14 DAY TRIAL // A few minutes ago, the KDE community project announced the first Release Candidate version of the upcoming and highly anticipated KDE Software Compilation (KDE SC) 4.4. This development version brings improvements and bug fixes in various areas, especially for Nepomuk and Plasma. The KDE Software Compilation is composed of the KDE Plasma Workspace, the KDE Applications and the KDE Development Platform. Here are the main changes, but many of them are also from the previous release:
· Nepomuk Semantic Search has been improved with a new storage backend, new user interfaces, Nepomuk interaction and timeline view; · Plasma Desktop has been polished in many areas (better management of desktop widgets, widget sharing, better handling of storage devices); · Added Netbook shell; · Added Blogilo, a new blogging client; · Improved the Dolpin file manager; · Improved the Gwenview image viewer; · Added the new KAuth authorization framework on the KDE Development Platform.
For the complete list of changes, please check the official changelog.
Kubuntu or Ubuntu 9.10 users can test KDE SC 4.4 RC1 by following the instructions below:
- Go to Main Menu -> System -> Administration and open the "Software Sources" application. Type your password and hit Enter; - Go to the second tab, "Other Software," click the 'Add' button and paste the following line:
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/kubuntu-ppa/beta/ubuntu karmic main
...and click the 'Add Source' button; - Go to the "Authentication" tab, click the "Import Key File" button and add this GPG Key (right click on the link and select "Save Link As" to save the file on your desktop); - Close the "Software Sources" application and you will be immediately asked if you want to reload the information about available software, so click the 'Reload' button and wait until the "Software Sources" window disappears; - Go to Main Menu -> System -> Administration and open the "Synaptic Package Manager" application. Let it load and search for kubuntu-desktop. Double click the entry and install it; - It is recommended that you reboot your system after the update process.
Currently, KDE SC 4 ships with many packages, including web development applications, educational tools, administrative programs, and more, all of which are available in over 50 languages.
Those of you who prefer compiling KDE SC 4.4 RC1 from sources can grab them right now from Softpedia. Please remember that this is an unstable release and it should NOT be installed on production machines.