KDE Software Compilation 4

KDE Software Compilation 4 ( KDE SC 4 short ) is the fourth generation of the freely available software collection of KDE, which is mainly composed of the KDE Plasma workspaces for netbooks and PCs, as well as some individual applications and is available in many other languages ​​besides German.

The KDE Software Compilation is primarily intended for computers that are running a Unix-like operating system is running. Since version 4.1 it can also be used directly under Windows or Mac OS X.

  • 3.15.1 KDE Frameworks 5
  • 4.1 plasma
  • 4.2 phonon
  • 4.3 Solid 4.3.1 task
  • 4.3.2 function

Surfaces

Unlike the previous generations allowed the flexible design of the technical foundation, especially plasma, adaptation to the different types of devices and form factors. The KDE project is called the resultant different surfaces workspaces. Currently surfaces for desktops, netbooks, tablets and Media Center will be officially offered. Further, for example, for smartphones, are in progress.

Essential applications

The Software compilation is a very large package that contains many individual applications. Essential applications are:

  • Dolphin: Flexible file manager with many features.
  • Dragon Player: Simple Media Player on phonon basis.
  • Gwenview: Flexible image viewer with simple administrative and processing functions for many image formats.
  • Konqueror: Modular Web browser, which by default uses KHTML.
  • Kontact Personal Information Manager with components for e- mail, address and appointment management.
  • Kopete: Instant Messenger for various chat services (ICQ, AIM, Jabber, Facebook chat, etc.)
  • Eyepiece: file viewer for document formats such as PDF.

Not part of the Calligra Suite software compilation are and Extragear applications such as Amarok and K3b.

Revision history

KDE 4.0

On 18 August 2006, the KDE team released the first preview version of KDE 4.0 with the name Krash under the version number 3.80.1, which was followed by two more shots. These three versions were directed primarily at developers who port their applications to KDE 4, or want to write new applications for KDE 4. For user-visible changes compared to KDE 3.5 there was in these versions barely.

On 11 May 2007 KDE 4 was released in a first alpha version. For the first time showed KDE 4 also visually distinct differences from KDE 3, as for example the Oxygen icon theme - was included. The first of four beta versions released on August 2, 2007. On 20 November 2007 the release of the first of two Release Candidates (RC ) was carried out. On January 11, 2008, incorporating the final KDE 4.0 has been released.

KDE 4.0 is based on Qt 4.3. Since it also brings more fundamental changes, it is binary incompatible to KDE 3.x.

The visible at the surface changes were mainly developed in the context of projects and Oxygen plasma. The former takes care, in particular, the creation of the artwork of KDE 4, so a new icon and widget theme and the like. Plasma replaces programs such as kicker ( taskbar) and kdesktop ( Desktop ) and designed by the surface uniform.

Furthermore, the Multimedia API Phonon was developed which replaces the old sound aRts server. Phonon is comparable with DirectShow on Windows and Core Audio on Mac OS X is a uniform API for the development of audio and video applications. However, it is not itself a sound server like aRts, but only a wrapper that allows the use of different back-ends.

The project Solid is designed to facilitate the users work with the computer hardware, especially with those that can be turned off and unplugged during operation. Another intention of Solid is to make KDE platform-independent: To post also native versions of KDE for other operating systems such as Windows, an abstraction layer is needed, which enables applications on all operating systems to control the hardware of the same. Without this layer, each application for different operating systems would have to be adapted, which would be a very big expense and therefore only once - was implemented in Solid - usable for all other applications.

In addition, KDE 4 used for communication between the applications you no longer DCOP ( Desktop Communication Protocol), but developed by the freedesktop.org project D-Bus. Other new features include the file browser Dolphin and the universal document viewer Okular, which replaces the previous individual programs KPDF, KGhostview, KView, KFax and KDVI.

Also check the spelling KSpell2 by the new development Sonnet was replaced. Sonnet has in addition to the spell checker also has a grammar checker, translation functions and the recognition of the language of a written text. The team led by Sonnet worked closely with the AbiWord team together and uses inter alia, their interface to access various spell checking systems.

The window manager of KDE 4 now also called compositing capabilities based on OpenGL or XRender available. Effects such as window shades and window transparencies have been implemented in previous versions primarily by external projects like Compiz.

KDE 4.1

KDE 4.1 was released on 29 July 2008. Since KDE 4.1 is also integrated PIM suite Kontact and a new video player that Dragon Player, available.

KDE 4.2

KDE 4.2 was released on January 27, 2009. This publication was the first of the current generation KDE that was designed for normal users.

Specifically, the plasma surface learned in this version far-reaching changes: The desktop could be converted to a traditional view, sidebars could be hidden, etc.

A number of other new features have been included, inter alia: Power Devil ( provides functions for saving energy ready ), other new utilities, new games and fine-tuning of the known applications such as Dolphin.

KDE 4.3

KDE 4.3 was released on August 4, 2009. Fine-tuning of the components present in this version stood in the foreground and less the introduction of new functions. The few new functions are, inter alia, the integration of PolicyKit, NetworkManager and geolocation, as well as a plasma component for the integration of a social network.

KDE Software Compilation 4.4

Shortly before the release of the first beta version was announced that the KDE project has agreed on a new brand strategy. Henceforth "KDE " only name for the project itself and the program package is called " Software Compilation " (SC).

The Software Compilation 4.4 was released on February 9, 2010. Some of the new features are:

  • KDE SC 4.4 uses version 4.6 of Qt, which was published on 1 December 2009.
  • KAddressBook has been replaced by a newly developed application of the same name - formerly known provisionally KContactManager.
  • A special interface for netbooks has been introduced.
  • Kopete has been released in version 1.0.
  • KWin now allows to arrange all the windows in tab groups to be able to represent only individually instead of each.

KDE Software Compilation 4.5

The Software Compilation 4.5 was released on 10 August 2010. Focus of the SC generation is on the fine-tuning existing features, albeit some new were added.

  • KWin has received a " Tiling " option.
  • Marble can now be used as a route planner.
  • The Notifications panel together with notification overlays, the KDE Info Center and the system settings have been revised and are now to provide better user experience.

Originally planned to complete the Akonadi port of KMail and the other Kontact applications and to publish with the SC 4.5. However, this plan had to be discarded, which meant that no 4.5 versions of these applications appeared due to delays. The 4.4 versions get until the release of SC 4.6 bug fixes.

KDE Software Compilation 4.6

Version 4.6.0 of the toolkit was released on 26 January 2011. The development of features has been completed for the 4.6 cycle on November 12, 2010. Particular attention is paid in this version to improve the speed, as, inter alia, some previously calculated only on the processor effects ( startup display, window display geometry ) are also rendered graphics accelerated by OpenGL.

Workspaces

  • Performance and a script interface for KWin
  • Creating plasma - widgets using the language Qt Meta -Object Language ( QML )
  • Completely re -written energy management service
  • A new Bluetooth service, Blue Devil, replaces the previous service
  • Known from the Netbook Edition " Newspaper Activities" ( widgets are arranged in columns on the desktop ) and " Search and Run" will also be available in the desktop version

Applications

  • The route planning functions have been improved.
  • Kolf was rewritten in large parts.
  • Kontact is re-released as part of the Software Compilation, after it was not part of the SC 4.5.
  • The system settings are re-structured and logically organized

KDE Software Compilation 4.7

KDE SC 4.7.0 was released on 27 July 2011. News of 4.7 include support for OpenGL ES in the window manager KWin to use this on mobile platforms and Wayland can. Furthermore, plasma Activities have been revised and expanded, the Dolphin file manager received a tidier user interface and Marble support for speech output.

KDE Software Compilation 4.8

KDE SC 4.8.0 was released on 25 January 2012. Among other things, the power management has been improved, which now provides pre-built profiles. KWin and Dolphin are optimized for speed and stability.

KDE Software Compilation 4.9

KDE SC 4.9.0 was released on 1 August 2012. In addition to numerous bug fixes, inter alia, the activities have been improved, more plasmoids were ported to QML and created in eyepiece comments can now be stored in the PDF document.

KDE Software Compilation 4:10

KDE SC 4.10.0 was released on February 6, 2013. In addition to numerous bug fixes, inter alia, the file indexer been rewritten and replaced the Strigi indexer. Has also been rewritten to the print manager.

KDE Software Compilation 4:11

KDE SC 4.11.0 was released on 14 August 2013. In addition to numerous bug fixes, inter alia, the Wayland support experimental have been added and expanded the Kontact applications with new functionality. New is also the support for KScreen, which is used to set the monitor configuration.

The workspaces, two years of support received to prepare for the switch to Qt 5.

KDE Software Compilation 4:12

KDE SC 4.12.0 was released on 18 December 2013. Various KDE applications received an error cleanup. The PIM Suite received a support of Sieve filters to emails on the server that pre-filter, eyepiece supports EPUB videos, Kate extends the autocomplete. The workspaces, however, were as advertised for Version 4.11, not changed.

KDE Software Compilation 4:13

The completion of the 4:13 version is scheduled for 16 April 2014.

Future developments

Due to the existing time limits for new features certain developments may have already been started, but will not appear with the following software compilation, but postponed to subsequent versions. But partly also exist very concrete plans for functions that are implemented over several release cycles, step by step, why are sometimes known long in advance certain developments. In addition, is discussed on streamlining various surfaces. The pack in a button menu is on the window manager KWin future be system-wide and uniformly accessible to every application possible, maybe.

  • Plasma is converted to Qt currently under development scene graph technology.

KDE Frameworks 5

Even before the release of KDE SC 4.9, which was released August 1, 2012, already 5 ( KF5 ), the planning for the next generation of KDE Platform, KDE Frameworks referred to.

The class library Qt 5, which forms the basis of KF5, was released on December 19, 2012. The upheaval is not as radical as his running KDE 3 in the course of migration from Qt 3 to Qt 4, but more evolution rather than revolution. Nevertheless, profound innovations are targeted:

  • The focus on Qt Quick in Qt 5 is also reflected in the new KDE SC versions, but without the full support of native C to neglect
  • Full support of Wayland
  • Full integration of OpenGL and OpenGL ES 2.0

The aim is to be modular. Since there are already several programs that run on multiple platforms like Windows, Mac and Linux, you want to make it easier for developers for individual programs to work only on individual modules.

KDE Platform

The foundation of the Software Compilation is the KDE Platform. It covers a whole range of frameworks, such as:

  • KDE Input / Output - a virtual file system to allow users to easily access various services.
  • KHTML - an HTML rendering engine, which is used, inter alia, Konqueror.
  • KParts - a component framework, by the KDE application can embed parts of other KDE applications.
  • Nepomuk - a semantic service for desktop programs.
  • Qt - library collection of Digia Plc and not of KDE, but considered part of the platform due to the close integration.

Other platform components are:

Plasma

The Plasma Workspaces basis for setting a new toolkit that although for many techniques to Qt accesses, but their own controls ( buttons, scroll bars, etc. ) is available. These controls can also be used by separate programs, as for example in Amarok since version 2.0 of the case. Also KDevelop uses parts of the plasma technology.

Phonon

Phonon ( formerly called KDEMM ) is the multimedia interface of KDE. In addition, the company uses the Qt software interface for multimedia features in the Qt library.

Solid

Solid is the standard interface and framework for integrating hardware.

Task

Solid was introduced to facilitate the handling of hardware, especially with changing operating devices ( hotplug ), where it will replace the previous workarounds for the administration. Furthermore makes this abstraction layer applications they use, extremely flexible and portable and simplifies their development; so the hardware can be controlled uniformly under various operating systems, which significantly contributes to the platform independence of KDE SC.

Function

Similar to the multimedia interface phonon manages the hardware does not directly itself, but makes existing solutions through a single interface accessible. In this case, all of the underlying components can be replaced without interfering with an application.

Solid divided into various hardware areas, such as Bluetooth or power management, which operate independently from each other and which can be added as needed more.

The current solution uses the hardware abstraction layer of the freedesktop.org project, the NetworkManager and BlueZ (Linux ' official Bluetooth protocol stack ). It is also working on a back-end for the Windows port of KDE SC, built on the Windows Management Instrumentation ( WMI).

About libkdehw provides solid information about changing connections and devices, and power control ready.

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