A new semantic search engine for the KDE desktop
Loaded for Bear
Baloo replaces Nepomuk as the semantic search engine on the KDE desktop, but it gets off to a bumpy start.
The Nepomuk semantic search has been highly controversial since its introduction in KDE – both for users and for application developers. The release of KDE Applications 4.13 brings a new solution named Baloo to the KDE desktop – but not without some growing pains.
Desktop environments are pretty dumb, as users discover when they look for a file whose name they simply cannot remember. Semantic desktops were designed to address this problem. A semantic desktop has access to information about data, such as what data manifested, when data was created, and how data relate to each other. Using this information, a user can, for example, search for a file on the hard disk that John Doe emailed in March.
The KDE developers wanted to give their desktop environment an appropriate semantic search engine. They turned to the results of the Nepomuk (Networked Environment for Personalized, Ontology-Based Management of Unified Knowledge; Figure 1) research project [1] funded by the European Union from 2006 to 2008 to the tune of several million euros . It was intended to provide everything necessary to promote and simplify the development of a semantic desktop.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
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
-
TuxCare Announces Support for AlmaLinux 9.2
Thanks to TuxCare, AlmaLinux 9.2 (and soon version 9.6) now enjoys years of ongoing patching and compliance.
-
Go-Based Botnet Attacking IoT Devices
Using an SSH credential brute-force attack, the Go-based PumaBot is exploiting IoT devices everywhere.
-
Plasma 6.5 Promises Better Memory Optimization
With the stable Plasma 6.4 on the horizon, KDE has a few new tricks up its sleeve for Plasma 6.5.
-
KaOS 2025.05 Officially Qt5 Free
If you're a fan of independent Linux distributions, the team behind KaOS is proud to announce the latest iteration that includes kernel 6.14 and KDE's Plasma 6.3.5.
-
Linux Kernel 6.15 Now Available
The latest Linux kernel is now available with several new features/improvements and the usual bug fixes.
-
Microsoft Makes Surprising WSL Announcement
In a move that might surprise some users, Microsoft has made Windows Subsystem for Linux open source.
-
Red Hat Releases RHEL 10 Early
Red Hat quietly rolled out the official release of RHEL 10.0 a bit early.
-
openSUSE Joins End of 10
openSUSE has decided to not only join the End of 10 movement but it also will no longer support the Deepin Desktop Environment.
-
New Version of Flatpak Released
Flatpak 1.16.1 is now available as the latest, stable version with various improvements.
-
IBM Announces Powerhouse Linux Server
IBM has unleashed a seriously powerful Linux server with the LinuxONE Emperor 5.