[dot] KDE 3: All About the Apps - Part 2

[Dot Stories]

URL: http://dot.kde.org/1145962774/

From: Carsten Niehaus <cniehaus at kde.org>
Dept: cool-stuff-for-KDE-3
Date: Tuesday 25/Apr/2006, @03:59

KDE 3: All About the Apps - Part 2
==================================

   Two weeks ago, you read [http://dot.kde.org/1144660487/] about
several apps which keep KDE 3.5 alive. Today's issue of the mini-series
provides even more reasons to love KDE. Covered applications include
Krita [http://koffice.kde.org/krita/], the image and painting
application, Guidance [http://www.simonzone.com/software/guidance], a
configuration tool, frontends to Beagle and finally Scribus
[http://www.scribus.net], the Qt-based DTP application.



                                KOFFICE

     Have you ever looked for a perfectly integrated, mature, good
looking and feature-rich office-suite for KDE? Do you think OpenOffice
is too slow? Then have a look a KOffice 1.5 [http://www.koffice.org].
The most important improvement in version 1.5 is the support for
OpenDocument [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenDocument]. Instead of
using its own file formats, KOffice now uses the same format as
applications like OpenOffice. This means guaranteed interoperability
with other Office suites and makes OpenDocument a real standard.

     Despite having more components than any other office suite, things
are improving very quickly. Version 1.5 features OpenDocument as the
default file format, introduction of a unified scripting framework,
enhanced accessibility for users with disabilities, the first major
release of Kexi and a technology preview of KPlato, a new project
management application. You can read more about it in the full
announcement [http://www.koffice.org/announcements/announce-1.5.php].
Even though the next big step is KOffice 2, scheduled for early 2007, 
Krita and Kexi [http://www.koffice.org/kexi], KOffice's
database-frontend, (and maybe some more members of the KOffice family)
will release feature-improved 1.6 versions.



                                 KRITA

     Why do I mention Krita [http://koffice.org/krita/] when it is part
of KOffice? Krita improved so much in the last few month that it
deserves its own chapter! Now, Krita is a full-featured pixel-based
image application with layer support, full colorspace independence
including support for L*a*b and CMYK, a versatile plug-in based
architecture. Furthermore, it share a scripting-engine named Kross with
other KOffice-applications, which means you can write Ruby
[http://www.ruby-lang] and Python [http://www.python.org] scripts for
it!
     Guidiance's displayconfig even provides options for gamma
correction. [http://static.kdenews.org/danimo/displayconfig-2.png]


                                GUIDANCE

     Guidance is a KDE-configuration tool written in Python. The day KDE
3.5.0 was released the Guidance-Team released version 0.5.0. Since then,
they have released not less than six 0.6-releases, including hugely
improved configuration tools for dual head setups and big improvements
to the already known tools. Check out the latest screenshots!
 [http://www.simonzone.com/software/guidance]


                              SUPERKARAMBA

     Since SuperKaramba
[http://netdragon.sourceforge.net/ssuperkaramba.html] was released with
KDE 3.5.0 for the first time, many new themes have been improved or
added. For an overview about SuperKaramba's capabilities in the current
KDE 3.5-version read this announcement
[http://netdragon.sourceforge.net/release_notes_0_37.html].    
Superkaramba even provides games.
[http://static.kdenews.org/danimo/superdoku.png]  If you are searching
for new widgets to play with have a look on kde-look.org
[http://www.kde-look.org/index.php?xcontentmode=38]. Sudoku is becoming
more and more popular. With Su-per-Doku
[http://www.kde-apps.org/content/show.php?content=34902] Superkaramba
even provides you with a great-looking game to play on your desktop!



                          TWINKLE - FREE VOIP

     Twinkle [http://www.twinklephone.com/] is a free VoiP-software
which enables you to talk to anyone using the SIP-Protokol. Twinkle is a
KDE-application (screenshots
[http://www.xs4all.nl/~mfnboer/twinkle/index.html]) and for example
integrates with your addressbook!



                                  KST

     KSt [http://kst.kde.org/] is a real-time data viewing and plotting
tool. In March 2006, the first bugfix release of KSt 1.2, version 1.2.1,
was released. Version 1.3 is scheduled for May 2006. The list of
features in KSt is huge: have a look at the homepage or at the
screenshots [http://kst.kde.org/screenshots.html] to get an impression
of this vivid project!
     yaBi is one of two new KDE applications for Beagle.
[http://static.kdenews.org/danimo/yabi.jpg]


                             KERRY AND YABI

     I bet you know Google Desktop. Well, for KDE you can now use Kerry
[http://en.opensuse.org/Kerry], a KDE-frontend to Beagle, the desktop
search engine. yaBi [http://kde-apps.org/content/show.php?content=33222]
is Yet Another Beagle search Interface. It is written in Python and
looks just great.
[http://kde-apps.org/content/preview.php?preview=3&id=33222&file1=33222-1.jpg&file2=33222-2.jpg&file3=33222-3.jpg&name=yaBi+-+beagle+search+client]



                        SCRIBUS - DTP FOR LINUX

     For a long time there were no good DTP-applications available for
Linux. Some years ago, Scribus [http://www.scribus.net] started to be
good enough for many usecases.

     While Scribus 1.2 is already used by many professional designers
and even offers commercial support
[http://www.scribus.net/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=79], the
current development series with its latest offspring 1.3.3
[http://www.scribus.net/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=117"]
offers huge improvements:

     The developers have put a lot of effort into restructuring the
codebase, so you will notice a tremendous speedup: in certain situations
even tenfold! The PDF and PS export is is now commercial grade,
including full support for the new PDF X/3 format. Color is a top
priority in many commercial settings; the authors of Scribus are aware
of this and so have improved colour-management greatly. Also, last but
not least, there are now native ports for both MacOS and Windows which
should make a transition to Scribus even easier!