KDE.news 

The KDE Project today announced the release of KOffice 1.4beta1, the first preview release for KOffice 1.4, scheduled for release this June. KOffice is an integrated office suite with more components than any other suite in existence. This release specifically introduces the database management application Kexi, the image editor Krita and upgrades the major KOffice components to use the OASIS Open Document format, an industry standard allowing better interoperability across applications and platforms. A KOffice Live-CD has been created and several distributions provide binary packages. Read the full announcement and the changelog for more details.

Last month's release of KDE 3.4 was the first to feature Zeroconf's service discovery. Relevant applications can advertise their services, such as shared folders or networked games, which can then be browsed with the zeroconf:/ ioslave. KDE Dot News spoke to the man behind KDE's Zeroconf support Jakub Stachowski to find out more on this exciting technology. Read on for the interview and if you have more ideas for KDE technology interviews please add them to this wiki page.

The KDE Kiosk is a framework that has been built into KDE since version 3. It allows administrators to create a secure and controlled environment for their users by customising and locking almost any aspect of the desktop. It is an essential element for deploying KDE in the enterprise environment. Barry O'Donovan has written an article (to appear in the June edition of Linux+) which outlines the features of the Kiosk framework and gives some examples for implementing it.

Knoda is a database frontend for KDE. Besides tables and queries, Knoda lets you create forms and reports, scriptable via Python. With its latest release, Knoda has introduced a driver for MS Access databases (mdb files). Knoda is the first KDE-based database frontend to be able to read MS Access databases natively and is getting closer to its goal to be a full replacement for MS Access.

Today's copy of Namibian newspaper The Namibian comes with a computer education comic featuring KDE. Named Hai Ti ("Listen up!" in the Oshiwambo language), the comic features the super-hero like SchoolNet project showing student and teachers their KDE desktop.

Following the heels of the successful Kubuntu effort, PC-BSD was created to offer both home and business desktop users a solid alternative to other systems available. PC-BSD aims to be user-friendly, especially in the area of software installation and management. Of course PC-BSD comes with a nice graphical installer which can also be used by other Free-BSD users to install the OS in a modern fashion. Screenshots and an ISO for Download are available immediately.

Adam Trickett reports on his experiences of setting up KDE for his father in Desktop Adapted for Dad. His article on The Linux Box shows the range of features KDE has for someone with poor eye-sight and reduced hand coordination. He concludes by saying "modern Linux desktops are highly configurable, and with thought can be adapted for most people".

Ewald Kicker has written a detailed tutorial about debugging a PHP script inside Quanta Plus using the Gubed debugger. The document is aimed at beginners and describes step-by-step how to set up and use the debugger for your web projects.

In this week's KDE CVS-Digest (all in one page): KTTS can use new Hungarian mbrola voice. Kexi adds a new script editor and classes in Python bindings. Kopete sees start of MSN webcam support. Continued progress in Kicker, khtml, KWifiManager and many other programmes.

Available for memory sticks on Windows or Linux, the new release KDE-PIM/Platform independent lets you carry around your favourite KDE applications and your personal data in the palm of your hand. This device independent software can import your data directly from Outlook and sync it with KDE-PIM running on other computers.