What's new with KDE 4.3?
Applications
Things have also changed for applications: KMail allows users to add images to HTML messages. KAlarm lets you export alarms to a calendar file, as well as set alarms for tasks pulled from KOrganizer. The Okular document viewer now reads the widespread Mobipocket eBook format developed by French Amazon.com subsidiary Mobipocket. The Marble virtual atlas now displays the moon and a couple of other planets, such as Venus or Mars, and integrates the Wikipedia and Flickr online services (Figure 5). The convenient Okteta hex editor now has a filesystem browser, an overview of the loaded document, and a bookmark management feature. The Ark archiver supports InfoZip archives and offers improved handling of GZIP and BZIP2 files. More intelligible error messages improve user friendliness. KGpg now imports keys from a key server, and not just from local files.
Game developers have also been busy. KDE 4.3 again includes the KTron game. Many games now use an Egyptian-looking default theme (Figure 6). KGoldRunner, a MineRunner clone, records and replays games. KPatience optionally stores the game status when you quit, allowing players to carry on with a game after a break. KMahjongg includes 70 new levels provided by KDE users.
Contributions
The reworked DrKonqi crash dialog makes it much easier to create error reports. The program relies on the GDB debugger to trace a crash and gives the user help if the required debug packages are missing. DrKonqi guides the user through the error report creation process step by step, lists possible duplicates, and sends the report to KDE project's Bugzilla. This allows users with little background knowledge to create error reports that are valuable to developers.
Conclusions
In our lab, KDE performed reliably and stably for the most part. Applications such as KMail, Dolphin, Konqueror, Akregator, Okular, Gwenview, KGet, and Marble were convincing in production use. The revamped messaging system and the Plasma activities feature also showed promise.
The Remember The Milk plasmoid had a habit of crashing the Plasma desktop. Improved protection of the desktop against potentially dysfunctional plasmoids would seem to make sense. Minor bugs in KOrganizer turned out to be fairly pesky. The upcoming bug fixes will probably help remove some of the problems with version 4.3.0.
I have to deduct a few points for the desktop search, which is still not implemented correctly and still doesn't work without some tinkering. KDE 4.3 printing is still not in the same league as KDE 3.5, and PolicyKit integration is still waiting to happen. Many applications have yet to implement the Akonadi personal information store. Thus, KDE users have good reason to look forward to the next major release.
Infos
- KDE 4.3.0 Caizen release: http://www.kde.org/announcements/4.3/index.php
- Kaizen philosophy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaizen
- KDE/KDE 4: http://en.opensuse.org/KDE4
- PPA key server: http://www.kubuntu.org/faq/PPA-keys
- KDE 4 in Debian Testing/Unstable: http://pkg-kde.alioth.debian.org/kde4.html
- Strigi and Nepomuk in KDE 4.3: http://lists.debian.org/debian-kde/2009/08/msg00029.html
- PolicyKit and KDE: http://drfav.wordpress.com/2009/03/07/policykit-and-kde-we-are-ready/
« Previous 1 2
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Fedora 40 Beta Released Soon
With the official release of Fedora 40 coming in April, it's almost time to download the beta and see what's new.
-
New Pentesting Distribution to Compete with Kali Linux
SnoopGod is now available for your testing needs
-
Juno Computers Launches Another Linux Laptop
If you're looking for a powerhouse laptop that runs Ubuntu, the Juno Computers Neptune 17 v6 should be on your radar.
-
ZorinOS 17.1 Released, Includes Improved Windows App Support
If you need or desire to run Windows applications on Linux, there's one distribution intent on making that easier for you and its new release further improves that feature.
-
Linux Market Share Surpasses 4% for the First Time
Look out Windows and macOS, Linux is on the rise and has even topped ChromeOS to become the fourth most widely used OS around the globe.
-
KDE’s Plasma 6 Officially Available
KDE’s Plasma 6.0 "Megarelease" has happened, and it's brimming with new features, polish, and performance.
-
Latest Version of Tails Unleashed
Tails 6.0 is based on Debian 12 and includes GNOME 43.
-
KDE Announces New Slimbook V with Plenty of Power and KDE’s Plasma 6
If you're a fan of KDE Plasma, you'll be thrilled to hear they've announced a new Slimbook with an AMD CPU and the latest version of KDE Plasma desktop.
-
Monthly Sponsorship Includes Early Access to elementary OS 8
If you want to get a glimpse of what's in the pipeline for elementary OS 8, just set up a monthly sponsorship to help fund its continued existence.
-
DebConf24 to be Held in South Korea
Busan will be the location of the latest DebConf running July 28 through August 4