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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Posted 01 Jul 2009 — by Arun
Category Linux
KDE team has released the first RC of KDE 4.3. The changes in KDE 4.3 includes:
- Integration of many new technologies, such as PolicyKit and Geolocation services
- New Window animation effects, a more usable Run Command popup and many new and improved addons in Plasma
- Many bugfixes and improvements across all applications and more integration of features coming with the KDE 4 platform
Source: KDE.
Technorati Tags: KDE 4.3, PolicyKit, Geolocation, Plasma
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KDE team has released the 1st beta of KDE 4.3. KDE 4.3 focuses on polishing and completing the user experience. Here are some highlights of KDE 4.3.
- Integration of PolicyKit and Geolocation services
- New Window animation effects, a more usable Run Command popup and many new and improved addons in Plasma
- Recent applications, titles and context menues for the classic application launcher
- New Tree Mode in System Settings
- Sorting folders in the file manager first is now optional
- Support for the mobipocket format in the document viewer and desktop search
- Holidays are now displayed in the calendar of the clock
- Configurable keyboard shortcuts for Plasma
- Grouping support in Extenders
- Keyboard navigation in the zooming user interface and the folder view
- Window manager elements now follow the Plasma theme
- Fading desktop switcher
- Windows sliding behind each other when changing focus
- New Plasmoids: Bubble Monitor (a playful system monitor), Magnifique (Plasma magnifier), Media Player, openDesktop (Social Desktop Plasmoid), Remember The Milk Plasmoid (time management), retro-style system load viewer, Unit converter
- Rich-text editing and text-zooming in the Notes applet
- The System tray can now show / hide icons based on their category
- Jobs are now grouped together
- Grouped windows’ tooltips now also show previews
- Speaking the time from the clock
- Weather wallpaper displays a wallpaper matching the current weather
- New game “Curse of the Mummy” in KGoldrunner, more accurate pause and resume and recording and replaying of games
For complete information on KDE 4.3, refer to the release notes.
(Source: KDE)
Technorati Tags: KDE 4.3, Plasmoid, PolicyKit, Geolocation, Plasma, KGoldRunner
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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.
Source: KDE
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After two years in development, Amarok team has released Amarok 2.0 today. This new version brings with it a lot of changes including completely redesigned user interface, tight integration with online services such as Magnatune, Jamendo, MP3tunes, Last.fm and Shoutcast, completely overhauled scripting API and plugin support to allow better integration into Amarok and migration from the KDE 3 to KDE 4 framework, and utilization of core technologies such as Solid, Phonon, and Plasma.
According to Amarok team, The user interface has been redesigned to make context information like
lyrics and albums from the same artist more accessible and allow you to decide which information you want to see by adding applets to the Context View in the middle. The new Biased Playlists offer a way to let
Amarok take care of your playlist in an intelligent way similar to Dynamic Playlists in previous versions.
Because of the major changes required, not all features from Amarok 1.4 are in Amarok 2. Many of these missing features, like queuing and filtering in the playlist, will return within a few releases. Other features, such as visualizations and support for portable media players, require improvements in the underlying KDE infrastructure. They will return as KDE4’s support improves. Some features, such as the player window or support for databases other than MySQL, have been removed.
Click here to download Amarok 2.0.
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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.
KDE 4.1.1, KHTML, Konqueror, Plasma, Okular, Gwenview, KMail
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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:
- Add deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/kubuntu-members-kde4/ubuntu hardy main to your /etc/apt/sources.list.
- 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.
(Image: KDE)
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KDE team has updated their KDE 4.0 window manager. KDE 4.0.2 contains lots of bugfixes and some new features. Here are some of the new features introduced in KDE 4.0.2 (some of the features fixed bugs):
- Session switching added to Workspace
- Plasma – Option to show only task of the current desktop in the taskbar
- Plasma – Open toolbox when the dashboard view starts
- Plasma – Taskbar: Use severals rows if there is too much items to fit in one row.
- Plasma – Enable dragging from desktop to panel.
- Krunner – Set the threadpool according to the number of processors on the system.
- Krunner – Better sort ordering.
- Dolphin – Hitting <Enter> key opens all selected files instead of just one of them.
- Klines – Added support for themeable border that will be painted around the game field.
- Farsi has been added to KDE translations.
- Icelandic has been added to KDE translations.
For a list of bugfixes, click here.
Technorati Tags: KDE 4.0.2, Plasma, Krunner, Klines, Dolphin
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KDE team has released their next generation window manager, KDE 4.0 today. Here are some of the features or changes in KDE 4.0 according to the KDE team.
- The Phonon multimedia framework provides platform independent multimedia support to all KDE applications, the Solid hardware integration framework makes interacting with (removable) devices easier and provides tools for better power management.
- The Plasma desktop shell offers a new desktop interface, including panel, menu and widgets on the desktop
as well as a dashboard function.
- KWin, the KDE Window manager, now supports advanced graphical effects to ease interaction with your windows.
- Lots of KDE Applications have seen improvements as well.
- Okular, the new document viewer and Dolphin, the new file manager are only two applications that leverage KDE 4.0’s new technologies.
- Oxygen is the KDE 4.0 artwork.
- With System Settings, a new control center interface has been introduced.
- Educational Applications are among the first applications that have been ported and developed using KDE 4 technology.
The KDE 4.0 Visual Guide provides a quick overview of various new and improved KDE 4.0 technologies. You can read my reviews of KDE 4.0 (before final release) in Kubuntu here.
To install KDE 4.0 in Kubuntu 7.10 and 8.04, follow the steps below:
- Remove previous KDE 4 packages, they are not compatible (apt-get remove kdelibs5 kde4base-data kde4libs-data)
- Add deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/kubuntu-members-kde4/ubuntu gutsy main to your /etc/apt/sources.list
- Install kde4-core, note that PPAs aren’t authenticated so you will likely get a warning when installing
- KDE 4 apps should appear in your KDE 3 K-menu or you can run a full session by selecting “KDE 4″ from your login manager.
Source: Kubuntu.
Technorati Tags: KDE 4.0, Kubuntu 7.10, Kubuntu 8.04, Oxygen, Plasma, Phonon, Okular
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