*www.imgx.org/files/20047_na9bg/kde41.png
The KDE Community today released KDE 4.1.0. This release is the second feature release of the KDE 4 series, sporting new applications and newly developed features on top of the Pillars of KDE4.
While KDE 4.1 aims at being the first release suitable for early adopting users, some features you are used to in KDE 3.5 are not implemented yet. The KDE team is working on those and strives to make them available in one of the next releases. While there is no guarantee that every single feature from KDE 3.5 will be implemented, KDE 4.1 already provides a powerful and feature-rich working environment.
*www.imgx.org/thumbs/large/20039_cfst2/desktop.png
New Features and Applications :
- KDE-PIM is back with 4.1, containing the applications necessary for your personal information and communication. KMail as mail client, KOrganizer as planning component, Akregator as RSS feed reader and others are now available again in KDE 4 look.
- Dragon Player, an easy to use video player enters the stage
- Okteta is the new well-integrated and feature-rich hexeditor
- Step, the physics emulator makes learning physics fun and easy
- KSystemLog, helps you keep track of what is going on in your system
- New games such as KDiamond (a bejeweled clone), Kollision, KBreakOut and Kubrick make taking a break from your work irresistible
- Lokalize, helps translators to make KDE4 available in your language (if it's not among the 50-odd languages KDE4 already supports)
- KSCD, your desktop CD player has been resurrected
Updates :
- Dolphin, KDE's filemanager has a new treeview in the main view, also new is the support for tabs. A new and innovative single-click selection allows for a more consistent user experience, and copy-to and move-to context actions make those actions easier accessible. Of course Konqueror is also available as alternative to Dolphin, taking advantage of most of the above features as we
*www.imgx.org/files/20040_tqg52/dolphin-screenie_thumb.png
- Konqueror, KDE's webbrowser now has support for re-opening already closed windows and tabs, it also scrolls smoothly through webpages.
- Gwenview, KDE's image viewer has gotten a new fullscreen view, a thumbnail bar for easy access to other photos, a smart Undo system and support for rating images.
*www.imgx.org/files/20042_chi58/gwenview-thumbnailbar.png *www.imgx.org/files/20041_md56l/gwenview-sidebar.png
- KRDC, KDE's remote desktop client now detects remote desktops on the local network automatically using the ZeroConf protocol.
- Marble, KDE's desktop globe now integrates with OpenStreetMap so you can find your way everywhere using the Free Maps.
-
*www.imgx.org/files/20043_96c7h/marble-globe_thumb.png *www.imgx.org/files/20044_upvdd/marble-osm_thumb.png
- KSysGuard, now supports monitoring process output or running applications so there is no need to restart your apps from a terminal anymore when you want to know what's going on.
- KWin's compositing window manager features have been more stabilized and extended. New effects such as the Coverswitch window switcher and the famous "wobbly windows" have been added.
-
*www.imgx.org/thumbs/large/20048_zt5xq/kwin-coverswitch.png
- Plasma's panel configuration has been extended. The new panel controller makes it easy to customize your panel providing direct visual feedback. You can also add panels and put them on different edges of your screen(s). The new folderview applet allows you to store files on your desktop (in fact it provides a view of a directory on your system). You can put zero, one or more folderviews onto your desktop, providing for easy and flexible access to the files you are working with.
*www.imgx.org/files/20046_8kq0x/switch-menu_thumb.png
Cross Platform Support :
- OpenSolaris support in KDE is currently straightened out. KDE mostly works on OSOL, although there are some showstopper bugs left.
- Windows developers are able to download previews of KDE applications for their platform. The libraries are relatively stable already, although not all features of kdelibs are available on Windows yet. Some applications already run quite well on Windows, others might not.
- Mac OSX is another new platform KDE is entering. KDE on Mac is not yet ready for production use. While Multimedia support through Phonon is already available, hardware and search integration is not finished yet.
Home Page : K Desktop Environment - Be free
Release Announcement : K Desktop Environment - KDE 4.1 Release Announcement
Download : K Desktop Environment - Getting KDE
