Posts Tagged ‘Konqueror’

10 minutes experience with Kubuntu 9.10

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Posted 30 Oct 2009 — by Arun
Category Ubuntu

I wanted to give Kubuntu a try in my laptop after I gave it a try and was dissatisfied and removed it when Kubuntu 9.04 was released. There were lots of bugs and for a laptop, using the widget for wireless connection was a pain. I have written about it in my blog post here. KDE underwent a lot of bug fixes and new features since then, so I thought I would download and give it a try. I downloaded Kubuntu 9.10 yesterday and installed it my laptop.

The installation was fine though I got some errors when the Live CD booted and shutdown. The new installer looked promising, but it needs some fine tuning. My laptop’s default resolution is 1680*1050 and the installer was using a lower resolution. This resulted in installer text/options etc. overlapping in some cases. One example is, when you create a username and password,  you’ll see 3 or 4 options at the bottom on how you want to login. The 3rd option which encrypts your home directory wasn’t clear.

Once installed, the boot process was very fast. It’s faster than Ubuntu/Kubuntu 9.04. The old network manager is back and auto starts, so that’s good. Though I could click the network manager icon and select create a network and select the wireless network I want, I think it’s not as user friendly as Ubuntu. It would be nice if it could give you the available networks directly rather than going through a set of clicks.

Plasma got lots of widgets including some for social networking like Twitter, Facebook etc. It has more widgets now than the screen allows. It’s getting much better. The other thing I like in KDE is the ease of installing and changing themes and wallpapers. You can just right click the desktop, select desktop settings and you will see an option there to get new themes and wallpapers.

Konqueror is getting better, but I don’t feel comfortable with it as much as Firefox. Kubuntu prompted me to install additional plugins for Konqueror to play video and other stuff, which is good. I thought I would give Arora a try since it was the default browser in the alpha stages of Kubuntu 9.10 before they went back to Konqueror. Arora starts pretty fast, but I’m not sure if it loads pages faster than Firefox or not. It also lacks the amount of extensions that Firefox offers including security related ones. For Firefox fans, there is an option in the internet menu that will install Firefox if you need.

I used it only for 10 minutes and it impressed me. I would like to use it little more and see if I’m comfortable continuing it. I believe KDE team and Kubuntu team are making a good progress compared to the amount of support they get.

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Ubuntu 9.10 Alpha 3 relased

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Posted 23 Jul 2009 — by Arun
Category Ubuntu

Ubuntu team has released the 3rd alpha of next version of Ubuntu, Ubuntu 9.10, code named Karmic Koala. Kubunt 9.10 alpha 3 is also out. I found few interesting features in both Ubuntu and Kubuntu that might appeal to end users.

The first one is Empathy replacing Pigdin. This enables users to do text, voice and video chats with Google Talk users, MSN, Facebook and Yahoo users.

The second one is making Ubuntu One ships by default in all systems. I have Ubuntu One account and it’s does it job, but it’s still buggy.

Third is, webcam moving to udev. I thought it happened already since webcam worked fine until Ubuntu 8.10 came out. Ubuntu recognized the webcams fine in Ubuntu 8.04 and the picture qualities were good, but starting Ubuntu 8.10, Ubuntu shows the webcam with general device name than the actual webcam name and the video qualities are extremely bad.

Kubuntu is getting KDE 4.3, which includes more bug fixes and new features. I think it would be better than Kubuntu 9.04.

Kubuntu has released a new netbook version. There are still few bugs to sort out, but it’s a good start.

Kubuntu is removing Konqueror as default browser and  Arora as the default. The reason being, Konqueror is not compatible with many websites. I agree with that though many KDE fans won’t like that. Konqueror is quite powerful, but it’s not simple enough for normal users. Users should have an easy to use browser like Firefox. Though they can install Firefox in Kubuntu, I believe the default browser should be user friendly. I hope Arora is user friendly and can run all plugins and websites.

Kubuntu is bringing more social network features using KDE widgets and Kopete, which is good.

Now, lets move on to the changelog. Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala Alpha 3 includes:

  • Ubuntu Karmic Alpha 3 includes the latest GNOME 2.27.4 development release.
  • Empathy has replaced Pidgin as the default instant messaging client, introducing the Telepathy framework.
  • The gdm 2.27.4 login manager is a complete rewrite compared to the version in earlier Ubuntu releases.
  • Ubuntu Karmic Alpha 3 ships the https://ubuntuone.com/ file sharing service by default, providing tightly integrated file synchronization of your computer with other computers and the Ubuntu One network storage service.
  • Alpha 3 includes the 2.6.31-3.19 kernel based on 2.6.31-rc3. The kernel ships with Kernel Mode Setting enabled for Intel graphics (see below). linux-restricted-modules is deprecated in favour of DKMS packages.
  • Karmic Alpha 3’s underlying technology for power management, laptop Hotkeys, and handling storage devices and cameras maps was moved from “hal” (which is going to be deprecated soon) to “DeviceKit-power”, “DeviceKit-disks” and “udev”.
  • Karmic uses GCC-4.4 as the default compiler.
  • The new “ext4″ filesystem is used by default for new installations of Karmic; of course, other filesystems are still available via the manual partitioner. Existing filesystems will not be upgraded.
  • GRUB 2 is the default boot loader for new installations of Karmic, replacing the previous GRUB “Legacy” boot loader. Existing systems will not be upgraded to GRUB 2 at this time.

Here are the known issues in Ubuntu 9.10 alpha 3:

  • The GNOME login manager (gdm) does not yet have a graphical configuration tool.
  • If you install Karmic Alpha 3 alongside Windows, the grub boot menu may not offer to start Windows.
  • If you have internal hard disk partitions aside from Ubuntu itself, GNOME will attempt to automatically mount them at startup and ask for your password. Just cancel the dialog, unless you actually want to work with them.
  • The GNOME desktop displays two mixer applets on the amd64 desktop CD and alternate installs.
  • Building LTSP client chroots currently fails.
  • The Ubuntu Netbook Launcher crashes on shutdown.

You can download Ubuntu 9.10 Alpha 3 from here.

Kubuntu team has also released the 3rd alpha of Kubuntu 9.10. Here are the features in Kubuntu 9.10 alpha 3:

  • KDE 4.3 RC
  • Kubuntu 9.10 includes a netbook version of Kubuntu 9.10, suitable to install on light weight hardware like Netbooks.
  • Kubuntu 9.10 Alpha 3 will include Arora, a lightweight and fast webkit-based web browser. Konqueror is not compatible with many popular websites, so Kubuntu team is  considering arora as our default browser in order to try to provide one that more of our users will find satisfactory. Konqueror is still installed, but in Alpha 3, arora is set as the default.
  • Amarok 2.1.1
  • Kubuntu 9.10 will include the latest release of KPackageKit. New in 0.4.1.1 are new notifications, sweet animations, a history feature, usability fixes and a more robust overall experience with less bugs.
  • K3b 1.66.0
  • New social features that include Plasma widget as part of the default desktop experience for all of your identi.ca and Twitter needs, The openDesktop Plasma widget as part of the default desktop experience and  Facebook Kopete plugin so that you can chat with your Facebook contacts from the comfort of the default chat client.
  • QtCurve 0.65.1.
  • Kubuntu 9.10 offers further control over the look of your GNOME apps in KDE using kcm-gtk 0.5.

Here are the known issues in Kubuntu 9.10 Alpha 3:

  • If you install Karmic Alpha 3 alongside Windows, the grub boot menu may not offer to start Windows.
  • The Kubuntu Netbook Edition is missing the “install” icon on the desktop. You can start the installation from the menu.
  • The Kubuntu Netbook Edition image does not install under Windows (with wubi).

You can download Kubuntu 9.10 Alpha 3 here.

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KDE 4.2 released

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Posted 27 Jan 2009 — by Arun
Category Linux

KDE team has released KDE 4.2. There are lots of improvements and bug fixes in KDE 4.2. I have been using KDE 4.2 from beta and it’s much more stable and usable than KDE 4.0 and KDE 3.x series. Here are some of the improvements KDE 4.2 brings:

  • Further refinement of the Plasma desktop interface makes organizing your workspace easier. New and improved applets include a Quicklauncher, weather information, newsfeeds, comics, quick file sharing via “pastebin” services.
  • The Plasma Panel now groups tasks and display multiple rows.
  • The panel can now automatically hide in order to free up screen space.
  • KWin employs motion physics to give a natural feel to old and new effects like the “Cube” and “Magic Lamp”.
  • File management becomes faster and more efficient.
  • KMail’s email list views have been reworked by a Google Summer of Code student. I was using KMail for some time. It has lots of features, but it’s not quite as simple and straightforward to use as Thunderbird.
  • The Konqueror web browser improves support for scalable vector graphics and receives many performance enhancements.
  • Enhanced Scripting Support. Plasma widgets can now be written in JavaScript, Python and Ruby.

See the Visual Guide To KDE 4.2 for the details on the innovations in 4.2. If you are a KDE user or you were a KDE user and moved to GNOME after KDE 4.0, I would advise you to try KDE 4.2. It’s much more pleasing, usable and stable than previous versions.

kde 4.2

Source: KDE

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KDE 4.1.1 released

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Posted 03 Sep 2008 — by Arun
Category Announcement

KDE team has released KDE 4.1.1. This is the first bugfix and maintenance update for KDE 4.1. Here are some of the improvements in KDE 4.1.1.

  • Significant performance, interaction and rendering correctness improvements
    in KHTML and Konqueror, KDE’s webbrowser
  • User interaction, rendering and stability fixes in Plasma, the KDE4 desktop shell
  • PDF backend fixes in the document viewer Okular
  • Fixes in Gwenview, the image viewer’s thumbnailing, more robust retrieval and
    display of images with broken metadata
  • Stability and interaction fixes in KMail

For more detailed bug fixes and enhancements, click here. KDE team is planning to release KDE 4.2 in January.

Source: KDE.

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KDE 4.1 released

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Posted 29 Jul 2008 — by Arun
Category Announcement

KDE team has released an upgrade to their new desktop environment, KDE 4.1. This release is the second feature release of the KDE 4 series, sporting new applications and newly developed feature. KDE 4.1 is the first KDE4 release to contain the Personal Information Management suite KDE-PIM with its E-Mail client KMail, the planner KOrganizer, Akregator, the RSS feed reader, KNode, the newsgroup reader and many more components integrated into the Kontact shell. Furthermore, the new desktop shell Plasma, introduced in KDE 4.0, has matured to the point where it can replace the KDE 3 shell for most casual users.

Some features you are used to in KDE 3.5 are not implemented yet. The KDE team is working on those to make them available in one of the next releases. If you are not sure about KDE 4.1, read Is KDE 4.1 for you?.

If you are using Kubuntu 8.04, KDE 4.1 has been released and packages are available for Kubuntu 8.04, the Hardy Heron. These packages install to /usr/lib/kde4 and can be installed along side your existing KDE 3 installation.

Instructions:

The updated packages for Kubuntu 8.04 are located in the Kubuntu Member’s KDE 4 Personal Package Archive (PPA) repositories. To update to the release candidate of KDE 4.1, please follow these instructions:

  1. Add deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/kubuntu-members-kde4/ubuntu hardy main to your /etc/apt/sources.list.
  2. If you already have the kubuntu-kde4-desktop packages installed, simply type sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade and answer the questions in which you are prompted. If you do not have kubuntu-kde4-desktop installed, simply type sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install kubuntu-kde4-desktop and answer the questions. Both of these options are to be typed at the command prompt.

Source: Kubuntu, KDE.

I read in several blogs and reviews that KDE 4.1 is much better and more usable than KDE 4.0. I’m going to install it in my laptop and see how good it is. I installed KDE 4.0 when it was new, but I wasn’t impressed by the usability and available applications. I liked the UI, but that wasn’t enough.

Here are some of the new/improved applications in KDE 4.1:

  • KDE-PIM is back with 4.1, containing the applications
    necessary for your personal information and communication. KMail as
    mail client, KOrganizer as planning component, Akregator as RSS feed
    reader and others are now available again in KDE 4 look.
  • Dragon Player, an easy to use video player enters the stage
  • Okteta is the new well-integrated and feature-rich hexeditor
  • Step, the physics emulator makes learning physics fun and easy
  • KSystemLog, helps you keep track of what is going on in your system
  • New games such as KDiamond (a bejeweled clone), Kollision, KBreakOut
    and Kubrick make taking a break from your work irresistible
  • Lokalize, helps translators to make KDE4 available in your language
    (if it’s not among the 50-odd languages KDE4 already supports)
  • KSCD, your desktop CD player has been resurrected
  • Dolphin, KDE’s filemanager has a new treeview in the main
    view, also new is the support for tabs.
  • Konqueror, KDE’s webbrowser now has support for re-opening
    already closed windows and tabs.
  • Gwenview, KDE’s image viewer has gotten a new fullscreen view, a
    thumbnail bar for easy access to other photos, a smart Undo system and support for
    rating images.
  • KRDC, KDE’s remote desktop client now detects remote desktops on
    the local network automatically using the ZeroConf protocol.
  • Marble, KDE’s desktop globe now integrates with OpenStreetMap so you can find your way
    everywhere using the Free Maps.
  • KSysGuard, now supports monitoring process output or running
    applications so there is no need to restart your apps from a terminal anymore
    when you want to know what’s going on.
  • KWin’s compositing window manager features have been more
    stabilized and extended.
  • Plasma’s panel configuration has been extended.

Dolphin Screenie
(Image: KDE)

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KDE 4.1 Beta 1 released

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Posted 28 May 2008 — by Arun
Category Announcement

KDE team has released 1st beta of KDE 4.1. This beta includes

  • Greatly expanded desktop shell functionality and configurability
  • KDE Personal Information Management suite ported to KDE 4
  • Dragon Player, the lightweight media player, makes its debut.
  • The KDE CD Player returns.
  • A new printer applet provides unparalleled printing power and flexibility on the Free Software Desktop.
  • Konqueror gains support for web browsing sessions, an Undo mode, and improved smooth scrolling.
  • A new picture browsing mode including a full-screen interface come to Gwenview.
  • Dolphin, the file manager, gets tabbed views, and many features appreciated by KDE 3 users including Copy To, and an improved folder tree.
  • Zeroconf networking has been added to several games and utilities, taking the pain out of setting up games and remote access.

KDE 4.1 is scheduled to be released on July 29th, 2008.

Kwin Coverswitch Small

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