Applications

KDE Apps Mid-Year Update

Dot Categories: 

The summer sun is here and new apps come with it -- unless you live in the southern hemisphere, in which case, congratulations! You got past the winter solstice, and it's all longer days and new app releases from here onwards.

LabPlot 2.9.0


New worksheet elements to annotate curve data point and to show images
on the worksheet.

LabPlot is KDE's open source and cross-platform data visualization and analysis software. It is accessible to everyone, and Labplot 2.9 adds a bunch of new features, such as new worksheet elements to annotate curve data points and to show images on the worksheet.

You can also now plot the data against multiple and different axes. A new visualization type, box plot provides a quick summary of the basic statistical properties of the data set, and a collection of multiple well-known color maps and a feature that allows for conditional formatting of the data in the spreadsheet let's you obtain insights into the structure of your data and its statistical properties directly in the spreadsheet.

We added Hilbert transform to the set of analysis functions and LabPlot can now import and export more formats, having added MATLAB, SAS, Stata and SPSS to the list.

Labplot can be downloaded with your Linux distro package manager, through Snapcraft, Flatpak, as well as for Mac and Windows.

Haruna 0.8


KDE's Haruna video player.

Haruna is the KDE video player with YouTube integration. This new release has support for global menus, can be configured to pause playback when minimised and save the time position when shutdown. It also adds a "recent files" menu option, and useful actions to load the last file, restart playback and jump to your "watch later" list.

Install on Linux.
Download from Flathub
Get it from the Snap Store


GCompris 2.4


GCompris provides kids with more than 100 fun educational activities.

Our educational activities app, GCompris, has made a number of new releases over the last few months and, among other things, has managed to reduce the space it takes up on disk by 30%. GCompris has also added new voices in Norwegian Nynorsk and Malayalam, and new, updated images makes it look prettier than ever.

You can find packages of this new version for GNU/Linux, Windows, Raspberry Pi and macOS on the download
page
. It's also available from the Android Play store, the F-Droid repository and the Windows store.

Digikam 7.6


Digikam's new Flow View plugin.

DigiKam 7.6 has made their AppImage slicker by using ICU for full Unicode support and Qt 5.15 and libraw.

There's a new Flow View Plugin which uses the masonry layout. Masonry is a grid layout based on columns, but, unlike other grid layouts, it doesn’t have fixed height rows. Basically, Masonry layout optimizes the use of space inside the canvas by reducing any unnecessary gaps. Without this type of layout, certain restrictions are required to maintain the structure of layout, as with the main icon-view in digiKam album window. This kind of layout is used by the Pinterest social network for example.

DigiKam 7.6.0 source code tarball, Linux 64 bits AppImage bundles, macOS Intel package, and Windows 64 bits installers can be downloaded from this repository.

KStars 3.5.9


KStars

KStars is probably the most feature-rich free astronomy software around and the 3.5.9
release
adds some exciting new features.

HiPS (Hierarchical Progressive Surveys) is a technology that provides progressive high resolution images of the sky at different zoom levels. KStars fully supports online HiPS where data is downloaded from online servers and cached to be displayed on the Sky Map.

A new simplified and powerful Mosaic Planner directly integrates in the Sky Map and greatly benefits from HiPS overlay to make your target-framing spot on. Toggle the Mosaic View from the toolbar, and select your equipment and the mosaic configuration. You can also use it as a very simple tool to frame a single 1 x 1 tile.

KStars also adds the ability to refocus after a meridian flip is complete. This is very useful for some optical train setups where the focuser might shift the duration the flip.

KStars can be installed on Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux.

RKWard 0.7.4


RKWard.

RKWard is KDE's R app for statistics and has improved the first use experience in its latest versions. RKWard devs have done that by reworking the "Welcome to RKWard" page entirely: it now serves as a "dashboard" with some of the most important tasks, including, among other things, several new options for importing data from other programs. Several unnecessary dialogs that used to greet new users have been removed.

Beyond this, almost all plugins now support a preview, helping you see results faster, and to send only intended output to the output window.

Download RKWard for macOS, Windows and Linux.

Bugfixes

  • The creators of the Krita painting app have fixed some crashes in version 5.0.6.
  • Ruqola 1.7.2, KDE's Rocket.chat app, adds a Windows testing build and can be downloaded as Linux packages and from Flathub. Incidently Rocket.chat announced that they would add bridging to Matrix so they can talk to the rest of KDE's chat rooms.
  • The Tellico project, creators of KDE's collection manager app, has released version3.4.4 and mended a bug that stops a nasty potential data loss when using emojis.
  • Okteta 0.26.9 comes with more translations and fixes that help Okteta remember settings values. Grab Okteta from your distro's Linux package manager, FlatHub, Snapcraft or as a testing Windows build.
  • KDE's diff tool for comparing files, resolved a major performance regression in handling Windows style line endings in version 1.9.5.
  • RSIBreak 0.12.15, KDE's wellbeing app that helps prevent repetitive strain injuries from overusing your keyboard and mouse, adds an option to suppress breaks while full-screen windows are visible.

Pre-release betas

  • Making its way closer to release, isoimagewriter has published a build for Windows.

KDE Applications 19.04 Released

Dot Categories: 

openexpo

The first new applications bundle release of the year adds stability, coherence and new features that help users become more comfortable and more productive using KDE software.

KDE's file manager, Dolphin, can now show previews of more types of files, including Microsoft Office files, Blender 3D scenes, and EPUB eBooks. Continuing in the same department, previews of text files containing code or markup will now show syntax highlighting. All of the above will help users identify the contents of a file even before opening it. Other usability improvements include the option to choose which split to close when clicking the Close Split button, smarter tab placement, and a more practical way of tagging files.

Okular, KDE's document viewer, now lets users verify PDFs that have been digitally signed. Digital signatures are used in official documents to confirm that the document comes from the right source, and that it has not been tampered with. Okular also lets you edit LaTeX documents directly in the viewer and has improved touchscreen compatibility, making it much easier to use it in presentation mode.

Kontact has also improved, with KMail receiving most of the changes. Starting with this release, KMail can correct your grammar in the texts of your messages. A new thing you will find in this version of Kontact is KItinerary, a travel assistant developed by Volker Krausse that advises you on how to best get to your destination using meta-data from your e-mails.

Many other apps have been improved: Konsole has made using tabs easier, Spectacle gives you more options when taking and saving screenshots, and Kdenlive has overhauled the timeline, making editing video easier and more fun, just to mention a few changes.

As always, you can read more about KDE Applications 19.04 in the official announcement. Many distributions are currently packaging Applications 19.04 ready for update and install. For the first time, you can install many of the apps on any distro directly from the Snap Store.


Performance and Animation: Krita Kickstarter Kicks Off

Dot Categories: 

Last year, we held the first Kickstarter campaign for Krita. We raised more than €20,000 for Krita development, blowing past the fundraising goal. Thanks to this funding, a year later a dozen new features have been implemented, ranging from transform masks to High Dynamic Range (HDR) painting, from layer styles to improved vector objects. The Krita team did all that was promised...and much more.


Kontact Kolab Now

Dot Categories: 

Kolab Systems has recently announced substantial improvements to their support for Kolab Groupware, today's release of Kolab 3.4, recently released Kolab Enterprise 14 and the upgrade of the hosted Kolab Now solution for Enterprise 14. Since the start of Kolab in 2002 as a Free Software project sponsored by the German Federal Office for Information Security, KDE people have played a significant role in its development. Kolab is enterprise-level software that includes group email, calendaring, contacts, file sharing, and task management. Its features also appeal to many individuals.


Plasma Media Center 1.1

Dot Categories: 

The KDE community is happy to announce the release of 1.1 for KDE's Plasma Media Center — your first stop for media and entertainment created by the awesome KDE folk. Plasma Media Center is designed to provide an easy and comfortable way to watch your videos, browse your photo collection and listen to your music, all in one place.


New KDE Telepathy brings Better Text Editing and Improved Notifications

Dot Categories: 

Good news, everyone! The KDE Telepathy team has just released version 0.6.0 of KDE Telepathy (KTp), KDE's instant messaging suite. This version brings a number of new features as well as a large amount of bug fixes.


Calligra 2.6: Features, Usability, Bugfixes

Dot Categories: 

The Calligra team has announced the release of version 2.6 of the Calligra Suite, Calligra Active and the Calligra Office Engine. This version provides new features, substantial usability polishing, and bugfixes. Calligra is seeing a lot of development, so many new features are mentioned in the announcement, and the applications are becoming more and more mature. This is the second major update after the initial release of Calligra in April last year.