KDE 3.5.4 Released With New Features

The KDE Project today announced the immediate availability of KDE 3.5.4, a maintenance release for the latest generation of the most advanced and powerful free desktop for GNU/Linux and other UNIXes. Even while KDE 4 is being prepared, improvements to KDE 3.5 have been made and this release makes them available. The new features were subject to rigorous quality testing so that KDE 3.5.4 is as stable as the maintenance releases that precede it.

Significant enhancements include improved support for removable devices (users can now mount all devices supported by FreeDesktop's HAL and control how it will be done). Multiple holidays can now start on the same date in KOrganizer. Lots of fixes have been applied to Konqueror's HTML engine, KHTML. The dialog for sending client-side SSL certificates is now more usable, the StartCom SSL certificate was added and KNetworkConf now supports Fedora Core 5 and handles WEP keys better.

Packages are available for ArkLinux, Fedora, Kubuntu, Pardus Linux, SuSE Linux, Slamd64, amongst others. You can also download the source or have it built for you with Konstruct.

Dot Categories: 

Comments

by Jure Repinc (not verified)

I've also submitted the news to digg.com:
http://digg.com/linux_unix/KDE_3_5_4_is_released
Digg it and help spread the word about KDE.

by Wade Olson (not verified)

And right now it's the story at the top of the page in the technology section.

Thanks for the digg!

by Praxxus (not verified)

I dugg it~

by gnulinuxman (not verified)

Digg in!!!!!

by JB (not verified)

As always, big thanks to all involved in making the best desktop that exists today possible.

Great work guys!

by morphado (not verified)

I really hope KDE4 will be an outstanding GDE, because IMHO, gnome is becoming more mature, and as the main distro (RED HAT, NOVELL, UBUNTU)has standarized in a way or another on gnome,

so really hope plasma will the next revolution in desktop computing otherwise, I fear kde will be dommed

ps; thanks for kde3.5.4

by Chase Venters (not verified)

I'm not worried about KDE being doomed at all. Anyone I've ever known that uses GNOME on the actual desktop (ie, not just using it to run Red Hat Network Configuration Program or somesuch) ends up running KDE programs on top of it. And moreover, while commercial distributions do tend to favor GNOME, usage trends and users suggest that KDE is actually everyone's favorite free software desktop. My experience would tend to agree :)

by Vlad Blanton (not verified)

I agree that Gnome has improved a lot. So much that I switch between Kubuntu and Ubuntu throughout the week (when I was a die-hard KDE user before).

The fact is, Gnome has been devoting much more time toward usability & HIG development than KDE. As a whole, when I start ubuntu, I am amazed with the way things seem to fit together. When I run Kubuntu, I'm amazed with detail and feature-set given to each technology underlying the desktop and every app that runs on it.

KDE is a better desktop than Gnome technically and functionally, but Gnome has surpassed KDE in overall usability by having a decent HIG that developers and distro's use and focusing on simplicity in application layout and functionality.

quick disclaimer: I think gnome went a little to far with simplicity with many of there applications. It has made a large part of there desktop unusable for anyone other than the [idea of the] "average user" that they design for. Cheerios not Fruityloops.. a paraphrase of something a metacity developer once said

I also realise that if I install kde & gnome in Gentoo that a some of that "amazement of the way things seem to fit together" in gnome is gone because it of the large amount of work ubuntu put into unifying the look & feel.

If we had a solid & usable HIG that developers and distro's followed for KDE 3 things would be MUCH better, and moving away from relying on 3rd party icons/widget styles (Crystal/Plastik/Lipstik) will also help unify the look-n-feel. Crystal icons look very nice, but are also occasionally confusing (a 13 year old girl recently asked me what the glass of water in the bottom right was... the trash). Plasik/Lipstik is very nice compared to Keramik **pukes**, but it still has it's fair share of annoyances and ugliness.

I am amazed with the way KDE has progressed and grown. I am stunned with the ideas and plans for KDE4 (Plasma, Solid, Oxygen, Phonon, and I want to give a HUGE thank you to everyone who is contributing to the development of the absolute best desktop environment to date. There is a place in my heart for all of you. I'd also like to thank Celeste Paul and anyone else working along side/with her for making sure that future KDE versions (4+) are focused on usability, HIG, and all those other 3 letter acronym's that stand for a better desktop experience for all of us end users!

There is a bright and optimistic future for KDE, the open source desktop, free software, open and innovative techology, and everything else KDE stands for/contributes to!

Vladislav Blanton

by Jakob Petsovits (not verified)

Well I'm not quite as pessimistic yet ;)
Let's talk about that when KDE loses its majority in the "favorite DE" votings.

Besides, what's "an outstanding GDE"? GNOME Desktop Environment, or what? :D
(I don't think KDE will become that very soon...)

by Derek R. (not verified)

Yes, Gnome is maturing fast. Now they even have a menu editor and a notepad than can open remote files :-)

Seriously, Gnome has a long way to catch up with KDE. Hopefully someday those that are now supporting Gnome blindly will one day wake up. If not, as KDE has the trust of users it's their loss.

by chris (not verified)

try to catch up with windows first!
gnomies are our friends !

by Derek R. (not verified)

Strictly as a desktop, KDE surpassed Windows a long time ago. Granted there are things that are still better on Windows, but the majority of them are not on the desktop level, where they have been stuck for many years.

As for Gnome, they might be friends but they are still compiting with KDE.

by Segedunum (not verified)

"because IMHO, gnome is becoming more mature"

Gnome has been becoming more mature for years, and years, and years......

"and as the main distro (RED HAT, NOVELL, UBUNTU)has standarized in a way or another on gnome"

I don't see it making a blind bit of difference to be honest. That may frustrate some people, but there it is.

by Thomas (not verified)

>"and as the main distro (RED HAT, NOVELL, UBUNTU)has standarized in a way or
> another on gnome"
>I don't see it making a blind bit of difference to be honest. That may
>frustrate some people, but there it is.

Right said. Pushing standards "top down" never worked. If it was this way, we would all silently agree on Microsoft Windows being "the standard". We'd all have to shut up, step back ten years in time and trying to get used to all the shortcomings of the Windows OS again, which most readers here already can't even remember any more.

To be honest, even the decision to cripple Gnome in its functionality has been a top-down decision. And it was a decision to win the hearts of the distributors decision makers, not the hearts of their users.

Btw.: I have seen lots of KDE installations in small to medium sized businesses and only one Gnome desktop and this was at SUN Microsystems...

by witchdoctor (not verified)

"and as the main distro (RED HAT, NOVELL, UBUNTU)has standarized in a way or another on gnome"

That may be so but for the majority of smart users I also don't think it makes a difference. For those people who still have the unfortunateness of windows in their home what do you do the very second you buy it? Do you enjoy the way that microsoft presets it for you? NO ofcourse not, everyone personalises their OS upon buying. If people want KDE they will simply get it. (and I hope they do :P)

by Harry (not verified)

Now KDE is coming this far I really hope that usability becomes nr. 1 on the priority list.

We need more applications with an interface like Amarok.

For example, why can't I configure a GoogleTalk account in Kopete? As a software guy I know that GoogleTalk uses the Jabber protocol, but my wife for sure doesn't know....

These kind of 'too-technical-for-the-average-user' stuff must be resolved if KDE wants to compete with OS X for example.

My 2 cents...

by Coolo (not verified)

Good luck trying to connect to ICQ or MSN on OS X :)
Do they have GoogleTalk at least?

by Jakob Petsovits (not verified)

I haven't tried Adium, but it's said to be great. And building on libgaim, it certainly provides support for those two networks as well.

Not that I wouldn't prefer Kopete nevertheless...

by rinse (not verified)

Adium looks nice, but is not a default application for MacOS.

So the situation is not much different: one needs to use an alternative application to connect with google talk.
If that is a usability problem, well then all operating systems / grafical environments have a usability problem ;)

by rinse (not verified)

"For example, why can't I configure a GoogleTalk account in Kopete? "
Let me guess, because it hasn't been implemented yet?
Its a bit odd to blame the whole desktop for a feature that is absent in 1 application.

[quote]
As a software guy I know that GoogleTalk uses the Jabber protocol, but my wife for sure doesn't know....
[/quote]
As a software guy, you could implement google talk in Kopete :)

And most people who aren't into software would probably just download the googletalk messenger and use it, or ask someone with more skills if it is possible to use googletalk in kopete..

by Jon Orn Arnarson (not verified)

I'm using Google Talk with kopete...

You have to change your connection settings

Overrride default server information:
talk.google.com 5223

I think that's about it.

by Evan "JabberWok... (not verified)

Google Talk works just fine on Kopete, I use it every day with a number of people. User images, authorization, blocking... it all works perfectly. You can find the instructions on how to configure it on the Google Talk site.

You might try reading their site before complaining.

by Evan "JabberWok... (not verified)

Incidentally, that's like complaining "KMail doesn't work with my ISP". You have to enter the mail server, your login and password. Same goes with Outlook or any other mail program. You have to get the mail server from your ISP's web site.

For Google Talk, get the chat server info from Google Talk's web site.

Honestly, that's a pretty lame "too-technical-for-the-average-user" example, considering that every mail program needs a server, login and password entered into it as well. As does any client for Google Talk.

By the way... Kopete supported Google Talk long before Google Talk was released.

by Jim (not verified)

You're totally missing his point.

With Google Talk, you install it, it asks you for your username and password, and it works.

With Kopete, you install it, then you have to set up an account, then you have to know that you should pick Jabber, then you have to give it server addresses and port numbers, then you have to give it your username and password, and only then does it work.

It's way more complicated than it should be. Users don't like dealing with server addresses and port numbers. And no, it's not like email, because most users get their email set up automatically by their ISPs installation CD, so it's just as easy as putting in your username and password.

You're completely out of touch with what's complicated for normal users. Don't assume fiddling around with settings is acceptable.

And try not to be so hypocritical. He *obviously* knows that Google Talk uses Jabber, he said so in his comment. Telling him to "read their site before complaining" only makes it obvious you didn't even read his comment all the way through.

by Evan "JabberWok... (not verified)

:: He *obviously* knows that Google Talk uses Jabber,

And that's why I said it's no more difficult than setting up an email application. It would be wonderful if Kopete came with a one form Google Talk signup/setup page. But his question was "why can't I configure a GoogleTalk account in Kopete". Google Talk *themselves* answer his question in their section on setting up other chat programs.

:: You're completely out of touch with what's complicated for normal users.

No I am not. It should be improved and be more like the AIM setup -- one page, a couple questions, a link to signup. But Kopete's support for Google Talk was implemented *before* Google Talk came out, so how can they have a more user friendly interface for something that didn't exist then? If the next big release of Kopete doesn't have easier support, then I'll agree with you.

Heck, I agree with him about his wife. But if he knows what Jabber is, he can set it up. With the next release his wife may be able to. Maybe... I know "normal" users very well. I know people who, after two years of trying, haven't figured out how to set up their iPod on their Powerbook. And that's with several calls to Apple.

Also, you may overestimate me. I like KDE because it's easy and I don't want to deal with any of that "type here and there and run this script and type build make" crap. I hate dealing with computers and setting up stuff more than you might understand. But I don't fault software for supporting something awkwardly until the authors have had a chance to make it more easy to use. KDE has a good track record of ever-easier configuration.

My biggest beef is that he's complaining about using X with Y from company Z when company Z's website has simple instructions on how to use X with Y. Bad example. Try complaining about the hellish print system or the headache of having to enter a password into some cryptic window to change your clock time.

by AC (not verified)

What Kopete needs is an interface that lets the user connect to Google Talk, just like with jabber, msn, icq, etc. etc.

The fact that kopete does not provide such an interface is not an useability problem, it's just that it has not been implemented yet.

If Google Talk uses another propietary protocol that is not available in Kopete, you would not complain about usability, but about a missing feature.

But since Google uses the Jabber Protocol, wich makes it possible to use it in kopete with a workaround, you start complaining about the usability of KDE in general and kopete in particular?

Again, it is not a usability flaw, it's a feature that has not been implemented.

by gnulinuxman (not verified)

As mentioned above, Google Talk is a standard Jabber account. It isn't proprietary. I can talk to other Jabber users using it.

by Evan "JabberWok... (not verified)

The protocol is standard, but it operates on a specific server and a port that is slightly off from the common Jabber port, plus it requires specific security settings. It would make it much easier for users if there was a single "Username/Password" + signup link dialog box for Google Talk.

by Quique (not verified)

why can't I configure a GoogleTalk account in Kopete?

Because you didn't read the Google Talk Support page at the KDE website.

Maybe the next version of Kopete should have a separate entry for GTalk, even if it uses the standard Jabber/XMPP protocol, but currently it's not hard at all to set it up.

by gnulinuxman (not verified)

I still use Gaim because it actually shows the right set of smileys for each protocol. I'll start using Kopete if they can stop using the MSN smiley set for every single protocol!

by Alistair John S... (not verified)

Sorry to keep drumming this up, but KMail's been in a sorry state for the whole of the KDE 3.5 series. It's basically unusable as a primary mailer; it crashes too much with IMAP and dIMAP, problems that didn't exist in the previous major version.

If anybody else here has problems with KMail regularly crashing when doing, well, nothing, on a fairly large IMAP or dIMAP account, please file a bug report. This seems to be one of the biggest recent problems:

http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=126715

Please, don't make me use Thunderbird!

by Harry (not verified)

Thunderbird is one of my (few) not KDE native applications.

My reason? Poor HTML support in KMail.

by Carsten Niehaus (not verified)

I guess you mean "poor html-composing-support in KMail"? If so, the more specific you are the better.

Here is a list of all open KMail-composer bugs with "html" in the subject.

url too long

Please add comments to there bugs to help the KMail-devels fixing the bugs and therefore your problems.

by Harry (not verified)

You're right.

But indeed, that's the major problem. Composing. And specifically not a new message (this works rather well), but replying on a message with a HTML body.

KMail just pastes the html text in the composing window, rather than render the orginal HTML part.

by Carsten Niehaus (not verified)

Is that somehow related to

http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=65646

or

http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=121849

If not, please open a new bugreport.

by birthday child :P (not verified)

for me, Kontact/Kmail wasn't broken the whole KDE 3.5.x releases. i am also using imap folders. just, spam-filtering is strange, but i didn't set it up very well.. maybe i have to use APOP protocol, dunno.

by Alistair John S... (not verified)

You probably don't have enough emails in one directory to provoke it.

I've got directories of 6000+ emails and it doesn't handle these very well.

by Gralbe (not verified)

> I've got directories of 6000+ emails and it doesn't handle these very well.

I've got directories of 8500+ emails and I'm not seeing a problem (for the entire 3.5 series).

Which IMAP server are you connecting to? I'm currently connecting to a courier imap server.

Not trying to say you aren't having problems, but it's certainly not as simple as the number of messages.

by Alistair John S... (not verified)

Courier IMAP. I'm certain this has nothing to do with the server, it happened on different IMAP servers too.

by parena (not verified)

I haven't had any of your problems with KMail during 3.5, actually. And I only use IMAP: one smaller one and one that now contains 241M of mail. My wife's IMAP account even contains 426M of mail.

by Lee (not verified)

I was worried about IMAP support at first too; it looked VERY flaky, and I was disappointed to see that dIMAP was no better. BUT, I tried it a bit later, and worked at it a bit, and it's been fine now for a LONG time. I've been using it as my only mail client (and purely IMAP) for... as long as I can remember basically, using it MANY times a day, with many folders, some of which have thousands of mails, and many big attachments, with only the rarest of hanging troubles. These are fixed by just running pkill on kmail and kio_imap. All in all, it's far better than the IMAP support in evolution, thunderbird, etc. I'd recommend giving it another go. I'm using courier-imap on the server, if it helps.

by Alistair John S... (not verified)

As am I. Since the crashes occur on two PCs (different architectures, too) it seems unlikely that it's my toolchain. I'm fairly confident this bug exists, you've just been lucky.

by gnulinuxman (not verified)

I've been using KMail for a year and I still like it, even the current version. I haven't had any crashes, and it's super-fast--way faster than Thunderbird (ugh, that one is S-L-O-W).

by birthday child :P (not verified)

thank you so much for this nice birthday present on 02.Aug.2006 :)
linux, and KDE is so geil, there are uncountable great applications, hope there will be more people get infected by OpenSource ! after some years of mysterious other operating system series, i just need Linux, forever.

by Eric (not verified)

I happened to see a link on Digg for testing Javascript speed right as my KDE compile was finishing, so I thought I would compare Konqueror's Javascript between 3.5.3 and 3.5.4. 3.5.4 is almost 30% faster than 3.5.3 and about 45% faster than Firefox at the test. I then decided to check my Gmail, and the pages load noticeably faster.

So thank you for all the hard work and heres to hoping KDE4 is even better!

by Someone (not verified)

Can you please post the link. Thanks.

by SadEagle (not verified)

Thanks for the link. I wouldn't put that much weight into results of this benchmark --- while it's a fun toy, lots of the stuff it's measuring isn't likely to matter much.

by Mike Young (not verified)

I am currently using 3.5.4 in Kubuntu. Odd thing happening with Konqueror, the location bar and pulldown menu seem to go missing. I installed 3.5.4, restarted KDE, and no location bar. After a couple of restarts, it came back. Then konqueror crashed, and now its missing again. Is anyone seeing this?

by Anonymous (not verified)

http://kubuntu.org/announcements/kde-354.php says that the Kubuntu packages are broken and shouldn't be used.