What is KDE?

KDE is the leading desktop environment for Linux systems based on systems that install it as the default interface for your computer as well as downloads from various sites such as Tucows. Recently over 1TB of data was processed from KDE's servers alone, excluding all the mirrors. KDE is also very portable and can be easily used on unixes such as BSD, Solaris, SCO, HP/UX, SGI, and Digital Unix as well as Linux. Development on increased over time and is now nearing a large milestone in Linux/Unix history, KDE2.0.

What is on this site?

This site is dedicated to development news and information for the next generation of KDE, KDE2.0 - currently entering the beta stage shortly. It is a complete component based desktop with an unmatched number of Unix plugins, an internet transparent browser with advanced HTML features such as CSS and Java, a fast client/server I/O subsystem, and many, many more features intended to make Linux competitive on the desktop.

KDE 2.0 Development News:

	A new rendering model for X 05/07/00	XFree86 has prepared a paper for Usenix describing his efforts at more sophisticated rendering for X11. This includes alpha channel and antialias support. Unlike current solutions, it is to be implemented on the X server without shared memory and does not require rendering inside the application then transfering the entire image to the server. This is definitely the right way and will provide the backbone for an advanced canvas and antialiased text (font smoothing) for KDE. It also sparked conversation among several XFree developers. Very encouraging stuff.
	Inprise/Borland announces it's using Qt for Delphi 04/27/00	Inprise and Troll Tech have made a press release today stating that Inprise will be using Qt, the base library for KDE, as the toolkit for it's Linux port of their Delphi and C++ tools (code named Kylix). Some quotes: "As a result of the agreement, Inprise/Borland can leverage Qt in its forthcoming Delphi and C/C++ rapid application development (RAD) environment" and "Based on performance and cross-platform Linux and Windows support, Qt was the obvious choice for Kylix". Apparently both the applications and the programs they generate will be Qt/KDE, and will massively extend the amount of available applications for your KDE desktop. Thanks go to Inprise for developing their tools for Linux and KDE/Qt!
	New KWin C++ style engine 04/27/00	The latest KWin C++ style engine, Modern System, to the KDE CVS. It features more sophisticated drawing code and some of the features people liked from the "Laptop" style. There are a few screenshots of it running under different color schemes available. Full Story
	NS plugins - KDE browser does flash 04/26/00	The progress of Netscape plugin compatibility is proceeding at a nice clip. This is important because many commercial plugins are designed for use in Netscape, even though they don't really rely on it. This lets you use them in Konqueror just as easily - giving you access both to the large amount of KDE components and the huge amounts of commercially available Netscape plugins. Click here for a small screenshot of Konq running the Flash game "Moorhuhnjagd". Thanks to Stefan Schimanski for both the pic and all the work he's doing on this project :)
	Interview on OLinux.com 04/24/00	OLinux.com is carrying an interview, that have been done a little while ago with them covering a rather wide range of KDE and Linux/Unix desktop topics, especially KDE2, components, and how the project operates.
	Calendar for the Panel clock 04/24/00	I got a request a long time ago for the KDE panel to display a small little calendar when the panel's clock is clicked and realized we have a widget in the kdelibs perfect for that :) If you left click on KoolClock (one of the clock plugins you can select for the panel to dynamically load) you'll now get a little calendar widget aligned with the clock. Click here for a small screenshot.
	Talking KEdit 04/23/00	KDE developer Richard Moore has added support for speech synthesis to KEdit, the KDE text editor. This includes the vocal reading of text and of selections. It's still in development and has not yet been merged with the main KEdit, but instead is being maintained in a separate version named "KTalkEdit", which has been uploaded to kde.org. In order to use it you will need Festival, a speech synthesis library you can download here. It is recommended you use the RPMs for Festival. KTalkEdit, like most developments discussed here, requires KDE2 CVS.
	Lineo embedded systems chooses KDevelop 04/23/00	Lineo, a primary developer of Linux based embedded systems, has announced that they will be using and funding the KDevelop KDE integrated development environment. According to Tim Bird, CTO of Lineo, Inc: "Kdevelop is an excellent tool. By adding some specific enhancements that our customers needed, we increased its value significantly". The deal, brokered by Cosource.com , included contracting KDevelop coder Alexis Mikhailov to implement Lineo feature requests. Press release
	New KDE default widget style 04/23/00	The new look and feel for KDE2 widgets has been merged with the core libraries and is now default on new KDE2 systems. This widget style engine supports many new and exciting features aimed at keeping KDE2 at the top of the pack as far as Linux usability for end users is concerned. Click below to read more.
	KDE on informit.com 04/23/00	Informit, an online resource for IT information, now has a KDE section thanks to KDE coder Uwe Thiem. It describes and has links to many of the KDE/Qt resources such as books and websites recommended by KDE developers. Regretfully, it was written awhile ago and mosfet.org isn't there, but if your reading this you already know about this site ;-) Off site link
	Looking for a Pixie logo 04/23/00	If you have artistic talent and would like to contribute to KDE I'm currently looking for a logo for Pixie, the KDE2 image management system. Pixie's are little fairie-like creatures in European myth, except they are tiny (thumbnail-sized), and have wings. They are usually represented as either female or gender inspecific. The logo should be around 200x200 and with a white background. If selected the logo will appear as the default graphic in the main image screen, and artist credit will go alongside the developer's. Pixie's website
	Panel Branches Merged 04/17/00	KDE developer Matthias Elter has been putting a lot of work into the new KDE2 panel, Kicker, recently and has just merged his version with the main one in CVS. Includes better applet support and many, many other improvements.
	Web site fixes 04/17/00	Some of the little applets were wrote to help manage this site have been a little screwy ;-) Everything has been fixed, most notably the logo image maps should all be okay now and trailing HTML has been removed. Thanks to all the people who submitted reports. It was updated HTML for stories from this month, so older ones may still have errors.
	More Pixie updates 04/17/00	For those of you using Pixie, the thumbnail image management has gotten some improvements. The infamous "segfault if closed while reload" bug has been fixed, a stop button has been added, and a new sort order: Ascending by size/ duplicate sizes first, has been added. Also, some file management bugs have been fixed thanks to KDE I/O guru David Faure.
	Advanced widget rendering improvements 04/17/00	KDE2 will automatically detect how many colors your display has and (optionally) use the advanced rendering engines if you have enough colors. The speed and memory consumption should be similar in both the advanced highcolor widget engines and the normal lowcolor ones, mostly due to the speed of the KDE effects engine and the cool way widget styles are implemented by Qt and KDE.
	Application lauch notification 04/10/00	Ever get annoyed about how when on free desktops clicking on an application gives you no feedback that the program is being loaded until a window pops up? Well, KDE developer Rik Hemsley has solved the problem for programs running under KDE2.0. Full Story.
	Highcolor B2 widget engine 04/10/00	The version of the B2 widget engine look and feel that automatically detects if your on a highcolor display and if so utilizes the KDE effects engine to get a cooler highcolored look. Full Story.
	Netscape plugin compatibility for Konqueror 04/07/00	Stefan Schimanski and Matthias Hölzer-Klüpfel have begun work on plugin capability for Konqueror. This aims at allowing you to use Netscape as well as the extensive KDE component model plugins, giving Konqueror the most plugin capabilities of any Linux/Unix browser. The development is occurring in CVS's kdenonbeta/nsplugin and requires you build the Qt nsplugin and xt extensions.
	New KMail version 04/07/00	KDE developer Don Sanders has been working on the KDE2 version of KMail and released version 1.1.40. The index format has changed so if you are using the CVS version make sure to compact your folders before updating.
	LinuxWorld editor finds why KDE/Qt coding rocks 04/03/00	Well-known LinuxWorld editor and columnist Nick Petreley has written a column about how he has been "bitten by that programming bug again" and has taken a glowing look at KDE/Qt development. In the process he's found why we like object oriented coding with KDE and how we can accomplish so many tasks in so little time. Full Story.
	Over 70(!) KDE 1.x app releases and upgrades 04/03/00	A whole slew of new KDE1.x apps and upgrades have been released. Over 70 have been announced over the weekend, but a few didn't even get listed there! You can also check the KDE announce list archive if something is missing. Check this often anyways as people often don't announce via other channels.
	KDE libraries are frozen 04/03/00	Today's the day that the KDE libraries get frozen in order to prepare for the next KDE2 alpha release. This means no new features will be added to the base KDE libraries, only bugfixing will occur until the freeze is lifted. Application programs are not frozen and can proceed as normal.
	Some more look and feel hacking 04/03/00	There are a little more look and feel hacking to KWin and the widgets the past couple days. Nothing major, but click below if your interested anyways. Full Story.
	New B2 KWin and widget style plugin code 03/26/00	These are not themes but actual dynamic plugins that can reimplement KDE's look and feel both for widgets and the window manager. There are a few new window manager plugins, and improved the B2 widget style. Full Story.
	Laptop KWin look and feel plugin 03/26/00	A KWin look and feel plugin specifically designed for laptops. It features such things as configurable titlebar and button size as well as an oversized shaped resize handle. It's not done yet but in CVS. Full Story.
	New Kppp tutorial 03/26/00	Linux Mandrake's Demo and Tutorial center now features a tutorial on setting up and configuring an internet connection using the popular KDE dialup tool - kppp. Off site link.
	Krabber rated best audio encoder by LinuxCare 03/26/00	Krabber, an audio encoding application, was rated the best audio encoder to LinuxCare's product review. It can encode MP3's, CD's and many other useful audio formats. Congratulations to the Krabber developers and thanks for making such a cool app. Click Here to go to the Krabber homepage, or below to go to the product comparison. Off site link.
	Bidi support improvements 03/26/00	According to Lars Knoll, KDE HTML guru, the KDE HTML widget now has full bidirectional text support and passes all the tests from the popular Marc Leisher test suite. Follow the link below for kde.org's coverage Off site link .
	Qt without X! 03/20/00	TrollTech has announced they are doing a version of Qt for Linux that does not require X11 but runs off the Linux framebuffer. In addition to much less overhead, it also does antialiasing and an alpha channel far more quickly than possible with previous mainstream Unix interfaces. Qt is the base toolkit for KDE. Very, very exciting, and will have a huge impact on the future of Linux GUI's :) Full Story.
	EduWare for KDE mailing list 03/20/00	KDE developer Uwe Thiem has noted that a list has been started for both educators and developers to coordinate educational software projects. Full Story.
	New mosfet.org design launched 03/20/00	Well, I have finished the redesign of this site based on input from readers. Hopefully you all will find it much less cluttered and easier to use. Comments are always welcome, you can email me.
	LinuxUK offers weekly KDE roundup 03/19/00	LinuxUK is now offering weekly KDE development roundups. That makes 3 places you can get KDE2 news: this site, KDE Weekly News, and LinuxUK. It's good to a non-core developer's perspective on what we are doing :) Off site link
	KDE configuration UI enhancements 03/19/00	Both KDE's central location to configure your machine and application specific configuration dialogs have gotten a look and feel overhaul with a cool new icon based interface. Full Story.
	RealPlayer 7 supports KDE 03/19/00	RealPlayer 7, the beta version of the popular internet multimedia player, now integrates with your KDE desktop. Thanks go to RealNetworks. Other companies making software not integrated with KDE take note, it's really easy to do this - you just need to add a couple files. Full Story.
	Toolbar usability improvements 03/19/00	KDE2 toolbars can now handle items in a selection of 3 sizes and several different modes. This allows users to select either large button areas for PC's or small ones for laptops or low-res machines.
	Pixie Updates 03/11/00	The new image viewing and management system for KDE2 has a slew of new features. Most notable are complete built-in file management and Hotlist directory support. Full Story.
	Full screen browser and terminal 03/11/00	The KDE2.0 browser and terminal emulator can now be run in full-screen mode, a great feature for laptop users and presentations.
	XML based toolbar editing 03/11/00	As most of you know, KDE2 integrates XML extensively into it's core libraries. Kurt Granroth has added a user interface for editing toolbar XML files.
	Development HTML support merged 03/06/00	KDE2.0's most sophisticated HTML support additions has been occuring in a while in development. It is now merged with the main KDE2.0 source code. Full Story.
	Misc development notes 03/06/00	Overview of some new features including KPixmapIO, short URL support, session taskbars in Konsole, and a new Qt beta. Full Story.
	Native Windows filesystem shares 02/29/00	Support for natively accessing Windows filesystem shares (SMB shares) has been added to KDE, allowing easy integration into mixed network infrastructures.
	KDevelop 1.1 final released 02/29/00	The 1.1 final release of the popular KDevelop graphical application development system and K Development Kit has been released. Full Story.
	News reader sneak peek 02/29/00	Roberto Alsina, the primary developer for KRN (the KDE news reader), has been putting a lot of effort into a new version and has provided us with a sneak peak. You can view the pic by clicking below. Full Story.
	New I/O system in CVS 02/23/00	A revamped and much faster version of the KDE2 I/O library is in CVS. This is what provides internet transparency, mimetype handling, background I/O, and easy URL handling using the client/server model. Full Story.
	KDE popularity, 1TB download off kde.org 02/23/00	Arthur H. Johnson II of Tucows has posted to inform us of KDE's popularity, and we got a message about the amount of stuff the KDE servers have been serving lately :) Full Story.