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  KDE 4.0 Release Candidate 2 Out Now, Codename "Coenig"
KDE Official News Posted by Sebastian Kügler on Tuesday 11/Dec/2007, @12:34
from the almost-there dept.
The KDE Community is happy to announce the immediate availability of the second release candidate for KDE 4.0. This release candidate marks the last mile on the road to KDE 4.0. This release sees increasing participation from distributions, you can download packages for Debian, Kubuntu, Mandriva, openSUSE & Fedora or grab the live CDs from Kubuntu & openSUSE.

KDE's webbrowser Konqueror

KOffice has also put out a sixth alpha release, released separately.

While progress on the quality and completeness of what is to become the KDE 4.0 desktop has been great, the KDE Community decided to have another release candidate before releasing KDE 4.0 on January 11th. The codebase is now feature-complete. Some work is still being done to put the icing on the KDE 4.0 cake. This includes fixing bugs, finishing off artwork and smoothing out the user experience.



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The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whomever posted them.
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Over 40 comments listed. Printing out index only.
Window button arrangement wastes space
by Tray on Tuesday 11/Dec/2007, @15:02
The gaping hole between the close button (X) and the minimize/maximize buttons needlessly expands application dialogs, especially if these have long titles. This weird spacing is a failed attempt at making it harder to accidentally close a window when in fact you only wanted to minimize it.

The better solution (and one advocated by Aaron Seigo) is to move the minimize/maximize buttons to the left and bring the title text and application icon to the center. Unfortunately, KWin maintainer Lubos Lunak decided introduce this ugly, wasteful space as a stopgap measure. Now I have the utmost respect for Lubos and his work, but I humbly disagree with this decision on aesthetic and practical concerns. Please move the max/min buttons to the left and bring the title text/icon to the center in the final KDE 4.0 release!

The thread where this was discussed is:
http://lists.kde.org/?t=119508170500002&r=1&w=2
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Kickoff questions
by goran on Tuesday 11/Dec/2007, @15:09
Will the following usability improvements make it until KDE 4.0 final?

1. A resizable Kickoff like in KDE 3.5.X.
2. Clicking on Applications button/tab will return to the Top-Level of the Application menu.

Other than that I really like Kickoff. If only it would be a little bit more configurable...
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Debian packages - not there
by Moritz Moeller-Herrmann on Tuesday 11/Dec/2007, @16:04
Even though the release anouncement claims KDE4rc2 packages are in Debian experimental, thus us clearly not the case (for 64 bit AMD64) at least. So now again, I am using icewm until I find the time to reinstall kde3...

Annoying. Anyone know of a complete working set of packages for Debian? Something except for the non-working experimental packages?
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Better default font
by Ascay on Tuesday 11/Dec/2007, @18:48
Nice improvements to RC1, speed is really impressing. I'm using the live CD within a Parallels VM and it's not noticeable slower than my native KDE 3.5 installment. Wow. Good job!

But what I'd really like to see is a nice default font. Vera Sans or DejaVu Sans look quite dated nowadays. I know, I know... it's a distribution thing. But some kind of a recommendation for distributors would be cool.

I use DejaVu Sans Condensed e.g. - looks much more modern than standard DejaVu Sans. And it works without any anti aliasing as good as with subpixel hinting.
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KPackage
by Peter Thompson on Tuesday 11/Dec/2007, @20:46
Kpackage has been unuasbly slow for my for the complete length of the release cycle (using the openSUSE packages). E.g. scrolling the list of packagews is so slow that it takes half a minute to scroll by one package (on a AMD X2 4600+).

I'd like to be able to try out kpackage on my system (as it seems to be a frontend for smart, and I'd really like to get rid of smart's ugly and unfunctional GTK-GUI).

What's the reason for this behaviour?
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What are the plans for 3.5.x?
by Velvet Elvis on Tuesday 11/Dec/2007, @21:04
How long until 3.5 is EOLed? I'm assuming debian and the like will keep it around for a few years regardless.

If KDE4 doesn't learn to treat screen real estate with respect I'll end up back with fluxbox. A lot of the new libraries rock out hard, but I've been severely underwhelmed with desktop functionality.
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kicker edges
by foo on Tuesday 11/Dec/2007, @21:26
In the screenshot, kicker (or whatever it's now called) doesn't stretch out to the left and right edges of the screen. Can someone confirm whether this can be changed? If I can't throw the mouse pointer down to the bottom edges and have it 'hit' the kicker, my head will explode.
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Desktop icons
by raman on Tuesday 11/Dec/2007, @22:31
I'm still missing desktop icons and application starter icons in the panel.

Are there any plans to integrate this features?
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Coenig = CDE?
by König on Tuesday 11/Dec/2007, @23:39
"Coenig"? Is that nerdy humour? Will KDE become CDE? Where ist the "K"? ;-)
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Embedded Konsole
by Anon on Wednesday 12/Dec/2007, @00:50
Why does the konqueror in the screenshot have an embedded console? Seriously now, the middle information thing in konqueror looks like a second window on top of the konqueror window. The new oxygene theme has not a lot of contrast (which works ok for me) but why on earth do we need THAT amount of contrast in such prominent a place? Everytime I open up konqi I think it opened konsole inside.
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RC2 rocks, but the digital clock?
by Marc on Wednesday 12/Dec/2007, @01:27
Hey you guys, the RC2 rocks! As for today i switched to KDE4 on a day per day basis. I have to do that with compiz though, because on my Geforce 5200 kwin is really slow. I sure hope this will change over time.

Single other thing that bugs me is the appereance of the digital clock... in a screencast Aaron once did there was this design with a horizontal line with an animated train station-like letter change. Now this was really kind of fresh and new, why is now this boring and clunky clock in the panel? Please, put the old model back in as default. Think about the first impression... you wanted to 'wow' the users, didn't you?
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Koenigsegg of Desktops?
by anon on Wednesday 12/Dec/2007, @02:03
sorry, just had to. ;-)
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No Luck with RC2
by Bobby on Wednesday 12/Dec/2007, @02:28
I have installed the openSuse packages but I am having no luck with this release. It starts quite fast and seems to be more responsive than previous versions but my kde session crashes and automatically logs out after about 2 minutes each time so I can't really test this version.
Another thing is that Lancelot is not working. All I get when I click on it's start button is the dark shadow of a menu. I don't know if anyone else is having these problems or if it's the Suse packages or my specific installation.
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Oxygen Gradient
by Knome on Wednesday 12/Dec/2007, @02:40
What happened to the whole-window gradient in oxygen? That one was really nice.
This way, it just looks... plain. Using the openSUSE version btw.
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Error installing on Kubuntu
by Andreas on Wednesday 12/Dec/2007, @02:53
...
..
Unpacking kdebase-runtime-bin-kde4 (from .../kdebase-runtime-bin-kde4_4%3a3.97.0-1ubuntu3~gutsy1~ppa2_all.deb) ...
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/kdebase-runtime-bin-kde4_4%3a3.97.0-1ubuntu3~gutsy1~ppa2_all.deb (--unpack):
trying to overwrite `/usr/bin/kwriteconfig', which is also in package kdebase-bin
Errors were encountered while processing:
/var/cache/apt/archives/kdebase-runtime-bin-kde4_4%3a3.97.0-1ubuntu3~gutsy1~ppa2_all.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

A fix anyone?
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Looks cool!
by Joergen Ramskov on Wednesday 12/Dec/2007, @03:13
I do think it lacks some contrast between the toolbars and the content window (speaking of the konqueror window).

I'm really looking forward to using KDE4 as my main desktop!
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Kwin effects
by Terracotta on Wednesday 12/Dec/2007, @03:41
This is my first install of kde4 that I actually was able to get working, probably more due to kubuntu and my lack of knowledge.

The first impression is that it is a bit slow and that some effects are put in place just to show effects rather than having them used as a mean of help/indication what is happening.

I.e. the effect used to minimise a window in kwin 4 rc2 is well... confusing, the vista aero effect is IMHO one of the only good implementations out there for such an action, which is just a composited version of what happens in kwin3 when minimising a window. (the aqua effect, and compiz lookalike are way to flashy distractive if you ask me)
This effect used in kwin 4 suits better with exiting a program than minising, just as that the opposite effect is IMHO better used to open a program, rather than being used for unminimising a window. Just as the fade away effect (now used for exiting a program) would suite better with closing a program which has an icon in the system stray.

Keep up the good work though and don't let people like me bug you too much :D.
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Pager
by Enrico on Wednesday 12/Dec/2007, @04:19
Can anyone tell me how to integrate the pager plasmoid into the application-pannel? I still have it flowting on the desktop :-)
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kickoff
by dajomu on Wednesday 12/Dec/2007, @04:51
kickoff is crap and will be until it it possible to go to a sub-menu without having the top-lever disapearing!
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How to change Plasma Theme
by SVG crazy on Wednesday 12/Dec/2007, @04:54
Hi,

First of all, I am a very big fan of plasma... Congratulations to all the plasma developers for their excellent work.

Second, I heard and read a lot about plasma being completely themeable, but I never found in documentation how to do it. Please, I am so excited about plasma and have good SVG skill, I would love to know HOW to make a plasma theme myself, and create a very very very gorgeous theme for the panel.
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Icons on desktop?
by Marco on Wednesday 12/Dec/2007, @05:08
Where are icons on desktop? It's a rc2 and there isn't no support to icons on the desktop.. when it will be reintroduced?
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White screen with compositing enabled
by yves on Wednesday 12/Dec/2007, @05:22
On both my i915 desktop and my i945 laptop when I enable the effects in the kwin config-module, I get a completely white screen and the only exit is CTRL-ALT-BACKSPACE.

It seems that clicks are still getting through to the desktop, because sometimes my random click seem to open another (white) popup menu.

Does anyone see the same?
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Always show "plasma" background
by SVG crazy on Wednesday 12/Dec/2007, @05:23
I really like the idea of having the choice of hide/show the background of plasma for the applets, just like was made for the battery applet on its configuration dialog. Wouldn't be great if we have that option on all/almost all applets?
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Two or more lines on taskbar
by Somebody from Brazil on Wednesday 12/Dec/2007, @07:08
I was wondering if it will be possible on KDE 4.0 to config the number of lines on the taskbar. Today, there's just one line with big icons.

By the way, kde 4.0 is going to ROCK!
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plasma panel
by mihas on Wednesday 12/Dec/2007, @07:34
what happened with functionality of panel. How to resize it, how to move appets, how to add apets, how to show realy cool clouds (like KDE 3.5), how to config window list (2 rows instend one) ... Could I remove (or something else) panel?

What about removing right top corner - REMOVE CONFIG BUTTON!

I'm useing Suse live cd

I will use kicker in KDE4, waiting for 4.1 Raptor menu
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Gentoo packages
by Hanno on Wednesday 12/Dec/2007, @08:41
There are also packages for Gentoo, although the page is a bit outdated, the packages are up-to-date:

http://genkdesvn.sourceforge.net/

Would be nice if you could add this to your announcement.
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App stability
by John Sawyer on Wednesday 12/Dec/2007, @09:40
I've stopped using the full KDE4 session. I give it a try now and then, but the desktop experience is, despite some eye candy, not ready for me concerning usability and productivity. Reasons for this have been discussed over and over here and elsewhere (Kickoff, new Panel, missing configuration options etc.) and need not to be discussed again, as nobody seems to acknowledge this.

However, I continue trying the KDE4 apps on a KDE3 desktop.

With the current RC, I once again tried some (IMHO) key apps of KDE4 in daily use. However, even here I'm a bit disappointed with the current state - giving that we are talking about RC2. Many bugs have been around for as lang as I try the KDE4 betas!

KMail: Unusable because I'm afraid of losing data. Especially with IMAP nothing really works. kioslave begins to eat up CPU time and temporarily messes up the account.
Konqueror: Definitely getting better every release, however still not even up to Konqueror3 concerning the amount of sites rendered correctly????!?!?! I sincerely put my hopes in WebKit some time...
Crypto-Stuff: Everything in connection with Crypto/Certificates is kind of messed up. KMail and Konqueror don't always remember certificates, and if you want to manage this stuff with Kmail/Konquerors settings module, only strange letters come up for this certificates.
Konsole: YES! The one and only applicatioin which runs since the first betas and is really an improvement in comparision to the already great KDE3-konsole!

I know that probably all these apps are not considered as part of the core KDE, however... there are still quite some things to get done in KDE4! And yes, I know, most programmers develop KDE for free and all that, but nevertheless...
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It doesnt seem to start for me under kubuntu gutsy
by Meh on Wednesday 12/Dec/2007, @12:26
Well, I downloaded and installed the packages as per the instructions on the kubuntu site, but no dice. I can run some kde4 apps from my normal kde3 session, but when I try to start a Kde4 session from kdm nothing happens. I get a blank screen for a few seconds, then the kdm login screen re-appears as if nothing had happened.. hmm.
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Yuck!
by Sam on Wednesday 12/Dec/2007, @18:41
I've always been a big fan of KDE, but 4.0rc2 seems to be totally not KDE. One of the great things about KDE was the ability to configure it however you wanted, but now you can't configure anything anymore. Its a total nightmare -- like the Gnome developers kidnapped and replaced all of the original KDE staff. All I can say is I won't be switching to KDE 4 unless it goes through some major changes.

Please, please, please bring back the KDE philosophy that the user should be able to configure their GUI how they like. Eye-candy is nice but giving me the power to choose is really what I thought KDE and FOSS was all about.

Thanks to the KDE 3 people you've done great, and I love KDE. Sadly my KDE is gone.
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I'm going to say this only once
by Shawn Starr on Thursday 13/Dec/2007, @11:46
To all those naysayers, just let us code. It is KDE 4.0.0. It's just the beginning. There is no possible way for us to get KDE 4.0.0 completely polished now. You could extend the release date another 1 year but then who would begin porting their apps to KDE 4?

I'm just going to ignore all the negative comments and then wait for those to eat their words once things are polished up. Then you can beg for forgiveness, and maybe we'll accept your apologies :P

Trust me, when you look back at this whole affair everyone will say how cool KDE 4.x is and that they should've believed the developers in their vision.

Shawn.
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Autostart
by LTV on Friday 14/Dec/2007, @20:51
I was wondering how you select apps for Autostart.
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Buggzzz
by szlam on Sunday 16/Dec/2007, @03:10
I'm sure it's gonna be as buggy as every new release. The older I get, the less I care about eye candy.
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bleh
by bleh on Wednesday 19/Dec/2007, @13:27
Where's the taskbar?? That shit down there is exact oposite of usability...
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Support for old style menu
by kirill on Friday 21/Dec/2007, @00:00
It will be great if kde4 will support switching to old style menu.
In my opinion new menu is worse then one from kde 3 and it is not so useful.
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