Submitted by “The developers behind the KDE desktop environment have released the first beta of version 4.5. Although the major focus during this development cycle is stability, the release also brings some nice new features and user interface improvements.”
“The developers behind the KDE desktop environment have released the first beta of version 4.5. Although the major focus during this development cycle is stability, the release also brings some nice new features and user interface improvements.”
We are seeing a lot of interesting work in kwin recently – the “tab interface”, now the tiling mode…it’s nice to see KDE adopt functionality from “alternative” window managers.
It surely is!! I’ve written several rants already about the lack of window tiling in modern window managers, and i’m very pleased there’s a major DE implementing such features.
I haven’t had the pleasure of trying it out yet though, still waiting for kubuntu packages to appear [hint hint, kubuntu developers].
Well, it is quite basic for now, only 2 layout are supported, so it is not very useful yet, but I hope all classic layouts will be supported soon, titlebar disabling and settings per vitural destops or activities will be supported.
This was one of the great things I saw with the kde 4 rewrite: extreme flexibility. Its really a playground right now where testing out new styles ( or ones from other wm) of interfaces isn’t that difficult.
I’m so happy that notifications in KDE 4 finally get less messy ! It’s one of the sole areas which still puzzled me in the whole KDE experience… And since my other desktop of choice, Gnome 2, is being dropped by distros in favor of something which could prove to be a disaster of a same dimension as KDE pre 4.2…
Edited 2010-05-29 07:43 UTC
So it’s based on the system that canonical uses for notification-applet? Cause even though i like the cleanup, it totally nuked the ability to single click minimized apps (such as rhythmbox) to bring them to front (and single click again to iconify).
KDE apps used to function like that as well (like amarok for example), so does this means from now on, the amarok tray icon will only show a menu (like apps using notification-applet in ubuntu lucid), not show/hide amarok?
See, the beauty with the old system was that you had both;
One could left click the tray icon to show/hide, and right click it to get a contextual menu.
But when i think of it, maybe this system needs updating as well. I mean, maybe the notification area should be used for apps that are primarily “menu based”, and “real” gui based apps should either have a contextual menu (like dock icons in OSX have, and to some extent windows7), or, “real” gui apps should have the option to be sent to some other specialized “tray area” that is better suited for actual gui apps. I dunno.
No, that behaviour is not changed.
Since KDE4 was released, GNOME has been pushed so much farther by distributions and grown so much on a lot of people. The damage is done, and I don’t think it will ever recover. So, no, I won’t even try it.
Edited 2010-05-29 18:34 UTC
It’s a shame. KDE 4.4 is way better than 4.0. Main problem are the distros, which overcustomize KDE to a point where they break it or make it slow. I’m not sure about Kubuntu now, but last time I tried it, it was a pain. Now Arch with vainilla KDE is awesome. Anyway, I think it’s much better if the desktop developers implement a very nice vainilla desktop, with all functionality available so there’s no need for distros to be tweaking and implementing all missing stuff (Ubuntu, Fedora).
Compare two distros like Ubuntu and Fedora and you’ll see they look and behave somewhat differently. And that’s because Gnome is not well integrated. What’s even more daunting is the path Gnome is taking towards 3.0 with gnome shell and all that useless crap.
People assume that when damage is done, there’s no chance to recover. KDE has recovered , and that clearly shows in the desktop and applications. That you won’t even try is because you haven’t recovered yet, not a thing with KDE itself, it’s your own limitation.
GNOME/Ubuntu is prettier than KDE. Why try KDE?
Please list vanilla distros…
Sure, is you first list vanilla GNOME distros, as Ubuntu ships a non-standard version.
But then it’s so pretty, who cares about actually making an intelligent argument when you can just sit and stare at your desktop for 10 minutes.
Edited 2010-05-30 12:45 UTC
Vanilla GNOME or vanilla KDE? Fedora at least ships a mostly-vanilla GNOME these days. Most KDE distros are shipping a vanilla KDE, with Sabayon and Pardus the main two exceptions I can think of. And of course, distros that are committed to vanilla everything also ship a vanilla KDE and GNOME, such as Arch and Slackware (with third-parties with respect to GNOME).
I personally find the new Ubuntu theme horrendous. Both in the light version and the dark version, I have never seen such an ugly theme by promulgated by a respected distribution before.
You see, aesthetics are purely a matter of taste. To me, the default Clearlooks is at least passable, and Fedora’s Nodoka theme is the best-looking of all. You disagree? Fair enough, but don’t assume that everybody agrees with you either.
Though I now prefer Oxygen to all the GNOME themes. I sat out KDE from 4.0 to 4.2, using both GNOME and XFCE in the meantime, and only came back to the KDE fold at 4.3, by which point it had become a very usable desktop again. I’m glad that I gave KDE another chance, as its core philosophies are still much close to mine than GNOME’s are.
I’ll second the call to try KDE 4.4. I’m another one of them who left KDE for GNOME after the whole early KDE4 debacle. I then proceeded to try 4.1-4.3 and each time I was convinced that I made the right choice switching to Gnome. Then 4.4 came out and all of a sudden everything basically not only worked, but worked better than GNOME. Now I’m back with KDE and really excited to see what 4.5 brings.
I’m glad to read that you’re intelligent enough to not give it a try before dismissing it and that your reasons disliking KDE are purely because more of your mates are running GNOME rather than what actually suites your needs better.
I get fed up of hearing comments from egotistical nerds who think you should at least try something before commenting. What do they know? They’re so obsessed with functionality that they completely forget that what really matters is what’s the most popular.
Anyway, I have to sign off now as my “Paris Hilton Browser” crashes if I type more than 30 words. But it’s so damn popular…..
I am still running kde3.5.* i see no need to upgrade for a little while longer, but when i do upgrade my linux install, it will most likely be KDE 4.*. But that might be a year or so away.(I do use some of the apps however, like the kde4 version of kopete, konsole and koffice. With the polyester engine+gtk-qt and the oxygen+oxygen2refit icons, i get a uniform looking desktop no matter if it is kde3, kde4 or gtk apps.)
What’s the best vanilla KDE distribution, that is tightly integrated from ground zero.
I don’t understand your sentence, but the best vanilla kde is either arch or fedora. Depending on your taste in distro. I don’t understand the ” integrated from groud zero” part of your comment. You’re either asking for the most vanilla kde, or the most vanilla one that is also integrated into the distro ( like kubuntu? Not really sure what that would be. ).
If it’s a vanilla KDE distribution, no integration effort has been made.
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You’re absolutely right! Wait, where did I just read someone saying a vanilla KDE was better integrated to the OS?
Is there some design reasoning behind the half hidden close buttons, on each individual notification?
I’ve never seen this kind of design descison on anything but Linux… 😀