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KDE 3.2.0 Released
Quique writes "KDE 3.2 has just been released. The official announcement is available at the KDE site and the source tarballs are being replicated to the mirrors. There are already binary packages for a few distributions. Besides the usual bugfixes and new features, this release has been highly optimized and runs way faster than previous versions. This is a good opportunity for Windows users to migrate to a free desktop."
*Raises hand* Excuse me, when is it "not" a good time to switch from Windows?
check out this alternate free desktop
And I thought KDE tried to provide (among other things) familiarity for people with previous expirience with windoze.
I've been using the "unoficial" .deb's for a while now, and I gotta say that it really is a major release. Many bug fixes, faster than ever, I haven't seen kde running so smooth since kde1... Now since I had been using it on a teste machine, now all I have to do is wait for it to come in to debian sid to have it on all my desktops!
Great job by a great team.
Of course it is...I only spent the mandatory 2 days last week compiling 3.1.5.
Well here we go again.
I want KDE 3.2 in my system!
However, I spent quite some time tweaking my KDE 3.1 settings, and right now it works flawlessly (at least, for my needs)... apparently, there's no need to upgrade.
So, I don't know if I should compile/install KDE 3.2 myself, or wait until my distribution includes it in its next release (I'm using Slackware).
What do you guys think?
Any bug reports so far? (I know it's just released, but that's the wonder of Open Source.... many eyes!!!).
Gentoo already has this, but it's masked.
/usr/portage/kde-base/kdebase, and there is an ebuild for it:
Go to
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 7922 Jan 18 23:35 kdebase-3.0.5b.ebuild
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3971 Jan 13 12:40 kdebase-3.1.4.ebuild
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3630 Jan 29 08:42 kdebase-3.1.5.ebuild
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3084 Feb 2 07:26 kdebase-3.2.0.ebuild
You'll have to unmask it, so see The Masked Packages FAQ at Gentoo.org.
libertarianswag.com
Great Job !!
"This is a good opportunity for Windows users to migrate to a free desktop."
Again?? I believe last week there was a good opportunity too... had something to do with a virus.
I want my karma, and I want it now!
so be kind, and delay it from the 'hords of slashdot' ... atleast for a few hours...
I don't claim I know more than I know, and if you know you know more than I know, then by all means, let me know.
How often do you have to start it? Shouldn't you be more concerned about performance once it's running? And what's another 15 seconds on top of a linux boot anyway?
:)
Not to diss your choice of XFCE4, though - that's my choice, albeit on 1997-era hardware
L
If it still takes some 15 secs to startup even on high-end machines, it'll not be faster enough for me.
XFCE for me...
Being that KDE (GNOME, etc) have different aims than that of XFCE, I think its totally resonable that KDE and friends take a bit longer to load.
Sunny Dubey
I see a lot of foolish comments about not being able to do anything useful with a KDE desktop. the only thing you cannot do just as well with kde3.2 compared to winXP is play games. thats it people, nothing more no arguements accepted. so in the corperate areana windows can put it's head between it's knees and kiss it's ass goodbye
If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
It's included for free with the Windows kernel.
Correction, [windows desktop] is included at no extra cost with the Windows kernel. It's not free, you have to pay for it if you plan on acquiring it legitimately.
Your 'bastardisation' of the word free shows that the world of advertising has been a complete success. "Buy one get one free!" No, you get two for the price of one, but one is not free. You still have to pay. Anything which requires an exchange of something is not free.
So, technically, you're using a bastardised definition of the word "free".
Also, it's worth noting that Free Software is a term (note the capitalisation) used in relation to, well, Free Software. So the usage of the word Free in the context of Free Software like KDE makes perfect sense and is not a bastardisation of the word "free", but more alike the usage of a word describing a product. Like Windows: I have lots of windows but I never use Windows.
Free Gamer - Free games list and commentary
You can get RH 7.3/8/9/Fedora packages here: http://kde-redhat.sourceforge.net
The 3.2 release isn't available yet but I'm sure it will be soon. (I'm running the last beta right now)
that work on integrating kde with OO.o is moving forward. This isn't just a look-n-feel thing, mind you, its much deeper than that. Details in the link.
Yes, unmasking is easy, but the files aren't there yet:
...done! /s -1.2.0.tar.bzs -1.2.0.tar.bz2l ving ftp.easynet.nl... 195.86.128.57
emerge -u kde
Calculating dependencies
>>> emerge (1 of 17) kde-base/arts-1.2.0 to
>>> Downloading http://ftp.easynet.nl/mirror/gentoo/distfiles/art
2
--14:28:58-- http://ftp.easynet.nl/mirror/gentoo/distfiles/art
=> `/usr/portage/distfiles/arts-1.2.0.tar.bz2'
Reso
Connecting to ftp.easynet.nl[195.86.128.57]:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 404 Not Found
14:28:58 ERROR 404: Not Found.
Sit back and watch it try all the mirrors it knows. Noone has them. Yet.
Why the submitter linked to a php script is beyond me:
.
(announcement starts)
Announcing KDE 3.2
DATELINE FEBRUARY 3, 2004
KDE Project Ships New Major Release Of Leading Open Source Desktop Environment
Splash
February 3, 2004 (The Internet) - The KDE Project is pleased to announce the immediate availability of KDE 3.2, the third major release of the award-winning KDE3 desktop platform. KDE 3.2 is the result of a combined year-long effort by hundreds of individuals and corporations from around the globe. This diverse team has been working successfully together since 1997 to make KDE the leading Open Source desktop software for Linux and UNIX.
As with previous KDE releases, version 3.2 provides an integrated desktop and a comprehensive set of applications that combine to create an environment that is usable for a wide variety of tasks right out of the box. In addition to the many new applications making their debut in KDE 3.2, the veteran applications have been refined and augmented generously. By installing some or all of these applications common desktop tasks such as web browsing, file management, email, personal information management, instant messaging, software and web development, multimedia, education and entertainment can be accomplished quickly and easily. This impressive collection of software is complemented by a recent update to the KOffice integrated office suite.
Reflecting its international team and focus, KDE 3.2 is currently available in 42 different languages. Partial translations into 32 other languages are also available, many of which are expected to be completed during the KDE 3.2 life cycle. With 74 different languages and full localization support, no other desktop is as ready to serve the needs of today's global community.
KDE 3.2 also provides improvements in usability and performance. Noticeable speed boosts in application start up times and webpage rendering together with many interface refinements make KDE 3.2 the most usable and performant KDE ever. Attention was also paid to ensuring that KDE is accessible to those with disabilities. Several accessibility related applications are included with 3.2 and work on integrating accessibility technologies directly into KDE's foundations is ongoing.
KDE has earned a reputation for quality and a comprehensive feature set among its global user base that is estimated to number in the millions. KDE is also proud to be the default user interface for several operating systems including Ark Linux, Conectiva, Knoppix, Lindows, Lycoris, Mandrake Linux, SUSE Linux, TurboLinux and Xandros. KDE is also available as a part of Debian, Free/Open/NetBSD, Gentoo, Libranet, Red Hat Linux, Slackware and Solaris, among others. In addition to these operating system vendors, more and more companies are offering commercial support for KDE, some of which are listed in the business directory of the KDE::Enterprise website. With the release of KDE 3.2, the KDE Project looks to enhance and grow this ecosystem of users and supporters.
Highlights At A Glance
Some of the highlights in KDE 3.2 are listed below.
* Increased performance and standards compliance
o Lowered start up times for applications and hundreds of optimizations make KDE 3.2 the fastest KDE ever!
o Working in concert with Apple Computer Inc.'s Safari web browser team, KDE's web support has seen huge performance boosts as well as increased compliance with widely accepted web standards
o Increased support for FreeDesktop.org standards in KDE 3.2 strengthens interoperability with other Linux and UNIX software.
* New applications
o JuK: a jukebox-style music player
o Kopete: an instant messenger with support for AOL Instant Messenger, MSN, Yahoo Messenger, ICQ, Gadu-Gadu, Jabber, IRC, SMS and WinPopup
o KWallet: providing integrated, secure storage of passwords and web form data
o Kontact: a unified interfa
How about a shout-out to everyone who contributed to the development of KDE! Thanks for your fine work guys, keep it up!
Try the debian kde wiki for info on where to get the packages.
http://wiki.debian.net/?DebianKDE
It should be going into sid fairly soon. There have been lots of CVS commits on the 3.2 branch and the matainers have made nosies about having a version ready for sid on time for the relese of 3.2.0
USB 1.0 support has been in the Linux kernel since about version 2.0 while USB 2.0 support came in the 2.5 development kernels and is now in the 2.6 release kernels.
If you had said that some USB devices are difficult to get working under Linux, then there would have been some validity to your statements and we'd have been given some indication that you knew what you were talking about.
However, by the same token, if you knew anything about Linux and kernels, you would understand that as long as hardware manufacturers keep their hardware specifications closed and do not provide Linux drivers for their hardware, then driver development for Linux, which is reliant on the kernel community, will always be behind. What really annoys me is you seem to have this attitude that this is something the Linux community should be ashamed of rather than being proud, as we are, that the kernel driver people work damned hard to backwards engineer drivers to get some degree of functionality under Linux.
Oh, and finally, nobody cares whether you personally use Linux or Windows XP. Use whatever OS you feel comfortable with because you'd be a complete hypocrite trying to switch to alternative system purely as a fashion statement.
Just remember that hardware gets supported under Windows because manufacturers work with Microsoft to get drivers written so do not treat this as a Linux failure.
Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
It means that krfb supports RDP, to connect to Windows terminal servers and whatnot. PS: This has also been in 3.1 for awhile now. There is no RFB server, though I am sure you could find one if yous earched around a bit.
Seems like Robert Love is looking into getting X/GNOME up faster (skip to after first picture). Obviously he's focused on GNOME but with any luck the techniques he uses and general X bits can be pushed to or KDE directly for wider usage.
Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
Maybe your purpose in using a computer is running Windows apps, most people want to get their work done.
Let's face it, the only value of an OS or computer is running the software _I_ want to run. And the desktop is little more than a very superficial interface to the OS.
The value of an OS is letting you do what you want to do. That may or may not involve running specific software.
The whole thing is like saying "now, see, we can give you a dashboard for your car that looks exactly like an airplane dashboard." Uh. And the point is? It's still a car, and it still can't do what an airplane does. Nor viceversa.
Huh? KDE is not trying to be Windows, its trying to be a useful desktop. One factor in being a good desktop is being able to look like Windows, so that many people will find it less difficult to switch - but its not its purpose.
The same applies to Linux vs Windows. Repeat after me: putting a Windows desktop manager on Linux, doesn't make it a Windows substitute. And viceversa, putting CDE (or a clone thereof) on Windows, doesn't make it a Unix workstation.
KDE is not a Windows(TM) desktop manager.
A good desktop is a substitute for Windows.
;) That'll do Linux a world of good.
But even if we're discussing desktop makeups: does Linux now have CUA guidelines? Did people start actually sticking to the same behaviour for their widgets? Did people actually start testing their interfaces with 100 dpi fonts? Etc.
In the Free Software/Open Source world - such tests come for free. People use the software with all sorts of configurations and report problems.
Not to mention Qt (And other modern toolkits), unlike Windows, uses pure logical layouts and handles font sizes/etc very well.
Because changing the desktop means very little, when Joe Average's day still involves dealing with 10 different programs, using 6 fundamentally different widget sets, 8 fundamentally different keyboard shortcut sets, and 4 different ways of even persisting his preferences.
That's exactly the purpose of KDE. Creating a consistent GUI to do all those things. KDE is slowly getting rid of the GUI concept of "application", integrating capabilities to run software in contexts of all apps and windows (KPart/IOSlave technologies). KDE also has a very consistent default keyboard shortcut setup.
KDE is not about Gtk+ integration and consistency, but about internal integration and consistency (even though some projects to similarize do exist).
A lot of Windows's or a Mac's appeal doesn't come just from the way the desktop looks, nor from their particular flavour of widgets. It comes from the fact that everything running on it has the same standardized interface.
KDE is now more uniform and consistent than Windows and the vast amounts of inconsistent 3rd party apps. As for Macs, I haven't tried - but its probably hard to force UI guidelines/etc on 3rd party companies as you can force them with Free Software (simply modify any inconsistent application to follow the guidelines).
The way a Windows scroll bar or file open dialog works isn't perfect. (I actually prefer the Motif scroll bars.) But you can learn to use it _once_ and then apply that knowledge instinctively in all programs, from now until kingdom come.
Oh, I haven't seen my KDE scrollbar changing across applications.
Basically what I'm saying is: KDE is good and fine, and optimizing it doesn't hurt, but... IMHO what would really do Linux a world of good is enforcing a consistent interface across _all_ widget sets. Drag the good Qt, KDE, Gnome, Motif/Lesstif, GTK, etc people into a room, and don't let them out until they can aggree on a common interface standard
You can always use themes and such to make Gtk+/KDE look and behave similar. However, you're really supposed to be able to get along with just one of the toolkits - not having to worry about such inter-toolkit consistency.
466mhz Celeron, 256mb ram, 2.4.x kernel, KDE 3.14 built from source, a lot of things installed to make KDE prettier but not necessarily faster, and a ton of stuff loading during boot. Total time to go from off to mucking around in KDE - ~35 seconds. Total time to go from bash prompt to clicking on pretty icons and stuff - ~10 seconds.
Time it took to go from off to clicking on pretty icons in Win2K on the same machine: Well over a minute, possibly two. Can even play movies with mplayer without a skip that would be unwatchable in Windows.
More than fast enough for me.
Windows Using Friend: What do I do?
HB: You download the tarballs and-
WUF: That tar whats?
HB: The tarballs and-
WUF: The what balls?
HB: The tar balls and-
WUF: The what whats?
And so on and so forth...
--- Ban humanity.
ftp://ibiblio.org (28 hours)
ftp://kde.us.themoes.org (11 hours)
http://mirrors.isc.org (14 hours)
http://ibiblio.org (28 hours)
http://mirrors.midco.net (8 hours)
http://ftp.us.kde.org (10 hours)
ftp://kde.pandmservices.com (11 hours)
http://ftp.gtlib.cc.gatech.edu (11 hours)
ftp://ftp.rutgers.edu (9 hours)
ftp://ftp.oregonstate.edu (24 hours)
http://ftp.rutgers.edu (9 hours)
http://kde.oregonstate.edu (24 hours)
http://csociety-ftp.ecn.purdue.edu (13 hours)
ftp://ftp.gtlib.cc.gatech.edu (11 hours)
ftp://mirror.xmission.com (29 hours)
ftp://ftp.us.kde.org (10 hours)
ftp://mirrors.midco.net (8 hours)
You want binary packages? You get them from a distributor. That's what distributors do. They take .tar.gz packages; they compile them, setting options in a way they consider sane; they package them up in a binary package; and they offer it for download.
.rpm packages. But you'd do as well to just download the source tarballs and compile them yourself, taking notes as you go along. Distributors will take your requests much more seriously if you can show you've tried something. In my experience, source .tar.gz files are the way to install software; more reliable and more configurable. You could even -- shock, horror -- create your own binary package from the source you downloaded and compiled!
KDE just provide source packages, which will compile -- with perhaps a little tweaking -- on any setup which is computationally complete enough. Out of the goodness of their own hearts, they link to binary packages that other people have created; but the job of making it easy for non-programmers to install software falls to distributors. Think of it this way: the KDE developers are like farmers, growing basic food ingredients. Meat, milk, eggs, veg, grains. You can get really fresh ingredients from a farm, but you still have to prepare them before you can eat them. And that takes hard work. The distributors - Debian, Red Hat / Fedora, SUSE and so forth - are like chefs, taking those ingredients and preparing them in a ready-to-eat form. Sometimes that limits your options as a consumer; but nobody is stopping you buying fresh ingredients and preparing and cooking them your own way.
If you really can't spell make you could just keep pestering your distributor to provide you with
Je fume. Tu fumes. Nous fûmes!
Where I live (Sweden) You are not allowed to use the word "free" (or gratis which is the translation) in an ad without really giving it away.
:-)
.haeger
Free (gratis) means no strings attached here so if someone sais "Buy one, get one for free" You can actually go in and ask to have the "free" one and they can't deny You that. If You know your rights.
Naturally noone in their right mind uses the word "gratis" in ads anymore here.
One could only hope that our government would disallow more bastardisations of words (and standards).
You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. -- Harlan Ellison
Wouldn't Windows users have to migrate to Linux first? Unless I missed something, KDE is not a desktop environment that replaces the Windows GUI on Windows boxen.
Considering that the vast majority of computer users are going to barf at the thought of reinstalling their OS & that most are doing very well just to apply a "recovery disk" to restore their system to its original, store-bought state, I don't think that a pretty new desktop for Linux will do much to encourage the average Windows user to migrate to Linux.
"Obviously, I'm not an IBM computer any more than I'm an ashtray" (Bob Dylan)
Yeah, Kopete and Trillian are quite similar in terms of feature set and functionality. Trillian Pro however does a few things, like RDF feeds, email checking, that Kopete doesn't do (yet..).
The main difference between Kopete and Trillian is the interfaces. Kopete tries to be HIGHLY integreated with the KDE desktop, and thus doesn't support skinning. It strictly ahears to the KDE style guide. Trillian on the other hand, looks quite cool with it's skinning, but it doesn't try to blend in with the rest of Windows.
Konqueror in 3.2 has been vastly improved..
- rewritten tab support
- a lot faster
- better standards compliance (many patches from Safari)
It's replaced Firebird as my main browser. I can't say that Konqueror renders as many pages as good as Mozilla yet, but it's getting there. Hopefully with Apple's Safari/Webcore 1.2 coming out in a few months and more syncing between KDE and Apple, Konqueror in KDE 3.3 is going to be great.
Your points are entirely realistic. If there is no reason to switch an existing computer from Windows (if the switch will inconvenience the user more than Windows already does), then it shouldn't be done.
;-)
For many here, the effort is the reward itself. This is not an argument that will win many converts from Windows. For others, who have the ability and attitude to accept change very quickly and not be locked into a set way of doing things, making the change may very well be worth it, as they may find (at least I do) that I get things done faster using Linux. No, not the tweaking part (that can consume days at a time!), but the everyday tasks that I use my computer for. But this is STILL a very small cross section of the total desktop users out there.
The fact remains, however, that Linux, KDE, etc. provide a very good desktop experience once installed properly, and it is free. These may not be good enough reasons for virtually anyone to convert over an existing machine, but it sure sounds like a recipe that will lead to pre-installations on new computers. THIS is where all this effort will eventually bear fruit. Corporate environments (where security, customizability, and lack of vendor lock-in are becoming big pluses) are where Free software will certainly continue getting more wins. Plus, a fully functional PC that can be sold without the Windows tax can start to look attractive to home users, too.
Think new PCs, not existing ones. Still, this won't be common anytime soon (I'd say at least a couple more years) before your average computer user will seriously be comfortable buying a new machine with something other than Windows on it. But it will come in due time.
In the meantime, don't let the trolls bother you. For your needs (and frankly most people's needs), Windows is still the correct OS for your computer. Thankfully, this will not be the case for much longer
Look at the tomato! Isn't it sad? He can't dance! Poor tomato!
Right....sure thing. I pity the poor fools who modded this "insightful."
1)It is true that a "typical user" is not ready to install, configure, and administrate a Linux computer. However, they aren't ready to install, configure, and administrate a Windows computer either. Now...given a properly installed/configured Windows system as it arrives from Dell, most users will be fine. And given a properly installed/configured Linux system as it arrives from one of the Linux hardware vendors, or from your local geek (assuming he/she's good) most users will be similarly fine.
I know this because I have set up several "typical users" on Linux systems, and they are fine.
2)Also, Mr. Insight, did you pause to consider the audience for the statement that now might be a good time to try a free desktop? You know, the slashdot audience?! This was not a statement directed at "typical users."
Given a choice between free speech and free beer, most people will take the beer.