Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

KDE 4.5 Released

Posted by Soulskill on from the newer-and-shinier dept.

An anonymous reader writes "KDE 4.5.0 has been released to the world. See the release announcement for details. Highlights include a Webkit browser rendering option for Konqueror, a new caching mechanism for a faster experience and a re-worked notification system. Another new feature is Perl bindings, in addition to Python, Ruby and JavaScript support. The Phonon multimedia library now integrates with PulseAudio. See this interview with KDE developer and spokesperson Sebastian Kugler on how KDE can continue to be innovative in the KDE4 age. Packages should be available for most Linux distributions in the coming days. More than 16000 bug fixes were committed since 4.4."

6 of 302 comments (clear)

  1. W00t by bcmm · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Now we can have a thread with KDE haters AND PA haters in it!

    --
    # cat /dev/mem | strings | grep -i llama
    Damn, my RAM is full of llamas.
    1. Re:W00t by bcmm · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Seriously though, phonon has pluggable backends, and this does not mean the PulseAudio is going to be compulsory for KDE users, any more than its DirectShow integration makes MS Windows compulsory for KDE users.

      --
      # cat /dev/mem | strings | grep -i llama
      Damn, my RAM is full of llamas.
    2. Re:W00t by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Or your distributor can plug in the best backend on your OS (yeah, they really might be different on Solaris, BSD, Linux, Windows and Mac) so that you can get sound from your speakers.

      Of course if you're an obsessive tinkerer or your distributor ships you a broken version of a particular backend then you have the option to fix it yourself too.

      Stu J (who can't be bothered to register and account)

    3. Re:W00t by Richard_at_work · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It does amaze me, as someone who tried the 'modern' Linux desktop several times over the past 15 years and always came away shaking my head, that audio support within Linux is still a topic that prompts regular discussion - when I am on Windows or OSX, I don't even know what the audio subsystem is called because its never been an issue, Ive never had to tinker with it. Hell, for the past 5 years I haven't even needed to install drivers and its still produced beautiful sound.

      I can't comment on the rest of the Linux UI experience (my Linux knowledge is firmly positioned in the headless server region), but come on - audio is something that shouldn't even be on a users agenda for worrying about these days.

  2. notifications by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    i like the new notification system, but it still feels hacked together.
    if you close tabs or subwindows in your notification it resizes in a jerky way.
    doesnt feel really smooth and looks unprofessional.
    it would be nice if you could make the notifications "transparent" in front of
    certain windows (the way its done with the ubuntu notifications).
    it annoys me to no end having notifications pop up, while you are gaming.
    but i hope they will fix that in later releases.

  3. Why do I need KDE? by Viol8 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I think I'm the typical techy user. During the day I'll use xterm , open office, firefox and gxine. And maybe one or 2 other apps.
    Can someone explain to me why I need a huge resource hungry window manager, sorry - desktop enviroment - like KDE running as my machine? This is a genuine question, not an anti KDE troll. I simply don't get it.