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KDE Software Compilation 4.10 RC1 Released
jrepin writes "Today KDE released the first release candidate for its renewed Workspaces, Applications, and Development Platform. Thanks to the feedback from the betas, KDE already improved the quality noticeably. Further polishing new and old functionality will lead to a rock-stable, fast and beautiful release in January, 2013. One particular change in this RC is an updated look to Plasma workspaces."
I'm running Ubuntu 12.04. I tried Unity (for a few weeks to let it seep in), and really didn't get it, so I installed Gnome 3. It has it's flaws, many of which are solved by extensions. Recently I got sick of some of the limitations and decided to try KDE. An apt-get install kde-desktop later, and I can. Except that it seems to be incredibly unstable. I'd already installed some games (Konquest, Ksirk, etc.) and these also seemed to be buggy. E.g. go to the about menu and it crashes...
Well, KDE is buggy (at least on Ubuntu). I tried one of those widgets, the bouncing ball. It froze up my entire screen. And my computer is new (with an i7 CPU with loads of RAM). What with that and some other problems (I can't just recall) I gave up on KDE and went back to Gnome 3. Pity, Gnome 3 is limited as I said.
And if Debian just worked with my wireless, sound and touchscreen out of the box, I would use it instead. But it doesn't. Ubuntu does.
HELP MY ACCOUNT HAS BEEN HACKED BY AN ILLIBERAL ART STUDENT SET TO DESTROY THE INTERWEBZ!
is the most interesting DE out of the FOSS choices. Enlightenment would be a close second. KDE has everything but the kitchen sink, and it has Kate, a rocking text editor as well as well as K3B, likely the best burning software in FOSS.
Kudos to KDE!
To me, having used it exclusively for the last 6+ years, it's never been better. Very stable, everything works, and it's reasonably fast, even on my 1000PE Eee.
With the right configuration, it can also be very pretty. If you really want to find out, grab the latest the Kubuntu 12.10 live cd and play around with it your self.
Whoops, meant 1005PE Eee!
> Has it improved in any measurable way at all?
> I am inclined to think, "nothing at all!"
Oh look at the cute little troll.
--
BMO
Absolutely. KDE has made many leaps in the past few releases. I fully recommend anyone that has been sitting out for the past couple years to give it a try again.
Unfortunately, the release of 4.0 was a bit botched (rushed out to the public eye in a few distributions) before it was ready for prime time, but the KDE developers laid very good foundations that have been paying off greatly. It looks polished, runs quickly, and I think much of the KDE software is snappier and more useful than its GNOME equivalents.
Yes, 3 years is six point releases so, 4.9 (current) - .6 = 4.3.
4.4 = first usable release. I'd call it RC quality. .0 (2 years ag, Plasma would still crash some, but less than Win95 or 98SE, may have been my graphics)
4.5 = what should of been
4.6 = stable and functions really working
When they did the update for OpenGL ES it really got smoother, with less visual artifacts (this video shows what I mean by visual artifacts at 00:35 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPIgEFIv5MI) Based on the date, that video is 4.3 or 4.4 I'm guessing.
Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
Not sure about Unity, but even GNOME 3 has nowhere near that overhead in my experience. Sure, you take a hit, but 50% is insane.
That's not decimal numbering (where 4.10 would be a more precise expression of 4.1), it's literally 4 dot 10, where the ten represents the minor version number of KDE 4. Took me some time to get used to it, but other projects do this, too. The Linux kernel in particular does this.
To me, having used it exclusively for the last 6+ years, it's never been better.
6+ years puts you into the long suffering crowd, (with me) to whom almost anything approximating stable earns high praise.
Somewhere around 4.6 it actually became fully functional again. I can't wait to try RC1. There were many releases where I
wouldn't dream of trying an RC?, having been bitten too often.
It has been a long and bumpy road. One more upgrade like 4.0 would probably kill this project completely. Its not totally the KDE Team's fault,
there were far too many Distros that jumped on way too early, making 4.0 the default, then claiming they really didn't.
Some of the most obvious additions since KDE4, Activities, are still poorly understood, and under utilized. A very large subset of users ignore them all together, finding old-school multiple Desktops much more satisfactory for their work environment.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
I only have one complaint. The copy dialog box tends to change width when copying lots of files and then eventually settles down.
Other than that its awesome!
I used it at work and home.
Have to disagree with you on the fault. It was the damn devs fault in the fact that they didn't listen to the users and used the Beta QT 4 to build the project.
For example, the removal of the multiple desktops setting for the same single desktop paradign that MS has used since Win3. That was just one of the many features I used regularly - each desktop was devoted to specific work flows but they decided to duplicate Vista not only in looks but fucking performance. Hell I found that Konqureor worked better as a browser then Firefox for many of the sites I frequented since I could simply download directly into the right sub folders. Hell I even used the FTP feature that allowed me to treat that as simply a shared drive/network share. Then they introduced Dophin as the damn browser. PoS that is/was. Haven't looked back since switching to Fluxbox and dropping most of the KDE apps I used. Hell sylpheed works as well for email as kmail did.
Mod me up/Mod me down: I wont frown as I've no crown
For example, the removal of the multiple desktops setting for the same single desktop paradign
On Fedora: System Settings -> Workspace Behavior -> Virtual Desktops
I'm pretty sure it's been there since 4.0. It was buggy then, but it's always had virtual desktops.
That I'm right, and you don't like it, doesn't mean I'm a troll.
Did anyone else read the title as KDE Software Complication 4.10 RC1?
Only dumb birds land downwind.
4.2 was the first good usable one. 4.0 was a disaster and 4.1 a fixup.
But yeah, its getting better and better.
Yeah, I find that to be very annoying, especially when trying to scan over what files are being copied, etc.
I'm still a few KDE versions behind (will upgrade over Christmas break hopefully). Has that been fixed in more recent versions?
Nice to know it is not just me who experiences it.