The August 2008 edition of Linux Format, the high-profile British Linux publication, has given a positive review to version 4.4 of Qt by Graham Morrison. It notes the inclusion of WebKit, Phonon and the ability to put widgets on graphics views. It calls the toolkit "sometimes convoluted, verbose and difficult to understand", but "the best open source cross platform framework available".
Issue 71 (March 2007) of Linux User & Developer has been released in the UK, and it features the first part of a tutorial on Qt by Ruediger Berlich. This month it has a couple of basic "Hello world" type programs and an explanation of signals and slots.
It also has a brief history of Qt which gives the wrong information that Qt ever stood for Quasar Toolkit, which is wrong. The Q stands for Q, which according to the Blanchette & Summerfield Qt book, looked beautiful in an Emacs font in the opinion of one of the original developers; the "t" stands for toolkit. Trolltech originally called themselves Quasar Technologies, but this is likely to have come from Qt, not the other way round.
Other features include a review of OpenSUSE 10.2 and articles on Oracle, open-source software blogs (not including this one, unfortunately), corporate desktop deployment of Linux and how "the UK's new off-the-shelf tendering system for public IT contracts is systematically excluding smaller suppliers offering open-source solutions". It is available at some of the larger branches of WH Smith as well as Borders.
A new edition of Linux Format was released earlier this week, containing an extended feature on the development of KDE 4 and a review of KOffice v1.6 (verdict: Kexi and Krita good, most of the rest bad; 5 out of 10). Also contains a feature on the upcoming FreeBSD v6.2 release, commentary on the Microsoft/Novell deal and a round-up of non-blog-oriented content management systems. The DVD contains Fedora 6, alternate and 64-bit versions of Ubuntu Edgy, Python 2.5 and a snapshot of KDE 4.
The latest edition of Linux User & Developer magazine (issue 68, Dec 2006) has been released in the UK. Its main Qt-interest feature is a write-up of the aKademy event in Dublin earlier this year; there are also features on Blender and PyGTK, the usual columns from Pamela Jones and Jeremy Allison, and Ubuntu Edgy on the cover DVD. It costs £5.99 (US $12.99).
RegDeveloper, the Register's page of news and analysis for developers, has a three-page feature on Qt. The article focuses on the MOC (meta-object compiler), signals and slots, Qt Designer and integration with Visual Studio .NET. Clearly the focus is on the commercial developer, as the article is called "Cross platform development for Windows and Mac OS X", although the toolkit as the basis for KDE is mentioned.
Konsole has come top in a group test of terminal emulators in Linux Format with 9 marks out of 10 (version 3.5.2 tested). Features noted included its versatility, its filesystem bookmarks, and its integration with the rest of KDE. The review noted that it was not one of the fastest, something which could be remedied by turning off anti-aliasing. GNOME Terminal got 8 out of 10, and xterm only three, it being noted that it was the slowest at scrolling text "by quite a margin". Others tested were Rxvt, Wterm, Eterm, Aterm and Mlterm.
Boudewijn Rempt reports that a review in Linux Format of KOffice 1.5 actually covered a beta release without pointing this fact out. (I have to say, I'm pretty sick of seeing reviews of beta and RC versions of software, particularly Linux distros, in the UK Linux press when the editors just can't wait for the actual release to come out. Beta versions by definition will never be as good as the actual release, so why bother wasting two pages on a review of unfinished software?)
This month's Linux Format, issue 80, has a negative review of KOffice 1.5. The reviewer Andy Channelle notes that KWord has superfluous features and is prone to crashing, that the spreadsheet has serious improvements over its predecessor "such as the ability to run for more than 25 minutes" but its Excel importing was poor, and that the image editor Krita "falls over seconds after trying to add an adjustment layer". Only Kexi (the database) and Kivio (flowcharting app) are recommended; the review gives the suite only 4 out of 10. (Note: it transpires that the magazine reviewed a beta version, not the final release, for which there has already been a maintenance release. See here and here.)
South African Free Software magazine Tectonic published a preview of KDE 4. Written by AJ Venter of South African distribution OpenLab the article describes how the KDE developers are going to "rewrite the desktop rules with KDE 4" with technologies such as Plasma, Solid and of course Qt 4. The article concludes that "when KDE4 comes out, it will spell the end of the traditional way of using a computer".
Trolltech has released edition 16 of the Qt Quarterly to the public. Five articles have been posted: one about third-party testing tools Squish and KD Executor, one about dynamic signals and slots, one about extending Qt 4 Designer, and two about effects introduced in Qt 4.1.
My subscriber copy of Linux Magazine arrived today, so it should be in the shops in the next couple of days (magazines tend to be available in central London a day earlier than everywhere else, including the London suburbs). There is a feature on Klik, the software download system for Linux similar to the Mac's disk images; this is the only major Qt/KDE content. Other features include several scripting-related articles, one on using Linux to load movies on the PSP, and a test of Linux compatibility on popular laptops.
Linux Format issue 76 (Feb 2006) has just been released in the UK. On page 32 is a round-up of the spreadsheets available for Linux, namely Gnumeric, PlanMaker, OpenOffice.org Calc, ThinkFree Office Calc and KSpread. The last (version 1.4.2) receives a score of 1 out of 10, and labelled "a disaster area that needs some serious work to even be considered". The review highlights the lack of macros and filters ("you're better off looking inside the nearest coffee machine"), and says that it has the bare minimum of spreadsheet functionality but nothing else, and that the stock SUSE 10 build of KSpread "steadfastly refused to create any charts whatsoever":
Select your data, click the Chart button, monkey around in the Create Chart dialog, then bang! it crashes. What kind of spreadsheet can't do charts? A rubbish spreadsheet, that's what kind.
Top score went to OpenOffice.org Calc, with 9 out of 10. Commercial contenders ThinkFree and Planmaker also scored badly, with 3 and 5 out of 10 respectively. On page 26, the magazine gives 7 out of 10 to KDE 3.5 itself, calling it "an excellent release, marred by the feeling that KDE is missing genuine innovation". Attention is drawn to new features, and ACID2 compiliance, in Konqueror, webcam support in Kopete, SuperKaramba and improvements in the Kicker.
A new edition of TUX magazine, "the first and only magazine for the new Linux user", has been released. It features an interview with the KDE Developer Daniel Molkentin (his blog here), about the features in the newly-released KDE 3.5 and plans for KDE 4. There is a feature on Klik in the same issue.
Linux Magazine has been released; it appeared in (at least some) WH Smith branches yesterday and arrived at my house today. It has SUSE Linux 10 on the cover DVD (and contrary to the assertion on the cover, it's not the full version, lacking Eclipse, KDevelop and XFce among probably many other things). There is also an interview with Klaus Knopper of Knoppix fame and a feature on the Kat desktop search tool. The main focus is on viruses and how concerned Linux users need be about them.
LinuxUser & Developer issue 55 is now out in the UK, and features OpenSUSE version 10 on the cover DVD. Main features include "The Nature of the Virus", Rob Buckley on the three advantages of open source, the history of the Bell Labs unit where C and Unix were developed, and Jono Bacon on how usability and design issues affect developers of desktop environments like KDE and GNOME.
Linux Format edition 73 (December 2005) is out (I picked mine up at Waterloo train station in London yesterday, so they may or may not be in your local WH Smith when you read this). Prominent features are Linux kernel upgrades, the Australian Linux trade-mark controversy and an interview with Eben Moglen (lawyer to the Free Software Foundation) regarding the upcoming GPL3. Reviews include Mandriva 2006 (7 out of 10) and SUSE Linux 10 (9 out of 10). DVD includes Knoppix 4, while the CDs include KMess, KTorrent, Kuroo portage GUI, the Codeine video player, "and more!".
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.