[Kst] Re: PR proposal for 2.0.3

Sun Mar 27 05:03:19 CEST 2011

There may be some magazines interested in doing a feature article on KST. For example:

Linux User & Developer <http://www.linuxuser.co.uk/> - (GNU software mag) 
linuxuser at imagine-publishing.co.uk <mailto:linuxuser at imagine-publishing.co.uk>

Elektor <http://www.elektor.com/> - (Hobbyist electronics mag) info at elektor.com 
<mailto:info at elektor.com>

On 27/03/2011 6:01 AM, Nicolas Brisset wrote:
> Hi,
>
> since we're going to release 2.0.3 any time now (Peter, Barth: is there anything preventing us 
> from doing it right now?), I thought it was a good idea to try and put together a small release 
> blurb. Please comment/improve so that we can try to promote kst a bit wider than just this mailing 
> list this time...
>
> My plan for this communication effort would be:
> - send the release mail to this list (of course)
> - send the release mail to the kde-science list
> - contact Stuart Jarvis to do an interview and publish something on KDE Dot News (he already 
> offered to do that a little while ago, and Barth could certainly tell a couple of nice stories 
> like committing from the South Pole!)
> - somehow get the news out to planetkde.org (maybe via Stuart again as we don't yet have any 
> planetkde blogger in the kst community)
> - publish the update on kde-apps.org (right now the latest version there is 2.0.0 beta1!!!)
> - maybe also publish on qt-apps.org?
> - I have started contacted scidavis and QtGrace developers to see if there is interest for some 
> cooperation. I already got some feedback, but as hard to believe as it may sound (for people using 
> or working on open-source, Qt-based plotting tools) they don't know kst at all, so I guess it's 
> going to take some time to identify what cooperation could mean, as they will need to try kst - 
> just as we may need to test their tools. I'd like to emphasize that cooperation does not 
> necessarily mean dumping some of the tools (even though it's always a possibility), but maybe some 
> shared libs or plugins would already be interesting. In any case it could be interesting to get 
> the information of the new release posted there too, provided that it is not seen as an offense by 
> the respective devs
> - post the still-to-be-done screencasts on youtube, as even if the quality is not what I'd like 
> for the ones which will be linked to the website, the audience there is probably greater and it 
> can certainly help the google ranking of kst, which is not in the first page right now when you 
> look for "free plotting tool", "free plot tool", or "cross-platform open-source plot tool"
> - pimp up the wikipedia page(s) somehow linked with kst
> - any other good idea you may suggest :-)
>
> Now in terms of contents, here is what I think we should address. The complete text I'm proposing 
> for review can be found between the lines with stars.
> - new website
> - 3 platforms completely supported
> - much improved metadata support
> - ASCII datasource improvements (performance, config options)
> - KDE integration status and further plans (cmake, icons, KDE HIG, ...)
> - perspective for the next versions (in particular scripting + kst 1.x format support)
> - lots of bugs and crashes fixed
> - the fact that it can be installed alongside kst1, i.e. it can be tested without too much risk
>
> ***********************************************
> Kst 2.0.3 released March 29th 2011
>
> The Kst team is happy to announce the immediate availability of Kst 2.0.3, the not yet so 
> well-known but outstanding open-source, cross-platform 2D plotting tool. Packages for Windows, 
> various Linux distributions and Mac OS X are available, as well as the complete source code and 
> cmake-based build files.
> A more detailed presentation of Kst can be found on the completely revamped web page at 
> http://kst-plot.kde.org, which provides detailed screenshots 
> <http://kst-plot.kde.org/screenshots/>, video tutorials <http://kst-plot.kde.org/video_tutorials/> 
> and all the useful download links <http://kst-plot.kde.org/download/>.
>
> Kst2 is a major rewrite to Qt4 of the long-existing, Qt3/KDE3-based Kst1 code base. Kst2 has not 
> yet reached feature-parity with Kst1, but on the other hand Kst2 also offers some features not 
> available in Kst1. Both versions are considered stable and can be installed in parallel. This Kst2 
> release has benefited from much more testing than previous 2.x releases and is now considered 
> usable for real-life projects, even though there are still some rough edges, which are being 
> polished release after release. For a more detailed discussion on the differences between Kst1 and 
> Kst2, please refer to the bottom of this page <http://kst-plot.kde.org/>.
> Note that in the course of the port to Qt4, it was decided to base the core of Kst2 on Qt only for 
> ease of distribution, especially to non-Linux platforms. Currently, Kst2 has no dependency on KDE, 
> even though optional integration of some KDE features is being worked on to benefit those users 
> using the KDE platform.
>
> Highlights of Kst2 compared with similar plotting tools (like xmgrace/QtGrace, qtiplot/SciDavis, 
> LabPlot) are:
> - outstanding performance: curves with millions of points are no problem at all!
> - plotting of live streams
> - out-of-the box support for a variety of formats (currently ASCII, netCDF, dirfile, 
> Qimage-supported types)
> - very user-friendly and efficient, with a fantastic data import wizard and capacity to edit 
> multiple objects at once
> - active community, with over 300 commits since the previous release in November and an active 
> mailing list <http://mail.kde.org/pipermail/kst/>
> - easily expandable for new data formats or data analysis algorithms thanks to a plugin-based 
> architecture
> - available on Windows, Linux and Mac OSX
>
> The most notable improvements brought by Kst 2.0.3 over the 2.0.2 version released in November 
> 2010 are:
> - cmake-based build system, with Windows, Mac OS X and Linux installers
> - many improvements in the reading of ASCII files: extensive UI overhaul and huge speedup
> - support for metadata added for netCDF files (scalar and string attributes) and ASCII (units and 
> some data-file info)
> - UI improvements (new icons, consistency with KDE HIG guidelines, some dialogs reworked)
> - lots of bugs and crashes fixed in less-often used parts of the code
>
> We hope you will enjoy this release and help us further test and improve the tool. Kst has been 
> developed over many years by professional developers and has reached a high level of maturity, 
> with a very nice, future-proof code base. It was recently field-proven during the Boomerang 
> mission in Antarctica, during which the probably south-most commit ever made landed in KDE's 
> subversion repository!
> We are aware that Kst is not very well known and generally suffers from a lack of awareness, and 
> are seeking to address that with an ambitious communication plan, now that we have reached a 
> solid, mass-consumption ready release. Please take the time to test kst, report the bugs you may 
> find and tell your friends if you like it!
>
> The Kst Team
> **************************************************
>
> Sorry for the long mail, but I had lots to say. Now I'm hoping for some feedback and suggestion 
> improvements!
> I still have a couple of things to improve on the website and the screencasts to prepare. Maybe it 
> would also be nice to give Linux packagers some time to prepare packages before announcing the 
> release officially.
> I'm pretty excited to see how this release will be received. I think we're now ready to move to 
> the next level, let's see what feedback we get!
>
> Nicolas
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Kst mailing list
> Kst at kde.org
> https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kst

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