KDE 4.1, released last month, brought a great number of improvements to the popular desktop environment. It’s the best desktop I’ve ever used — but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t be better. Here are 10 features that would be great additions to a future KDE release that I hope the developers will consider.
For everyday users, the semantic desktop will allow enhanced searching of the type that has already been introduced by applications like Beagle, but with more user control than any existing program. For more sophisticated users, such as academic researchers, while Nepomuk will not actual do data-mining itself, it will assist such processes.
The latest series of the K Desktop Environment now utilizes Plasma, a new desktop and panel user interface tool that aims for a more functional, user-friendly, and sleek KDE desktop. Plasma also supports Dashboard-like widgets called plasmoids. If you want to further enhance the look of your KDE 4 desktop, I have here a list of some of the most beautiful Plasma themes available.
This tutorial will show you how to install KDE 4.1 on your existing Ubuntu 8.04 or 8.04.1 LTS desktop. To eliminate the “terminal madness” for Linux beginners, we’ve used apt-url links in this tutorial. So, just click the links in the guide in order to install the packages!
KDE 4.1 has enough gaps in customization and supporting applications that it will probably not stop the controversy that surrounded KDE 4.0. However, it does offer enough features and stability that it should reduce the ferocity and number of complaints enough that more serious assessment of the changes in KDE 4.1 can begin.
As if to apologize for KDE 4.0, the project’s release manager, Dirk Muller, released 4.1 along with the news that some 20,803 alterations had been made since 4.0, not counting 15,432 translation check-ins, nor about 35,000 additional changes that went into “working” versions.
KDE marks a triumphant return to full usability with the 4.1 release. I’ve read that some KDE 3 features still need to be ported to KDE 4, yet I’m hard pressed to think of anything missing, except for a way of hiding the panel. The developers have done a wonderful job of keeping their promises of a return to glory for KDE.