4.1 Release Candidate Out For Testing

Today, we are passing the last milestone on the way to KDE 4.1, a release that will be suitable for a larger audience than 4.0 has been. While it is not yet up to the features that people are used to from KDE 3.5, KDE 4.1 provides a significant amount of improvements over KDE 4.0, which some said was a bit of a bumpy ride. Sources and available packages are linked on the release info page.
KDE 4.1-rc1 is the only release candidate for KDE 4.1, which will be released on July 29th.

The development in trunk/ in Subversion has already been opened for feature development, which is going into KDE 4.2 (to be released in January), but developers are strongly encouraged to concentrate on bugfixing in the 4.1 branch for now. Do give RC1 a spin, file bugreports and fix things, there is only a week left until 4.1 is being tagged. Do have your changes in the 4.1 branch reviewed by your peers, though. Note that some users might still be suffering from performance problems with NVidia graphics chips. There is a page on Techbase that gives some more information about it. Make sure you report bugs via KDE's Bugzilla so they can be addressed and do not get lost.

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Comments

by Aaron Seigo (not verified)

what does not having a touch screen have to do with the cashew? *shakes head*

by Mark Hannessen (not verified)

What does the Cashew have to do with anything?

by Mark Hannessen (not verified)

from the FAQ:

Please provide an option to disable the upper right cashew.
Although putting an option to disable the cashew for desktops sounds reasonable, from a coding point of view it would introduce unnecessary complexity and would break the design. What has been suggested is, since the destkop itself (a containment) is handled by plugins, to write a plugin that would draw the desktop without the cashew itself. Currently some work ("blank desktop" plugin) is already present in KDE SVN. With containment type switching expected by KDE 4.2, it is not unreasonable to see alternative desktop types developed by then.

and for all those people like me who where wondering what on earth is referred to by the word cashew:

What are the "cashews"?
What is commonly referred as "cashew" is the Plasma logo you can find on the default desktop, on the upper right corner, and on the panel, on the right hand side. By clicking on them, you can access other configuration options, such as panel configuration and the Zooming User Interface (ZUI). Some of these, like the panel cashew, only appear if the widgets aren't locked (see below).

by Luca Beltrame (not verified)

Glad that someone else posted it: at least it means that all the typing I did was for good!

by Julio (not verified)

> from a coding point of view it would introduce unnecessary complexity and would break the design

Why removing a detail on the screen, like the cashew, breaks KDE design? I think KDE really needs a Software Architect...

by Vide (not verified)

Are you available?! KDE can hire you! You seem sooooo competent!!

by Erunno (not verified)

openSUSE patched their Plasma packages for 11.0 so that the desktop cashew (but not the one in the taskbar) can be at least removed via a configuration file. The patch has been refused by upstream (aka Mr. Seigo) as far as I know.

by Luca Beltrame (not verified)

AFAICS, it was refused because it broke the design: rather than introducing an option, someone would have to write a new containment plugin without the cashew.

by binner (not verified)

Actually I didn't even try to push that patch upstream as there have been several discussions about (optional) removal of the cashew before...

by Karl Günter Wünsch (not verified)

Yes, please make this abomination in design disappear! It's nothing more distracting than having the background of your screen dynamical just because you happen to touch the area in question while maximizing a window! Whoever came up with that brilliant idea shouldn't ever be allowed near UI design again.

by Neal (not verified)

Well a great lot of discussion going on here i see.
I too would like to remove the Cashew..

here is my reason.
I am locking down a Kubuntu box for a build i am deploying to multiple users in an environment where the end users are teenagers (read: will try to break the image) so i need to remove the panel, the desktop cashew and the ability to right click.

this will leave them with a blank desktop (except for the programs i leave launchers for) and once i have disabled a few other things like ctrl + alt + F1 etc. should be secure enough to let them on the pc's.

also if you guys have any suggestions for locking down kde or ubuntu i would be greatly appreciative. (am already using kiosktool)

Thanks.

by Yves (not verified)

I could not find anything about the network-manager plasmoid :-(

How is the state of it?

knetworkmanager is the only KDE3-app which I need, and I would like to ditch it for a nice KDE4 version :-)

by Thomas (not verified)

Knetworkmanager is already being ported to KDE4 (by Suse). It's basically the same app, just adapted to new networkmanager version and KDE4 libs. Sadly, a plasmoid using Solid for network detection is not in sight yet.

by Bernhard (not verified)

There's already a networkmanager plasmoid in playground (if I remember correctly)... although I was just able to test it on my tower -- so no wlan .. but the lan connection was shown.. have to test it more thorougly on the weekend

Any news on the Knetworkmanager port? have never read of it again since the first announcements.. haven't found a branch too... would also be interesting to know if it'll make it for opensuse 11.1

by Christopher Blauvelt (not verified)

Originally we were trying to get the network-manager plasmoid into 4.1. We were unable to complete in time so we're hoping to be able to release it by the end of next month. Unfortunately, real life has interferred with my plans.

Originally we plan to support ethernet, wlan, and attached 3G (CDMA/GSM) cards. BT support will not be available in the initial release.

by chris (not verified)

Wow, that sounds fantastic. Big thanks for your work on knetworkmanager. It constitutes a great contribution to the real-life usability of the linux desktop. Hope it'll make it into openSuse 11.1.

by neaghi (not verified)

yes..a little offtopic...I install KDE4.1 from Kubuntu Intrepid Ibex alpha 2..and i'm very surprizing because see more changes one of them I can move icons in panel..good work guys..
anyway i want to know what's about kopete..I trying all KDE4.xx versions and I can't see buddy pictures, only a square empty and in RC1 none square only big ball green..don,t work webcam..don't work file transfers..all of them I try in Yahoo protocol..It's normal or I missing to install some packages ?
many tanks, all the best!

by Ronnie Mills (not verified)

Kopete for KDE4 just sucks. Where is IRC?

I'm using amsn and gyachy for yahoo protocol. They are more complete, and Konversation from KDE3 for irc.

by Bille (not verified)

file transfers in yahoo were fixed yesterday

by blauzahl (not verified)

Come join the kopete bugday this sunday. ;)
irc.freenode.net #kde-bugs
You just need a new kopete.

I think the yahoo stuff was fixed recently. It will certainly get tested this weekend. :D

by Parminder Ramesh (not verified)

Hi, just wondering if that problem with phonon not showing the title's names (it only showed the numbers) was fixed. I recall someone having made a fix, but it being rejected because it broke ABI stability? Has this been resolved?

by Deniz (not verified)

Yes there are more incomplete features on KDE4 and how can you complete to KDE4 on july,29.
I try to explain what are incomplete features;

1- no panel auto hide
2- there is no panel configuration( not flexible like kde 3.5)
3- where is the align vertically and horizontally for icons on desktop
4- there is no RDS widgets
5- there is no preview any window on panel
6- when run the konqueror and put any web site on address box and try to download flash plug in but still go to "macromedia web site", please change it.
last one is; I fell use like windows OS because there is no flexible and no changeable anything. I like KDE3 more than KDE4....

by Cyrille Berger (not verified)

Then use KDE3 (it's still working wonderfully fine) :) As you mentionned it there is not enough time to complete those features, they would probably need a few monthes to be developed, a few monthes during which you wouldn't be able to use KDE4 for missing features, but also a few monthes during which people who don't need those features won't be able to use allready existing features, which would be a shame.

by Planetzappa (not verified)

Same with me. I prefer KDE4 4.1 to be released when the release dudes say it is. I do miss some of the features that the OP misses, but i'd rather work around the missing features and enjoy the splendor of KDE 4.1. If i miss application from KDE3, then i simply use it under the hood of KDE4, which works nicely at least on my openSUSE 11.0 box. Examples include KDE3/Kmail and KDE3/KDevelop, but i'm sure there are tons of others.
(And while we're at it: To me, the OP sounded very much like he was paying huge amounts of money for a commercial desktop environment when he was complaining about missing features. Remember: This is open source software given to you for free mostly by developers who sacrifice their private time.)

by Simon Edwards (not verified)

A more important point than cost, and this is a point which a lot of people don't seem to realise, is that there is no better way to kill an open source project than for the developers to retreat into the "hacking cave" away from the public's eye for years and years on end, only to reemerge once their product has reached perfection. The open source model only works when done in public, and when the software is released, warts and all. It is this communication with the outside world which attracts new developers and feedback from the user base about what they like and need.

The trick is that the people in the community need to find positive ways of participating in the project which lead to improvements in the software itself. Contrast this to closed source software where the only thing you can do if you don't like something about the software is to complain and threaten to leave for a competitor. Two very different worlds with two very different mentalities.

--
Simon

by Stefan Majewsky (not verified)

1 - That is right, it will most probably come in 4.2.
2 - I hope that this will also be solved by 4.2.
3 - This will (again) most probably come in 4.2 when the Folderview becomes more flexible and can be used as desktop without regressions.
4 - What are RDS widgets?
5 - Do you mean that you do not get a preview when you drag the cursor over the items on your window bar?
6 - What?!? Sorry, but I do not understand that. You are viewing a website in Konqueror, and then you try to download the Flash plugin? Shouldn't that be delivered by your distribution?

It seems like you're not a native English speaker. That is no problem, but you might feel more comfortable in forums in your native language.

by Stefan Majewsky (not verified)

1 - That is right, it will most probably come in 4.2.
2 - I hope that this will also be solved by 4.2.
3 - This will (again) most probably come in 4.2 when the Folderview becomes more flexible and can be used as desktop without regressions.
4 - What are RDS widgets?
5 - Do you mean that you do not get a preview when you drag the cursor over the items on your window bar?
6 - What?!? Sorry, but I do not understand that. You are viewing a website in Konqueror, and then you try to download the Flash plugin? Shouldn't that be delivered by your distribution?

It seems like you're not a native English speaker. That is no problem, but you might feel more comfortable in forums in your native language.

by Deniz (not verified)

Thnak you very much for your reply but not enough !!!
1 - That is right, it will most probably come in 4.2. / why?
2 - I hope that this will also be solved by 4.2. /why ?
3 - This will (again) most probably come in 4.2 when the Folderview becomes more flexible and can be used as desktop without regressions./ will wait more 6 months ?
4 - What are RDS widgets? about news or something ?
5 - Do you mean that you do not get a preview when you drag the cursor over the items on your window bar?/ exactly/ ?
6 - What?!? Sorry, but I do not understand that. You are viewing a website in Konqueror, and then you try to download the Flash plugin? Shouldn't that be delivered by your distribution?/ you can try to kubuntu and opensuse and its same...

It seems like you're not a native English speaker. That is no problem, but you might feel more comfortable in forums in your native language./ yes English not my native language but its problem for you. Could you understand and you can answer to me as easy. whats problem for you???

Yesterday i upgraded my beta2 to RC1 successfully and my most hated bug has been fixed, thanks folks! Also the overall experience with KDE4 is very nice, i'm using it as my default desktop since the betas.

This here is still unfixed: Trying to install a downloaded plasmoid crashes plasma. (Or, more exactly: Click "add plasmoid (it's 'Miniprogramm' in german, dunno the english term)" in the cashew on the top right, then choose "download from internet" at the bottom, then choose "Weather Plasmoid" and click OK.)

The good thing is that plasma nicely recovers from the crash and restarts itself (this was worse in earlier versions).

Is this a known issue? If not, i'll file a new bug soon, including backtrace debugging information.

I didn't try this with another plasmoid recently, so maybe it's an incompatibility of that specific plasmoid, so maybe i'll have to contact the plasmoid's maintainer?

by James C (not verified)

Firstly, great work on the release guys, I can't wait to try it out!

Secondly I had a idea I thought I might share, just there was a guy posting previously saying that there are a lot of dark themes/colour schemes.

What I was going to suggest is that KDE ship a set of schemes that by default includes all the primary (RBY) & secondary (GPO) colours and black to white too, with a light and dark version of every scheme. (For a total of ~16-24, correct me if i'm wrong, but as I understand colour schemes are just small bits of text/files so it's not gonna produce much bloat)

Crucially though, it will mean that whatever colour wallpaper you choose there is almost certanly gonna be a colour scheme that looks sweet on it/goes with it, because we'll have covered practically every option, with no need to check on the web etc.

I just thought this might be a nice way to get a bit extra 'built in' user friendly functionality pretty easliy and without much effort. It could be expanded to have 'neon' or 'pastel' etc etc classes too

Thoughts?

James C

by jos poortvliet (not verified)

Sounds like a good idea.

At the very least you could make them and put them on KDE-look.org, they will be downloadable with the integrated download function from the configure colors screen. If they get high ratings and many downloads you might consider proposing them for inclusion to the artists.

by James C (not verified)

We could actually just be lazy and use the most popular ones from KDE-Look that fit into each class i.e. the most popular light-red, light-blue etc etc. Why reinvent the wheel right? ;-)

James C

by James C (not verified)

We could actually just be lazy and use the most popular ones from KDE-Look that fit into each class i.e. the most popular light-red, light-blue etc etc. Why reinvent the wheel right? ;-)

James C

by Stefan Majewsky (not verified)

I have a spontaneous idea on how to extend this yet further: After the colors KCM has read the color schemes, it could take the most prominent colors to classify the schemes into classes like "Light red", "Dark green", or even "Light red-violet mix". This might be hard to implement, but it would be great to have.

by James C (not verified)

This sounds like a great idea though it might be a bit tricky to pull off. I suppose if you had a "foreground scheme" & a "background scheme" or some such division it would work quite nicely

by Pablo (not verified)

Please implement this feature. I don't think that KDE 4.x
will be ready for use without it.

Personally I don't care about complex visual effects, etc (in fact, I would
like KDE to be as lightweighted as possible, while continuing to
be as fully functional as 3.5.x was).

But I think that panel-autohide is important for usability.

Also I would like to be able to hide the panel I would like to be able to temporally hide it when I don't need it, by clicking at the left/right end of the panel, like it used to be possible in kde 3.x

I've reported this problem in bug #158556 on 2008-02-28
and this feature is not implemented yet.

by Boudewijn Rempt (not verified)

What would you rather have? KDE 4.1 without panel hiding now, and 4.2 with panel hiding in January, or no KDE 4.1 now, and KDE 4.1 with panel hiding in January?

If the latter, download the source in January, search and replace the version numbers and build your very own 4.1 with panel hiding!

by Hans (not verified)

Dear Pablo,

it is very welcome that everyone files his needs and wishes at bugs.kde.org, even encouraged, so no idea or problem gets lost. There is just a problem: Someone needs to go for it afterwards.

And while many developers are spending their own time or that some employer pays them for, most are even only scratching their own itch or that of the employer, implementing things they need and like, and, most important, if they can pull the time from somewhere (like not going out with the boy-/girlfriend, not surfing the sea or not doing other fun/business).

Do you understand this? Someone needs to work on this. Begging does not please anyone, neither the begger nor the begged one. The developers are no fairies who will and can operate every wish :) World would be a paradise if they were.

All you can do is: File your wish/bug, then wait, do it yourself or pay someone to do it. That's life. :)

by Pablo (not verified)

I see your point. In my case, I'm continue to use KDE 3.5.9
right now. I'm happy with it, and I'm not planning to switch
to 4.x for the moment.

I've just built KDE 4.x from svn in order to help testing and
report bugs. I don't currently have the programming skills to
implement this feature myself.

However, it is not just myself complaining of a missing feature.
Don't you see a lot of users complaning about missing features
like this? My point is that I think that the current direction
of development of KDE 4.x seems not to be what many users
expect.

I think that the desktop is there just to help users to get their
job to be done with the least possible trouble. So it would be
nice if the desktop just looks and feel the way they are accustom
to see. It is not good to force end-users to do the same things
in a different way from the one they've already learned
(I don't speaking about my self here, I'm an experienced user
and I love the command line interface, and advanced users
like myself can switch to any other desktop like Xfce, Fluxbox or
Gnome if they wish).

But I obseve that the radical changes in KDE 4.0 might confuse end-users that were used to the KDE 3.5.x look and feel. So I would try to keep
this kind of simple usability features like "panel auto-hidding"
that used to make the desktop experience of end-users much
comfortable.

by Renaud (not verified)

I don't understand how an auto-showing pannel is a usablity improvement.

Maybe you can be very accurate when you move your mouse, but when I want to reach a component that is on the border I will probably go a little too far (or hit screen border if there are no panel there) so if a panel decide to show up there I have to move the cursor away, then move it again slowlier.

But now, I have wide screens, so I can happilly have a hundred pixels used by panels on the left and right of my screen (I prefer vertical panels).

by Alejandro Nova (not verified)

An idea.

What if you implement a "Full Maximization" switch in KWin or in Plasma? This means: let KWin disobey the screen limits imposed by Plasmoids and let it maximize windows over all the available screen width and height. Later, you can recall Plasmoids via the Dashboard with a key combo, and you'll have a setting that does the job, and is 100x more useful than panel autohiding.

I hate with all my heart having to use panel autohiding in Windows Bosta™ to save screen real estate. Whenever I play Warzone 2100 and I carry my mouse cursor to the right, Warzone freaks out, and I'm in Windows Bosta™ desktop, with my newly enabled panel, coming out its autohiding. Kill that annoyance in KDE, please.

Please, kill "panel autohiding" for good, and implement it the way I'm suggesting. I will thank you a gazillion times if you do.

P.S. "Bosta" is a South American word meaning, literally, "a pile of bullshit". It's meant to replace "Vista", and it is pronounced the same way. Use it! :-)

by Boudewijn Rempt (not verified)

I think that the full-screen option in kwin (right-click, advanced, full-screen) already does what you want: maximize an application's window so it covers the whole screen. The window decorations disappear, too, so you really get maximum working area. I use it for konsole, for instance.

by skyxap (not verified)

When you unselect the 2 logout settings (confirm logout and offer shutdown options) should directly shutdown or restart without ask in the leave tab in kickoff, but still is not fixed... I need to logout and after find the shoutdown button and confirm one of the 2 actions... a lot of steps to only restart or disconnect the computer :-(

in other hand, i love how is progressing KDE4, RC 1 is very stable and now I can see HD videos with my old computer that wasn't possible using KDE 3.5.x (could be that I'm using optimized packages of Kubuntu and the official KDE3 is not optimized) :-O

when I get the kopete size of the panel changes

are doing an optimal job, can hardly wait for the following versions

by jackflash (not verified)

I've been using the 4.1 beta for a couple of weeks, and am very happy / impressed with it so far. Still having some graphical glitches (bottom panels disappears a lot, which is pretty annoying) but overall I'm definitely liking it more than Gnome on my OpenSUSE 11 install. After making a few font and other cosmetic changes, it's so pretty! Now for Amarok to come out ...

by Artem S. Tashkinov (not verified)

Unfortunately KDE 4.1 is almost unusable with NVIDIA 8800 GPU with NVIDIA binary driver (nv driver is unusabe either). Everything works so slow - I just cannot bear it.

by Koko (not verified)

mail to them then, and beg them to fix this issue.

by TonyM (not verified)

For some reason people don't seem to know that it runs perfectly fine if you disable desktop effects.

by Unnamed (not verified)

Maybe because what you say is wrong ?
I have an nVidia card (8400M GT) and I can assure you that it is still unusable when desktop effects are disabled...
(2D painting performance are still slow)

by Artem S. Tashkinov (not verified)

I second that.

Anyway there's a thread on phoronix forums and NVidia own forum: http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=115916