I get from the advocates for each side.

    The other main argument against KDE is that it is too much of a Windows clone. Perhaps I'm the only one that thinks this but I think that's a good thing. I can switch quickly between windows and KDE without too much thought. Like it or not, M$ have spent millions designing an easy to use desktop system. Perhaps it's not perfect but I can't help feeling that the Gnome people are being different simply because they don't want look like windows.

    • IMHO, in it's newer released Gnome works better in the interface than KDE (I used KDE for a long time before Gnome).

      I don't know what it is, but KDE just feels "wrong" at this point. When rendering text under in icon, it often cuts it off in an odd place. Toolbars look cluttered. The default icon and widget themes (and even most of the others available) are so busy and flashy that it's often hard to discern from the picture what the function is (and in essence totally nullifying the usefullness of an ico

      • Re:Now we just need... (Score:4, Interesting)

        by darkwhite ( 139802 ) on Tuesday November 29, 2005 @11:55AM (#14138720)
        To each their own. To me, Gnome apps look flashy (icons in standard OK/Cancel/Apply buttons? No thanks, I just need Enter/Esc to work), disjointed (try comparing the amount of shared functionality in Gnome apps and KDE apps sometime - you can expect each KDE app to implement standard toolbar/shortcut configuration dialogs and tons of other standard actions in predictable ways), uncoordinated (the default CrystalSVG KDE iconset is more coherent than anything I've seen in Gnome, and with only minor tweaking the whole environment looks very subdued and serious) and by no means faster than anything I use in KDE. The two points I agree with you on are bad toolbars (not so much cluttered as the customization tool is broken) and bugs in icon text/selection rectangle drawing.

        KDE is far more integrated than any other set of apps I've seen, and this integration is useful in many non-obvious ways. To me, in KDE things look more refined.
    • Well, FWIW, Kubuntu already has the new packages available.

      Downloading them now...

    • Re:Now we just need... (Score:5, Informative)

      by Klivian ( 850755 ) on Tuesday November 29, 2005 @11:20AM (#14138344)
      I know under the hood Gnome is supposed to be better

      That's rather the strangest thing I have heard all day, KDE is generally thought to be cleaner and better than Gnome under the hood. With the better underlying technology and architecture.

      Gnome seems to have the API right but the desktop wrong and KDE has the desktop but not the API.

      Seems like you have got that one backwards, the API are the one thing people usually praise with KDE. The complaints are about the "cluttered" desktop, indication that they think Gnomes is better.

      but quite frankly as long as it works I don't really care.

      Agreed, and there's the point where KDE wins out in the end. It got the applications and features making it possible to get the things you want done.

      The other main argument against KDE is that it is too much of a Windows clone.

      Anyone who have actually used KDE know it's not true, as KDE is much more. Funny thing is, set KDE up with a non-blue color scheme and those complaints dissapear.
  • Bleargh - anyone remember this old thing? KDE 1.x [mirror.fr]. Got a box at work with it still on there - Redhat 7? 8? and it pains me.
    But agreed on the comments about the default styles.
  • Did anyone else notice that they've now turned on a Windows style autorun? Why?

    "KDE has made an exciting breakthrough in its support for removable devices. On detection of specific media types KDE presents the user with a list of optional actions. These actions are configurable in KDE's control center and can be disabled entirely. This goes a great deal of the way toward fixing an old complaint, that managing removable media is too difficult in Linux, by exposing existing features in KDE and Linux to the u

    • Repeat after me: That is not autorun. (Score:5, Informative)

      by Daedala ( 819156 ) on Tuesday November 29, 2005 @12:02PM (#14138795)
      That is not autorun. K? Got it? Try again.

      The problem with Windows autorun is that it automatically ran untrusted code from the CD you just put in. This appears to let you automatically do something using the trusted code on your own computer. That's what OS X does, and it's fine.

      There is a BIG difference between opening the CD ripping app on your computer, and opening some random app on the CD itself. If the CD ripping app on your computer is a Trojan, it's on your computer and you're already rooted. This is no more dangerous than a script you write yourself to call applications on your own computer.

      If KDE allows the CD maker to point to a random file on the CD and say "Run me!" then they deserve all the scorn one can pour upon them. But if the computer just says, "Hmm, I see a bunch of audio files! I will open my trusted audio application!" then it's a timesaver and not a major risk. (Ok, there might be some exploitable overflows in the code that does this, but that can happen anywhere.)
    • You are confusing AutoRun and Media Insert Notification (MiN). MiN simply detects that removable media has been inserted and notifies the MiN manager (in this case, the KDE window manager). The individual MiN manager then has a choice about how to react. In general, this is a pretty good idea because it lets the user choose what to do, or do nothing. Advanced users can configure most MiN managers to just ignore notices, so everyone wins. No malicious code is executed unless you choose to instruct your

  • Fitts Law and the Dual Layer Task Bar (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Peteresch ( 136753 ) on Tuesday November 29, 2005 @11:11AM (#14138246) Homepage
    Fitts's Law: The time to acquire a target is a function of the distance to and size of the target.

    Placing task bar items along the edge of the screen provides the benefit of "infinite height". With the stacked display of items on the KDE task bar the top row of items do not benefit from this.

    Why have many Linux Desktop Environments chosen to implement the dual layer task bar?

    Now I understand that by providing more rows the width of the items can be greater than if they were all forced onto a single row. While the size of the target benefits from the greater width does it outweigh the benefits of the infiite height?

  • Question for KDE people (Score:3, Interesting)

    by poofyhairguy82 ( 635386 ) on Tuesday November 29, 2005 @06:49PM (#14142813) Journal
    All I want to know is: was a lot of work done on KDE's kompmgr? Can I finally get the shadows and real transparencies that OSX users take for granted on my ATI 9200 card without crashing? Or my Nvidia card?

    Xorg 7 is almost here. With Xorg 7 comes EXA. With EXA comes a way to have stable, accerated eye candy. KDE 3.4 was ahead of its time for putting a compsite manager in Kwin, but it was so buggy that I had to stick to my old Xcompmgr+ Gnome/Metacity combination because I could turn off the composite for times when I need a stable desktop with the click of an icon with my old setup(I need stability for a few things). I plan to switch to whatever DE has a stable composite manager first.

    Luminocity seems to be at least a year off, XFCE's composite manager is the most buggy I have dealt with, so all my hope is in KDE.

    Does 3.5 have what I want? Or am I yet again left to wait a year for KDE 4 to come out? Will I be liberated from "the toy" Xcompmgr? Can I have a stable and modern Linux desktop before 2005 ends? Or do I wait another year (well.....I won't wait another year....if its like this in mid 2006 an Intel Macmini will sit on my desktop)?

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