First I would like to point out that there are two new Plasma themes
on kde-look. Well, at least two my new themes. Or to be even
more precise, there is one new theme and one old that is new. Or new
that is old. Or one theme… OK, I’ll stop now.
One of the themes is Spoons, which is now named Spoons Original, and
is currently the oldest Plasma theme in existence (that’s why I couldn’t
really say that there is a new theme on kde-look).
The other one is a sibling, possibly the younger sister of the
aforementioned. The reason I have never used Spoons as my theme (as my
Plasma theme, that is - it serves perfectly as the theme for my blog) is
that it is too bold and eye-poking. So, the slimmer one was born. This
is the first theme that I think could replace Slim Glow on my
computer.
The main difference between Slim Glow and Spoons Lite is that the
former helps the widgets on the desktop to be placed on the sidelines -
not to draw attention, while the later helps them to be in focus, but
still not to be too invasive.
Qt 4.5 and Lancelot
There have been issues when running Lancelot on systems with Qt 4.5
(or 4.4.4 snapshots) installed. Mainly, the Applications section was
empty. Or, rather not empty, just appeared as it is - you could use the
keyboard to /blindly/ browse the applications. It is now a thing of the
past (at least when 4.5 is concerned - haven’t tested 4.4.4). It is now
fixed in trunk and it works for all testers at bugs.kde.org.
The interesting thing is that L behaved differently when compiled
against 4.4 and ran under 4.5 than when compiled under 4.5.
Qt bug
Fortunately enough, while fixing this, I’ve found a hack that I made
a long time ago to bypass a Qt bug that I forgot to report when I
initially encountered it (before KDE 4.1 was released). So, I’ve sent
the report to the Trolls and I hope it will not go in the ‘we intended
it this way’ pile.
Lancelot news
Apart from fixing bugs related to the Qt 4.5, there are some new cool
things in Lancelot and its theming mechanism. I will leave it for some
other time since this post is already a long one. And I need to make
screenshots first.
I haven’t been looking at the PowerDevil+Plasma related news with
enthusiasm before (or, tbh, I haven’t looked at ’em at all). And now
that I need it, the battery applet and all that, I’m just astonished how
well it performs. And how many options it has. Kudos for all
involved!
then there is kde bluetooth stack. Again awesome,
cell-to-laptop-to-main-computer…
KWin on eee
KWin is fast, plasma also, everything is just… awesome!
BTW, this is the first time I don’t use self-compiled KDE4 packages,
and it’s not bad at all. Debian’s KDE team made very good packages of
4.2, and even though 4.2 is in experimental repo (I’m using Sid on this
eee), it behaves better than kubuntu installations on my familie’s
computers.
The theme music in the background of this post (obviously, you don’t
hear it, but let your imagination go wild) is from a rather dull movie,
but with a more than awesome soundtrack:
“I have something to say, it’s better to burn out than to fade
away… There can be only one!” ~ Kurgan
eeeLancelot
Well, I just wanted to show you the prize I won thanks to Qt Centre’s
contest I mentioned sometime
ago. Special kudos go to miss (or Mrs) Erica Brescia and Bitrock for
providing me with this beauty!
And, I would like to take this chance to congratulate the other
winers of the contest, and that I hope that they will enjoy their prizes
as much as I do mine.
eeeLancelot
I’ve named my new pet eeeLancelot for obvious reasons. It currently
runs with some strange looking KDE manufactured by Xandros. But not for
long, I’ve begun the Debianization, so soon it will be a clean Debian
GNU/Linux with KDE 4.2.
Breathe, breathe in the air Don’t be afraid to care_
The KDE 4.2 has been released today. Although in the image below, and
in this post’s title it says “Breathe”, the official code name is “The
Answer” since it is the Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything [link]
KDE 4.2 Breathe
The release announcement can be found here, but for
more information you should head straight to the visual
guide which was nicely prepared for all of us by the KDE Promo
team.
Introducing Lancelot
It is a peculiar feeling, although most of you who read my blog know
what Lancelot is, and possibly using it already, KDE 4.2 is the first
version that ships it. So, it is like Lancelot didn’t exist before, it
is a new KDE application. Therefore, I’ll post here a small introduction
of what it is.
Lancelot is an application launcher menu (or ALI) for KDE 4
designed to provide a place from which all your jobs begin. It provides
quick access to applications, places, documents, contacts and system
information.
For detailed info and documentation, visit the website.
For those of you who know what Lancelot is, here are the improvements
since the 1.0 version:
Full keyboard support
New lists with scrollbars
Themes that match Plasma themes from kdeplasma-addons
kdeartwork module
Even less bugs
KRunner integration
Lancelot
The most elusive feature in Lancelot is its KRunner integration.
There are two reasons for that, the other menus (I speak mostly of
Kickoff, as it is the default menu) tend to search only through the
applications they navigate. The second reason is that the users are so
accustomed to Alt+F2 to start commands, that they can’t be bothered to
try something new.
As you probably know, KRunner now comes with two different interfaces
which you can set in its configuration dialogue. Lancelot is the third.
It integrates the menu and the usual application (and whatnot) browsing
with the power of the /Run/ dialogue. Everything that you can do with
the default KRunner interface, you can with Lancelot also (yes, the
calculator also works :) ).
It is not my intention to say that you should ditch KRunner, it is an
awesome application, but if you are really accustomed to L’s interface,
you don’t need to use two different applications for basically the same
task - starting applications. Before KDE 4.2, this was a bit tricky
since you had to click on the search result in order to start it, but
now, you can just press “Enter” to start the first match, or you could
navigate with your arrow keys. The keyboard is a wonder, I say!
Dot
One of the great things that followed 4.2 is the new Dot
(dot.kde.org). It looks fantastic! (I’m even thinking of changing the
theme of my blog to something like the new dot interface).
In the other news, there were a couple of KDE bashing news lately
which I really don’t care for. So, here’s just one quote for them (when
I say “them”, I don’t think of poor Linus who doesn’t enjoy the bliss of
KDE anymore, but of all others who made it a big deal, and started
flames all over the net):
_**The mind of a bigot is like the pupil of the eye. The more light
you shine on it, the more it will contract.
