Linux Rock On with KDE 4.2

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In KDE 3.5.x we had kicker, but for KDE 4, it has been killed and replaced by the most famous part of the KDE technologies, known as Plasma.Plasma is, among other things, the new way of building your desktop, it works using Plasmoids, those Plasmoids are similar to Gadgets or Widgets.


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Plasmoids are contained by... well... containments, this relantionship it's the secret of its flexibility. The Desktop (image background) is a containment, you can put as many plasmoids as you want, those can create a normal interface showing your /desktop files, or you can put clocks, stocks viewers, media controls, pictures, etc. However, the panel is a cointenment too, you can place your Plasmoids in your desktop or in the panel, Plasmoids will change their layout to match correctly their new containment.

The biggest point here, is that cointenments are Plasmoids too, so, in the future, people (or KDE developers themself) can (and certainly will) create new containments, of all kinds. Making a OS X dock or a Windows 7 like taskbar shouldn't be that hard.



New and Improved KDE Kick OFF Menu with stunning Plasma Theme

Note : The preview posted here is based on Pre-Beta1 Release of KDE 4.2 which will keep on maturing as time passes. Most of the KDE apps like K3B , Amarok and others will début with KDE 4.2 for KDE 4.. Few already launched KDE 4 apps are KDEnLive, digiKam Beta , Amarok Beta , Gwenview and lots of new and improved K Tools. ;)
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For More Detailed Preview Of KDE 4.1.72 [Pre Beta] : Introducing KDE 4
Check out my KDE 4.0.4 vs Gnome Test : http://www.techenclave.com/open-source/kde-4-the-lightest-desktop-yet-114725.html?highlight=Desktop
 
Wow, nice!

Taskbar is distinctly Vista-ish looking :D but good. Menu is still inefficient/annoying. Like, to get to the browser you click the KDE icon, then apps, then internet, then a "web browser" section and finally you have just one icon for Konqueror.

I dont like Oxygen window decorations or widgets (except the progress bar is awesome), so I will try to use Plastik theme but with Oxygen's progress bar if I can... its strange, the Oxygen window/widgets bits look "industrial" (grey brushed metal like) but the rest of the GUI looks "MAC OSX/Vista Aqua/aero-glass like)...

Desktop crashed on me when I tried to click the settings icon (spanner)... The system notification icon remains active after you get a notification and when you click it , is says "no messages remaining" or something like that.

I'm sure they will fix the minor bugs for 4.2 final.

KDE 4.3 (next release) has plans for ARGB support for window decorations/widgets (listed in the feature plan), so expecting more Vista AERO-Glass like windows and buttons :D

I think when Jaunty is released in April I'll try out Kubuntu this time to see if I should switch from GNOME to KDE. But I still feel maybe KDE 4.3 will be like the actual 4.0 release not this time around with 4.2... 4.2 can be considered the actual BETA for the main KDE4 branch :D

Looks like KDE is leading in the beauty department (not to mention some great apps like digikam/ktorrent/k3b/amarok) while GNOME still has it's simplicity going for it... hopefully GNOME can come up with some good UI for their 3.0 release, else they will be doomed pretty soon.

I believe the QT/KDE team made the right choice for going with C++ for the GUI better than GNOME's choice for C. Probably they find more developers comfortable with C++ and easier to build UI/apps on an OO language.
 
Currently using SUSE Live ISO in Virtual Box.. HDD gone so no cooker atm.. Except Amarok everything working fine. .few nice games added. The system monitor now looks like gnome one ..New plasmoids looks good. Hoping for a newer plasma theme and wallpaper.

Oxygen will mature with time , though kopete will gain video support for Gmail in 4.3 :mad: Nothing radical yet.. Waiting for K3b and digikam newer release :)

KDE 4.2 Beta is nice bout nothing great yet ! Yep the taskbar looks Windows 7'ish..
 
Here is a small Screenshot tour of KDE 4.2 Beta 1 on SUSE Live



Can't post a review/preview am too busy :p Well that syas it all.. KDE 4.2 has great educational software with some nice time pass yet addictive game.. which surpass gnome game collection by miles.. KDE sure has done a great thing without being backed by great community like Intel and all ...
 
Isn't there some issue with nvidia drivers and KWin effects? I've just installed the "neon" nightly repository to get latest KDE4 bits... desktop effects work but are not too smooth.
 
vishalrao said:
Isn't there some issue with nvidia drivers and KWin effects? I've just installed the "neon" nightly repository to get latest KDE4 bits... desktop effects work but are not too smooth.
Click to expand...

OK, did a fresh install of Kubuntu 8.10 amd64 and added the experimental repository as mentioned in KDE 4.2 Beta 1 released | Kubuntu to get KDE 4.2 Beta 1.

Also, manually downloaded and installed the nvidia 180.11 beta driver because from version 180.06 beta onwards they've made some default settings that make KDE 4.2 effects smoother on GeForce 8 and 9 series cards.

Still don't like the KickOff menu, so switched to old style launcher. Then there is that "lancelot" menu/launcher which I will try as soon as packages are available, unless its not being maintained.

There are a few glitches and crashes here n there, but it's looking awesome already at this stage. So looks like 2009 will be the year GNOME loses out heavily to KDE I'm willing to bet - and I'm also going to switch back to KDE :D

edit: But got to say, I will miss GNOME's simple menu layout... with quick access to apps, places and system settings ....not to mention the rest of its simplicity.
 
im sure it does, but not in an easy way... you might need to download and compile source, if .deb packages are not available readily...
 
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