The KDE Project is happy to announce a new major release of the award-winning K Desktop Environment. Many features have been added or refined, making KDE 3.5 the most complete, stable and integrated free desktop environment available. For a quick look at some of the new features see the visual guide to KDE 3.5. Packages are available now for ArchLinux, Kubuntu, Slackware and SuSE or try Konstruct to build it yourself.
Notable changes include:
- Konqueror is the second major web browser to pass the Acid2 CSS test, ahead of Firefox and Internet Explorer
- Konqueror can also free webpages from adverts with its new ad-block feature
- SuperKaramba is included in KDE, providing well-integrated and easy-to-install widgets for the user's desktop
- Kopete has support for MSN and Yahoo! webcams
- The edutainment module has three new applications (KGeography, Kanagram and blinKen), and has seen huge improvements in Kalzium
Stephan Kulow, KDE Release Coordinator, said: "The improvements made in the past year show how mature the KDE Project is. KDE is the most powerful desktop environment and development platform in the market. With huge changes expected in KDE 4, our next release, KDE 3.5 should provide users with the perfect productivity platform for the next couple of years."
Comments
I seem to recall that the test was supposed to go wonky when you scroll.
K, didn't see anything on their site about it going wonky when scrolling.
Anyway, KDE 3.5 and the new Konqueror are great.
"This row is the scalp of the face and it tests fixed positioning, minimum and maximum heights, and minimum and maximum widths. In the markup, the row is represented by a p element which is fixed to the window rather than the scrollable canvas. If the Acid2 page is scrolled, the scalp will stay fixed in place, becoming unstuck from the rest of the face, which will scroll."
http://www.webstandards.org/act/acid2/guide.html
Indeed.
"If the Acid2 page is scrolled, the scalp will stay fixed in place, becoming unstuck from the rest of the face, which will scroll."
http://www.webstandards.org/act/acid2/guide.html
What about when being zoomed? Is it supposed to break then?
Try to zoom one or two times in (or out).
Not only does the face scroll away, additionally it breaks.
Firefox does not support it AT ALL.
The konqueror developers say, Konqueror passes the acid test. It does not because the layout breaks if you don't use the default font size but zoom a bit in or out.
And yes, there are other pages which breake, too, if you use the font-zoom-feature.
Most of the time I don't watch the acid-face, so it does not matter for me that firefox does not pass the acid test. but firefox passes the "real world" test, which is much more important for me!
Does the acid test specify that it must tolerate zooming the text font?
Konqueror passes the real world test as well. Proper spell checking, fast loading, and real file dialogs instead of that abomination that Firefox calls a file picker in Linux.
> fast loading,
Back/Forward performance is much slower than firefox and much much much slower than firefox 1.5. :-(
But Konqueror's Ftp-implementation (=file manager mode) is 1000% better than Firefox's FTP-Implementation!
Back/Forward performance in Konqueror is slower since it doesn't cache the processed results but only the downloaded data. Firefox keeps all the results from processing and page rendering in memory, this uses more memory but saves redundant processing time. It's a tradeoff really.
First of all: when you zoom in and out, you should also click again on the link "Take the Acid2 test" so the page will be scrolled to the exact position (Konqueror will stay on the same pixels from the page top when you zoom in or out, hence you notice the face that's scrolling away -- you should go back to the top of the page and click on the link again). When you do this, you'll notice that only two things are "wrong":
The first thing in Acid2 that doesn't allow for zooming is the eyes: those are images, and the images don't scale. The other heights and widths are calculated based on the current font size (they are defined in "em"), so the other parts will scale. Hence the too small eyes and orange background behind the eyes -- you wouldn't see this orange background when the eyes were scaled well).
The other part of the face that doesn't seem to behave well is the second line on the top of the face, that isn't in the correct position. Again, that's because the measures for this line to be in it's exact position (and also it's height and width) are specified in pixels, instead of "em". So when you zoom in or out or when you use wrong font sizes (by forcing a minimum font size larger than the one that's used in Acid2 for example), it won't scale.
(If you know css, you can check this yourself at http://www.webstandards.org/act/acid2/guide.html )
In other words: Konqueror behaves exactly how it should when zooming in or out. It's the way Acid2 works that will break the face. No browser will not break the face when zooming, Acid2 isn't designed for it.
Images CAN be scaled! It's a bug in Konqueror that they don't scale, and maybe now it's time to fix this bug. The only browser that I saw does proper page zooming is Opera. Opera scales the entire page, including images and even flash movies. But we will have to wait until Opera passes Acid2 to see if it is able to zoom it corectly.
> Images CAN be scaled!
And? That still doesn't mean that acid2 shouldn't break when zooming.
When Konqueror "zooms" in or out, it will only adapt the font size. It also says so in the "view" menu: "enlarge/shrink font". That's not really zooming, and I don't think Konqueror can do that. It will not scale the images, unlike Opera. I have no idea how it should be done, if someone can find it on the W3C website...
And indeed, images can be scaled, but then you have to say so explicitely in the css or xhtml code (and you can even make it zoom in and out in Konqueror by using em sizes). But there are no heights or widths defined for the eye images in Acid2, and thus it's default dimensions will be used.
It breaks for real if you set a minimum font size of 12 (probably other sizes too, but that's mine). Fickle thing, that acid2.
I've just upgraded my Kubuntu install from the latest RC to the final release and it is a nice upgrade from earlier releases.
Thanks a lot to everyone in the KDE community for creating such a great desktop environment!
Go get a nice beer or two and then get that KDE4 release finished :p
md5sums are ONLY different on:
kdelibs
kdebase
kdemultimedia
kdeutils
kdebindings
You are missing kdepim, kdesdk and kdewebdev changes in your list. kdebindings didn't change.
I was really hoping that Konqueror 3.5 would address the problems with Gmail and Google Maps, but they still don't work. :/ That said I find that I can still use Konqueror as my main browser when in KDE and still not suffer.
Other than that, it looks like another refinement on the solid foundation of 3.x, I think I can live with that for a while. :)
Actually it is upon google to fix it.
Go into konqueror's settings and add user agents for maps.google.com/local.google.com as a Safari agent.
Oh, and don't forget to add a user agent for blogger.com as Firefox.
Then they work just fine.
Email google to tell them to fix thier silliness on excluding konqueror from acceptable browsers, even though Safari is based on khtml.
*sigh*
-Ryan
> Email google to tell them to fix thier silliness on excluding konqueror from
> acceptable browsers
Does not work because you only receive an automatic answer.
Maybe it's time to publicly announce that Konqueror will switch default search engine to MSN if google continues to lock out konqueror from their web-applications.
Google Maps still doesn't work for me, even with the user agent changed. The navigation controls show up, and a gray background, but I never get a map.
Dagnabbit.
Yes, I've tried it with changing the user agent in each build, but it never seems to completely work. I've been able to get the background to show up sometimes by moving the map, but never consistently.
Also Gmail, if you turn on the advanced features as it appears in FireFox and IE, doesn't work either. :/
You only have to change your user agent, and they'll work both Gmail and Google Maps.
After you've done that, please email Google asking to add Konqueror to their supported browser list.
http://linux.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=169644&cid=14137443
Combobox to reply and forward mail doesn't work. I tried chenging my user agent to firefox, safari and ie but it still didn't work. I was forced to use firefox to reply to a yahoo mail :(
Yep.
Unfortunately Yahoo decided to break whatever was left of standards compliance.
AFAIK there is a fix for this waiting to be released with KDE 3.5.1. The real fix should be done by yahoo, of course. It's their bug, but they're too big to care.
I'm sure this will be a great, stable, fast and easy to use release. I can't wait until SLAX packages it. :)
Hi
Konqueror and flash webpages works 3.5 well ? Or make high cpu load ?
I have the problems with high cpu load with FireFox 1.5 when visiting http://www.n-tv.de/ it nearly halts and takes minutes until I can press something and have something else load. Recent FireFox and most recent Flashplayer.
The flashplayer is not part of KDE. It's the same old crap from Macromedia. It is probably the worst written program ever made for linux. You can expect the same slow and sluggish browsing when you visit sites with flash.
No way,, flash and FF 1.0.x is oko. But if I use konqueror then cpu load up to 3 (one processor machine) And konqueror uses same plugin that FF. But FF and Flash is oko..load about 0.3 and 0.6
This is only problem whay I cant use one part of KDE :( Very booring...
Ok, I know I'm in the minority group who still misses the Tabbed Pages mode in Kate, selectable from the now extinct User Interface/Environment setting which still is in KDevelop. But why remove Projects? Are the Kate developers bent on changing everything about how we work with Kate in every release?
Kate will soon be useless..
As for KDevelop - you still cannot save the User Interface setup. All toolviews, from valgrind to konsole come up each time the app is launched.
This is amateur work! Please, fix bugs before adding features.. :-(
sounds bad, tough i don't use kate, i understand the problem. hope they fix it for kde 3.5.1 (another six weeks away). you should report this as a bug, and, if you can, include a fix (patch).
And konqueror is now crashing when manipulating the css attribute; display:
I think there is room for another RC, but ah well.
A few questions to you:
Did you test the last RC?
Was this bug present in the last RC?
If so, did you report it then?
Had there been one more RC, would you have tested it and reported bugs?
A single answer: I have never seen a 3.x.0 KDE version that I wouldn't call beta quality, which indicates a problem with the release cycle.
A single answer: the problem is that you're not helping during the release cycle.
For 3.5 I had no time to do it, but in general you're wrong.
bugs get fixed when people report them. if not enough people try the beta's and the rc's, what should the kde devs do?
This isn't quite true. Have e.g. a look at http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=89516 I don't know if it's fixed in 3.5 final, but given this reproducible crash is known for ages, it's pretty poor sample. A lot of bugs get fixed, a lot of bugs don't. Or take http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=56319 and http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=116876 as example for bugs related to one of the most crucial applications KDE has to offer.
My point also isn't primarly the amount of bugs, but the short time frame for testing the rc's. Giving users a month of testing for each release candidate would yield far better results - if the devs care (free [broken] open source and time restriction arguments aside).
"This is amateur work!"
yeah, we should demand our money back! Oh, wait...
"Please, fix bugs before adding features"
you do realize that if the devels did that, there would never be any new features? There will never be bug-free software. Well, maybe if we had 1000 developers working on current KDE for 10 years, it might be _almost_ 100% bug-free, but there would still be bugs in there. Is that something you want?
I heard that Mozilla (the browser, and nothing but the browser) has something like 50.000 open bugs....
Hey! You don't seem to understand that thousands use KDE and rely on it to do their work. Do not give me that "free software must be allowed to crap out" shit. One of the arguments of free software is the quality of code - that you don't have to rush to keep deadlines.
Here, in the real world, Kate just became unusable and unreliable for office work. The real world. In your sugar cotton world, things might be however you like.
"Hey! You don't seem to understand that thousands use KDE and rely on it to do their work. Do not give me that "free software must be allowed to crap out" shit."
So, KDE-team gives you kick-ass software for free, and here you are making demands. That's a very nice way to show your gratitude, isn't it? "I use the software that you gave me for free, and I DEMAND that you fix this problem! NOW!". If KDE does not deliver, use something else, or fix it yourself. Most likely you haven't done jack-shit to help the developers in any shape or form, so why exactly do you think that the developers owe you anything? If I give you a car for free, does that mean that I'm required to give you free gasoline for the year as well? When it comes to software, many people seem to think just that.
Seriously, I find it REALLY surprising that so meny people think that they are entitled to everything. So you use KDE, does that mean that KDE-developers should satisfy your whims? If anything, you owe to the developers (after all, they have given you software that you rely on to do your work, and they gave it to you for free!), not the other way around! And still, lots of people think that by merely using a piece of software (that they got for free) means that they are entitled to make demands... What a strange world we are living in....
"One of the arguments of free software is the quality of code - that you don't have to rush to keep deadlines."
One of the argoments of free software is that you can change the code to suit your needs. Don't like it? Fine, you have the code. Go right ahead and change it.
"Here, in the real world, Kate just became unusable and unreliable for office work"
You are not forced to use Kate, go right ahead and use something else.
As to your comments about Mozilla. Yes, it works. So does KDE. so there's no need to solely fix bugs, instead of adding features.
"So, KDE-team gives you kick-ass software for free, and here you are making demands. That's a very nice way to show your gratitude, isn't it? "I use the software that you gave me for free, and I DEMAND that you fix this problem! NOW!". If KDE does not deliver, use something else, or fix it yourself. Most likely you haven't done jack-shit to help the developers in any shape or form, so why exactly do you think that the developers owe you anything? If I give you a car for free, does that mean that I'm required to give you free gasoline for the year as well? When it comes to software, many people seem to think just that."
Please, don't assume anything. How I show my gratitude is besides my point, not everyone has to prove anything to have any relevance. I develop open source software as well. Nobody owes me anything. But if I'd have a mature application (not talking about KDE as a whole here), I'd make sure I didn't release something that shone badly on myself. The Open Source movement has something to prove, and that is that it's worth while. Your gibberish suggests the opposite. Now that just doesn't make any sense.
"One of the argoments of free software is that you can change the code to suit your needs. Don't like it? Fine, you have the code. Go right ahead and change it."
That's one of the arguments, but again - please make sense. Do you expect kde to be for developers only? Make sense! Secondly, do you really think that developers could just jump in on any given project and change the code to fit his or her need? Then you don't know much about software development.
"You are not forced to use Kate, go right ahead and use something else."
Like what? Quanta can't handle big documents. KDevelop is overkill for PHP sources and has a horrible layout which must be reconfigured each time the application starts, as it doesn't save the state.
"As to your comments about Mozilla. Yes, it works. So does KDE. so there's no need to solely fix bugs, instead of adding features."
Yes, KDE works, but many KDE apps are bugridden, and nothing you've said has justified that. And you still don't get the point. Nobody said that they should solely fix bugs, but some bugs should be considered _blockers_!
> > "You are not forced to use Kate, go right ahead and use something else."
> >
> Like what?
Emacs :)
Hehe, no let's all go back to using VI!
Seriously, this new KDE version is a step forwards in many ways, but some of the apps that has had problems in the past still has problems.
Kate, Quanta, KDevelop, Konqueror..
Well, probably others, but as I do web work every day I've gotten accustomed to these bugs. And yes, I've posted them to the bug list. Some a long time ago :-)
The biggest step forward for KDE 3.5 is desktop polish.
I'll stop whining and get to posting bug reports. Just got meself a new account.
"But if I'd have a mature application (not talking about KDE as a whole here), I'd make sure I didn't release something that shone badly on myself."
What makes you think KDE3.5 "shines badly" on KDE? Maybe they made a design-decision that you simply disagree with.
"Like what?"
The previous version of Kate perhaps?
"Yes, KDE works, but many KDE apps are bugridden, and nothing you've said has justified that."
Well you can
a) Use something else
b) help fix those bugs
If KDE is so bad, why are you using it? Because it's better than the alternatives? I guess KDE ain't that bad in the end, huh? And if you haven't helped the developers in fixing those bugs, then I fail to see what grounds you have to complain.
"And you still don't get the point. Nobody said that they should solely fix bugs, but some bugs should be considered _blockers_!"
Yeah, changes that you disagree with are blockers. It's a shame really that the KDE-developers don't ask for your opinion on every change they make.
I ment:
Kate, Quanta, KDevelop, Konqueror - in the time for the 3.5 release.
Thay are parts that only gets released with new versions of KDE and are therefore bound by the KDE release cycle. I did not mean KDE as a whole, as you quoted above.
"Like what? Quanta can't handle big documents. "
Example? It can handle, but in some cases might be slow. Examples are welcome. Still, you can configure Quanta to simply not parse the document: DTD->Change DTD->Empty DTEP valid for all files.
Set this for the project/global dtd and be happy. Of course, Quanta will be degraded, but you will get project manager and some other extra things.