KDEPrint on other *NIX platforms.

[Kurt Pfeifle]

Nick Bartolotti wrote:


>>From that point of view, there are no back ends that support the
> connection to the engine.
> 
> 
>> > but I do not want to
>> > force the user to use KDE for the utility if they are on HP-UX 11
>> > or Solaris 8/9.
>> >
>> > That is, if we write this front end using Qt/KED, how does the
>> > end-user use the program from within CDE?
>>
>>Just by calling it by name. Or by clicking on a desktop icon. Or by
>>selecting
>>an item from a program menu....
> 
> 
> Does this mean that I can develop a KDE application on Linux, transfer
> the application source to Solaris, recompile, and it will run on Solaris
> with only the CDE (and possibly libraries for KDE) installed?

Basically yes:

You need the Qt C++ development library for the X11 plattform (to be
licensed from TrollTech if commercially used) plus some of the kdelibs
(check about licensing -- most should be LPGL, so you're clear to use
for commercial apps, without a duty to "give back" your "improvements"
in the form of source code.).

On the platform where the code needs to run, you'll also need to install
Qt (no run-time licensing) plus the kdelibs.

[ Plus, not to forget: pure Qt programs may even be compiled on MS Windows,
   with only minimum changes. kdelibs however make heavy usage of Unix-assumptions
   and are not (yet) ported to MS Windows... ]

[....]

> What is the difference between GNOME and KDE?

Good that you're asking on a "KDE" list for this. Of course, you'll receive
a very unbiased and sober explanation here...  ;-) On any more "public"
list (and 2 years ago), you'd by now have ignited a beautiful flamewar...  ;-)

> Are they just different
> desktop environments?  

Basically yes.

GNOME claims to be "language neutral" (it is mostly written in C).

KDE sports all the advantages (and, maybe, some disadvantages) of OO and
C++. The foundation, the Qt toolkit is being praised by a lot of people
coming from a MFC background for its consistency and elegance.

Qt's most important feature is its concept of "signals" and "slots".
These are basically extensions to C++, allowing you to very easily
code things that normally would require a lot of callback programming.
When building binaries, these extensions are then translated back into
pure C++ code by the companion "MOC" (Meta Object Compiler), befor the
"real" compiler kicks in. (At least this is how I understand it, being
not a programmer myself).

KDE is much more integrated, being an OO programmed environment, with
a *lot* more code-reuse. To give 3 examples:

* KDE program is using kprinter as its print command, and will benefit
   from any future kprinter improvement even if it remains unchanged
   itself.

* Any "Open file..." or "Save as..." dialog in KDE is the same. It is a
   very powerful thing, allowing all sorts of customizations (like setting
   your own "bookmarks" for often-used directories, having thumbnail previes
   of image, html, pdf, ps, text and other files, etc.)

* "everything is a URL" in KDE: which means the "Open file.."/"Save as..."
   dialog may be used with "file:/...", "http://...", "smb://...", "ftp://..."
   "fish://..." or whatever-is-supported extensions (provided you have the
   required network connection and user read/write access rights....

I could go on and on with this....

But, you have been asking the Pope's own bishops about the best religion
on the world -- what answer did you expect?    ;-)

Best to install both, GNOME and KDE on a Linux system and check out yourself.
(However, don't take for the truth what RedHat preconfigured on their
latest desktop system, from what GNOME and KDE were originally. They made
it look nearly the same -- and they achieved it by...

  ...using a common icon set (and more joint "surface" appearance stuff)
     for both environments
  ...crippling KDE to become a mere application laucher for GNOME apps.

I won't deny that a lot of RedHat users like what they see. But you can't
see some obvious differences between GNOME and KDE this way, and you won't
recognize which part of the screen originated from the one and which from
the other environment...

(If you send me an address to ship a CD to, I'll make sure you receive a
"KDE-Knoppix" CD: this is a "Live-CD" running just thru a RAM disk after
booting from CD and setting up a pure KDE-3.1 desktop with fully usable
programs: browser, email, kdevelop IDE, CUPS, apache etc... It won't install
anything on your harddisk -- and it works on 95% of all hardware after
autodiscovering network card, video card and sound card...)

>> > Thanks,
>> > Nick.
>>
Cheers,
Kurt