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KDE 3.2 'Rudi' Beta Released
An anonymous reader writes "The beta of the next version of KDE, billed as 'the premiere Open Source desktop', has been released. Read the announcement at KDE.org. Notable features include a big clean up of the interface and menus, Improvements to KHTML from Apple, better accessibility and hardware support. There are also new applications such as JuK (a music player similar to iTunes), KDevelop (a graphical IDE), Kontact (an integrated communications package like Outlook) and more. Download it here and since this is a beta, report any problems or bugs you have." Also, nukem996 points out "The counter-terrorism unit on TV series '24' went KDE this season, too."
As much as I like KDE - and I do, I use KDE - there's plenty of times I find myself needing to use non-KDE apps such as Openoffice, Mozilla, and others to do the things I need to do. The interface for KDE is easy enough to use and powerful enough, after many years of development, that instead of adding eye candy, it would be more worthwhile to improve the included applications. I like KDE, but there's still room for improvement. Unfortunately, I don't think the KDE developers are as much concentrating their efforts on the areas that need it. Note that I think KDE is also already more useful than Microsoft Windows, because it looks better, it's more secure, and the included apps are far better than what you get with a Windows installation - unless you want to pay a few hundred dollars for MS Office and the other apps you'll want.
SEARCHING FOR SIG
SIG NOT FOUND ERROR
READY.
How much longer until we get a completely SVG user interface? Thats the main feature I want, I also would like them to work on making it faster. Why arent they trying to optimize the current code before adding new features? KDE is slow!
People don't exist to serve systems, systems exist to serve people.
Hey, at the risk of replying to flamebait and subjecting myself to a mod down, why don't ya send us all an e-mail when they release a Linux (or a Mac for that matter) version of Winamp?
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
No.
And that's a feature.
Don't think of it as a flame---it's more like an argument that does 3d6 fire damage
No, it isn't.
There is one: XMMS, even can use the same skin files. :P
For a music player with a good GUI and lots of functionality XMMS is the Linux king. Unfortuantaly it doesn't do everything and I can't buy music through it, but its fast, supports more sound and image plugins then you can shake a stick at and has a sharp, skinnable GUI and works better then anything I've been able to use on my Windows pc here at work.
Xmms is a shining example of OSS quality software and like I'd imagine iTunes is, its a real pleasure to use.
Quack, quack.
I, for one, appreciate more alternative music players on the *nix side of the world. While setting up my music server (with video output to the TV), I tested a variety of applications to see what might work best. My requirements included:
- The ability to be controlled from an LIRC remote control
- The ability to interface to an LCD screen for song info (haven't set this up yet, but it was a consideration)
- Large, easy to read playlist
- Large buttons that are easy to manipulate by the somewhat awkward mouse on my wireless keyboard
I tried xine (along with derivatives like the gtk version), and found the playlists difficult to manipulate easily. xmms works decently, but I had to double size the top screen and those unfamiliar with it's interface (or winamp) would have a more difficult time adding songs because the "add" and "remove" buttons are practically unreadable on the TV. Though I found a decent theme, xmms is not designed for full screen usage with large buttons. Because of this, screen real estate is not devoted to things like easy-to-find switching of playlists along with other features I'm sure could be incorporated.
I would love for Juk to become a full featured sound program which could perform a variety of functions seamlessly:
- Ability to manipulate playlists on any other computer given appropriate access (without using remote X or VNC). Sharing of music between clients is not important to me, I have my music mounted from a central location within the network
- creating playlists by the meta data (like "smart" playlists on iTunes).
- Pop in a CD, have it show up as a separate playlist, and preferably be able to rip the tracks into OGG or FLAC on command
- Burn mix CDs based off the playlist (not as important, but shouldn't be too hard if code is shared with koncd)
- Interface doesn't need to be skinnable but should be usable at a variety of resolutions. Keyboard shortcuts should be available for just about everything.
Looks like some of those features already exist in Juk, and I look forward to using it once it's released with 3.2 stable.
"The universe seems neither benign nor hostile, merely indifferent." --Carl Sagan
Let me get this straight. You're complaining because you want to write closed-source apps (presumably for money, why else would you close the source), and TrollTech won't give you the library for free?
How ridiculous. If you're in business, you're in business. Quit whining for handouts. You won't give away the apps you write, so why complain about others?
One of the things I like about the so-called 'viral' open source licenses is that it creates a clear boundary between Free and non-Free. If you want to write non-Free apps, then get your hands out of the Free cookiejar.
Can I build fast, non-scripted, closed source apps for KDE like I can for GNOME? Or do I still have to pay the 4 digit price tag for a commerical QT DEV license?
Last I checked, yes you can. The requirement from Qt is non-commercial, not open source (QPL licence, GPL/QPL dual licenced...). If the question was "Can I take Qt, use their work for free in my application to make me money?", then the answer is "No, you need to pay us a licence fee for the way our work has helped you earn money on your work."
Kjella
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
why JuK (another music player)? because there wasn't a good playlist centric, simple to use player that integrated well with KDE. now there is. the winamp/XMMS interface is horrid compared to the JuK/iTunes style... of course, for those who prefer XMMS or Noatun, they are still there. i would also suggest using JuK before saying it isn't a good music player. it's actually quite kick-ass. (yes, that's a technical term ;)
why another email app? in this case there isn't since Kontact uses KMail as a component. there isn't any email code in kontact itself, it's all in KMail which already existed. and why does KMail exist? because there simply aren't any other decent GUI mail clients for KDE.
the answers are similar for word processing, IM client, etc. the apps in KDE 3 integrate well and offer a good number of features. you'll notice that, by and large, there aren't many duplicated KDE applications. there is usually one, and occasionally two, KDE apps that fill any particular need.
ahh well there's the pointless cut/copy/paste buttons. and some new/save buttons that are completely generic .. what exactly am I saving? playlists? do I use the load button to load saved playlists or to load MP3s? why would I not want all my playlists to just appear all the time?
.. emptiness ..) is that another column??
.. list?
and the empty space to the right of the column headings (.., Year, Length,
What does "normal matching" mean??? what does "collection list" mean, is that my whole music collection
why the separate "pause" and "stop" buttons. when I want the music to stop, which should I press? this isn't a tape recorder, there's no need for a distinction. what happens if I press the play button while it's playing, does it pause? why doesn't the play button turn into a pause button when playing? This isn't a tape recorder, buttons can change depending on context.
What are those sliders for, is that one big slider or two sliders?
Why is "collection list" repeated at the bottom? can't I just look at the one that's highlighted? My eye is at the top of the screen first.
what are those numbers in the lower right? track/total time? elapsed/remaining time? and that arrow? what does it do?
I'm running Alpha 2, and it is great. Many UI bugs fixed, like now they shrink tabs instead of making you scroll around when there are lots of tabs open.
I miss "view source" in the context menu on a webpage, and I'm still patiently waiting for some mid-mouse AutoScroll, Opera and Firebird seem to be able to deal with this as meaning "paste" when on a textarea, "scroll" when on plaintext, and "open in new tab" when on a link. I would love to see this in Konq. Konqeror is still my primary browser anyway.
I like music
dot.kde.org's news entry claims
There is no such thing as "a public domain license". Putting a copyrighted work in the public domain means forgoing all copyright power for that work. Licenses, by contrast, tell you what you what the terms are for activities regulated by copyright law. Licensed works are still under copyright.
When I read the KDE art site pointed to by dot.kde.org's article, I can't find the phrase "public domain". There is language that suggests the copyright holders tried to do something similar ("The images inside this directory are COMPLETELY FREE for commercial and non-commercial use." emphasis theirs). To be clear, when you mean the work is in the public domain, say the work is in the public domain. The Creative Commons makes doing this easy now (if you're talking about US copyright law).
Digital Citizen
> What are these guys doing right as compared to all the
> other projects?
Yes, this is an -excellent- question.
My take on it is:
1) They consistently pick the best tool for the job, regardless of ideology (see Qt);
2) They put a considerable amount of engineering work in under-the-hood infrastructure design;
3) While others bicker or troll, they code.
Simple as that, really. I'm very, very happy that they proved and keep proving that good engineering is how you make the damn best software out there. In this world of quick hacks and half-assed kludges and people who think themselves programmers because they got their VB project to compile, this is quite comforting for old asses like me...
-- B.
This sig does in fact not have the property it claims not to have.
Oh, I forgot, you must use a proprietary, copy-protected format -- does AAC or whatever it's called have tags?
Yes, AAC has tags, and no, it is not a proprietary format. It's open MPEG4. And it's not by default copy-protected - only the AAC files downloaded from Apple's store are. Standard AAC is an open, unencumbered format.
You would want all your playlists loaded all the time, all at once? You don't want to be able to pick and choose amongst your playlists?
Sure, you want to be able to pick and choose between your playlists, but it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to have to open them with a standard file dialog (well, it does on some level, but not from a usability standpoint). I much prefer the iTunes approach of having them all loaded in the sidebar and you can get to any of them in a single click.
Or is that prohibited by the TOS?
Dear lord.
Can you search using regular expressions in iTunes?
No. However, while I am a longtime Unix geek who has long appreciated the power of regular expressions, I can not say that I have ever once wanted to search by regex in an mp3 program.
See, Apple actually thinks through their interfaces rather than blindly stuffing power-user features everywhere. Where they belong, they aren't afraid to use them - Apple's new IDE, Xcode, has the ability to create "smart groups," which are analogous to iTunes "smart playlists," and these allow you to use regular expressions as well as simple text searches. See, that's because it makes sense in an IDE - it simply does not in a music program.
You are really desperate here, aren't you?
He has a good point, so answer the question. Why separate pause and stop buttons? Seems to me the original posted was right - pause serves the purpose of both.