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  KDE Commit-Digest for 9th July 2006
Developer Posted by Danny Allen on Sunday 09/Jul/2006, @15:28
from the it's-the-italian-time-of-the-week dept.
In this week's KDE Commit-Digest: Kamefu (a multi-machine emulator frontend) has been renamed Gamefu. Physiks, a physics educational project, and a project for advanced session management, both a result of the Summer Of Code, are imported into KDE SVN. Work progresses in the "GMail-style conversation view for KMail" and "WorKflow" projects. KDE 4 changes: KPat, a card game application, gets OpenGL bling, while kwin gets experimental compositing support and compiz-like effects. Okular gets support for the TIFF file format. Akonadi advances towards its goals with the import of a command-line and GUI client.


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kde 4 finally coming
by Iuri Fiedoruk on Sunday 09/Jul/2006, @16:48
Good to see real development on KDE4 side. I mean, just not porting to qt4 and improving/cleaning kdelibs but on application side.
It's nice glx and compiz support are coming for KDE4, probally when it's launched xgl and aixgl (I hope this is the right name) are already stable enought for day to day use.
Way to go KDE team!
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  • Re: kde 4 finally coming
    by Mohasr on Sunday 09/Jul/2006, @19:53
    actually it is aiglx ( accelerated indirect glx )
    ;-)
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    • Re: kde 4 finally coming
      by Iuri Fiedoruk on Monday 10/Jul/2006, @07:30
      Thanks!
      I didn't get the name yet because for now it's just vaporware (even that I think it will get there) :)
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      • Re: kde 4 finally coming
        by Mohasr on Monday 10/Jul/2006, @08:41
        who said it is vaporware ?! no it is not.
        It is even officially included in the new X.org 7.1 and you can also run compiz with it.

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIGLX
        "The AIGLX project has been merged into X.org and is available as of X.org 7.1"
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      • Re: kde 4 finally coming
        by Robert on Monday 10/Jul/2006, @08:58
        It's not vapourware. AIGLX has been fully merged with xorg's HEAD.
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      • Re: kde 4 finally coming
        by ltmon on Monday 10/Jul/2006, @16:26
        It's not vapourware, but driver support for it does not exist in the nvidia or fglrx closed source drivers.

        If you use an intel card however it is reported to be easier to set up and better performing than XGL.

        L.
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        • Re: kde 4 finally coming
          by mattepiu on Tuesday 26/Sep/2006, @07:00
          Well, nvidia drivers are now supporting this, at least the beta drivers on
          nzone have texture_from_pixmap enabled and my desktop is running over aiglx.
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  • Re: kde 4 finally coming
    by AC on Sunday 09/Jul/2006, @20:15
    >It's nice glx and compiz support are coming for KDE4

    I think most of the recent work by Lubos Lunak with compositing in KDE is based on 2D acceleration that runs on more graphics cards thanks to EXA:

    http://wiki.x.org/wiki/ExaStatus
    http://lists.kde.org/?l=kde-commits&w=2&r=1&s=kwin_composite&q=b
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    • Re: kde 4 finally coming
      by ac on Monday 10/Jul/2006, @00:11
      Very nice! Eventually kwin will rule them all!

      What we need now is a compiz-plugin compatible plugin-interface!
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      • Re: kde 4 finally coming
        by Lubos Lunak on Monday 10/Jul/2006, @07:46
        Well, yes, except that there's nothing like compiz plugin interface. Documentation on Compiz seems to be rather lacking, but it looks like the plugins simply get full access to all Compiz internals. Which would be bloody difficult to map for KWin, that is if I actually wanted to do that (decoration plugins worked that way before KDE3.2 and it sucked). That said, there's chance that a reasonable subset of the compiz "interface" could be mapped using a wrapper plugin.
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        • Re: kde 4 finally coming
          by apokryphos on Monday 10/Jul/2006, @08:33
          What kind of stuff is Zack Rusin working on these days? He appears to be very talented in that area.
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KameFu Renamed to GameFu
by DeKay on Sunday 09/Jul/2006, @17:39
Nice to see this KameFu switch and Amarok's too. I hope other apps do the same for KDE 4. Some suggestions for annoyingly named apps:

kstars -> Night Sky
Kuickshow -> Image Show, Image View, Picture Show
KSnapshot -> Screen Shooter, ScreenCap
Okular -> Ocular
KolourPaint -> Doodle, Scribble, Paint
digiKam -> Digicam

More annoying is how utilities just stick a K in front. Why not:
KFontView -> Font Viewer
KJobViewer -> Print Job Status
Konsole -> Console
KInfoCenter -> PC Info

The naming of these utilities is just painful. People are bound to say Apple does iStuff and Windows does WinStuff for their apps. But you don't see WinDosPrompt, iTerminal, or the like.
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  • Re: KameFu Renamed to GameFu
    by Zippy on Sunday 09/Jul/2006, @19:56
    There is one huge benefit to these unusual names. If you ever run into trouble with any of them, you can easily do a web search on the name get get exactly what you're looking for. Who else uses KolourPaint [1]? No one. But plenty of people use Doodle [2], Scribble [3], and Paint [4].

    [1] http://www.google.com/search?q=KolourPaint
    [2] http://www.google.com/search?q=Doodle
    [3] http://www.google.com/search?q=Scribble
    [4] http://www.google.com/search?q=Paint
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    • Re: KameFu Renamed to GameFu
      by Ben Schleimer on Monday 10/Jul/2006, @05:38
      I have to agree.

      I think its a bad idea to move away from the K naming scheme because it does emphasize that the apps are kde apps and you need the kde framework to run them (as well getting all of the benefits of the KDE framework) as well as giving them a unique name.

      Marketing people are paid a lot of money to come up with outstanding names for their products but since kde is more focused on code/functional excellence (hopefully!!), people shouldn't feel forced to come up with a spiffy generic name.

      I guess that when there starts to be significant naming conflicts with other applications, people might start changing the names back.

      Cheers,
      Ben
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    • Re: KameFu Renamed to GameFu
      by MamiyaOtaru on Monday 10/Jul/2006, @22:01
      Oh man, so true. I've been playing with MESS lately, and it is an unholy pain to google for stuff related to it. It would blow to search for info on how to use 'console.' Please let that idea die.
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  • Re: KameFu Renamed to GameFu
    by mart on Monday 10/Jul/2006, @03:37
    Right-click K-menu icon, "Panel menu" -> "Configure Panel" -> "Menus". Change "Menu item format" to "Description only".

    Voila. No more K names. What's the big deal?
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    • Re: KameFu Renamed to GameFu
      by AC on Monday 10/Jul/2006, @10:43
      >>What's the big deal?

      Well, people somehow need to have something to complain about. And because of the quality of KDE, it's pretty hard to complain on anything :o)
      So people start complaining about small things, like non-default icons and application names
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    • Re: KameFu Renamed to GameFu
      by finnes on Tuesday 11/Jul/2006, @05:28
      What is wrong about K-names?

      what is horrible are descriptions like

      Kfontview - a font view program

      Programs need nice generic names like amarok, okular etc.
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  • Re: KameFu Renamed to GameFu
    by pentamax on Monday 10/Jul/2006, @04:20
    these names are inacceptable as they are not international.
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  • Re: KameFu Renamed to GameFu
    by Joe on Monday 10/Jul/2006, @07:04
    Ohhhhhhhhhhh, no.

    You forgot about international naming...

    Also, KFontView explains it pretty well...so does digikam and Okular and Konsole is such an abstract concept anyway. The rest, you may be right.
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    • Re: KameFu Renamed to GameFu
      by jum on Tuesday 11/Jul/2006, @05:26
      FontView means English language imperialism. The dominance of English terminology is so strong that it needs to be broKen.
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  • Re: KameFu Renamed to GameFu
    by Robert on Monday 10/Jul/2006, @09:02
    Generic names like these are a trademark minefield.
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  • Re: KameFu Renamed to GameFu
    by LMCBoy on Monday 10/Jul/2006, @16:14
    > kstars -> Night Sky

    I for one won't be changing the name of my app. People are already familiar with our current name, and as someone else pointed out, a search for "kstars" takes you right to our page, whereas searching for "Night sky" would do no such thing.

    Besides, KStars already has an alternative generic name, as another person pointed out...it's 'i18n("Desktop Planetarium")', and KDE can easily be configured to show that name in the application menu (although you'll still see KStars in the program itself).

    [[Fun trivia: there is a spectral class of stars called "K stars", so the name is not as apropos-of-nothing as you might think]]
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    • Re: KameFu Renamed to GameFu
      by gerd on Tuesday 11/Jul/2006, @05:38
      Night Sky is not international, it is an English name and we can bet the name alredy exists.
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  • Re: KameFu Renamed to GameFu
    by James Richard Tyrer on Tuesday 11/Jul/2006, @00:28
    While it may be clearer to use generic names. It is absolutely necessary that the official name of an application be unique. If they don't have unique names you will have all kinds of trouble if you install two apps with the same name.

    The easiest way to do that for KDE is to start them all with 'K'.
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  • Re: KameFu Renamed to GameFu
    by Tim on Tuesday 11/Jul/2006, @08:54
    Completely agree. Good suggestion.

    Fortunately KDE naming seems to be going that way.

    I'm sure no one would like this, but what about renaming KDE to something cooler sounding?
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    • Re: KameFu Renamed to GameFu
      by Gibly on Tuesday 11/Jul/2006, @17:37
      I'm sure no one would like this, but what about renaming KDE to something cooler sounding?

      How about "Kool Desktop Environment"?!?
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Compositing
by dolio on Sunday 09/Jul/2006, @17:40
Is there any chance of a video of some of the new compositing effects that we might be able to look forward to, for us poor souls who are too lazy to compile the experimental stuff for ourselves? :)

It'd be nice to add something KDE-related to my lickable window manager video collection.
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  • Re: Compositing
    by Lubos Lunak on Monday 10/Jul/2006, @07:53
    No, there's not any chance, not now. Right now it can do even less than kompmgr. What is needed are people who are capable at graphics stuff (which rules me out) who'd actually write more than just the core that I was able to do. So if there are people able and willing to do it -> https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kwin .
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Komment
by ahmed saad on Sunday 09/Jul/2006, @20:23
Well, I liked the "K" names, but that's a good move if it's going to help promote KDE more
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100% of women?
by AC on Sunday 09/Jul/2006, @22:22
Can anyone explain the cryptic Kulow comment "in my usability tests, 100% of the women like the effect"?
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  • Re: 100% of women?
    by Ian Monroe on Sunday 09/Jul/2006, @23:12
    Kpat is being ported to QGraphicsView IIRC
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  • Re: 100% of women?
    by Albert Astals Cid on Sunday 09/Jul/2006, @23:37
    Coolo usually mentions "best tester" or something similar when speaking about KPat, IIRC that "best tester" was his mother, maybe now "100% of women" is his mother and his wife?

    Nothing you should feel like a anti-women commentary, just the typical "i feel inspired" commit log.
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  • Re: 100% of women?
    by cl on Sunday 09/Jul/2006, @23:39
    AFAIK his wife likes to play KPat. So he probably asked her.
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  • Re: 100% of women?
    by Aaron J. Seigo on Tuesday 11/Jul/2006, @00:08
    probably a reference to celeste, the only female attendee at kde four core (which is, as i understand it, one more than in past such core library meetings) who was also our resident usability guru for the week.
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kopete in multimedia
by Michal on Monday 10/Jul/2006, @01:04
I noticed that in this and several past releases kopete (kdenetwork) is in Multimedia, is there any reason for that or is it just an overlook?
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