New German Kubuntu forums
The Kubuntu homepage reports that there are now forums for Kubuntu in German. (I'm wondering if it's new or just newly announced, but then, some of the PHP forum elements are still in English. So it probably is new.)
The Kubuntu homepage reports that there are now forums for Kubuntu in German. (I'm wondering if it's new or just newly announced, but then, some of the PHP forum elements are still in English. So it probably is new.)
Version 2.0.2 of Debian Package Search, "a GUI for searching packages and showing package information", has been released. The program is part of the Debian distribution and has been posted on KDE-Apps "only to increase awareness for it". It doesn't say what its dependencies are (whether KDE or just Qt). Screenshot and Debian package at the link above.
An updated version of VariCAD 2005 has been released, improving "mainly dynamic view manipulation (zoom, pan and view rotation using the mouse)" and Parasolid imports. VariCAD is a commercial Qt-based package for Windows and Linux. Screenshots and downloads (RPMs of different types and a DEB package) at the KDE Apps link above.
Via KDE Developers:
We are apparently assured that KDE 4 is going to be "about speed" (and not bloat, unlike a certain competitor and unlike the impression you'd get from all these new technologies). Daniel Molkentin's blog entry (in link above) also states that the KDE3 codebase that has so far been ported to Qt 4 has run faster. There is also a link to a Qt Development Blog entry about better performance in QSA 1.2.0 over 1.1.3, which use Qt 4 and Qt 3 respectively.
Version 0.5 of Klik, a means of downloading an application and running it without installing, has been released. The changelog promises "major updates in all areas". Screenshots, further explanation and downloads at the above KDE Apps link.
A new article on Newsforge discusses the new features in KDE 4, which is to feature Appeal, "a mechanism for bringing artists, usability experts, programmers, and enthusiasts together in the earliest stages of development by holding in-person meetings and maintaining ongoing communication over mailing lists, wikis, and Web-based forums". This includes Tenor, a contextual link engine which makes information about files available to other KDE apps via "another KDE framework". Also discussed is Plasma, "a project to design and implement an entirely new desktop shell, combining the desktop (including wallpaper and icons), the panel and its applets, and desktop applets like SuperKaramba into a coherent and innovative vision". Looks ambitious. Worth reading.
At last, a Blogging app for KDE (unless you count my Qt-based Catkin, which so far hasn't got beyond a Blosxom submitter, and stalled when I stopped using Blosxom). Someone should really point out to whoever submitted this entry that a "web application" is something that you use through a web browser, not your KDE kicker. Anyway, it supports the Blogger and MetaWeblog XML-RPC protocols. It's only 0.2 so it should grow. Single screenshot and source download at the KDE Apps site above.
Version 2.2.6 of Rekall, the KDE front-end for MySQL, PostgreSQL and XBase, has been released. The changes since 2.2.4 are mostly bug fixes, particularly a fix for a bug concerning the default style on Fedora Core 4. (There seems to be no reliable site for this application; the Kompany's changelog stopped at v2.0.2 and Total Rekall doesn't seem to have one. It seems communication has broken down between the two parties.)
IQNotes, "of the one of the application winners of the beta round contest Qtopia Woldwide Developers contest", has had version 2.0.2 released; no changelog seems to be available. The app runs on the embedded platform Qtopia. Screenshots here.
From KDE Dot News:
There is an interview on the Kubuntu website with KDE developer Aaron Seigo, on the topic of the upcoming Open Source Desktop Workshops to be held in San Diego, CA, on October 13th and 14th. The interview talks about the workshops' "message", who's there, why the fee is so low ($50), how people should prepare if they're coming, the benefits to organisations in sending people, and what might happen in future events.
Riverbank Computing has released snapshots of PyQt4 - the Qt4 bindings for Python. They say the present releases "are very limited and only test the build system".
KDevelop, the KDE-based Integrated Development Environment (IDE) which is capable of developing applications for KDE, Qt and numerous other platforms, has had a first beta of its upcoming version 3.3 released. Version 3.2.91 depends on Qt 3.2 and KDE 3.2. Changes include improved PHP and Doxygen support and a number of bug fixes, including 12 to its debugger. Changelog here.
Version 10.1 of Tellico, a personal inventory manager, has been released. New features include support for Norwegian Nynorsk and fixes for a number of serious bugs including one crasher. Requires KDE 3.1, although some features require KDE 3.4. Changelog here; screenshots here and at the KDE Apps link above.
From KDE Developers via Planet SUSE:
Binaries of the recent beta release of KDE 3.5 for SUSE are available at the KDE website; they are for SUSE versions 9.1 to 10. They are unsupported and untested, so are certainly not for mission-critical use.
Version 0.6.0 of kdesvn, a KDE Subversion client, has been released. This app uses native KDE APIs rather than extra libraries like Gambas, and uses Subversion's API rather than parsing the output of the command-line client, as most other clients do. It has a file-manager type interface and uses the KDE KPart architecture. Full changelog here; screenshots here and at the KDE Apps link above.
Version 1.0 of Teddy, a tabular XML editor and displayer which uses Qt 3, has been released. Changes include support for all desktop Qt platforms (Linux, Windows, OS X) and an undo/redo feature; for full changelog see the homepage, and also the KDE Apps link above, which also has screenshots.
From Planet KDE:
Seb Ruiz has posted an alert about problems with Qt's DOM XML handling classes which has resulted in XML files not being saved. Full details at SR's blog.
Recent weeks have seen a lot of cooperative activity between the KDE Accessibility Team and various other Free Software accessibility teams. The Free Standards Group Accessibility Workgroup, KDE Accessibility and GNOME Accessibility teams have now released a joint statement describing some of this cooperation. "We believe users who are persons with disabilities should be empowered to choose technologies from any and all environments which provide accessibility just as other desktop users today routinely use a mix of technologies from different desktop environments. Our goal is seamless interoperability."
There's more over at KDE.News.
An update has been released for the Linux Skype client (v1.2.0.17), containing a number of bug fixes and minor new features, among them "call quality improvements". The KDE Apps feature calls it a chat application; it is, of course, actually an online telephony app. Full changelog and a few screenshots at the KDE Apps page above.
The KDE project has shipped the first Alpha of KDE 3.5, codenamed Kanzler. See the site's own announcement.
The Opera web browser, which uses Qt on Linux and other X11 platforms, is now a free application - the banner ad and licensing fee has now been eliminated for good. The app hasn't been open-sourced, however, and no word has been given on those pesky Yahoo Groups font problems as far as I know. But you can download it for free here.
Version 5.9.12 of Maxemum TV-Guide has been released; changes include "new xml-tags in descriptions, channel icons with custom size, a new (and less annoying) channel renaming system, show blacklisting, automatic checking for new versions of mtvg while updating listings and a bugfix in the reminder system". The app uses KDE and is written in C++, with XMLTV as its backend; currently it can fetch listings for the UK, the US, Canada and several European countries.
Version 3.7.2 of ERIC has been released. ERIC is a Python-based IDE which uses Qt (via PyQt) and QScintilla. The new version fixes "a bunch of normal bugs and a possible security exploit" and introduces compatibility with PyQt 3.15. The developers urge everyone using older versions to upgrade. KDE Apps entry has screenshots.
Via Planet SUSE, TuxMachines has done a comparison of SUPER, a spin-off of OpenSUSE which aims at performance enhancement through better optimisation at the compilation stage. A comparison was done involving startup, shutdown, and launching X/KDE, OpenOffice.org and Firefox, and while Mandriva was quickest at startup and shutdown, SUPER was found to be fastest at launching everything else.
Version 0.8.0 of Kalva (Kalva is A Lightweight Video Application, formerly known as ktvapp) has just been released. Kalva "is a simple to use and easy to setup videorecorder" for KDE, and is essentially a KDE front end for MEncoder (from the MPlayer package). It has a DCOP interface and thus can be pushed into the KDE system tray. Requires KDE 3. See KDE Apps link above for changelog and screenshots.
Trolltech has announced that it has extended its deadlines for places at its upcoming Developer Days at "Early Bird" prices; the new deadlines are 23rd September for San Jose and 7th October for the Munich event. Additional courses have been announced; Trolltech say that no more will be added after today.
Distrowatch reports that SLAMD64, a British port of Slackware to the AMD64 processor type, has released version 10.2 following the release of the 386 version yesterday. Release announcement here.
Version 1.0.0 pre-alpha2 of Slack-get, a Perl/Qt based "apt-get like for Slackware Linux", has been released. Changelog and screenshots on KDE-Apps here; homepage here. (How many app fetchers does Slackware need? It's already got a Gentoo emerge derivative - called "emerde" of all things - and Slapt-get; is this compatible with Slapt-get?)
OSNews reports that Slackware Linux 10.2 has been released to the mirrors. This is the first Slackware release to feature a 2.6 Linux kernel as standard; it also features KDE 3.4.2 and XFce 4.2.2 (Slackware has discontinued its GNOME support, although you can get this from Dropline). Full changelog here.
Version 1.2.3 of the Qt-based desktop publishing application Scribus is out. Changes in the new release include new support for the proposed OpenICC specification for color management profiles, updated English documentation, GUI translation updates, and locale and Unicode fixes and enhancements.
Aaron Seigo reports that a bug has been detected in Qt 3.3.5's uic (Qt Designer code to C++ converter):
many of those who have upgraded to qt 3.3.5 have noticed that uic no longer produces proper code all the time now that it listens to <includehint> in the .ui files. good news is that trolltech is aware of this and working on a fix. bad news is that they haven't released a patch yet since it was only recently reported.
Good news, however, is that Seigo has, and advises anyone who encounters the bug to try his patch rather than file bug reports. Read the full blog entry.
Issue 59 (Oct 2005) of Linux Magazine is out in the UK. The new issue has SUSE Linux 9.3 on its cover DVD, so anyone who still hasn't paid the £46 for it can get it for the cost of a magazine. Main features are web design, content filters and the GRAMPS genealogy software, and there's a review of the Intel C compiler (v9). Nothing about Qt4, however! Linux Format promise a feature on this in their upcoming edition, due for release next week.
Froglogic, a company founded by two former Trolltech senior software engineers, last week announced a bug-fix release of the "automated GUI testing framework" Squish. Version 2.0.1 "is a maintainance release which fixes bugs reported since the release of Squish 2.0.0", which itself added such new features as support for Qt 4 and new script APIs "for advanced synchronization points such as waiting for a condition to become true" and to install event handlers, as well as improvements to the Mac OS X version and to the documentation. Froglogic has also announced that it has produced a Valgrind add-on for Squish.
At Newsforge, there's a write-up of the recent KDE conference aKademy, which was held in Malaga in Spain. With a couple of photos and lots of links.
Trolltech is to hold Developer Days in Munich (19 Oct) and San Jose, California (2 Nov). Agenda (Munich, San Jose) includes presentations from Trolltech executives and developers, and from KDE representatives. Intensive training courses are to take place the day before in San Jose, and the day after in Munich. All the courses are to be held in English.
Version 4.2 of audioconverter, formerly kwavencoder, has been released. AC is " a small utility to easily convert between OGG, MP3, AAC, FLAC, WMA, RealAudio and WAV files in Konqueror by right-clicking on them", functioning as a service menu. The new version adds support for WMA and RealAudio (though mplayer). Requires KDE 3.2, oggenc, oggdec, faac, faad, flac and lame. Download and Slackware package are on the KDE Apps page.
Version 1.3.0 of KDE graphics viewer Gwenview has just been released. This version features a number of major bug fixes and enhancements. Requires KDE 3.2; released under GPL.
Trolltech, Linspire and KDE are among the sponsors of the Open Source Desktop Workshops, to be held in San Diego, CA, on October 13th and 14th this year. Workshop schedule includes Setting Up A KDE Development Environment, DCop and KParts, KDevelop, Test Driven Development in C++ using FOSS tools, and network and database programming. The event is free. People who want to go are urged to register soon as places are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Travel details here.
KDE will be present at the Ohio LinuxFest 2005. Aaron Seigo, KDE developer, will be talking at the conference and KDE will have an exhibit in the .org section of the expo area. The Ohio LinuxFest 2005 is a free conference and event for free software enthusiasts in Columbus, Ohio on October 1, 2005. See the schedule and registration page for more information.
Riverbank Computing, a British software development company with substantial Qt experience, has announced an update to SIP, "a tool that makes it very easy to create Python bindings for C and C++ libraries", originally developed for the PyQt binding. Version 4.3.1 is a bug-fix release; version 4.3 was released at the end of August, and featured "support for Python's cyclic garbage collector, greatly improved support for accessing C structure members, greatly improved support for mapping between C++ and Python exceptions".
Robbie Stephenson has issued version 1.0 of his Tellico database, KDE Apps reports. The homepage describes the application, which uses KDE and Qt 3.1, thus:
Tellico is a KDE application for organizing your collections. It provides default templates for books, bibliographies, videos, music, video games, coins, stamps, trading cards, comic books, and wines.Tellico allows you to enter your collection in a catalogue database, saving many different properties like title, author, etc. Two different views of your collection are shown. On the left, your entries are grouped together by any field you like, allowing you to see how many are in each group. On the right, selected fields are shown in column format, allowing you to sort by any field. On the bottom is a customizable HTML view of the current entry. The entry editor is a dialog box where you enter the data. Check out the screenshots.
The site offers RPMs for Fedora, Mandrake and SUSE, as well as Slackware and Debian packages and a FreeBSD port.
GNUMan has published a review of the KDE personal finance package KMyMoney. Mike L concludes that it's very promising and that he "could see it with more powerful features in the long run", although it's not a match for Quicken or suitable for business use. (From dot.kde.org.)
dot.kde.org and OSNews have both linked an interview with long-time KDE Developer Zack Rusin which was conducted at the recent KDE aKademy conference in Malaga, Spain. Zack modestly describes his job at Trolltech as "to create things that others can only dream about", but his main focus is graphics, as with this interview which mainly focuses on the new graphics rendering technologies which are planned to appear in upcoming versions of Qt, the X Window system and KDE. (Auf Deutsch)
Trolltech reports that it has today released version 3.3.5 of Qt, which newly features support for Mac OS 10.4 (Tiger), Visual Studio 2005 and GCC 4. This version features source and binary compatibility with previous 3.3 releases of the toolkit, as well as bug fixes to the Windows Installer, Designer, Assistant, Linguist, and many of its classes. Changelog here.
Welcome to A Qt Blog. This is a blog I intend to feature announcements on developments in the Qt world: Qt itself, applications, publications, devices, as well as KDE, KDE-centred operating systems (particularly Linux distributions), and Trolltech affairs. I'd also like to have the occasional review and feature article on development and other topics.
My name's Yusuf (or Matthew, I don't mind which), and you can read my regular blog here, which also has my contact details in the "about" page. I have been developing a blogging client in Qt called Catkin, about which I have been rather lazy in updating of late. I also contribute to a British political group blog, The Sharpener.
Note that the title is pronounced "a cute blog", as this is how Qt is generally pronounced among developers. My apologies to anyone who doesn't think there's much to see here at the moment. The blog is only a day old and only so much happens in a day! I hope it will grow. If anyone would like to contribute, I'd very much appreciate it.
From Stephen Binner at KDE Developers, via Planet KDE:
The first release candidate of the new OpenSUSE Linux distro is out [1], [2].
Also, Mandriva have issued the first RC of their 2006 edition, with ISOs. Announcement at DistroWatch, with download links. (From OSNews)
CNet News (news.com.com) has published an interview with Jon von Tetzchner, CEO of Opera Software (of web browser fame). In it, Tetzchner says he thinks Microsoft isn't willing or able to fix IE's security problems, and talks about web standards, WAP versus HTML, and the future of products like Opera. (They didn't ask him when they will get round to fixing Opera's font problems in such pages as Yahoo Groups listings, the main reason I don't use it. From OSNews.)
Shenzhen-based mobile device company Cellon is to use Qtopia as the basis for its new mobile phone platform, the C8000, which is intended for "wireless handsets that offer full multimedia capabilities, including a media player and mega-pixel video and still camera". Trolltech also report that "a major European Vendor" has already shipped the first C8000-based mobile phone in the summer of 2005.
The amaroK developers are currently working on the 1.3 release of their live CD. If you are an Open Source artist and are interested in creating the amaroK 1.3 live CD artwork then join the 7 day artwork challenge. Excellent prizes await the winner. The CD will include songs from Magnatune, the "open music record label". These songs are "free as in free music". In other artwork-related news the l