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List: kde-announce
Subject: ANNOUNCE: KDE Desktop for Linux
From: Martin Konold <konold () alpha ! tat ! physik ! uni-tuebingen ! de>
Date: 2000-06-14 21:28:25
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DATELINE JUNE 14, 2000
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
KDE Desktop Available for Linux®
Second Beta Preview of Advanced Linux® Desktop
June 14, 2000 (The Internet). The KDE Team today announced the
release of KDE 1.91, codenamed "Kleopatra", the second beta preview
of KDE's next-generation, powerful, modular desktop. Following on the
heels of the release of KDE 1.90 (Konfucious) on May 11, 2000,
Kleopatra is based on Qt 2.1 and will include the core libraries, the
core desktop environment, the KOffice suite, as well as most of the
other standard base KDE packages: kdeadmin, kdegames, kdegraphics,
kdenetwork, kdemultimedia, kdetoys and kdeutils. Kleopatra is
targeted at developers and interested users. For those compiling from
source, please consult the compilation instructions.
"Kleopatra fixes many of the bugs which helpful users reported in
Konfucious, the previous release," stated David Faure, a core KDE
developer. "The core libraries are now frozen except for critical
changes, so developers of KDE 1 applications can now safely port to
KDE 2 without fearing any major changes in the core libraries."
For the developer, KDE 1.91 provides a stable API which will enable
developers to commence serious development of their application so
they may time the release of their software to coincide with the
release of KDE 2.0, scheduled for September 2000. It is anticipated
that with the exception of aRts, the budding KDE 2.0 real time
multimedia engine, and the KDE style engine, there will be few binary
incompatible and fewer, if any, source incompatible changes in the
core libraries through the 2.0 release. Further development will
focus on finalizing aRts, fixing bugs, complying with the KDE
Standards and Style Guides and maximizing performance.
Kleopatra offers a large number of major technological improvements
to developers compared to the critically acclaimed KDE 1.x series.
Chief among these are the Desktop COmmunication Protocol (DCOP), the
i/o libraries (KIO), the component object model (KParts), an
XML-based GUI class, and the standards-compliant HTML rendering
engine (KHTML).
* DCOP is a client-to-client communications protocol intermediated
by a server. The protocol supports both message passing and
remote procedure calls. The technology is used in KDE 2.0, for
example, to direct application requests to instances of the
application which are already running, thereby preventing
multiple occurrences of the same application from running
concurrently.
* KIO implements i/o in a separate process to permit a non-blocking
GUI. The class is network transparent and hence can be used
seamlessly to access HTTP, FTP, Gopher, POP, IMAP, NFS, SMB, LDAP
and local files. Moreover, its modular and extensible design
permits developers to "drop in" additional protocols, such as
WebDAV, which will then automatically be available to all KDE
applications. KIO also implements a trader which can locate
handlers for specified mimetypes; these handlers can then be
embedded within the requesting application using the KParts
technology (described below).
* KParts, the KDE component object model, allows one process to
embed another within itself. The technology handles all aspects
of the embedding, such as positioning toolbars and inserting the
proper menus when the embedded component is activated or
deactivated. KParts can also interface with the KIO trader to
locate available handlers for specific mimetypes or
services/protocols. This technology is used extensively by the
KOffice suite and Konqueror.
* The XML GUI employs XML to create and position menus, toolbars
and possibly other aspects of the GUI. This technology offers
developers and users the advantage of simplified configurability
of these user interface elements across applications and
automatic compliance with the KDE Standards and Style Guide
irrespective of modifications to the standards.
* KHTML is an HTML 4.0 compliant rendering and drawing engine. The
class supports the full gamut of current Internet technologies,
including JavaScriptTM, Java®, HTML 4.0, CSS-2 (Cascading Style
Sheets), SSL (Secure Socket Layer for secure communications) and
Netscape Communicator® plugins (for viewing FlashTM, RealAudioTM,
RealVideoTM and similar technologies). The KHTML class can easily
be used by an application as either a widget (using normal X
Window parenting) or as a component (using the KParts
technology). KHTML, in turn, has the capacity to embed components
within itself using the KParts technology.
For the interested user, KDE 1.91 offers a fairly stable desktop
suitable for a non-critical environment. Users who would like the
opportunity to contribute to the further development of KDE can use
this release as a basis for offering suggestions and bug reports, or
those who are curious can evaluate the new frontier of the *nix
desktop.
The attractions of Kleopatra to users are manifold and impressive.
The principal benefits to users lie in the cutting-edge technologies
provided by Konqueror, the KOffice suite, KDE's enhanced
customizability, and full Unicode support.
* Konqueror stands tall as the next-generation web browser, file
manager and document viewer for KDE 2.0. Widely acclaimed as a
technological break-through for the Linux desktop, Konqueror has
a component-based architecture which combines the features and
functionality of Internet Explorer®/Netscape Communicator® and
Windows Explorer®. Konqueror supports all major Internet
technologies supported by KHTML. In addition, Konqueror's network
transparency offers seamless support for browsing Linux® NFS
shares, Windows® SMB shares, HTTP pages, FTP directories as well
as any other protocol for which a KIO plug-in is available.
* The KOffice suite, long ago heralded as a "killer app", is one of
the most-anticipated Open Source projects. The suite consists of
a spreadsheet application (KSpread), a vector drawing application
(KIllustrator), a bitmap drawing application (KImageShop), a
frame-based word-processing application (KWord), a chart and
diagram application (KChart). Native file formats use XML, and
work on filters for proprietary binary file formats is
progressing. Combined with a powerful scripting language and the
ability to embed individuals components within each other using
the KParts technology, the KOffice suite will provide all the
necessary functionality to all but the most demanding power
users, at an unbeatable price -- free.
* KDE's customizability touches every aspect of this
next-generation desktop. Kleopatra benefits from Qt's style
engine, which permits developers and artists to create their own
widget designs down to the precise appearance of a scrollbar, a
button, a menu and more, combined with development tools which
will largely automate the creation of these widget sets (note
that the configuration files for the style engine will change in
an incompatible way prior to the next KDE release scheduled for
June 2000). Just to mention a few of the legion configuration
options, users can choose among: numerous types of menu effects;
a menu bar atop the display (Macintosh®-style) or atop each
individual window (Windows-style); icon styles; system sounds;
key bindings; languages; toolbar and menu composition; and much
much more.
* KDE 2.0 supports Unicode at its very core, the outstanding Qt
toolkit. In addition, KHTML support includes bidirectional
scripts, such as Arabic and Hebrew, and Far Eastern languages
(Chinese/Japanese/Korean). Combined with the 45 separate teams
actively translating KDE into other languages, KDE 2.0 will truly
be an international desktop.
WHERE TO DOWNLOAD SOURCE PACKAGES
Kleopatra source packages can be downloaded from:
ftp://ftp.kde.org/pub/kde/unstable/distribution/2.0Beta2/tar/src/
Or one of its mirror sites.
Kleopatra requires the recently released version 2.1.1 of the Qt
toolkit. The source package of Qt 2.1.1 is available at this location
for your
convenience. Please note that this stable version of Qt has been
officially released by TrollTech and is not part of the beta testing
of KDE 1.91.
Kleopatra does NOT work with older Qt 1.x or Qt 2.0.
In case you have problems downloading the source packages you may
have a look here.
If your compilation of the sources does fail at some point please
have a look at the Compilation FAQ.
WHERE TO DOWNLOAD BINARY PACKAGES
Kleopatra binary packages will are available from:
ftp://ftp.kde.org/pub/kde/unstable/distribution/2.0Beta2/
Currently you can find there rpms for Caldera 2.4 and SuSE 6.4.
Or one of its mirror sites.
About KDE
KDE is a collaborative project by hundreds of developers worldwide to
create a sophisticated, customizable and stable desktop environment
employing a network-transparent, intuitive user interface. Currently
development is focused on KDE 2, which will for the first time offer
a free, Open Source, fully-featured office suite and which promises
to make the Linux desktop as easy to use as Windows® and the
Macintosh® while remaining loyal to open standards and empowering
developers and users with Open Source software. KDE is working proof
of how the Open Source software development model can create
technologies on par with and superior to even the most complex
commercial software.
For more information about KDE, please visit KDE's web site.
______________________________________________________________
Press Contacts:
United States: Kurt Granroth
granroth@kde.org
(1) 480 732 1752
Europe (French and English): David Faure
faure@kde.org
(44) 1225 471 300
Europe (German and English): Martin Konold
konold@kde.org
(49) 179 22 5 22 49
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