KDE 4.1: Good enough for ME
July 28th, 2008KDE 4.1 is coming! If all goes according to schedule, we should see it released in a day or so. While I have actually been partially using KDE 4 trunk (which was 4.1) since around March or April, I have been going back and forth between KDE 3 and KDE 4 sessions and using a different user for KDE 4 testing. But now I’ve migrated my main user to KDE 4 totally, except for a few KDE 3 apps here and there. I just want to share some of the things I’m loving in KDE 4 in general, and KDE 4.1 in particular. With screenshots, of course!
HUGE Disclaimer: This is not a “KDE 4.x is totally awesome, the perfect desktop, etc.” blog post. KDE 4 is far from over, and I believe that we have an exciting and probably bumpy road ahead. This is just me sharing my personal experiences on what makes KDE 4(.1) enjoyable and usable. YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary).
1. KWin Effects
Yes, despite ongoing problems with NVIDIA drivers (I have a legacy card), I still manage to get KWin working quite comfortably with desktop effects on. Some may call it “useless eye candy”, but there are just some effects that boosts my personal productivity (and isn’t productivity a personal/subjective thing? :P):
* Desktop Grid - IMHO much, much better than any cube or three-dimensional shape when it comes to quickly switching to a virtual desktop or moving a window to a virtual desktop.
* Present Windows - see all windows at a glance. “Search while you type” gives an added oomph!
* Shadows, Dim Inactive, Dialog Parent, and Dim Screen for Administrator Mode - helps me visually focus on the current task or call my attention to an urgent dialog
Click image to see a bigger version
2. Okular Annotations
This feature has been available since 4.0, but I only got a chance to really use it very recently. The ability to add comments and marks to my assignments and reading materials is really a great feature. And it keeps the original document clean and pristine. In other words, Okular doesn’t edit the document to add annotations. It is a document viewer, not an editor. Also, annotations are only visible if you use Okular. But I don’t mind. I don’t see myself using any other viewer anyway. 
Click image to see a bigger version
3. KWrite/Kate Find “toolbar”
I’ve been spoiled by Konversation’s similar Find toolbar, which users of Firefox would already be very familiar with (by the way, Konqueror has a similar “search as you type” functionality, without the toolbar. Just press ‘/’ and start typing). The toolbar has the same functionality as the older dialog box, with the advantage of being unobtrusive. I do somewhat miss the old regexp editor, but for most cases, the new one also does well. I hope that Konqueror and other KDE apps (that use Find) would have similar implementations.
Click image to see a bigger version
4. Dolphin
This one really came as a personal surprise. Pre-KDE 4, I was one of the Konqueror loyalists rallying against Dolphin. But now I find myself using Dolphin more and more. It’s actually a pleasure to use, simple and direct to the point. And with the addition of tabs in 4.1, I have one less argument against it (lack of embedded viewer). I still do use Konqueror as a file manager from time to time, specially if I have it open already. But now I wished it were Konqueror that had Dolphin features (like the panels and the breadcrumb bar).
Click image to see a bigger version
5. KDE PIM
KDE PIM finally makes its way into KDE 4 this 4.1 release. That greatly lessens the amount of KDE 3 apps I have to keep around. I’m am heavily dependent on KMail and Akregator, and Kontact for keeping them together. Kontact itself is a bit rough around the edges, specifically the configuration dialog. But being the first stable release of KDE PIM for the KDE 4 series, I think it’s a bit understandable. However, I’m really looking forward more to 4.2 (and probably 4.3) when the fruits of their labors on Akonadi would probably start becoming more edible. 
Click image to see a bigger version
Tip: If you want to remove a component in Kontact that’s not listed in its configuration dialog, you have to put the setting manually in the kontactrc file, in the format “kontact_kjotspluginEnabled=false”. By the way, that’s how I “divorced” KJots from Kontact.
6. Plasma
Last, but definitely not the least, is the most controversial KDE 4 celebrity. Two very important and unbiased facts: 1) Plasma still hasn’t reached it’s full potential but 2) It has come quite a long way since its “barely finished” state in KDE 4.0. But I’m not here to talk about the merits or demerits of Plasma, but on how I am personally enjoying some of the benefits of what Plasma has so far brought in 4.1. I am not your conventional desktop user. I have a very whacked mind. And I for one do not like the static nature of conventional desktops. But I’m not one to dismiss the usefulness of having desktop icons as well. What I liked most about Plasma is the freedom that it gives me to have both. I always wanted to be able to have desktop icons for different folders and placed in different areas of the desktop. And now, I can go crazy!
Click image to see a bigger version
Of course, not everything is perfect in 4.1, and we still have a long way to go. But the dust is settling. The pillars and foundations are well laid and sturdy. I’m still seeing an exciting, adventure-filled future for KDE ahead, with future releases of Amarok and KOffice just on the horizon. I just hope that I could share this optimism with others too.
P.S. Up to know, I actually haven’t figured out using Strigi and Nepomuk. Not that I really tried hard to. I just doesn’t work out of the box. Maybe I should make it my next project…
Just some small updates, while I'm trying to get off my ass and migrate the site completely to Textpattern.
July 29th, 2008 at 1:19 am
Yay! Congratulations! KDE 4.1 is good enough for you.
July 29th, 2008 at 1:21 am
[...] Carlos Torres: KDE 4.1: Good enough for ME. Juan Carlos give a great preview of some of the goodies coming in the new “dot [...]
July 29th, 2008 at 2:15 am
>Yay! Congratulations! KDE 4.1 is good enough for you.
Yay! Funny troll is funny!
July 29th, 2008 at 3:20 am
“KDE 4.1: Good enough for ME”
with this bug? http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=159482
http://i36.tinypic.com/r2n8fn.jpg
I am KDE user, but temporarily this is unusable for me.
July 29th, 2008 at 3:59 am
@nferenc:
I don’t know if this will be in KDE 4.1 but you could use the notification-plasmoid.
It still has some issues but works around that kopete-problem fairly well (and it looks “plasmaish” :)).
I for one am very happy with KDE 4/trunk for the moment.
July 29th, 2008 at 4:05 am
> Also, annotations are only visible if you use Okular. But I don’t mind. I don’t see myself using any other viewer anyway
I think this is the biggest problem with the annotations. Just yesterday I had this problem that I wanted to share a pdf with my okular annotations until I gave up to make them visible in acrobat (or anything else).
AFAIK are notations are supported by the pdf format so it wouldn’t be such a big problem to make them accessible by other programs.
And then I miss the feature to actually print the pdf with the annotations. And to edit added annotations.
But all in all I’m very pleased with the annotation feature.
July 29th, 2008 at 4:42 am
@Peter Grasch notification-plasmoid?
Where can I find it?
July 29th, 2008 at 5:16 am
@winky:
What are the related bug numbers in bugs.kde.org so i can vote for them?
July 29th, 2008 at 5:38 am
I didn’t even know about the search as you type functionality in present windows and have been using 4.1 since the betas.
And yeah, I agree. Actually I was using 4.0.x and eventually upgraded all my machines to that but I think it is with 4.1 (maybe 4.1.x rather than 4.1.0) that KDE 4 becomes the compelling choice over KDE 3 for most users
July 29th, 2008 at 5:56 am
I’m surprised to hear it will be release in a few days, khotkeys doesn’t even work, and I’m not sure about kprinter either. Here’s hoping for the best!
July 29th, 2008 at 8:40 am
@nference: Yes, it’s usable for me even with that Kopete bug. But that’s because (and I’ll be brutally honest with this), I don’t like this version of Kopete at all. I only use it because it’s the only multi-protocol KDE IM app I know. But I have been known to scream and use Pidgin in frustration. In short, Kopete’s bugs doesn’t break the deal for KDE 4.1 for me, because I have already passed terrible judgment on it.
@winky: well yes, there’s a problem with sharing your annotations. I haven’t asked pino about support for that part of the pdf format, but I can imagine that it’s not that easy to support or make really portable, considering its proprietary nature.
@Joseph Reagle: Yeah khotkeys isn’t working in RC 1 (or 2), and I’m not sure how long before that gets fixed. I sort of get around that by running KDE 3’s khotkeys instead.
As for printing, unfortunately AFAIK there are 2 Qt bugs that are causing that. KPrinter itself actually works (I can print to PDF), but I haven’t tested printing yet (because at the moment, my CUPS setup is broken anyway). But I’m confident that our KDE hackers are working with the Trolls on getting a fix out ASAP.
July 29th, 2008 at 11:10 am
[...] Jucato [...]
July 29th, 2008 at 6:23 pm
@med
That I didn’t think of that to open a bug report. But most it’s already been asked as a feature.
@jucato
I hope it’s not that difficult because right now sharing your annotations and changing them are for me the most needed features in okular and this could be a real improvement.
July 29th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
@med
as I expected, the feature request has already been added to the bug tracker (and considering the 325 votes I’m not the only one who is waiting for that)
http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=151614
to get some other bug reports / feature requests in okular (related to annotations) take a look at this. I haven’t found a solution to change annotations but now I know how to move them around:
http://bugs.kde.org/simple_search.cgi?id=annotations+okular
July 29th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
How do you use khotkey3 and do you have to edit them in kde 3’s Kmenu editor?