DATELINE JULY 4, 2001

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New KDE Beta Released for Linux Desktop

KDE Ships Beta of Leading Desktop with Advanced Web Browser, Anti-Aliased Font Capabilities for Linux and Other UNIXes

July 4, 2001 (The INTERNET). The KDE Project today announced the release of KDE 2.2beta1, a powerful and easy-to-use Internet-enabled desktop for Linux. KDE features Konqueror, a state-of-the-art web browser, as an integrated component of its user-friendly desktop environment, as well as KDevelop, an advanced IDE, as a central component of KDE's powerful development environment. KDE 2.2beta1 completely integrates the XFree anti-aliased font extensions and can provide a fully anti-aliased font-enabled desktop.

The primary goals of this release, which follows two months after the release of KDE 2.1.2, are to provide a preview of KDE 2.2 and to involve users and developers who wish to request/implement missing features or identify problems. Code development is currently focused on stabilizing KDE 2.2, scheduled for final release later this quarter. Despite all the improvements, KDE 2.2 will be binary compatible with KDE 2.0.

Major changes to KDE since the last stable release are enumerated below. In addition, a more thorough list of changes since the KDE 2.1.1 release, as well as information on using anti-aliased fonts with KDE, are available at the KDE website.

KDE 2.2beta1 and all its components are available for free under Open Source licenses from the KDE server and its mirrors (including many precompiled packages) and can also be obtained on CD-ROM. As a result of the dedicated efforts of hundreds of translators, KDE 2.2beta1 is available in 38 languages and dialects. KDE 2.2beta1 ships with the core KDE libraries, the core desktop environment (including Konqueror), developer packages (including KDevelop), as well as the over 100 applications from the other standard base KDE packages (addons, administration, artwork, bindings, games, graphics, multimedia, SDK, network, PIM and utilities).

Incremental Changelog

The following are the major improvements, enhancements and fixes since the KDE 2.1 release earlier this year:

• KDE has added a new plugin-based printing framework, which features:
  • support for CUPS, lpr and rlpr, though support for other printing systems can be easily added;
  • a Control Center module for managing printers (add/remove/enable/disable/configure), print servers (currently only CUPS), and print jobs (cancel/hold/move);
  • a configurable filter mechanism (for setting number of pages per sheet, etc.);
  • a print job viewer for the KDE panel's system tray; and
  • support for configurable "pseudo-printers", such as fax machines, email, etc.;
• Konqueror, the KDE file manager and web browser, sports a number of new features:
• HTML and JavaScript handling has been improved and made faster;
• Ability to stop animated images;
• New file previews, including PDF, PostScript, and sound files;
• New "Send File" and "Send Link" options in the Filemenu;
• Added a number of new plugins:
• A web archiver for downloading and saving an entire web page, including images, in an archive for offline viewing;
• Babelfish translation of web pages;
• A directory filter for displaying only specified mimetypes (such as images);
• A quick User Agent changer to get Konqueror to work with websites that discriminate based on the browser you are using;
• An HTML validator using W3C to validate the XML/HTML of a webpage (useful for web developers); and
• A DOM tree-viewer for viewing the DOM structure of a web page (useful for web developers);
• New configuration for user-defined CSS stylesheets;
• Saving toolbar layout in the profile;
• A new "Most Often Visited" URL in the Go menu; and
• Many other enhancements, usability improvements and bug fixes.
• KDevelop, the KDE IDE, offers a number of new features:
• Enhanced user interface with an MDI structure, which supports multiple views of the same file;
• Added new templates for implementing a KDE/Qt style library and Control Center modules;
• Updated the kde-common/admin copy (admin.tar.gz); and
• Extended the user manual to reflect the new GUI layout and added a chapter for using Qt Designer with KDevelop projects;
• KMail, the KDE mail client, has a number of improvements:
• Added support for IMAP mail servers;
• Added support for SSL and TSL for POP3 mail servers;
• Added configuration of SASL and APOP authentication;
• Made mail-sending non-blocking;
• Improved performance for very large folders;
• Added message scoring;
• Improved the filter dialog and implemented automatic filter creation;
• Implemented quoting only selected parts of an email on a reply;
• Implemented forwarding emails as attachments; and
• Added support for multiple PGP (encryption) identities;
• New Control Center modules:
• Listing USB information (attached devices);
• Configuring window manager decoration;
• Configuring application startup notification;
• Configuring user-defined CSS stylesheets;
• Configuring automatic audio-CD ripping (MP3, Ogg Vorbis); and
• Configuring key bindings;
• Added Kandy, a synchronization tool for mobile phones and the KDE address book, and improved KPilot address book synchronization;
• KOrganizer, the KDE personal organizer, has a number of improvements:
• Added a "What's Next" view;
• Added a journal feature;
• Switched to using the industry-standard iCalendar as the default file format;
• Added remote calendar support; and
• Added ability to send events using KMail, the KDE mail client;
• Noatun, the KDE multimedia player, sports a number of new features:
• Improved the plugin architecture and added a number of new plugins:
• An Alarm plugin for playing music at a specified time;
• A Blurscope plugin which creates an SDL-based blurred monoscope;
• A Luckytag plugin for guessing titles based on filenames;
• A Noatun Madness plugin, which moves the Noatun window in sync with the music being played;
• A Synaescope plugin, based on Synaesthesia, which provides an impressive SDL-based visualization; and
• A Tyler plugin, which is similar to XMMS's Infinity;
• Added support for pre-amplification; and
• Added support for hardware mixers;
• Added a Personalization wizard (KPersonalizer) to configure the desktop settings easily;
• Added KDict, a powerful graphical dictionary client;
• Added KDE-wide scanning support with the application Kooka;
• Replaced the default editor KWrite with the more advanced editor Kate, which provides split views and basic project management;
• The window manager now supports Xinerama (multi-headed displays);
• Improved the file dialog, including mimetype-based file previews;
• Improved the configurability of the KDE panel;
• Added IPv6 and socks support to the core libraries;
• Improved application startup:
  • applications are now placed on the desktop from which they were launched; and
  • startup notification can be configured with a new Control Center module, with options including a busy cursor next to the application's icon;
• Improved icons and added new 64x64 icons;
• New window manager decoration styles (quartz, IceWM themes, MWM, Web);
• Improved the help system, which is now XML-based;
• Added support for the Meta and AltGr keys for shortcuts; and
• Made many other usability improvements.

For a much more complete list, please read the official ChangeLog.

Downloading and Compiling KDE

Source Packages. The source packages for KDE 2.2beta1 are available for free download at http://ftp.kde.org/unstable/2.2beta1/src/ or in the equivalent directory at one of the many KDE ftp server mirrors.

Library Requirements. KDE 2.2beta1 requires at least qt-x11-2.2.4, which is available from Trolltech at ftp://ftp.trolltech.com/qt/source/ under the name qt-x11-2.2.4.tar.gz, although qt-2.3.1 is recommended (for anti-aliased fonts, qt-2.3.0 and XFree 4.0.3 or newer is required). KDE 2.2beta1 will not work with versions of Qt older than 2.2.4.

Compiler Requirements. Please note that gcc 3.0 is not recommended for compilation of KDE 2.2beta1. Several known miscompilations of production C++ code (such as virtual inheritance, which is used in aRts) occur with this compiler. The problems are mostly known and the KDE team is working with the gcc team to fix them.

Further Instructions. For further instructions on compiling and installing KDE, please consult the installation instructions and, if you encounter problems, the compilation FAQ.

Installing Binary Packages

Binary Packages. Some distributors choose to provide binary packages of KDE for certain versions of their distribution. Some of these binary packages for KDE 2.2beta1 will be available for free download under http://ftp.kde.org/unstable/2.2beta1/ 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 vary 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 included with the particular version of a distribution for which the binary package is listed below (e.g., LinuxDistro 8.0 may have shipped with qt-2.2.3 but the packages below may require qt-2.3.x). For general library requirements for KDE, please see the text at Source Code - Library Requirements above.

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

• Debian GNU/Linux (package "kde"): ftp.debian.org: sid (devel) (see also here)
• Linux-Mandrake
  • 8.0: Intel i586
  • 7.2: Intel i586
• SuSE Linux (README):
  • 7.2: Intel i386 and HP/Intel IA-64; please also check the noarch directory for common (language) files
  • 7.1: Intel i386, PowerPC, Sun Sparc and Alpha; please also check the noarch directory for common (language) files
  • 7.0: Intel i386, PowerPC and IBM S390; please also check the noarch directory for common (language) files
  • 6.4: Intel i386; please also check the noarch directory for common (language) files
• Tru64 Systems: 4.0e,f,g, or 5.x (README.Tru64)

About KDE

KDE is an independent, collaborative project by hundreds of developers worldwide to create a sophisticated, customizable and stable desktop environment employing 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.

Please visit the KDE family of web sites for the KDE FAQ, screenshots, KOffice information, developer information and a developer's KDE 1 - KDE 2 porting guide. Much more information about KDE is available from KDE's web site.