[dot] KDE 3 - All About the Apps

[Dot Stories]

URL: http://dot.kde.org/1144660487/

From: Carsten Niehaus <cniehaus at kde.org>
Dept: cool-stuff-for-KDE-3
Date: Monday 10/Apr/2006, @02:14

KDE 3 - All About the Apps
==========================

   Last November, KDE 3.5.0
[http://www.kde.org/announcements/announce-3.5.php] was released. Since
then, many users have been waiting for the next big steps. While most of
the core developers are working on the first iterations of KDE 4, the
KDE 3 developer platform is more vital than ever, resulting in new and
exciting applications. "All About the Apps" puts the spotlight on the
classics of KDE's applications as well as new and promising applications
from the KDE community that can make your KDE desktop more productive.
We will also keep you informed about development in current KDE 3.5
series.



                 NEW RULES IN THE KDE 3.5 RELEASE CYCLE

     Until KDE 3.5, when a KDE release was frozen in preparation to be
released, new features, and new user-visible text (strings) were not
allowed in the later releases in the series, in order to make sure that
no new bugs were introduced and no translations were broken. For KDE 3.5
this has been changed slightly.

     Since the KDE 4.0 development cycle will take longer than usual due
to the  scope of the changes and improvements being undertaken, the
developers want  KDE 3.5.x to be the best possible KDE for users in the
meantime. Therefore, KDE 3.5.1 and 3.5.2 not only fixed a lot of bugs
(see 3.5.1-fixes
[http://www.kde.org/announcements/changelogs/changelog3_5to3_5_1.php]
and 3.5.2-fixes)
[http://www.kde.org/announcements/changelogs/changelog3_5_1to3_5_2.php],
but the developers were also allowed to change some strings in KDE so
that many usability-improvements and updates in documentation found
their way into KDE 3.5.x.

     KDE 3.5.3 will even include some new features. When a new feature
is already in the upcoming KDE 4 code, well tested and known to work in
KDE 3.5, the author of the code can ask for inclusion in KDE 3.5.3. If
no other developer objects, the new feature can be added. Therefore, you
will see some new stuff in KDE 3.5.3
[http://www.kde.org/announcements/changelogs/changelog3_5_2to3_5_3.php]
(this list is constantly being updated and not yet complete).



                                ARTWORK

     KDE-Look.org [http://www.kde-look.org] features many new themes,
colour schemes, KDM themes, new icons, improvements to Kopete
[http://kopete.kde.org] styles and many other artworks. If you want to
pimp your desktop, kde-look it is the place to go!



                        FAST FORWARD WITH AMAROK
     Amarok 1.4 analyzes the mood of your songs.
[http://static.kdenews.org/danimo/amarok.png]
     Many people already know that amaroK [http://amarok.kde.org/] is
the best audio player available. Version 1.4, of which Beta 3 was just
released, takes this even further. With the help of a new artwork team,
amaroK has a great new look, including new icons
[http://amarok.kde.org/blog/uploads/Amarokbuttons2.png], and introduces
moodbar [http://static.kdenews.org/danimo/amarok.png]: the first
audioplayer to support this new way of representing your music! The
improved media device system allows many more devices to be supported,
as well as vastly improving the handling of iPods and iRivers.  There
have also been major improvements in all supported audio engines,
including support for extra codecs such as WMA, MP4/AAC and RealMedia
(RA,RV,RM).



                TELLICO: KEEP YOUR COLLECTIONS IN ORDER

     In February 2006, Tellico 1.1 [http://www.periapsis.org/tellico/]
was released. Tellico is a KDE application for organizing your
collections, be they CDs, films, files or books. Version 1.1 brings you
many improvements [http://www.periapsis.org/tellico/changelog.php] over
1.0 which was the latest version when KDE 3.5 was published.  Version
1.1.4 is quite an improvement compared to version 1.0.x which was the 
stable one when KDE 3.5.0 was released.



                          RSI-BREAK: STAY FIT

     Repetitive Strain Injury is an illness which can occur as a result
of working with a mouse and keyboard. With the new tool RSI-Break
[http://www.rsibreak.org/index.php/Main_Page] your are reminded to take
a break now and then. In the last month, development has really picked
up speed, so now you can enjoy version 0.6 with many new features.
     Kaffeine's new user interface in DVB mode.
[http://static.kdenews.org/danimo/kaffeine_small.png]


                    KAFFEINE: MULTIMEDIA ALL AROUND

     Kaffeine is the Xine-based [http://www.xinehq.de] media player. The
authors just released Kaffeine 0.8
[http://kaffeine.sourceforge.net/index.php?page=news&details=13].
Compared with the previous version (0.7), many new features have been
added and the user interface has been revised. Of course, Xine itself is
constantly improving, so that you can expect an even better multimedia
experience!



                             K3B: HOT STUFF
 What is the tool for burning DVDs and CDs in Linux? Most will probably
agree that this is the famous K3B [http://k3b.plainblack.com/about]! In
the past few months the author has published several new versions of K3B
to provide you with the most stable burning tool ever. The changes
included are far too many to be listed here, so just have a look at the
extensive ChangeLog
[http://websvn.kde.org/trunk/extragear/multimedia/k3b/ChangeLog?rev=518009&view=markup]

     That's it for this week. If you have a favorite application, please
propose them in the comments section. If you want to stay up to date
with new cool KDE applications, look at the list of latest KDE
applications
 [http://www.kde-apps.org/]