KDE 2.1.1 is Out!

As everyone has been gleefully pointing out, KDE 2.1.1 is out. The main features of this release over KDE 2.1 are bugfixes, additional language translations, and numerous documentation updates. As an added bonus, you can now also "paste" a URL to Konqueror and have it automatically load the website. I'm also told that KPilot 4.0.1 is in pretty good shape in this release. See the ChangeLog for more details, and the full announcement here. Enjoy!

Dot Categories: 

Comments

by dblr (not verified)

I have to agree with that

As a gnome convert, what I really miss is nice looking kwin themes (those included in KDE are nice but a bit plain), and a sound mixer applet comparable to that of the gnome panel (ie being able to set the main sound without running kmix in a new window or have a dozen unconvenient mixers in the panel)

by not me (not verified)

You don't have to have all the mixers in the KMix applet at once. You can right click any of the channels and click "hide" to hide it. That way you can make the applet very small :-)

I can only agree about the kwin themes, though.

by Arthur (not verified)

Thank God this threads on Window decoratins is
winding down.

by J. J. Ramsey (not verified)

Mosfet was working on KWM theme support for Kwin. I don't know if he's still working on it or not. Offhand, I'd say that with some modification, it would make a good basis for pixmap-based window frame themes.

IMHO, you've spotted the big weakness in Kwin theming. It seems that only those who know C or C++ can make new window frame themes. IMHO, the only things one should need for theming are a good eye for aesthetics and a knowledge of a graphics program like the GIMP.

by not me (not verified)

KWM theme support now works perfectly, allowing you to theme KWin with no knowledge of C++. However, doing the more complicated things that are possible now does require some C++ programming. It doesn't have to be that way, though. If someone who knew C++ wanted to, they could design a window frame theme that looked into a configuration file for all its paramaters, allowing you to configure it with no knowledge of C++ (that's what the KWM theme support plugin does, but it still has the limitations of the old KWM). That's the beauty of a window manager that uses plugins!

by J. J. Ramsey (not verified)

"KWM theme support now works perfectly, allowing you to theme KWin with no knowledge of C++."

Ah, it's actually there already. I thought Mosfet was still hacking on it.

by Capt Pungent (not verified)

Umm, I assume you are referencing the min/max/close buttons, since you are referencing Sawfish. All you have to do is rightclick the titlebar, select "Decorations"(I think. I'm at work on Win95 box), and select your style. I was mad when 2.1 moved the close button back over to the right (I makes more sense to have it on the left, out of the way), til I figured that out. I run Kde with the Aqua theme and the Aqua-like decorations. Well, in Slak, anyway.

by zack (not verified)

Look at the posts above, that was not what I was saying. I said that the kwm decorations, at this time look a lot worse than those on other windows managers. When you're saying aqua-like decorations I presume you mean ModSystem decorations which don't really look like aqua in the first place and decorations don't depend on a distribution since they're installed by default with kwm.

by Mark (not verified)

I don't think I should post this question here but I am looking for filters or software to generate aqua interface-like typografy.

Anybody?

Thanks

Mark

by Azanian (not verified)

I updated from 2.1 -> 2.1.1 and now KControl is broken. It still runs but I just get a blank left panel. :-(

by KDE User (not verified)

You can't upgrade KDE while in KDE. ;-) If you do, you should logout and login. If that's not what you did, try "kbuildsycoca". As a test you might want to logout, move your .kde directory and relogin and see if that fixes anything. I don't see what the problem could be honestly, unless broken packages.

by Azanian (not verified)

I actually did logout from KDE and shutdown X before I upgraded. I used 'rpm -Uvh *.rpm' which worked without any problem. I'll try your recomendations though. Thanks.

by David Faure (not verified)

Assuming you are using Mandrake, also try "update-menus". For some reason still to be determined, this isn't run automatically, apparently.

The KDE desktop files are created from the "menu" files and the .directory in /usr/share/applnk/Configuration/KDE/ misses the X-KDE-BaseGroup=setting key (adding this by hand in another way to fix this).

Still not sure why this happens.

by Evan "JW" E. (not verified)

> adding this by hand

Could you do me (and probably anyone else using Mandrake) a favor and post the fix? Not only is my KControl empty, I have a bunch of Generic App icons (the gear) replacing some of my applications - the .desktop files were removed or replaced in the upgrade.

And Mandrake people... did you test this? It's not the smooth upgrade from you guys that I'm used to.

(Incidently, the Mandrake update included XF 4.0.3, presumably for AA support - it nuked my dual-head setup (G400)).

--
Evan

by David Faure (not verified)

I did "post the fix" in my explanations above !!

Here it is again:

The .directory in /usr/share/applnk/Configuration/KDE/ misses the X-KDE-BaseGroup=setting line. Just add it
(and run kbuildsycoca or restart KDE).

by jorge (not verified)

i can´t get AA to work

was it suppose to work out of box

thank's

btw it's enabled in kcontrol

by Per (not verified)

Thanks. Now I only have a few roblems.

I can't change language to Swedish. Almost nothing happens when I change language in kcontrol. Only that page is translated.

I can't move to position A1 in kspread with +.

by Mark Hillary (not verified)

Are you an mandrake user (or debain). If you are it is a problem with menudrake and kde conflict. I think that you need to delete you .kde dir, (I think). Anyway best thing to do is to head on over mandrake.com and subscribe to the expert (newbie) lists. Because they will know the anwser their. Check the archives first I think people have asked before.

by David Faure (not verified)

Shouldn't matter.
If you try, however, back it up first, and if it does change anything, look under ~/.kde/share/applnk/ for any .directory file containing X-KDE-BaseGroup... There shouldn't be any, but one never knows...

by Antialias (not verified)

This happens because mandrake replaces kmenu by its own menu, and in Kmenu there is Preferences entry (this is actually X-base grup or whatever). Mandrake puts it to Configuration > Preferences and
that causes problems. Kde looks for Preferences as a base entry in Kmenu not as subdirectory in Mandrake's Preferences. So, to solve this problem people just have to copy Preferences directory from /usr/share/applnk.kde to /usr/share/applnk or to /.kde/share/applnk in your home dir.
I hope this helps.
Regards,

by David Faure (not verified)

No, KDE doesn't look for a directory by name or location, it looks for the .directory file that has X-KDE-BaseGroup=settings in it.

The thing to investigate if KControl shows up empty, is how many such files you can find in the "applnk" directories, and if you have 0 or 2 such files, then there's something wrong.

If it works when you copy stuff out of applnk.kde, it's because that one has the "magic entry". So it may be that Mandrake's (applnk/) has 0 matching files - and that's a bug in the 'update-menu' generation then.

I'd like to know if that is the case for anyone, and if yes, whether running "update-menus" as root creates the missing .directory file.

by Mark Hillary (not verified)

The reason I posted was becasue this happened to me between updating from 2.0 to 2.1. The problem hasn't occured in Kde 2.1.1. Don't know why. I think it becasue I delete the mandrake kde menu and replaced it with the default kde menu from /usr/share/applink.kde/settings/

Anyway the incons are far nicer then the drab folders that mandrake uses.

by Pradeep (not verified)

Where can I get RedHat rpms ? I cannot find them on ftp site.

by Franklin Kazior (not verified)

I was reading from a page off www.kde.org about Redhat distrabution. There quote is
"Please check the servers periodically for pre-compiled packages for other distributions. More binary packages will become available over the coming days and weeks. In particular RedHat packages are expected soon."

by Steve G. (not verified)

Find them...heck, I can't even get connected to ftp.kde.org and none of the mirrors seem to be complete...they have source rpms for RedHat but it doesn't look like they are all there on the mirrors that I have been to (the 2 that weren't maxed out)

by Stuart (not verified)

Hey, I have a problem.

I tried to upgrade qt by compiling the scource and messed my system up bad. well since then I have reinstall(built new machine). I dont know how to correctly change the profile file in red hat. When I messed up my system last I made it so you could do anything in command line or startx. NO command worked!! anyone know how do it correctly or maybe what i did wrong?

by szcyber (not verified)

When I do "make check",there are some error message:
kmdcodectest.cpp: In function `int main (int, char **)':
kmdcodectest.cpp:360: cannot convert `bool' to `const char *' for
argument `2' to `MD5_string (const char *, const char *, bool)'
make[3]: *** [kmdcodectest.o] Error 1
make[3]: Leaving directory `/usr/local/kdelibs-2.1.1/kio/tests'
make[2]: *** [check-am] Error 2
make[2]: Leaving directory `/usr/local/kdelibs-2.1.1/kio/tests'
make[1]: *** [check-recursive] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/local/kdelibs-2.1.1/kio'
make: *** [check-recursive] Error 1

totally no idea, does someone know the solutions?
Thanks.

by David Faure (not verified)

Forget about "make check", it builds test programs for developers.
No idea how to fix the above, that's something for Dawit or Alex I guess.

by Yogeshwar (not verified)

Bero!
Maybe this request is little late for 2.1.1
But for 2.2 at least can you have rpm's similiarly split as debs
It will save us a lot of downloading time
It's waste of bandwidth to download whole kdemultimedia package even when i just want noatun

Please considere this request

The sizes of all deb files are really small this way

Cheers!

by Bernd (not verified)

Hi,

I have installed KDE 2.1.1 on my SuSE 7.1 system with X4.02. I have compiled QT 2.3.0 from source with the flag for AA fonts. On X4.02 AA works fine.

Than I have installed X 4.03 (because I have some trouble with 3D in X4.02). After I installed it AA don't work, but the truetype fonts are still there and can be used (without AA). Maybe someone have the same problem and solved it?

by Moritz Moeller-... (not verified)

AA is now configurable via GUI: Look under Style in LooknFeel, you can switch it on or off there.

It defaults to off.

by Bernd Lachner (not verified)

Thank you,

that solved my problem :-)

But one problem is still there. I can not choose a font for the fixed font setting. I can only choose fixed, but KDE don't accept this and choose Abadi Condensed by itselfs. But, I have installed the Courier font in my truetype directory. Maybe someone can help?

by Evandro (not verified)

support for AA is not on by default (at least on 4.0.2; i haven´t compiled 4.0.3 yet).

read the docs in the xc/ dir.

I downloaded all the rpms for Mandrake 7.2, both for XFree 4.0 and KDE packages (include the latest qt). I login to my system on console mode as a root and then type

rpm -Uvh --nodeps --force *.rpm
in the directory where rpms are located.

When I typed startx, KDE 2.1.1 doesn't show up. It showed empty window and then back again to console mode.

I reinstalled again with command
rpm -Uvh *.rpm

This time it display some error messages, something like
libmng.so.1 is needed by K*...

When I run englightment I notice mandrake menu doesn't have KDE menu's entries.
What's going on?

Download the latest libmng. At www.rpmfind.net you will find the source.

> rpm -Uvh --nodeps --force *.rpm

You should hav done like this:
rpm -U --test *.rpm
You don't need to be root to test. Note all failed dependencies you get. Head over to http://rpmfind.net and search for the files you are missing and get the RPMs.
This doesn't help you at this point though. If you can't start KDE and don't want to use serh the web in text mode, try this:
xinit
(this will give you bare X if you didn't break X in the process)
startgnome, starticewm or some other window manager. Press after start and select one. From here you can start a graphical web browser (probably not konqueror though) and resolve your failed dependencies. Hope this works.

by Janne Ojaniemi (not verified)

I downloaded and installed KDE 2.1.1 RPMs I found on SuSE ftp-site. Everything went well, and it seemed to work. For the first time that is.

When I started KDE2, I got the normal splash-screen, everything is OK. But after the spalsh-screen, I get a popup-windows complaining that "Dial-out is not configured in rc.config. Please use Yast to set it up" (or something along those lines). And I noticed that KNotes (you know, the "post-it" program) started automatically for some reason. Well, those were annoying, but not fatal. Everything else worked fine.

That was the first boot. After that, it wont work properly. When I boot KDE2 now, It wont load the panel! The splash-screen says that "loading panel", it thinks for a while, and then it takes me to the desktop, but with no panel. Also, I can't run any programs by clicking the icons! Only exception is Netscape. And it complains about missing dial-out, and KNotes starts just like it did in the first time.

It has the same problem no matter if I'm a user or the root. First boot worked, second wont. Altrough Root doesn't suffer from that KNotes & Dial-out-problem.

What's wrong with my system? My comp has never had dial-out, so why does it complain about it?

by EKH (not verified)

You probably just need to move your ~/.kde directory out and try it again. Did you have an older version installed?

by Janne Ojaniemi (not verified)

I did had KDE1 installed on the system, that's all. Actually the entire system was just installed. I'll give your suggestion a go when I get back home.

by Adrian (not verified)

You have maybe delete the --quit switch behind the kinternet call in startkde ?

bye
adrian

by Janne Ojaniemi (not verified)

OK, I found out why the panel disappears. Whenever I enable AA-fonts, it disappears after I restart KDE. I can get it back by deleting .kde2. If I don't mess around with AA, everything works.

Does anyone know why it does that? I installed QT 2.3.0 with xft enabled, I have installed Xfree 4.0.2, I have latest drivers from NVIDIA, which supports AA-fonts, I have enabled the render-extension... Everything seems to be right.

by Anonymous (not verified)

> Everything seems to be right.

nope, you have the latest drivers from NVidia ... ;-)

by Janne Ojaniemi (not verified)

"nope, you have the latest drivers from NVidia ... ;-)"

What's wrong with those? 3D-performance is good, 2D-performance is good. When I read the reviews, people seem to think that NVIDIA-linux drivers are among the best there is. Sure they may not be Open Source, but...

by Joergen Ramskov (not verified)

Has anyone tried (or is anyone using) KPilot?

What works? What doesn't? Is it stable?

by JC (not verified)

The core functionality works great, but I haven't tried any of the conduits that sync your data up with the KDE PIM stuff.

What I would really like to see is an AvantGo conduit, but I'll just have to live with malsync for now.

if not what must i do

because it's activated in kcontrol but it don't see any differences

thank's

It depends if your graphics card supports the X Render extension or not. Try opening a Konsole and do this:

xterm -fa courier

This tries to start an xterm with AA fonts. If you see the message "Extension RENDER missing on display 0.0" or something like that, it probably means your graphics card isn't supported.

If you don't see that message, and your xterm uses AA fonts, then I don't know what could be wrong.

See the changelog:
Mandrake RPMs don't support AA they disabled freetype2 in 4.0.3.

where's the changelog

anyome from mandrake can tell me why please

why why why

I'm going to try and download the 4.03 src rpm and rebuild it and see if that works.

Craig