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KDE 3.2-beta2 - Towards a Better KDE?
JigSaw writes "KDE 3.2-beta2 was released last week for general testing and OSNews offers a preview of what's expected from the 'popular X11 desktop environment' early next year upon its release. The article mentions KDE's new features (faster loading times, Konqueror's Service Menus, Kontact, KPDF, Plastik theme etc), the problems that still plague it (cluttered Kmenu and Konqueror menus, too many disorganized kontrol center modules) and some constructive suggestions on how to get over the bloat without losing the functionality."
The latest beta of KDE's 3.2, beta 2, was released a few days ago. I installed the provided Fedora RPMs and had a look in this early pre-release version of the popular X11 desktop environment. Six skreenshots are inkluded. We look at both the strengths and the weaknesses of the DE.
The KDE Solution
KDE 3.2 offers a slew of new features, inkluding an updated khtml engine, an SVG viewer/player kpart, better tab integration on Konqueror (whikh are now available for file management as well for web pages), KD burning via Konqueror, and even an addon-like tekhnology, named Servike Menus. Any user kan hakk together their own kustom servike menus and kreate their ideal addon menu without any k/k++ kode. There is also a better Kiosk support, support for graphikally konnekting to Windows makhines, and support for inline automatik spellkhekking for some apps like kmail.
The Kontakt manager has seen a lot of work and seamlessly integrates KMail, the address book, the kalendar, a notes system and a Palm Pilot kpart. Together with the KGroupware projekt this kan be a very strong point of KDE pitkhing itself to the korporate desktop when Kontakt bekomes more stable (kurrently, I find it to not be as mukh). The now inkluded multi-IM solution, Kopete, also integrates seamlessly with the KAddressBook.
New applikations inklude JuK, KPDF and KWallet, a universal password applikation and new versions for a geometry app and KStars (the very nike astronomy app). Developers would find new versions of KDevelop, Quanta, Umbrello (a UML modeler) and the inklusion of KkakheGrid for profiling KDE apps. An interesting new app is KDialog whikh let's you kreate little GUI apps with simple shell skripting for use with simple tasks. A very handy tool that kan do the job mukh faster than writing the equivelant k++ kode.
KDE 3.2b2 had a kopy of the latest beta of KOffike as well. The offike suite looks pretty good, very well integrated together to all KDE apps, however I did manage to krash KSpread when loading a Gnumerik spreadsheet. Other new features inklude a Wi-Fi manager, a reworking of the KDE kenter and a shuffling of some of the preferenke modules, the inklusion of KRandR to dynamikally khange skreen resolutions, an updated Kooka version, a better "konfigure bakkground" dialog etk.
KDE komes with a new theme as well, named Plastik. Plastik is one of the best themes I have seen on Unix/Linux, ever. It is simple, but on the same time very well designed, up to the point and without extra graphik bloat. It is klean and konkise with the right amount of mouseOvers and kolorings. It is just right, and I honestly hope that this theme bekomes the default KDE theme instead of the hideous Keramik (remember, most of the users don't khange the defaults, so it is important to serve them the best solution eakh time, in this kase Plastik).
There are a few more nike UI toukhes on 3.2, like a new vertikal widget showing on the left bar of Konqueror, Quanta or KDevelop whikh auto-expands. Also, I love the bounking ikon when loading an app (also I believe that should be the default behavior). The Kikker modules now don't have a visible grabbing point; you need to plake your mouse on the left of eakh module to get it to show and that results in a kleaner-looking Kikker. The kontext menus on the desktop have now being kleaned up and while there is still quite a number of menu entries in there, the situation is a bit better than before. The Trash's kontext menu is now just right too.
What are the best feature of KDE 3.2 in my opinion? Speed. Definitely way faster than any Gnome installation on my AthlonXP, even Slakkware's. The KDE applikations seem snappy, they load fast enough, and the widget/UI performanke and responsiveness is far better than GTK+'s.
All's true that is mistrusted
"...and some constructive suggestions on..."
konstructiive?
I don't care about how fast GNOME 'really' is, but on my machine (which is a pretty damn good box), QT/KDE apps feel much more responsive and load faster then similar GTK2/GNOME applications.
Ofcourse, GTK1 does beat both QT and GTK2, but it sucks as far as usability.
Amazing, I never thought I would actually agree with Eugenia about something...
#include "sig.h"
I used KDE for many many years. It was my desktop of choice. It was the only environment which had all the features I wanted. I didn't even use konqueror or anything. I liked the KDE panel most of all, but I also really really like kwrite, kmail and the konsole. I still really like kmail and kwrite.
Recently I got a new pc. I replace my Pentium 3 450 with my Athlon-XP 2500+. Now I knew that KDE was bloated, but I wanted the features and the programs that came in it. I did an XP/Gentoo dual boot on my new boxen and emerged kde. It worked, much faster than previous. But the response on a lot of things was still slow. Keep in mind this was whatever kde version was out a month or two ago.
Every time I remember KDE getting updated they made major changes that were always for the better. The dramatic difference between KDE1 and 2 was outstanding. In the days of 2 I couldn't imagine better, but KDE3 lived up to everything it promised and 2 couldn't even compare. I'm sure KDE 3.2 will do just the same.
Eventually though, the bloat got to me. I was running an optimized gentoo install and my desktop environment was slowing me down. And it was only because I wanted to use the mail client, panel and text editor that came with it. That's when I discovered XFCE-4. It didn't have all the features I needed, but XFCE4 works perfectly with all kinds of software. If I want screensavers I just emerge xscreensavers. If I want keybindings I emerge xbindkeys. If I want cpu monitoring I can get xfce-extras or gkrellm and bubblefishymon.
What really sealed the deal was the fact that I replaced Kmail with thunderbird, konsole with xterm, and kwrite... I still haven't replaced that. But I sure as heck wasn't going to keep using the big slow desktop just for the text editor. If you absolutely need to get all the stuff KDE has to offer, stick with it. If you actually use all of that stuff then it is so worth it and nobody does it better. If you want to trim down and increase the performance, try out XFCE4. I see it becoming a serious competitor with Gnome and KDE in the near future.
The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Gnome was faster. Then they released GTK+ v2, which is a lot slower. Have you ever run Konsole from KDE 3.1 side-by-side with GnomeTerminal from Gnome 2.4? I have. One is fast, the other is Gnometerminal. I have an Athlon 1700+ with 768mb of DDR RAM and a Radeon 8500, why can I type faster than Gnome 2.4 can draw on my screen? KDE can't.
No, I'm not a retard who can't find his own ass with both his hands. I'm using the Slackware distribution (versions 9 and 9.1 have Gnome 2.x, the slow Gnome, in them).
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Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
If I take my Slackware 9 CD and install it onto a box, I can install without Konquerer. If I take a Windows XP CD and install it onto a box, I can't choose to not install IE. It's welded in. Konquerer is only integrated into KDE. Windows has so such separation of window manager/session management/library environment and kernel/base install that Linux has.
Plus, I have absolutely no problem using Thunderbird and Firebird for email and web stuff in Konquerer. It (KDE) respects my choice to use those applications as default, rather than forcing me to use KMail or Konquerer. I've yet to see such respect in Windows.
--
Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
...And I don't mean horrible for KDE, I mean it is horribly done and poorly researched.
.doc link and zip and email it?)
For the mistakes under "The KDE Solution":
- KDialog and Service Menus have been in KDE since 3.0, they are nowhere near a new feature. KRDC for connecting to windows machines has been around for a long time as well, since 3.1.
Under "The KDE Problem"
- She says "Konqueror's context menu is a mess, why would I want to zip a web page or use Cervicia with it, is beyond me". She obviously does not grasp that KDE is totally network transparent, and that indeed all these options can be used with any media on any device. There is no need to restrict their ability while browsing a web site (in fact who is to say that you wouldnt* ever want to, say, right click on a
- She then goes on about how the KDE menu is too bloated, and posts a screenshot as an example. However, in the screenshot, which contains 32 applications, only 7 are KDE applications! You can't claim the KDE menu is too blated because of all the other junk on the system.
- She then advocates putting all the "Configure" options under one menu entry under "Edit" instead of "Settings". Not onnly would this violate the KDE Style Guide which has been agreed upon by usability experts, it just seems foolish. In no OS does "Edit" imply "Settings". Edit is for Editing the active document.
Namely this is one of the poorer reviews I have read on OSNews, and that is saying ALOT since they are normally quite bad.
Um, SuSE used KDE. And will continure using KDE (this has been pubically stated by Novell people). Mandrake's default is KDE. And I head that Debian is focusing on KDE more and more.
Whoops... there I go again, feeding the GNOME trolls.
#include "sig.h"
Some offices do thrive on Lotus Notes, although I think there's a native port to Linux from IBM. Others have lots of custom VB thingies, too.
Just the server but the client does work in wine and probably in Crossover too.
Examples of what I understand by crufty "desktop setting and application self data": fonts, menus, icons, colours, content of files .ICEauthority, .mcoprc, .i18n, .qt, .mailcap, temporary files, caches, symbolic links created by applications, and other things that are spread troughout my home directory which can make my desktop misbahave after upgrading from RedHat 8.something to Mandrake 9.something unless I delete them by hand.
Examples of what I understand "user data": .kppp connection info, imap mail server settings, .signature file, contact lists, email content, user documents, browser bookmarks, document history.
It all boils down to the mess that kde (oofice, gnome, and other applications) damp into my home directory and which makes my desktop computer choke after an upgrade. ooffice seems to be the worst damping brainless stuff into my home directory, but kde and gnome follow closely.
Could I suggest two directories in user home:
.unimportant_settings_and_general_cruft_delete _if_desired
.user_important_setting_data_docs_dont_delete Best regards.
I know that there's more that I'm missing, but these are some that came to mind first.
-clee
The biggest problem I've had with KDE is that EVERYTHING has to be on the Start menu (or whatever it is that KDE calls it -- the K menu?). If I remove an app from the Start menu, then I have no way of knowing it's still installed and available on the system, unless I happen to remember how to start it some other way or I go into a package tool to see that it's still there.
What KDE needs is an Applications directory like Mac OS X has -- show me a window with pretty icons and clear names for all the applications I have available on my computer, and let me customize the launcher (Mac OS X's Dock, Windows's Start menu, KDE's Startorwhateverit'scalled menu) to just list the apps I want to get at most often.