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This release includes… well… a rewrite of KDE. The entirely new desktop shell is called Plasma and includes Mac-esque additions with includes the 3D desktop effects that have been around as well as widgets for the desktop:
The file manager was rewritten as well and is now known as Dolphin. This looks much closer to a cross between Finder and GNOME’s manager than it does the old KDE file manager which was hugely functional but goddamn, it was cluttered.
Dolphin does some kick ass layout stuff like integrated previews and list grouping:
In addition to the front end rewrites that are more or less end-to-end, the underlying framework and library support went through a major overhaul as well. Ripped right from the release page for the nerdy among you, check out some of the highlights:
- Phonon offers applications multimedia capabilities such as playing audio and video. Internally, Phonon makes use of various backends, switchable at runtime. The default backend for KDE 4.0 will be the Xine backend supplying outstanding support for various formats. Phonon also allows the user to choose output devices based on the type of multimedia.
- The Solid hardware integration framework integrates fixed and removable devices into KDE applications. Solid also interfaces with the underlying system’s power management capabilities, handles network connectivity and integration of Bluetooth devices. Internally, Solid combines the powers of HAL, NetworkManager and the BlueZ bluetooth stack, but those components are replacable without breaking applications to provide maximum portability.
- KHTML is the webpage rendering engine used by Konqueror, KDE’s web browser. KHTML is light-weight and supports modern standards such as CSS 3. KHTML was also the first engine to pass the famous Acid 2 test.
- The ThreadWeaver library, which comes with kdelibs, provides a high-level interface to make better use of today’s multi-core systems, making KDE applications feel smoother and more efficiently using resources available on the system.
- Being built on Trolltech’s Qt 4 library, KDE 4.0 can make use of the advanced visual capabilities and smaller memory footprint of this library. kdelibs provides an outstanding extension of the Qt library, adding large amounts of high-level functionality and convenience to the developer.
Don’t forget that all these changes not only bring the sexy new eye candy to the table, but also consume roughly 39% less memory than KDE 3 did… those KDE devs really kicked some ass.
To get a chance to walk through the new desktop, the KDE team put together a Guided Tour of the desktop that allows you to get an idea of everything the new desktop does.
If you want to try out KDE 4 there are a slew of packages available for Ark, Debian, Fedora, Gentoo, Ubuntu, etc. If you want to check it out ASAP without doing a new install of anything, using the Kubuntu Live CD can get you up and running quick (download, burn, boot).
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January 11th, 2008 at 11:31 am
yay am installing it right now.
am testing to report bugs and see whats new
if you want to try it yourself instead of downloading the 500mb disk, a very easy way to test it (100mb download), :
go to “software sources” (found in system->administration)
choose “third-party software” and enter this:
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/kubuntu-members-kde4/ubuntu gutsy main
click close and refresh
now open a terminal and type in:
sudo aptitude install kde4-core
thats all.
am sure it should still have some minor bugs, so i’ll try to test and report.
mostly this version is intended for developers to port all their software and integrate new functionalities, for the final user i would wait for KDE 4.1+ (probably by the same date as kubuntu 8.4 release)
January 11th, 2008 at 11:39 am
Manny, if you have the time keep us posted on what you find/like/dislike.
I heard years ago that there was some disagreement over if KDE 4 should be a total rewrite like it turned out to be, and then 6 months ago that during the first snapshot release it was “no where near ready”… I’m either amazed they got it ready this fast, or am expecting it to be *really* trimmed down and simple until about 4.1 like you said.
I haven’t gotten a chance to try it yet though.
January 11th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
ok first update xD
testing on an relative old PC (1.6ghz AMD, 512 ram, geforce 5200 128mb)
pros:
runs smooth
very, very nice looking.
Widgets integration is great.
only takes up about 170mb after instalation.
the panel at the bottom is very cool, is a combination of panel + dock (mac like), it can be resised too.
everything has a new feel
very intuitive and far less cluttered than KDE 3.5 (just how i like it)
cons:
some problems after enabling the “extra” 3d effects. Seems very slow compared to compiz fusion. (could be a configuration problem)
gnome apps’ default theme looks like if they were being run using “sudo” (doesn’t look very good). Again this is a configuration problem and is an easy fix.
Next: i’ll try on on my Dell dual-core laptop, 1gb ram and geforce 8400gs
Conclusion:
Very nice Job, the serious bugs are gone,
i can foresee tons of new PCs shipping with KDE 4 (competing head to head with Vista and macOS leopard), and DELL ofering “Kubuntu” as an option in their opensource line-up.
kudos to the KDE team, even if they aren’t being paid, they work just as hard and managed to release a product just as good and almost at the same time as macOS leopard.
Now is up to the hardware vendors to take advantage of this quality product.
January 11th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
Nice Manny, thanks for the mini-review!
Does KDE 4.0 feel done to you, or so chopped down/simplified that it won’t really be done-done until 4.1?
I’m still amazed they went from “no where near ready” to “Release” in like 6 months… that’s some serious project management.
January 11th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
Riyad,
um nope, not done yet.
This is why they wanted to release it early, (because at this date there’s no mayor distro release).
To release it early they also had to cut back on the “extra” 3d effect development (mainly stability). It has some basic ones that work very well and the widgets (plasmoids) are cool. The next updates should fix this.
This is a developer version for both the programmers to use the new libraries and linux distro maintainers to start tweaking/integrating. They are also looking forward for Amarok 2.0 to be released in time for a big release.
The package for gutsy i tested is not very polished and lacks that “ubuntu touch”.
to sum it up: it’s very usuable, but hasn’t been polished by the distro maintainers.
i would wait for the official release of kubuntu 8.04