KOffice Suite 1.1 Release Candidate 1

KOffice RC1 has descended onto the well-known KDE ftp servers. Your best bet is to use it with KDE 2.2beta1 and Qt 2.3.1, but KDE 2.1.1 and Qt 2.2.4 will work (though not as well). The next release, scheduled for mid-August, will be 1.1 final, so this is your last chance to give KOffice a whirl and help find any remaining bugs before we are stuck with them until the 1.2 release <grin>. SuSE gets the binary-build over-achievement award. You can read the press release, complete with an incremental ChangeLog and other interesting stuff, if you Read More.

 

DATELINE JULY 30, 2001

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

KOffice Suite Release Candidate Available for Linux/Unix

KDE, the Leading Linux Desktop, Ships First Release Candidate of KOffice Suite

July 30, 2001 (The INTERNET).
The KDE
Project
today announced the release of
KOffice 1.1 Release Candidate 1 (RC1).
KOffice is an integrated office suite for KDE which utilizes open
standards for component communication and component embedding.
The primary goals of this release are to provide a preview of
KOffice 1.1 and to involve users and developers who wish to
request/implement missing features or identify problems.
Code development is currently focused on stabilizing KOffice 1.1,
scheduled
for final release in mid-August, 2001.

Although a release candidate, KOffice 1.1RC1 constitutes the most stable and
feature-complete release of KOffice to date. The KOffice team encourages
all users of earlier KOffice releases to upgrade to KOffice 1.1RC1.
In particular, this release is substantially more stable and
feature-complete than KOffice 1.0, which was released together with KDE 2.0
in October 2000. Changes to individual KOffice components since the last
beta release are enumerated below. In addition
Release
Notes
, a
list of
changes
since the KOffice 1.0 release, and a
KOffice FAQ, are
available at the KOffice website.

This release includes the following components:
KWord
(a frame-based, full-featured word processor);
KPresenter
(a presentation application);
KSpread
(a spreadsheet application);
Kontour
(a vector-drawing application f/k/a KIllustrator);
Kivio
(a flowchart application);
KChart
(a chart drawing application);
KFormula
(a formula editor);
Kugar
(a tool for generating business quality reports); and
filters
(for importing documents created by, or exporting documents for use with,
other office suites or office programs).

The most significant improvements since KOffice 1.1beta3, the last
KOffice beta release which was announced last month, occurred in
KWord. These improvements
include: support for Asian languages with
XIM;
drop'n'paste of images; and
copy/paste of tables. KWord also benefited from numerous bug-fixes,
particularly in the auto-sizing and auto-scrolling features.
For a further list of improvements to KOffice since the last beta release,
please refer to the incremental changelog below.

KOffice and all its components are available for free under
Open Source licenses from the KDE
server
and its mirrors.
As a result of the dedicated efforts of hundreds of translators,
KOffice 1.1RC1 is available in 27 languages.

Incremental Changelog

The following are the major improvements, enhancements and fixes since the
KOffice-1.1beta3 release last month:

  • All suite applications (KOffice libs)
    • New Features and Improvements:
      • added a submenu for selecting a type of embedded document to insert;
      • improved useability of template creation dialog;
      • improved template names to permit special characters, like '(';
      • improved the select-color actions with color palette;
      • improved the WMF-loader to parse the DPI of WMF files; and
      • replaced the filters' embedded dialog into the file chooser with normal dialogs; and
    • Bug Fixes:
      • fixed the automatic naming of DCOP interfaces;
      • fixed the recent files list (some ways of opening documents didn't add to that list);
      • fixed the autosave feature to only save if the document was changed since the last autosave;
      • fixed "Configure keys" to list all the available actions; and
      • fixed problems with embedded documents and zooming.
  • KWord
    • New Features:
      • added XIM support (for Asian languages);
      • added save/restore UI settings (formatting characters, frame borders, zoom);
      • added "keep aspect ratio" option when inserting/resizing images;
      • added support for dropping and pasting images;
      • added frame dialog for headers and footers;
      • enabled changing the charset for selected characters (helps non-AA displays
        and when printing);
      • enabled disabling the grid by pressing shift while moving/resizing a frame;
        and
      • implemented copy/paste of tables;
    • Improvements:
      • improved paragraph borders to span the entire frame/page width;
      • improved auto-resizing when inserting very large images;
      • improved auto-scrolling (also applies when moving a frame, etc.);
      • improved cell auto-sizing in tables;
      • improved preview in style dialog;
      • improved calculation of floating tables size and placement;
      • optimized speed when typing;
      • made the "insert special character" dialog non-modal;
      • increased the number of settings saved to/loaded from the KPresenter configuration file;
      • revised class design for future code sharing with other KOffice applications; and
      • made coordinates relative to page corner in frame dialog; and
    • Bug fixes:
      • fixed text-flow bugs;
      • fixed frame selection in case of overlapping frames;
      • fixed many undo/redo bugs (especially for tables) and grouping of commands;
      • fixed inline items in headers/footers/copied frames;
      • fixed copying frames (with inline frames);
      • fixed table of content (regeneration and page numbers);
      • fixed typographical quotes (never triggered in beta3);
      • fixed undo/redo when applying a new format to a variable, and when pasting text with inline items;
      • fixed loading of multi-columns documents, and loading of cliparts;
      • fixed saving of copied frames; and
      • fixed KPart objects, zooming, and preview mode.
  • KPresenter
    • increased the number of settings saved to/loaded from the KPresenter configuration file;
    • reduced size of file saved;
    • switched to menu XML for all actions;
    • fixed web presentation (author, email information); and
    • fixed icon names.
  • KSpread
    • fixed autofill bugs;
    • fixed crash when displaying an area (table name was not translated);
    • fixed GUI problems with the dialogbox;
    • closed some memory leaks (formula dialogbox and consolidate dialogbox were not deleted);
    • fixed "list sort" to not delete predefined lists (month, day);
    • fixed tags in header/footer (<name> <file> <author>); and
    • fixed print setup.
  • Kontour
    • renamed application from KIllustrator to Kontour;
    • added ability to delete objects with the backspace key;
    • added ability to use the delete key in a text object;
    • switched to KPrinter for printing (provides users with much greater control
      over layout/formatting of printed pages);
    • fixed helpline (the helpline is not moved and the cursor is not changed when the helplines are hidden);
    • fixed XIM positioning;
    • fixed undo/redo/cut actions;
    • fixed undo/redo change fill parameters;
    • fixed GUI to ensure tool is always checked;
    • fixed layerPanel (enable/disable button and other fixes); and
    • fixed crash when deleting a table.

For a list of major changes since the KOffice 1.0 release last October, please
visit the
KOffice
website
.

Downloading and Compiling KOffice

Source Packages.
The source packages for KOffice 1.1RC1 are available for free download at
http://ftp.kde.org/unstable/koffice-1.1-rc1/src/ or in the
equivalent directory at one of the many KDE ftp server
mirrors.

Library
Requirements
.
KOffice requires recent versions of Qt and kdelibs, and even more recent
versions are recommended.

  • Required: KOffice 1.1rc1 requires
    qt-x11-2.2.4or greater, kdesupport-2.1.x or greater, and kdelibs-2.1.2 or greater. The
    KDE packages are available from the KDE ftp servers at
    http://ftp.kde.org/stable/2.1.1/distribution/
    and http://ftp.kde.org/stable/2.1.2/distribution/.
    Please note, however, that kdelibs-2.1.1 will cause some crashes and
    anti-aliased font problems. Moreover, both kdelibs-2.1.1 and kdelibs-2.1.2
    will not properly accept .doc documents in the file selection dialog (see the
    release
    notes
    for a workaround).
     For more information on these kdelibs
    releases, please see the
    KDE 2.1.1
    press release
    and the
    KDE 2.1.2
    press release
    .
  •  

  • Recommended: The KOffice team recommends the use of
    qt-x11-2.3.1 and kdelibs-2.2beta. Kdelibs-2.2beta (and the pending kdelibs-2.2RC1)
    provide a few additional features, such as improved printing support
    (kdeprint), a scanner plugin, and proper recognition of
    .doc files in the file selector dialog.
    KDE 2.2beta1 is available from
    http://www.kde.org/unstable/2.2beta1/
    and KDE 2.2RC1 should be available shortly from
    http://www.kde.org/unstable/2.2rc1/.
    Please note that the kdesupport package has been discontinued for KDE 2.2.x
    due to the fact that most distributions already provide the libraries
    and programs which were included in that package. If you still require
    this package, you may use one of the
    snapshots.
     
    For more information on the kdelibs-2.2beta1 release, please see the
    release
    announcement
    .

KOffice 1.1rc1 will not work with versions of Qt older than 2.2.4 or
versions of kdelibs older than 2.1.1.

Compiler Requirements.
Please note that some components of
KOffice 1.1RC1 (such as the Quattro Pro® import filter
and the new KChart) will not
compile with older versions of gcc/egcs,
such as egcs-1.1.2 or gcc-2.7.2. At a minimum gcc-2.95-* is required.

Further Instructions.
For further instructions on compiling and installing KOffice, please consult
the installation
instructions
.

Installing Binary Packages

Binary Packages.
Some distributors choose to provide binary packages of KOffice for certain
versions of their distribution. Some of these binary packages for
KOffice 1.1RC1 will be available for free download under
http://ftp.kde.org/unstable/koffice-1.1-rc1/
or under the equivalent directory at one of the many KDE ftp server
mirrors. Please note that the
KDE team is not responsible for these packages as they are provided by third
parties -- typically, but not always, the distributor of the relevant
distribution (if you cannot find a binary package for your distribution,
please read the KDE Binary Package
Policy
).

Library Requirements.
The library requirements for a particular binary package varies with the
system on which the package was compiled. Please bear in mind that
some binary packages may require a newer version of Qt and/or KDE
than was distributed with the distribution version for which the binary
package is listed below. For general library requirements for KOffice,
please see the text at Source Code -Library Requirements.

Package Locations.
At the time of this release, pre-compiled packages are available for:

Please check the servers periodically for pre-compiled packages for other
distributions. More binary packages may become available over the
coming days and weeks; in particular,
RedHat packages are expected tomorrow and
Debian packages are expected late
this or early next week.

About KOffice/KDE

KOffice is part of the KDE project.
KDE is an independent, collaborative project by hundreds of developers
worldwide to create a sophisticated, customizable and stable desktop environmentemploying a component-based, network-transparent architecture.
KDE is working proof of the power of the Open Source "Bazaar-style" software
development model to create first-rate technologies on par with
and superior to even the most complex commercial software.

For more information about KDE, please visit KDE's
web site.
For more information about KOffice, please visit KOffice's
web site where you can find,
among other things, information on
contributing to KOffice.

Corporate KOffice Sponsors

Besides the valuable and excellent efforts by the
KOffice developers
themselves, significant support for KOffice development has been provided by
MandrakeSoft (which sponsors
KOffice developers David
Faure
and Laurent Montel),
theKompany.com (which
contributed Kivio and Kugar to KOffice),
and
Klarälvdalens
Datakonsult AB
(which contributed the new KChart to KOffice). Thanks!

Trademarks Notices.
KDE, K Desktop Environment, KChart, KFormula, Kontour, KOffice,
KPresenter, Krayon, KSpread and KWord are trademarks of KDE e.V.
Kivio and Kugar are trademarks of thekompany.com.

Quattro Pro is a registered trademark of Corel Corporation or Corel Corporation
Limited.

Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.
Unix is a registered trademark of The Open Group.
Trolltech and Qt are trademarks of Trolltech AS.
All other trademarks and copyrights referred to in this announcement are
the property of their respective owners.

Press Contacts:

United States:

Kurt Granroth
[email protected]
(1) 480 732 1752 
Andreas Pour
[email protected]
(1) 917 312 3122

Europe (French and English):

David Faure
[email protected]
(44) 1225 837409

Europe (English and German):

Martin Konold
[email protected]
(49) 179 2252249

Dot Categories: 

Comments

by Rk (not verified)

Alas, I am not a developer, I merely wanted to know whether it was being maintained or not.

by not me (not verified)

Actually, it can open .jpg and .png files, it just has a bad user interface. You can't use the File->Open dialog, there's a separate menu option "Import" to import non-Krayon files.

by Alain (not verified)

Wow, yes, in the middle of the menus, Image-import... It is the only way to open a jpg (no drag & drop, no copy/paste...)

And to save you have only to do Image-export, without any button or default key shortcut...

Bad user interface, as you say...

Now, I search to resize and rotate the image, I don't find in the menus... (strange, 5 menus are empty...)

And I have to be very carefull when exiting Krayon, there is no message when you have forhotten to save the file...

P.-S. : I succeed in resizing the image. I had to understand that zooming means resizing...

by Rajan Rishyakaran (not verified)

Isn't QT available for Mac OS X and Windows? Why not we make a version for it? Just a few simple UI change would do, and interegration with Windows Explorer (for Windows) and Finder (for Mac OS X) instead of Konqueror, etc. Isn't that better to get more users? The more users, the developers, the more developers, the more features. It would only help KOffice. Plus Krayon would be the first Photoshop-like app on Mac OS X.

by KDE User (not verified)

isn't gimp available on MacOSX ?

by Lesly (not verified)

only under x11

by KDE User (not verified)

Excuse my english..
I have just installed the Koffice RC1 on my suse7.2 box and I'am quite disapointed with this release.
It has many bugs with the language used (french) and often crashed (when trying to include a Kchart doc in kword for example).
I hope there will be some improvement before the final release.
Does anyone have such troubles or is it my installation ?
Thank you for your nice work...

by Richard (not verified)

According to the release note, rpms for Red Hat should be available on July 31.

Today is Aug 02.

Who is in charge of the rpms for Red Hat?
Yes, yes I know it isn't the KDE team...

Red Hat is one of the largest distributions if not THE largest. If the koffice team want people to test it then release rpms for Red Hat. Since a *lot* of users use Red Hat.

If there already is someone preparing or will soon prepare the rpms but hasn't had the time, then I apologize.

If there isn't any maintainers then the KDE team should *actively* go out and try to find someone. Not put a notice on the note-about-binary-maintainers, which few people read.

I unfortunately already maintain 3 programs for Redhat RPMS, and work 70 hours a week....

I don't want to sound ungrateful, but it's better just to write in the release notes that "No Red Hat packages are going to be released by anyone as far as we know."

Other than that. The KDE and Koffice teams are doing a GREAT job!

/Richard