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KDE Goes Cross-Platform, Supports Windows and OS X
klblastone writes "The KDE desktop environment is going cross-platform with support for the Windows and Mac OS X operating systems. In addition to porting the core KDE libraries and applications, developers are also porting popular KDE-based software like the Amarok audio player and the KOffice productivity suite. New KDE binaries for Windows were released yesterday and are now available from KDE mirrors through an automated installer program. The Mac OS X port is made available via BitTorrent in universal binary format."
About 10 days ago I tested KDE4 on an OpenSUSE system, now I've just tried it on Windows too and I must say I'm astounded - many applications work just fine although they feel a bit sluggish. But the basic system is there and I believe it won't be long until we have a fully functional KDE4 shell as an alternative to Explorer. Or we could just stick to the apps and not use the whole desktop environment - in fact I'd like to use KOffice and a few other apps on my Windows box.
Considering it's such an early release, I'd say KDE4 on Windows is functional beyond any expectations, and in a couple of months I hope to be using it for real and not as a toy. Kudos to the KDE team, brilliant as usual.
Global warming is a cube.
http://www.mhall119.com
Not any time soon. The desktop shell got so many ties to X11 and would need so many ties to Windows. What this is mostly for is KDE applications that have little or no dependencies on any non-qt (well, non-kde) libraries. That should actually be quite many, but only what you'd consider "normal" applications.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
Well I tested KDE4 on my Ubuntu machine, found it too be very incomplete and buggy. I understand that Qt4 is quite easy to develop with, much like Cocoa is for OSX, so the development time may be shorter than I expect.
.0 version which was clearly still alpha software.
It's not that I want the newest up to date stuff. Amarok is hardly new, it's the underlying Qt4 that's the culprit IMO. Getting Amarok on OSX would be very nice as I could replace iTunes and switch my library over to Ogg, something I've really been wanting to do. The Ogg plugin for iTunes is a little lacking and iTunes has just gotten too "in your face" with it's store for my tastes. KDE4 has a lot of promise, I admit that and applaud them on their work. I just feel they broke a trust with the user base by releasing a
I really don't know when KDE4 will be "ready". I suspect when i can run it without trouble on my Linux laptop then it'll be very soon after that the OSX port would be stable enough.
The desktop isn't being ported, just the apps. And they will run natively as Cocoa apps. Well, they already do, but they need a lot of polishing before they are usable.
There is a good shell replacement that is similar to fluxbox: http://emergedesktop.org/. When I have to boot into windows it eases the pain.
Obligatory blog plug: http://www.caseybanner.ca/
ktorrent too! Nothing less than excellent.
sig: sauer
fwiw you can enable x-mouse in tweakui to have focus follow your mouse. I usually use this, but some programs that do not expect it become a little hard to use (certain dropdowns, etc.)
wush.net - svn hosting
I've been using Dexpot 1.4 for the past few months now and it is very functional in XP. Nice customizable shortcut keys, named desktops, and free for private use; it's the most similar to a linux desktop switcher that I could find.
"KDE developer Aaron Seigo also spoke about KDE's cross-platform ambitions and discussed some of the broader implications. Bringing popular KDE programs to Windows and Mac OS X is somewhat controversial in the open source software community, because doing so is seen by some as a means of eroding incentives for Linux adoption."
"Seigo and many in the KDE community contend that making KDE applications available on other platforms brings more freedom and choice to Windows users and gives them the ability to adopt open standards and establish an easier migration path to Linux."
Is KDE's cross-platform approach going to backfire?
"He Who Dares Wins"
Try mplayer and rtorrent.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
Love the way Ars describes Autotools!
Autotools, an intractably arcane and grotesquely anachronistic cesspool of ineffable complexity that makes even seasoned programmers nauseous.
step one, download the kubuntu iso...
The laterst version is KDE 4.0, which is almost completely different from previous versions, just as OS X 10.0 was. If you want a well-tested, stable and capable desktop environment and can live without the latest eye candy, you should stick to KDE 3.5.8, which is an altogether amazing environment.
Gives you multiple desktops, replaces explorer and is a whole lot lighter, nicer looking and faster than the default pos IE integrated explorer shell. Damn, I've been using BBlean since win2k came out and haven't found a nicer shell for windows since.
http://virtuawin.sourceforge.net/ - obviously it isn't perfect but it is better than MSVDM. The worst incompatibility I have found is that some programs show up on every desktop.
I have mentioned this before in posts on slashdot, but I have no relationship with the project.I, like many of us, have to use MS Windows for work, but with virtuawin at least I have ONE annoyance out of the way.
Insert pithy comment here.
Per http://techbase.kde.org/Projects/KDE_on_Windows/Installation:
"By design, KDE-windows does not provide the full-blown KDE desktop, thus no KWin composite manager, KDE-specific "start" menus, Plasma desktop, etc."
Just Qt and KDE4 library based applications.
Windows has supported '/' as a path separator since about NT 3.1...
The only app that doesn't work with it is cmd.exe, because it uses that as a command line switch.
Hold shift+drag to move, ctrl+drag to copy.
On Windows, I enjoy the bliss of not knowing until I try it whether a particular drag-n-drop is going to result in moving the file, copying the file, creating a shortcut, or just make something up. Same with OS X, and with every other system that tries to helpfully guess for me.
On KDE, if I forget to hold down shift (move) or ctrl (copy), I get a context menu, instead of some completely unpredictable behavior. It mentions the keyboard shortcuts, so that if I'm intelligent, that menu will never bother me again, and I'll know exactly what I'm doing.
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
Step Five: Get a real job, or loosen up the old purse strings and pony up a couple of dollars to buy a NEW computer? C'mon, minimal systems that will blow away the hardware you must have can be had for the $200 range...heck, I hear some of them at Wallyworld Mart come WITH linux pre-installed. For a few more dollars, I saw one at Dell for $349.
You fail miserably. There are places outside your world where people get $349 *a month* for a living. And they must maintain a complete family (in fact, the average income of people in Mexico is about 515 and $2000 a year.
There are lots of these people who can not buy a new computer, and are still happily using their 486 or even 386 with windows 95 and 98. And some of them using dial up internet connections!
Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'I can't configure Debian'
Puppy Linux http://www.puppylinux.com/ is designed to run on older hardware.
Plus it's very user friendly and extremely easy to modify.
http://puppylinux.com/pfs/index.html and http://puppylinux.com/puppy-unleashed.htm
It'll even run on a PII system with 128meg of ram and a CD drive, WITHOUT a hard drive!
The U.S. really needs an English to Wisdom dictionary.