First beta version of KDE 4
The KDE project has just released a beta 1 version of its next generation KDE 4 desktop environment. At the same time, interfaces to KDE libraries were frozen to allow application developers to use them for their work.
Besides the KDE base there have been enhancements to a number of individual applications: KMail has introduced the Tagging Patch to give users the ability to tag mails with custom categories and colors. KOrganizer now has a new look for schedules, which is reminiscent of Outlook, and can also display a Gantt diagram style view.
Marble is a completely new feature - a geography widget that shows views of the earth and accompanying information and provides them to other KDE applications, in a style similar to Google Earth. Google is sponsoring three students to work on Marble within the scope of the Google Summer of Code.
KDE's terminal application, Konsole, can now display clickable URLs; it also has a number of new tricks that relate to background colors, and it passes schema information to the terminal and applications such as Vim to allow color palette modifications. Additionally, views can be distributed over sub-windows.
In addition to this, the developers have improved integration of the Dolphin file manager with the Gwenview file viewer and Konqueror Web browser components. According to the project's plans, the final version of Konqueror will use the Rendering Engine Webkit, which originated with KHTML, but was forked and developed by Apple. The Koffice project has its own release cycle, and will be publishing the second alpha version 2.0 of its free office suite parallel to the KDE beta. Check out this announcement for more details
KDE 4 Beta 1 packages are available for Kubuntu and OpenSuse. And there is also a Live-CD to give users an easy option for trying out the new features. Additionally, the Mepis Linux distribution is looking to integrate the beta packages with its upcoming 7.0 release.
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
-
TUXEDO has unveiled a new InfinityBook Pro with an AMD Ryzen AI 300
This new notebook offers serious power that is ready for your business, development, or entertainment needs.
-
Is This the Year of Linux?
Another major organization has decided to kick Windows and Office to the curb, in favor of Linux.
-
Linux Mint 20 Reaches EOL
With Linux Mint 20 at its end of life, the time has arrived to upgrade to Linux Mint 22.
-
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.