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KDE GUI Software X Linux

KDE 4.0 RC 1 Released 334

Posted by CmdrTaco from the who-wants-to-restart-x11 dept.
angryfirelord writes "The KDE Community is happy to announce the immediate availability of the first release candidate for KDE 4.0. This release candidate marks that the majority of the components of KDE 4.0 are now approaching release quality. While the final bits of Plasma, the brand new desktop shell and panel in KDE 4, are falling into place, the KDE community decided to publish a first release candidate for the KDE 4.0 Desktop. Release Candidate 1 is the first preview of KDE 4.0 which is suitable for general use and discovering the improvements that have taken place all over the KDE codebase."
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KDE 4.0 RC 1 Released More

KDE 4.0 RC 1 Released

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  • Yes but... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 21, 2007 @12:14PM (#21436813)
    does it run on Vista?

  • Slashdotted. (Score:5, Informative)

    by Valdrax ( 32670 ) on Wednesday November 21, 2007 @12:15PM (#21436821)
    Looks like plasma.kde.org is Slashdotted right now, so hey -- Wikipedia to the rescue. [wikipedia.org]

  • Slashdotted (Score:5, Informative)

    by JBHarris ( 890771 ) <`moc.fsi' `ta' `sirrahb'> on Wednesday November 21, 2007 @12:16PM (#21436841)
    The main site [slashdot.org] is already bogged down. However, the major change is the completion & inclusion of Plasma [wikipedia.org]. I like candy.

    • Re: (Score:2, Redundant)

      by nuzak ( 959558 )
      Mmmm yeah, plasma. From the wikipedia page:

      providing an API for developers to write widgets and mini-applications called plasmoids, to place on the desktop and panel


      I don't care what the official name of them is, I'm going to call 'em plasmids :)

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dbc001 ( 541033 )
      The wiki article mentions that support for Apple Dashboard widgets is planned - that would be a huge boost.

      In my opinion, the Dashboard is one of Apple's best features, and is really the only thing that I miss when I switch to a PC. The concept of having one-click access to lots of (configurable) real-time data is huge paradigm shift over the old methods (taskbar applets, etc).

  • Screenshots (Score:5, Informative)

    by arevos ( 659374 ) on Wednesday November 21, 2007 @12:16PM (#21436843) Homepage
    Screenshots [thecodingstudio.com] are important for superficial people like me :)

    I like the widget and window theme, but the kicker replacement at the bottom looks pretty tacky. It was the same in beta, and I'd hoped they'd change it for release, but it seems like they're sticking with it.

    • Re:Screenshots (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Mistshadow2k4 ( 748958 ) on Wednesday November 21, 2007 @12:33PM (#21437123) Journal
      I wouldn't say it makes you superficial. Good screenshots can be very informative when deciding whether or not you might like a program (or desktop environment), especially if you can see effects and/or menus.
    • In a word... UGH! I've been using Dolphin under KDE3 for a good six months now and have been loving it (barring apps like Ark not having any integration with it yet), but what they've done to Kicker looks absolutely hideous, in keeping with what they've done to my beloved Amarok interface in Amarok 2
      http://amarok.kde.org/blog/uploads/Amarok2preview30-07-07.png [kde.org]
      http://amarok.kde.org/blog/uploads/jamendo_ktorrent.png [kde.org]

      Can anyone show me any tasteful and useful implementations of Plasma? Or is it just being bandi

    • Re:Screenshots (Score:5, Informative)

      by nutshell42 ( 557890 ) on Wednesday November 21, 2007 @12:43PM (#21437285) Journal
      I like the widget and window theme, but the kicker replacement at the bottom looks pretty tacky. It was the same in beta, and I'd hoped they'd change it for release, but it seems like they're sticking with it.

      No, it's gonna look like this [imageshack.us]. In fact, it already does in CVS apparently.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by arevos ( 659374 )

        No, it's gonna look like this [imageshack.us]. In fact, it already does in CVS apparently.
        I'm not sure that looks much better...

      • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

        by MrNemesis ( 587188 )
        Maybe it's just me, but it looks like they've tried to emulate Vista and ended up making it look even more childish. Why are the icons all ridiculously huge and ridiculously tiny? Why are the sides of the taskbar chopped off? What's the point in rounding off the corners? I was going to say I'm not usually the sort of person who runs lots of eye-candy applets but it seems under KDE4 users aren't given much choice :/

        I just hope to hell that the final release comes with a plasma theme the restores some semblan

        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by nutshell42 ( 557890 )
          Why are the icons all ridiculously huge and ridiculously tiny?

          Why did they put 3 battery applets on the desktop? Why is the clock huge and in the middle of the panel? Because it's not final. You can't honestly think that those buttons will stay that way?!

          Why are the sides of the taskbar chopped off? What's the point in rounding off the corners?

          Because it's not full size? You can have it run all the way across the bottom and it won't have the corners and sides but if you have a panel that's less then th

    • Okay, when will the Linux world realise that vertical space on the screen is at a premium? i.e. don't waste it. This huge taskbar/panel at the bottom wastes too much vertical space. So do almost every GTK theme. So whenever I find one I like I open the gtkrc file and reduce some of the y-thickness values. Look at the GTK file dialog. Vertical space is important. Why, in the default GNOME install of Ubuntu the buttons are just huge vertically. Sigh.

  • Screenshots and previews of slightly olderreleases (Score:4, Informative)

    by Rudd-O ( 20139 ) on Wednesday November 21, 2007 @12:17PM (#21436851) Homepage
    I have reviews of the general KDE desktop [rudd-o.com] and Dolphin 4 [rudd-o.com] on my page. I will review RC1 as soon as I can get Kubuntu packages.

  • Graphics suck (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Seems like a step backwards to me. I really feel that GNOME is much more refined and this looks more like alpha quality than a release candidate. I used to be a heavy KDE user but stopped using it once the developers started paying less attention to detail. Sorry about my rant but this is just my feeling on the issue.

  • Coming together (Score:5, Informative)

    by eean ( 177028 ) <slashdotNO@SPAMmonroe.nu> on Wednesday November 21, 2007 @12:18PM (#21436865) Homepage
    I finally tried out a full KDE4 session last week and it is really coming together. I really look forward to the creative stuff people make with Plasma. Its not just a tool for having fun widgets on the desktop (which it is), but its designed so folks can easily develop their own taskbar, interactive wallpaper whatever.

    So KDE 4.0 will be cool, KDE 4.0 + 6 months of people creating fun plasmoids, even cooler.

    • Release Candidate or Beta --what's the diff? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by KWTm ( 808824 ) on Wednesday November 21, 2007 @12:58PM (#21437505) Journal
      Am I alone in thinking that people are abusing the term "Release Candidate"? Since there already is a term, "beta", that means "functional, with minor bugs to be ironed out", I would consider "Release Candidate" to refer to a true candidate --that is, it might really be released! KDE (or whoever the responsible author is) might say: "Okay, all those of you who downloaded Release Candidate x (where x=1,2,...), you can just go ahead and keep using it, because the RC has turned into the real thing."

      Software or distros that are "coming together" are not Release Candidates. They have no possibility of being released. Suppose everyone who tried this KDE4 RC1 said, "Yup, everything works fine! No changes need to be made," would KDE release it? No, because they're NOT DONE YET --Plasma still has to be put together. Since they won't be releasing this version at all, it shouldn't be called a Release Candidate. It's another beta.

      There's no shame in calling it beta (heck, half of Google's services are labeled beta); I don't see the need to keep advancing the terms. What's next? If "Release Candidate" comes to mean "beta", should we start using the term "Release Candidate with Potential For Use Unchanged"?

      Maybe someone can correct on this if I'm wrong. What makes this a Release Candidate and not a Beta?

      (Btw, diehard KDE fan here --I'm not even considering GNOME until they start having user-configurable key shortcuts. Waiting for KDE4 final release in December to be worked into Gutsy so I can put it on my Came-With-Ubuntu laptop.)

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by orcrist ( 16312 )
        Agree. 100%. Took the words out of my mouth.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by eean ( 177028 )
        Release management is a complicated thing. In this case it would be really easy to just delay and delay KDE 4. It wouldn't really accomplish anything though.

      • Re:Release Candidate or Beta --what's the diff? (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 21, 2007 @02:00PM (#21438369)

        Am I alone in thinking that people are abusing the term "Release Candidate"?

        No, you aren't alone, but according to KDE fanboys [kde.org], beta means that it compiles and release candidate means they've decided what features are going in. And if you disagree, then you're an idiot who doesn't understand open-source.

        Whether 4.0 will actually be usable depends on the way in which you ask. If you read the press releases or praise the developers, then 4.0 will be the best thing since sliced bread. But if you are worried about the quality and wondering why they are dropping features that were in KDE 3, then 4.0 is merely a preview release and 4.1 is going to be the real, finished thing. That way, they can get all the praise, but write off any criticism as "it's not ready yet", regardless of how finished the final release is.

        For example, the much exalted Plasma has been hyped since long before it ever existed. It had its own website when it was nothing more than mocked up screenshots and vague descriptions of how awesome it was going to be. And it was hyped right up until the alphas, when people were wondering where it was. It seems to be a last-minute job, and when people on dot.kde.org complain that "basically nothing works" in response to the third beta, one of the core developers responds with "i'm not particularly taken by the heartstrings people are plucking here. there are lots of things to test and bump around with in these betas. stop fixating on plasma for the moment; you'll get to play with more of its features as more releases come. [...] there is exactly one release that counts for plasma, and that'll be 4.0, though the rc's leading up to it will be important as well. there is also exactly one canonical place to gauge the "workingness" (hm. neat word.) of things right now and that's svn." [kde.org]. The KDE project is not interested in using the release cycle as a method of quality assurance, they release betas in order to show off how far they have gotten with features for the people who can't compile it themselves. As somebody else put it [kde.org]: " I know Plasma is barely more than a fetus at this point, and it doesn't even fully replicate all the features of the old desktop." - that's in response to the third beta, and still people tell him to wait. Shouldn't a core part of the desktop be relatively finished by the third beta?

        Disclaimer: I've used KDE since the 1.0 betas. I'm no GNOME troll. I just think the attitude the project is taking towards 4.0 seems to be all about ego and has dropped the transparency or quality that I've become used to with open-source projects.

        PS: I think it utterly sucks that I have to add disclaimers like that because otherwise I get called a troll (which is apparently the term for people who do something other than emit unadulterated praise for the developers on dot.kde.org). Christ, look at the fawning that is normal on the dot [kde.org]: many people says that kde3.0 was untable, full of bug and that kde will be the same, but kde4 look really stable, some parts crash, but the are apps like juk, kwin4 like composite works without problems, dolphin stable, i have hope that when kde4.0 is released can be used like kde3.5.x." That's right, it's not unstable or full of bugs if some of the apps work, and it's considered praiseworthy to hope that KDE 4 is as good as KDE 3.5. This is ridiculous.

      • Maybe someone can correct on this if I'm wrong. What makes this a Release Candidate and not a Beta?

        While I agree that in the case of KDE 4.0 they are really abusing the RC moniker (and "Beta" before that), it kinda makes sense if you're not aiming for a stable and feature complete 4.0 release. Aaron Seigo has said many times that the development is already taking far too long, and at some point they have to put it out there for people to test or risk turning into another E17.

        So a RC makes a kind of twis

      • GNOME has user-configurable key shortcuts (GNOME has it's own term called keybinding or depending on what you mean accelerator keys), if it means you want to give "shortcuts" to menu items, just set /desktop/gnome/interface/can_change_accels gconf key to true. Then you can set accelerator key to whatever you want when you hover on a menu item.

      • (Btw, diehard KDE fan here --I'm not even considering GNOME until they start having user-configurable key shortcuts. Waiting for KDE4 final release in December to be worked into Gutsy so I can put it on my Came-With-Ubuntu laptop.)

        Gnome's platform has had control-panel accessible Keyboard Shortcut applet since at least Gnome 2.8. Individual Gnome apps choose to let you do keyboard shortcuts just like any other application. Gnome Terminal, for example, lets you change keyboard shortcuts since Gnome 2.10. Y

  • KDE 4 Live CD (Score:5, Informative)

    by Rich ( 9681 ) on Wednesday November 21, 2007 @12:22PM (#21436947) Homepage
    For people who want to check out the RC without reinstalling KDE (and without risking breaking your existing setup) there's a live CD available at:
    http://home.kde.org/~binner/kde-four-live/ [kde.org]
    Have a lot of fun!

  • Does Compiz Fusion work with KDE4's RC's? I love my KDE, but I've grown quite fond of Compiz Fusion... do they still support the aquamarine widget translator or whatever that is?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by eean ( 177028 )
      Just promise to try out KWin's composition features first when KDE 4 comes out. Their emphasis is on functionality. It would be like adding salt to your food before eating any if you don't try KWin out first. :)
  • Me likee me brushed goldtone metal theme...
  • For one thing, I am happy about the interest in KDE. With the flames about KDE I used to read on slashdot, I am happy to knew that there are still folks that are interested in KDE and its direction.

    These folks have contributed to what many call the slashdot effect on sites that host KDE news.

    Question is: Would it be the same effect if it were GNOME?

    • It's already starting. People are volunteering to post messages of the format:
      "(x) sucks! Real people like me use (1-x) instead!"
      where x = KDE or GNOME, and KDE+GNOME=1.

      Anyway, let me step outside all this and say what *I* wish. I wish that KDE and GNOME apps would let the user choose what widget set to use. I think each of KDE and GNOME have applications that simply have no counterpart with the same quality. KDE has Amarok and K3b, while GNOME has Firefox and GIMP, not to mention non-KDE/non-GNOME app

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by pherthyl ( 445706 )
        while GNOME has Firefox and GIMP

        Neither Firefox or the GIMP are gnome apps. They use GTK, but the gnome libraries are entirely optional.

        And things like the portland project aim to allow apps to use native file dialogs for the environment they're running in.

  • ...where's the meat? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by 99BottlesOfBeerInMyF ( 813746 ) on Wednesday November 21, 2007 @12:58PM (#21437515)

    Well, I can't say I object to any of these improvements, but most of them seem pretty minor and incremental. Cleaner APIs and more efficient libraries are nice. For the end user, where's the meat of this release? Okay now it supports Widgets. Well, that can be sort of useful if there is a good selection of them. I've heard claims they added support for OS X native widgets and that could help a lot to make this actually useful. Anyone actually tried using them yet?

    When a new full version comes out and I find myself looking forward to the improved spellchecker, because it is still worse architecturally than on other platforms I use, but at least it is better... well I start to wonder what happened. I'm not trying to put down the developers or anything, this is obviously a lot of work, especially Dolphin, but I guess I was hoping for more. When will KParts be upgraded to work like OS X system services? Where's grammar checking? Where's anything we haven't seen on another OS/Window manager already? As a Kubuntu user, I guess I'm just not really as excited by this as I'd like to be.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by logixoul ( 1046000 )

      Okay now it supports Widgets.

      KDE has supported widgets for years, via SuperKaramba (which is bundled from 3.5 onwards). Plasma brings some innovation into the area.

      I've heard claims they added support for OS X native widgets

      Not in the main branch, no. A showstopper for this is that it would require using the WebKit renderer, which still doesn't come with Qt (but it will next year).

      When will KParts be upgraded to work like OS X system services?

      What do those have that KParts don't? Never used OS X myself...

      Well, I can't say I object to any of these improvements, but most of them seem pretty minor and incremental.

      Sure, the single biggest change in KDE4 vs KDE3 is the porting to Qt4.

      Where's anything we haven't seen on another OS/Window manager already?

      I won't compare to non-free platforms... from what I've heard, OS X's desktop e

  • I don't think "candidate" means what you think it means.
  • Has KDE made any more progress in cross-desktop (eg. with GNOME) compatibility according to the FreeDesktop.org [freedesktop.org] compatibility specs?

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by eean ( 177028 )
      KDE wrote a lot of specs at FD.org, its not like they have to play catch-up.

      KDE has dropped DCOP and uses DBus now, I suppose thats the biggest news on the fd.o front.
  • I did a quick test with a KDE 4.0 LiveCD a couple of days ago; it worked well, and I like the way it looks. But who decided on the code name?(from the press release):

    KDE Project Ships First Release Candidate for Leading Free Software Desktop, Codename "Calamity"

  • Gnome developer's review (Score:3, Interesting)

    by jdclucidly ( 520630 ) on Wednesday November 21, 2007 @02:37PM (#21438927) Homepage
    I co-maintain Gnome Games and decided to do a review of KDE 4 RC 1 yesterday. I posted it on my blog [livejournal.com].
  • Now I am only expecting the next version of Mandriva (the best KDE oriented distro?) to incorporate the new KDE generation. Good work!
  • And also for the opendoc plugins for ms-word to mature.

    With these 2 things I can finally switch to linux. MS word and excel compatibility are important and I refuse to use openoffice.

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