KDE 4.1 Beta 1 Released

appelza contributed a link to Tuesday's announcement of the next step toward KDE 4.1: "The KDE Project is proud to announce the first beta release of KDE 4.1. Beta 1 is aimed at testers, community members and enthusiasts in order to identify bugs and regressions, so that 4.1 can fully replace KDE 3 for end users. KDE 4.1 beta 1 is available as binary packages for a wide range of platforms, and as source packages. KDE 4.1 is due for final release in July 2008." I haven't used KDE much for the past few years, but the screenshots of a "grown-up" plasma are enough to make me correct that.

Re:Ob

[wizardforce]

depends on what linux distro you're using. so far there are packages for mandriva, opensuse, debian and fedora. the release has also been ported to windows and mac with a set of packages for kubuntu coming up in a little bit however you can compile from source if you really really need to have the beta on other distros/OSes

Re:Ob

[wizardforce]

if you're trying to use the debian port, know that Linux Mint being based on Ubuntu which is based on Debian is no longer close enough to use Debian's experimental branch packages. for an experimental beta like this, you would probably be better off either compiling from source [pain in the arse if you ask me] or installing the debian port on debian through a virtual machine of course any of the other OS/port combos would likely work too.

Re:4.1 -- Now with no desktop icons!

[zapakh]

Is this is the release that has no more desktop icons [blogspot.com]?

Did you read the rest of that page?

Well, we now have a folder view applet courtesy of Frederik HÃglund. It can view any folder you want, including the desktop folder. You can also set a filter, making it possible to, for instance, view just images or whatever. It uses KIO so you can view remote folders as well. You can drag items to and from it, delete files, scroll, etc. It lines everything up in a nice grid and uses the same drawing routines that Dolphin, Konqueror, KRunner and others use from kdelibs for the icons.

You can have 0, 1 or more of these folder views in your plasma, all viewing different (or the same, I suppose) folders. You can put them on different activity areas (aka "desktop containments") as well.

In the future we'll have a little label in the folderview telling you which folder you are looking at, it will turn into an icon with a menu listing in horizontally constrained containments (e.g. panels), it will be collapsible on the desktop with a single click (it's already resizable, rotatable and removable) and you will be able to use it as a containment itself.

That last bit is important: it means that you can have an Old Skool(tm) desktop with an icon mess if that's what you really, really want. So don't bother with that flame, nobody has anything to complain about. ;)

Nothing about "no more desktop icons"; just that the desktop-icon concept has been reformulated as an instance of something more general and configurable.

Re:Ob

[ArcherB]

if you're trying to use the debian port, know that Linux Mint being based on Ubuntu which is based on Debian is no longer close enough to use Debian's experimental branch packages. for an experimental beta like this, you would probably be better off either compiling from source [pain in the arse if you ask me] or installing the debian port on debian through a virtual machine of course any of the other OS/port combos would likely work too.

Well, in my case, "Runs" can be measured in terms of degree. Sure, it launched and I was able to put a few widgets (or whatever) on my desktop. I could even launch an app or two before the whole thing fell apart. At one point, I was even able to drag my desktop wallpaper around the desktop as if it were a giant icon.

I am using the what appears to be Kubuntu repo's btw:
http://ppa.launchpad.net/kubuntu-members-kde4/ubuntu/ [launchpad.net]

Re:Links Please

[wizardforce]

Debian has KDE 4.1beta1 in the experimental branch. debian unstable and experimental should satify the requirements for KDE4.1: eg.
deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/ [debian.org] experimental main non-free contrib
deb-src http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/ [debian.org] experimental main non-free contrib

Re:One word

[dotancohen]

Are you not aware that Qt4 uses less resources than Qt3? KDE4 is therefore less resource intensive than KDE3 (Or at least will be when the KDE3 apps are rewritten for KDE4. Until then, both Qt3 and Qt4 must be loaded).

Re:Ob

[jamstar7]

I gave it a shot on Hardy. Couldn't get Plasma to run stable, so I went back to 3.5.x.

Wake me up when 4.1 is stable.

Re:One word

[Frekko]

And here is a memory usage test written by a gnome guy a couple of years back for KDE3. Gnome and KDE use more or less the same amount of memory: http://spooky-possum.org/cgi-bin/pyblosxom.cgi/kdevsgnome.html [spooky-possum.org]

So unless our troll is using emacs or windowmaker or something like that for his "desktop environment" he should take his anonymous coward business elsewhere.

Re:Am I Missing Something?

[bersl2]

What video card(s)/driver(s) are you using?

Mesa doesn't support AA IIRC.

Re:Important Caveats

[Jesus_666]

Actually, KDE 4.1 is what the average user considers to be "KDE 4". 4.0 was mainly the technical basis on which the actual GUI would be built.

Re:Important Caveats

[PitaBred]

4.0 was advertised as a "base" platform for application developers and bleeding-edge adopters, a feature-freeze for the KDE 4.0 frameworks, not necessarily a feature-complete desktop environment. Was there somewhere or someone that said otherwise? If so, they should be slapped with a trout.

Re:why dont most distros use kde?

[SiChemist]

Gnome has a reputation for being more stable than KDE. On the downside it doesn't have as many features as KDE. (I'm on Gnome, I'm jealous of those sexy screenshots.)

Reputation for stability among whom? Gnome users? ;-) Seriously, I've been using KDE for years and never had any serious stability problems.

Re:Is KDE Taking the Lead?

[Niten]

No, there's a huge difference between removing options and leaving advanced under-the-hood features, well, under the hood.

GNOME takes very much the same approach as OS X here. For instance, in order to let users adjust how Spaces handles new windows popping up in different workplaces, Apple didn't throw yet another checkbox into some huge and unnavigable control panel. Rather, they left it as an option to be configured with defaults write com.apple.Dock ..., because 95% of users won't want to change this behavior, and those who do won't have any trouble figuring out defaults write anyway.

Likewise, a lot of obscure GNOME / Metacity / GTK+ configuration options that aren't wasting space on a control panel somewhere are still accessible through GConf or a separate configuration file. I'm an "advanced" user, and I like this because it gives me less junk to hunt through when I want to change something in the GUI; and I know many "beginner" users who appreciate GNOME for the very same reason.

Re:4.1 -- Now with no desktop icons!

[Anonymous Coward]

You know, you COULD just disable icons on the desktop instead of throwing out the baby with the water. :)

Re:Important Caveats

[StormReaver]

KDE 4.0 was never intended for mainstream use, but rather as the first implementation of the new KDE libraries that allowed developers to begin porting their KDE 3.x applications to KDE 4. As such, KDE 4.0 was largely unusable. However, its goals (the main porting effort) were achieved, so it was considered a success.

KDE 4.1 is supposed to be the first KDE 4 version usable by real people. There was a lot of space between 4.0 and actual usability; but the developers have been making rapid progress, and KDE 4.1 seems good in the article, so I'm allowing myself a bit of optimism that it might have enough of 3.5's functionality to be useful -- especially if I can uninstall Dolphin without trashing the rest of the desktop.

Re:Debian Lenny How-to kde4

[mpapet]

Warning, if KDE3 is your working desktop, you may be wise to copy ~/.kde to restore it if KDE4 doesn't work for you.

1. use the url's above minus the [bracketed] words in /etc/apt/sources.list
2. Set pin priority. I borrowed from http://wiki.debian.org/Kde4schroot [debian.org] I also prioritized a couple of packages to be sure they didn't get upgraded. (mythtv-frontend is my biggie)
3. apt-get update
4. aptitude install -t experimental kde4 (this might take a while to calculate a solution that works for your system)
5. Restart X.

Big thanks to the author of the kde4schroot page.

http://wiki.debian.org/Kde4schroot [debian.org]
http://packages.debian.org/experimental/kde4 [debian.org]

Re:why dont most distros use kde?

[Anonymous Coward]

Those features? Well, I can get all the nice graphics with Compiz Fusion (some of them actually are helpful like Expo, ADD Helper, Advanced Zoom, etc.). Many people complain that GNOME removes features and options. They don't. If anyone thinks that, I think they should read the Human Interface Guidelines. They make A LOT of sense.

Re:4.1 -- Now with no desktop icons!

[dbcad7]

This is from the "plasma wiki" faq ...

I heard there are no more icons on the desktop in KDE 4.1...
That is not entirely correct. You can have icons and launchers (shortcuts) by dragging
them from Dolphin or the K-menu. What has changed is that the desktop will no longer
display the contents of the Desktop folder. However, you can show an arbitrary number
of folders (local or remote) on your desktop view, instead of being forced to display only
the contents of the "Desktop" folder. To do so, a new applet has been introduced, the
Folder View applet.

I've read it a few times .. and still vague on what the heck they are trying to do.. of course it's probably simpler to use than it sounds.. This whole thing has peaked my interest in KDE though.. I tried 4.0 on another partition, and immediately went back to gnome.. but I'll give 4.1 beta a shot what the hey.

Re:Debian Lenny How-to kde4

[Dragonslicer]

This is distribution-specific. At least in Kubuntu, the users' KDE directory is ~/.kde4, which allows you to have both versions installed without them conflicting with each other.

Re:4.1 -- Now with no desktop icons!

[Anonymous Coward]

It's piqued, not peaked.

Re:Ob

[porl]

most of the kde programs are going to be ported to windows, but not the kwin desktop environment itself. so you will be able to run amarok, kate etc in windows, but it will still look like boring old windows with the explorer shell.

porl

Re:KDE mature enough to drop the annoying K prefix

[furbyhater]

I'm bored, so:

1. Basket
2. Anymeal
3. Bibletime
4. Dolphin
5. Labplot
6. Filelight
7. Gwenview
8. Mailody
9. Strigi
10. Tellico
11. Vym
12. Wlassistant
13. Videocut
14. Taskjuggler
15. Rsibreak
16. Score-reading-trainer
17. Picwiz
18. Icecc
19. Eyesapplet
20. Fifteenapplet
21. Bulmacont
22. Bulmafact
23. Bulmages
24. Biblemeorizer

Most of them probably aren't considered "notable".

Re:KDE mature enough to drop the annoying K prefix

[Just Some Guy]

That's stupid, GNOME has stopped using 'g' on their names long ago.

So has KDE for new applications: [wikipedia.org]

Phonon
Solid
Plasma
Gwenview
Decibel
Strigi
Soprano
Dolphin

Sure, there are the obligatory "K" apps, many of them having been around for quite a few years and unlikely to change names for no good reason. The new stuff is pretty unconstrained, though, and certainly no more so than their Gnome counterparts.

KDE on windows

[armanox]

Go check out http://windows.kde.org/ [kde.org]

Re:Companies don't like free software

[bain_online]

I checked and rechecked Trolltech site for license... If you chose GPL'ed version of QT, it is "GPLed" with just one exception, if you _do_ have the porprietary license and develop qt app, you can link this app with GPL'ed qt and need not open your source. But apart from the exception.... it is _GPLed_ and as long as you stick to gpl nothing prevents you from distributing qt with your app...

Re:4.1 -- Now with no desktop icons!

[vdboor]

Yes... now you have a big, black box that has to be as big as the area you want icons in. Wow... that's so much more awesome. :)

The plasma developers are aware of the fact that a black box is ugly, but they like to implement the applet background mechanism in a generic clean way first. Not something hackish which causes compatibility issues later.

The idea is the following:

• The folderview can be set as central desktop applet *by design*, to have the old situation if you like.
• In KDE 4.2 (hopefully earlier) the background image can be set for it.
• You can have multiple folder views.
• Each one can display a different folder.

So instead of grouping icons yourself in various corners by theme, you can have multiple folder views for your desktop, documents and download folder. I think it will be far more powerful then grouping icons yourself.

Since the desktop background is just an applet, you could technically use every other applet for it. Like an animated applet or 3D planet instead of a boring wallpaper :)

Plasma gives you all the building blocks to build your own desktop. The background, panels, taskbar and systray are all applets. Eveything can all be torn apart, replaced, and put together as you like.

How is that for a change?

On the developer side, everything is scriptable too. So nothing stops you from making a desktop visualisation or taskbar in python :) API's are provided to get the required data for the taskbar, window, clocks, icons, rss feeds, devices and more. That avoids code duplication and makes it really easy to write applets.

You could imagine it takes time to implement all building blocks properly. With the details I sketch here, can you imagine what would be possible in the future? So we need some patience here. Plasma is going to rock!

Re:KDE mature enough to drop the annoying K prefix

[Anonymous Coward]

More than 10 major KDE programs that don't have "k" in them:

Dolphin
Dragon Player (new in KDE 4.1)
Filelight
Fraqtive
Gwenview
Marble
Noatun
Quanta Plus
Rosegarden
showimg
Strigi
Guarddog

BTW, Firefox and Thunderbird aren't Gnome apps although you listed them as such. Instead, Gnome has Epiphany, Balsa and Evolution. But Guarddog and Rosegarden aren't officially part of KDE, either.