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Testing the KDE 4.2 Release Candidate, On Windows

Posted by timothy on from the pleasant-stroll-through-the-shooting-range dept.

Verunks writes "Ars takes the KDE 4.2 release candidate out for a test drive on Windows. The popular open source desktop environment has moved beyond Linux and is becoming increasingly robust on other platforms. Even KDE's Plasma desktop shell is now Windows-compatible."

12 of 272 comments (clear)

  1. Sounds Great! by $RANDOMLUSER · · Score: 3, Interesting

    As long as I can hit F4 and get a Bash terminal window into a Unix-like environment, I'm a happy guy.

    --
    No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
    1. Re:Sounds Great! by Hatta · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I don't think you can. The "shell" in the summary is what we UNIX folks would call a "window manager". Not that you can't get a somewhat workable shell in windows, it just requires cygwin.

      I would really be interested in hearing how Cygwin plays with KDE4.2. Popping open a konsole to a cygwin bash shell would be really nice.

      --
      Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
    2. Re:Sounds Great! by TinBromide · · Score: 4, Interesting

      you should try using AndLinux. It installs a build of linux that runs along side windows (via the colinux kernel). Its really nice to be able to double click a terminal icon and get a command terminal into a fully functional unix like environment in windows (you apt-get from the ubuntu repositories).

      Really, no kidding! Try it.

      --
      Is it sad that I am more likely to recognize you and your posts by your sig than your name or UID?
  2. All for a text editor by HungryHobo · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I installed this in order to use kate on windows. What can I say: I've grown attached to the editor. But I found that it no longer feels so crisp and clean as on linux.

  3. Why? by Ngarrang · · Score: 3, Interesting

    No, really, why? Windows already runs poorly with its default windowing interface. Why would I want to use up even more memory for a second windowing interface? No application is worth this layer of added complexity.

    --
    Bearded Dragon
    1. Re:Why? by epr · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Huh? Can't speak for Vista, but XP normally feels a lot more responsive than my default (GNOME) window manager. But then again, the last time I tried KDE 4.X it ended in disaster and agony, so you might be on to something.

    2. Re:Why? by je+ne+sais+quoi · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I used to run the kde 3.5 code on Mac OS X sometimes from raccoon fink's blog. I did this because I liked using the fish protocol in konqueror, it made secure file transfer really easy. OS X has that nice X11 app that does everything an X11 WM does. I don't run it any more though because fuse and sshfs pretty much made this unnecessary.

      <rant>P.S. Not to mention that somebody at kde decided that konqueror should be a web browser and not a file manager. I'll never understand this... from my perspective they had some software that was a very mediocre web browser but what was in my opinion, the best file manager in existence and they threw out the file manager. For one thing, those two functions should never be in the same software, you can thank Microsoft and leveraging its monopoly for that particular monstrosity, but something is obviously wrong with the kde development process if they're making decisions like this. It's no wonder that kde4 turned out so badly.*grumble grumble*</rant>

      --
      Gentlemen! You can't fight in here, this is the war room!
  4. Re:Fixed it for you by SanityInAnarchy · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Portability was one of the goals of KDE4, and it is encouraging to see it works.

    Now if only the other parts of it would stop sucking...

    Today's Daily KDE4 WTF: My clock has two lines. The first line is the time, in military time -- 08:31. This works fine. The second line is the date: Tue, 27 Jan. It might be 27 January, but I can't tell, because the T and half the u in Tue, and most of the n in Jan, are cut off.

    I realize it's meant to be scalable, but why is it scalable right off the edges of the widget? And in a widget which is in the panel, by default?

    Just one of many KDE4 WTFs which makes you wonder, "Forget QA, did anyone actually fucking boot it up to see if it was working?"

    --
    Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
  5. When a GNOME developer says KDE rocks, I'm elated by bogaboga · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I am quite elated at the fact that this GNOME developer says KDE 4.2 rocks . Now, if the two teams could combine resources to churn out an awesome desktop environment (preferably KDE based), that would make the Linux ecosystem even more relevant in today's environment.

  6. Re:Fixed it for you by mweather · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Today's Daily KDE4 WTF: My clock has two lines. The first line is the time, in military time -- 08:31. This works fine. The second line is the date: Tue, 27 Jan. It might be 27 January, but I can't tell, because the T and half the u in Tue, and most of the n in Jan, are cut off.

    That's nothing. What will really make you scratch your head is when you try and fix it by changing the font, and only the time's font changes, not the date.

  7. Plasma on ReactOS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I wonder if Plasma runs on ReactOS.

    (Though I would rather see XFCE ported).

  8. Re:When a GNOME developer says KDE rocks, I'm elat by VON-MAN · · Score: 3, Interesting

    "KDE is a bloated environment, which is why although there are nice KDE apps out there, I will never run them in my gnome or windowmaker environments. No thanks."
    One hears this often here. Here's someone who decided to test this common Slashdot wisdom: http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-linux-memory.html?ca=dgr-lnxw07LinuxMemory