tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26814789286133426872024-02-21T23:44:30.890-05:00K * Digest!News, reviews, and opinions regarding KDE Plasma, Project Neon, Linux, and related topics. Occasional nags and rants. J. Cainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14296631305054054017noreply@blogger.comBlogger215125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2681478928613342687.post-6110416999280324842019-05-08T16:58:00.000-04:002019-05-08T16:58:07.901-04:00KDE Plasma 5.15.5 Released As The Last Bugfix Of The Series Before The Release Of 5.16<br />
The KDE Community has released Plasma 5.15.5 with the latest round of bug fixes. This represents the last release of the 5.15 series.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoromorQuCbZq2KZrCRwU15fgdUKwIZypaTnSRJX91r-7OEQVsMAU-lEK3OFy2gC3RJLsHVzNmKsvF88TFdFtT-jE46xLtsMx0jMKM2-HweW25Lb66Gs8-yzbR-932Q4JFaobBOE4L3Ok/s1600/Screenshot_20181106_170650.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoromorQuCbZq2KZrCRwU15fgdUKwIZypaTnSRJX91r-7OEQVsMAU-lEK3OFy2gC3RJLsHVzNmKsvF88TFdFtT-jE46xLtsMx0jMKM2-HweW25Lb66Gs8-yzbR-932Q4JFaobBOE4L3Ok/s320/Screenshot_20181106_170650.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />
Plasma 5.16 will release in June, and will be when many new exciting features are brought forth, such as with <a href="https://www.kdedigest.com/2019/05/kde-plasmas-discover-software-store.html" target="_blank">Discover</a>.<br />
<br />
Per the announcement:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"This release adds a month's worth of new translations and fixes from KDE's contributors. The bugfixes are typically small but important..."</i> </blockquote>
<br />
Highlights for 5.15 include:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Setting the default cursor theme for GTK applications to Breeze</li>
<li>Many Flatpak improvements for Discover Software Store</li>
<li>A fix to the underlying code for the weather addon</li>
<li>Improved label legibility in Folder View</li>
<li>Fixing blurry previews in Widget Explorer</li>
<li>Bugfixes for Kickoff menu </li>
<li>Bugfix for Plasma Network Manager that would allow seen networks to disappear under certain conditions</li>
<li>Several xdg-desktop-portal-kde improvements</li>
</ul>
<br />
You can read the full changelog <a href="https://kde.org/announcements/plasma-5.15.4-5.15.5-changelog.php" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
Look for these to land soon in your preferred KDE Plasma distro.<br />
<br />J. Cainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14296631305054054017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2681478928613342687.post-79871734721978950732019-05-07T18:03:00.001-04:002019-05-07T18:03:54.515-04:00Freespire Linux 4.8 Released With KDE Plasma 5 LTS, Some Unique Applications<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQV0FFOtHzkgwnoxRnR6nGsb2eDocoQ-qJg1odKkbe33N9nF9_0iE3g4RrjAhrTy3k_Bifp1VL787I35rVmOIXZxO6MfKPpeFpZQiREKP6bPSYe4F1zTohYg02eFeWcmJxhO6SXbiOXq8/s1600/freespire3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQV0FFOtHzkgwnoxRnR6nGsb2eDocoQ-qJg1odKkbe33N9nF9_0iE3g4RrjAhrTy3k_Bifp1VL787I35rVmOIXZxO6MfKPpeFpZQiREKP6bPSYe4F1zTohYg02eFeWcmJxhO6SXbiOXq8/s320/freespire3.png" style="display: none;" width="320" /></a></div>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
Freespire, the free version of Linspire from PC / OpenSystems LLC, has a new release</h2>
<div style="text-align: left;">
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<div style="text-align: left;">
The team over at Linspire recently announced the immediate availability of Freespire, the free and community version of it's licensed commercial cousin.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
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<div style="text-align: left;">
Once based on XFCE, Freespire is currently based on KDE Plasma 5 LTS. Per the announcement:</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: #cccccc;"><i>"Today is another great day for the freespire development team, as we announce the release of Freespire 4.8. It is our FOSS solution, with no binary-only drivers, multimedia codecs and strictly libre applications, nothing proprietary included. Freespire is released bi-annually and showcases the best of the FOSS and KDE communities"</i></span></div>
</blockquote>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirAVS56aBEnkrCXny8s927xsIugptkDWQUc74Jai5gm9m-N2NQz8P_ALScc5Ayn_8U2S0eVTK2rGSl7RbjB2z6iUGshzWoDkNaDJ2cvx1NFKAZSYEj_WGJFgY5TrwRcOOx78moukAZ1eM/s1600/freespire2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Freespire Linux 4.8 based on KDE Plasma 5 LTS" border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirAVS56aBEnkrCXny8s927xsIugptkDWQUc74Jai5gm9m-N2NQz8P_ALScc5Ayn_8U2S0eVTK2rGSl7RbjB2z6iUGshzWoDkNaDJ2cvx1NFKAZSYEj_WGJFgY5TrwRcOOx78moukAZ1eM/s320/freespire2.png" title="Freespire Linux 4.8 based on KDE Plasma 5 LTS" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Screenshot courtesy of freespirelinux.com</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<h3>
Included applications</h3>
<br />
Among the apps shipping with Freespire some interesting and unique choices, such as Ice SSB (Site Specific Browser) and the <a href="https://www.kdedigest.com/2019/04/more-than-year-since-its-last.html" target="_blank">Amarok music player</a>. <br />
<br />
Other highlights included in Freespire 4.8:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>KDE Plasma 5.12.7 LTS</li>
<li>KDE Frameworks 5.44.0</li>
<li>QT 5.9.5</li>
<li>Kernel 4.18</li>
<li>Chromium Web Browser</li>
<li>Geary</li>
<li>Ice SSB</li>
<li>Amarok</li>
<li>VLC Player</li>
<li>Calligra Office Suite</li>
<li>Discover Software Center</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxEFJCghgDqjwqgEfRjH-DiqAdR6RNbJfiDtB7I4M5u7w9yZY1AJK1Ytkr8q-DDwpLF_TZMybNacySG02ZksF3r1ftXQJ9Xks9ouEfs7t-1TqYgxvQFmsHE8sjnSuJZ66wD5n7AYisHV4/s1600/freespire1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Freespire Linux 4.8 Desktop" border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxEFJCghgDqjwqgEfRjH-DiqAdR6RNbJfiDtB7I4M5u7w9yZY1AJK1Ytkr8q-DDwpLF_TZMybNacySG02ZksF3r1ftXQJ9Xks9ouEfs7t-1TqYgxvQFmsHE8sjnSuJZ66wD5n7AYisHV4/s320/freespire1.png" title="Freespire Linux 4.8 Desktop" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h3>
</h3>
<h3>
</h3>
<h3>
Some initial thoughts on Freespire 4.8</h3>
<br />
As someone who has never installed Freespire, here are a few initial thoughts:<br />
<br />
- Interestingly, although based on the LTS version of Plasma, the kernel
shipped is 4.18, which is older than the current LTS kernel release,
which is <a href="https://www.linux.com/blog/2018/10/linux-kernel-419-long-term-support-usb-type-c-and-wifi-6" target="_blank">4.19</a>.<br />
<br />
- It's always good to see KDE's Calligra office suite included in "pure" KDE distributions, and I wish more would do the same; Although it's hard to argue with Libre Office as a default. But you can't get exposure without getting the software into user's hands.<br />
<br />
- Along that some line of thinking, the inclusion of a GTK application, namely <a href="https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Geary" target="_blank">Geary</a> for email, is a bit surprising considering the announcement states that one of the goals of Freespire is to showcase the best of the KDE Community. Perhaps the devs just don't consider KMail / KDE PIM to be stable enough. Fair enough. But then why not include Thunderbird instead? Or better yet, <a href="http://trojita.flaska.net/" target="_blank">Trojita</a>? <br />
<br />
- It will be interesting to follow Freespire (and it's sibling Linspire). I'd be keen to know what the differences are. I'm assuming that the model is that Freespire is to Linspire as Fedora is to Red Hat Enterprise Linux?... Inquiring minds want to know.<br />
<br />
You can read more about Freespire 4.8 and the organization behind it, as well as get download information, over on the <a href="https://www.freespirelinux.com/2019/05/freespire-48-released.html" target="_blank">release announcement page</a>.<br />
<br />
You can also read more about the parent company, PC / Opensystems LLC by visting their page at <a href="https://www.pc-opensystems.com/" target="_blank">https://www.pc-opensystems.com.</a> J. Cainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14296631305054054017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2681478928613342687.post-51724176876458229002019-05-06T16:26:00.000-04:002019-05-06T16:30:37.554-04:00New KDE Partition Manager 4.0 Released With New Features And Code Re-write<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
Lots of new features and some code re-base highlight KDE Partition Manager 4.0</h2>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
</h2>
<div style="text-align: left;">
After 1 and 1/2 years of work from the developers, KDE Partition Manager 4.0 has been made available to users. by far, the main aspect of this release is that the entire application, including the GUI, does not need to run as the root user.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>"The main highlight of this release is that GUI does not need to run as root user. Instead we use KAuth framework (note that in the future we plan to use lower level Polkit API directly but this work is not started yet). GUI runing as unprivileged user also makes our Wayland port work perfectly fine"</i></div>
</blockquote>
<br />
The announcement states that the changes above will make KPM more portable, and therefore possible to be used by other projects such as FreeBSD.<br />
<br />
Additionally, many of the underlying tool sets have been updated including moving to the latest version of smartmontools from libatasmart, and moving the KPMcor e component to sfdisk (a part of util-linux).<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilKAgT67kPk_f2K_Tc6URErS1qSWIwr0k4ssbWJbT3HVMMO-cNObf-9EZrj7R8RouaIvzl679etzIOQQrdYmHLNgk267uTCgTQbCevwrQDBx4cCEvSJBTwJ681ybQ0RZNgfFnlUusY4r4/s1600/Screenshot_20190506_152824.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="KDE Partition Manager 4.0" border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilKAgT67kPk_f2K_Tc6URErS1qSWIwr0k4ssbWJbT3HVMMO-cNObf-9EZrj7R8RouaIvzl679etzIOQQrdYmHLNgk267uTCgTQbCevwrQDBx4cCEvSJBTwJ681ybQ0RZNgfFnlUusY4r4/s320/Screenshot_20190506_152824.png" title="KDE Partition Manager 4.0" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">KDE Partition Manager 4.0</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Other notable changes / improvements include new detection support for Apple's APFS file system and Microsoft's Bitlocker, use of modern C++ features, LVM bug fixes, and better LUKS2 support.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
The LUKS2 support, while not exposed in the Partition Manager GUI, is present and will allow other related projects such as the Calamares Installer, to to support LUKS2 containers / partitions in the future. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
The full release announcement is available over at <a href="https://stikonas.eu/wordpress/2019/05/02/kde-partition-manager-4-0/" target="_blank">Andrius Štikonas' blog</a>.</div>
J. Cainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14296631305054054017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2681478928613342687.post-29976015878923547892019-05-06T14:04:00.000-04:002019-05-06T14:04:48.798-04:00Elisa Music Player Sees More New Features And A Beta Release<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiAmDRc6CskRDjTtyD1Ofqsn2gwu5tGg7e6MBmw4vcXftuFS8B5wpoEImemUf0h4wNAbb4pG2X_DyYXl45S-Sb2qFlzfL6DGGv7YXFSaiMmcD45JVqXBwHLahYTPs4X9DsNo37Y8iP4-w/s1600/Screenshot_20190506_132323.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiAmDRc6CskRDjTtyD1Ofqsn2gwu5tGg7e6MBmw4vcXftuFS8B5wpoEImemUf0h4wNAbb4pG2X_DyYXl45S-Sb2qFlzfL6DGGv7YXFSaiMmcD45JVqXBwHLahYTPs4X9DsNo37Y8iP4-w/s320/Screenshot_20190506_132323.png" style="display: none;" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
KDE Music Player Elisa Issues Beta, Moving Towards 0.4 Release</h2>
<br />
Well, what can I say? Another day<b>,</b> more news about KDE's Elisa Music Player.<br />
<br />
Pushing forward from the previous announcements regarding this up-and-coming music application, the lead developer has again posted news about more new features in a move towards an official release.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4NH6fBFA_lon1AUdAsCZo72SEL_ZRVq9Kh1xgzQuRXMx49vKnE8FeH-L8WcbBWYsNzLHrV1P2yQvkcVW8oUjZAd5k0y-V_CTJ1-rmPBHHYaPjUIgT4vc07nmvJHM2AuHUWHV-mgHLQgg/s1600/Screenshot_20190506_132853.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Elisa looks great, with blurred backgrounds that are taken from the album cover and it's colors" border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4NH6fBFA_lon1AUdAsCZo72SEL_ZRVq9Kh1xgzQuRXMx49vKnE8FeH-L8WcbBWYsNzLHrV1P2yQvkcVW8oUjZAd5k0y-V_CTJ1-rmPBHHYaPjUIgT4vc07nmvJHM2AuHUWHV-mgHLQgg/s320/Screenshot_20190506_132853.png" title="Elisa looks great, with blurred backgrounds that are taken from the album cover and it's colors" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elisa looks great, with blurred backgrounds<br />
that are taken from the album cover and it's colors</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<h3>
What's new?</h3>
<h3>
</h3>
Here's the scoop on what's been added this time around:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Displays embedded lyrics in the Now Playing view</li>
<li>Displays album covers, either embedded or in the album's folder (i.e. cover.jpg)</li>
<li>Displays a warning and an 'undo' feature if someone accidentally tries to delete a playlist</li>
<li>Initial support for Android integration (this is separate than the media integration via KDE Connect)</li>
<li>Clickable headerbar to navigate to the album or artist from the Now Playing view</li>
<li>Easy installation of the beta candidate via a Flatpak install option</li>
</ul>
<br />
I gave this version of Elisa a spin by uninstalling my native KDE Neon 0.3 version and installing the beta from the now-available Flatpak.<br />
<br />
I can tell you it has come a long way in a short time. Great having the lyrics there along with excellent playlist support and also the ability to use my embedded cover art.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhfBZ1CaGRBXPCvaIi9APNEz7QaMoNNw5Lw-wx2TKOWUKJmyxObklSfWxOy0SE3J0EIJTX6slwHNV68iVqNWYScOHN3xVLJaVxdENBtuAuj-BToCK1vz93jplyLuwt3d7h_CCeACNjCu4/s1600/Screenshot_20190506_132323.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Elisa Music Player now shows embedded song lyrics and has clickable artist / album links" border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhfBZ1CaGRBXPCvaIi9APNEz7QaMoNNw5Lw-wx2TKOWUKJmyxObklSfWxOy0SE3J0EIJTX6slwHNV68iVqNWYScOHN3xVLJaVxdENBtuAuj-BToCK1vz93jplyLuwt3d7h_CCeACNjCu4/s320/Screenshot_20190506_132323.png" title="Elisa Music Player now shows embedded song lyrics and has clickable artist / album links" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elisa Music Player now shows embedded song lyrics<br />
and has clickable artist / album links</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<h3>
Where does Elisa go from here?</h3>
<h3>
</h3>
Once the 0.4 release is made, I can safely say that what we will have on our hands as a solid music player for KDE and for Linux. Which is great, because frankly, the 'Tux universe is over-filled with crappy and bit-rotting ones today.<br />
<br />
The developer has stated that there have been a slew of incoming feature requests, and that it would take him a rather long time to implement by himself. So the request was made for additional help and for additional contributors to the project.<br />
<br />
Lots of ideas and requests have been identified, such as visualizations, high DPI support, radio steams, a complete move to Kirigami framework, DLNA support, etc.<br />
<br />
So if you'd like to jump on board participation is welcome.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Installing the Beta </h3>
<br />
Installing the beta release is simple, and consists of a simple terminal entry. First, I would recommend uninstalling any version of Elisa you have previously installed on your system. Next, simply open Konsole or your terminal of choice and paste the following:<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><code>flatpak install https://flathub.org/beta-repo/appstream/org.kde.elisa.flatpakref</code></span><br />
<br />
That's it.<br />
<br />
You can view mgallien's blog post on the beta <a href="https://mgallienkde.wordpress.com/2019/05/04/elisa-0-4-beta-release-and-more-new-features/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
Check it out, and do let us know what you think via the comments below, or ping us on <a href="https://twitter.com/K_Digest" target="_blank">Twitter</a>.J. Cainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14296631305054054017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2681478928613342687.post-66187530154317061502019-05-05T22:50:00.001-04:002019-05-05T22:50:45.633-04:00KDE Plasma's Discover Software Store Sill Improving, Gaining New Features For Plasma 5.16The Discover Software Store is seeing new features and fixes coming down the pipe for KDE Applications 5.16. Checking the relevant sources, it's apparent that the devs have been busy once again here.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-z08jmKVuhwVKHPNOyeKL2T6WT6QOR2Yb0dV3HJ9oj-du8BTjR1Kq9QiPYkd_VaBSfsUQMA34jDaS61Lqucly3ghSuGLhrreKHMhKW4aK0nAHQ8rvzbwgKZofvt18hOn0NhoY8Ug72Iw/s1600/Screenshot_20190505_222819.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Discover Software Store In KDE Neon" border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-z08jmKVuhwVKHPNOyeKL2T6WT6QOR2Yb0dV3HJ9oj-du8BTjR1Kq9QiPYkd_VaBSfsUQMA34jDaS61Lqucly3ghSuGLhrreKHMhKW4aK0nAHQ8rvzbwgKZofvt18hOn0NhoY8Ug72Iw/s320/Screenshot_20190505_222819.png" title="Discover Software Store In KDE Neon" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Discover Software Store</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
Here's what's New In The Discover Software Store For Plasma 5.16 So Far </h2>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
</h2>
<ul>
<li>Discover’s Updates page - Apps and packages now have distinct “downloading” and “installing” phases, whereby after an item has finished installing, it disappears from view</li>
<li>Discover now displays a busy indicator to show that it’s actually doing something while checking for updates...</li>
<li>Discover’s tasks completion indicator now uses a real progress bar, which looks much nicer (<--- This should make users particularly happy)</li>
<li>Improved support for AppImages and other apps that come from store.kde.org</li>
<ul>
<li>This means Discover will natively and OTTB (Out Of The Box) support Snaps via Snapcraft.io), Flatpaks (via Flathub.org), and AppImages (presumably via OpenDesktop.org's Appimage Store) </li>
</ul>
<li>The sources menu now shows the version number for each different source for that app </li>
<li>Improved reliability dealing with content from store.kde.org</li>
<li>Discover will now allow a user to force quit when installation or update operations are proceeding (or stuck...so use with caution)</li>
</ul>
What's not clear as of yet is whether the improved KDE Store support also means Discover utilizes the "<a href="https://www.opendesktop.org/p/1136805/" target="_blank">ocs-url</a>" protocol, or what is exactly meant by this new functionality beyond the stated handling of <a href="https://www.appimagehub.com/" target="_blank">AppImages from the KDE Store</a>.<br />
<br />
It is nice to see the combined back-end, including the distribution's native packages, seamlessly integrated (or at least more so) together. The user should not care where the sources are from (as long as they are trusted), or in what format they come in. In the end, most just want the latest stable version on the software they want to use.<br />
<br />
Additionally, many bug fixes have come down the line as well. Plasma Discover continues to see development and bug-fixes, and had certainly come a long way in the last 24 months or so.<br />
<br />
Plasma 5.16 will release in June of this year.J. Cainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14296631305054054017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2681478928613342687.post-30876308307703441192019-05-05T10:14:00.000-04:002019-05-05T10:57:04.213-04:00Highlighting Some Really Elegant KDE Plasma Wallpapers From The Collection Of PT_Alfred<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIKBjsydzI43pHIunO6xi1yp1da7R6wtbTaXq_Lh6Vz7Pl0YTny2mM2A0lQZUiK-WiYVkcM9KyhRXFIY4cACQedlqMSkShHzoarfc2U-EEq0-ZXH-J68bdiBKLUDwNP02rEDwzwCq0pVM/s1600/Screenshot_20190428_003737.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIKBjsydzI43pHIunO6xi1yp1da7R6wtbTaXq_Lh6Vz7Pl0YTny2mM2A0lQZUiK-WiYVkcM9KyhRXFIY4cACQedlqMSkShHzoarfc2U-EEq0-ZXH-J68bdiBKLUDwNP02rEDwzwCq0pVM/s320/Screenshot_20190428_003737.png" style="display: none;" width="320" /></a>
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Some really nice KDE Plasma wallpapers for your Plasma desktop</i></span> </h2>
<br />
Every once in a while, we like to relax a little bit. Kick back, and play around with our Linux boxes. And, every once in a while, something truly elegant comes along and I just feel the need to highlight it here for our readers.<br />
<br />
And, well, this is one of those times.<br />
<br />
Recently, whilst perusing the KDE Store, I came across the Plasma Collection from a contributor named "PT_Alfred", and this person's work struck me as elegant, classy, and a fine addition to any Plasma-sporting device out there.<br />
<br />
PT_Alfred's bio reads:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"Hi, my name is Alfred F. ( alias PT_Alfred), I’m a technology enthusiast, and passionate about the GNU/Linux world. I am the founder of Curva Digital, Digitallofice and Artwork & Design blogs"</i></blockquote>
<br />
He's also apparently pretty passionate about KDE Plasma. His work is over in the KDE Store, arranged in a collection, and it seems to be growing. When I first came in contact with this person's work, there were - I think - around 5 additions to the collection at that point.<br />
<br />
Since then, the collection is up to eight, and now even includes matching mobile wallpapers for a few of works present.<br />
<br />
Honestly, the thumbnails below don't do the artist's work much justice, so do check their page out and download a few. And be sure to leave a like and comment on their page, if so inclined, or even throw a <a href="https://www.opendesktop.org/faq-pling" target="_blank">Pling or two</a> their way.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>The (growing) KDE Plasma wallpaper collection can be found <a href="https://www.opendesktop.org/c/1300565">here</a> </li>
<li>The artist's 'about' page over at their blog is <a href="https://artworkedesign.wordpress.com/about-2/">here</a></li>
</ul>
<br />
We'll keep bringing you more community art (wallpapers, themes, icons, and such) - I hope you enjoy!<br />
<br />
Also don't forget KDE's <a href="https://www.kdedigest.com/2019/05/you-can-design-next-plasma-wallpaper.html" target="_blank">Wallpaper Competition</a> - now underway! Perhaps PT will submit an entry or two...<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<b><i>Which is your favorite?</i></b></div>
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Classy Plasma Wallpaper Image Gallery</span></h2>
<br />
<br />
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padding: 15px;
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<br />
<div class="responsive">
<div class="gallery">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiptWDy-rxc9crhCw62A913N2v8pCHcKGSQI6DJrFcnOtbZVmNZiiOvWTUvifp9lOjhBAKRrypcw7-E8pJ3Ou41PmI3y30Su7YoDER5lppQGEcCgG2YuhpXDzLkOgD4JMWkMv-1Jt3LW1k/s1600/Plasm_inBlue_WQHD.png" target="_blank">
<img alt="KDE Plasma In Blue Wallpaper" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiptWDy-rxc9crhCw62A913N2v8pCHcKGSQI6DJrFcnOtbZVmNZiiOvWTUvifp9lOjhBAKRrypcw7-E8pJ3Ou41PmI3y30Su7YoDER5lppQGEcCgG2YuhpXDzLkOgD4JMWkMv-1Jt3LW1k/s1600/Plasm_inBlue_WQHD.png" title="KDE Plasma In Blue Wallpaper" width="600" />
</a>
<br />
<div class="desc">
KDE Plasma In Blue</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="responsive">
<div class="gallery">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwthztjl-iZ4g6vrHj0wnDwjRfzM7mAuRpjIMsO7zOxyoUvGwfm7WfYyTaL83S4MWtkA-gQt22N2CZMtAQF8Z0mDsZBhapOVjXhhlSDyPsL0HzcefRQsKVhvAaVaKpPiiTvRtleC1DnSg/s1600/Plasm_inRed_WQHD.png" target="_blank">
<img alt="KDE Plasma In Red Wallpaper" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwthztjl-iZ4g6vrHj0wnDwjRfzM7mAuRpjIMsO7zOxyoUvGwfm7WfYyTaL83S4MWtkA-gQt22N2CZMtAQF8Z0mDsZBhapOVjXhhlSDyPsL0HzcefRQsKVhvAaVaKpPiiTvRtleC1DnSg/s1600/Plasm_inRed_WQHD.png" title="KDE Plasma In Red Wallpaper" width="600" />
</a>
<br />
<div class="desc">
KDE Plasma In Red</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="responsive">
<div class="gallery">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGaZF-Cabyq2MleD5byZHKXQ2PavSx8aYl9tSzUPoTuj-1hwqqA1I3G2Auv6P-2F30cPYydbqoqNJBwX5dnTU6nGYEZIZ7C7caDzdXSylCt88m8ymTVkeVlVDcocuLNB-hIuvNY_odfzk/s320/Plasm_inGreen_4K.png" target="_blank">
<img alt="KDE Plasma In Green Wallpaper" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGaZF-Cabyq2MleD5byZHKXQ2PavSx8aYl9tSzUPoTuj-1hwqqA1I3G2Auv6P-2F30cPYydbqoqNJBwX5dnTU6nGYEZIZ7C7caDzdXSylCt88m8ymTVkeVlVDcocuLNB-hIuvNY_odfzk/s320/Plasm_inGreen_4K.png" title="KDE Plasma In Green Wallpaper" width="600" />
</a>
<br />
<div class="desc">
KDE Plasma In Green Wallpaper</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="responsive">
<div class="gallery">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWCGHMFZ32v8GCpXR87R_YPDxDfgrjYwmsc9l-T8fZsRlB4V0iUJ375Edfs3g_f6sxgdCmmLcd4TlZq1sSQnu_GDQuFgZQ2lWyKuHBOr3P4baU_XmHdGPjB80B1Bt8DaBub-AjWdjWh3w/s1600/Hot_PLasma_Full_HD+.png" target="_blank">
<img alt="KDE Hot Plasma Wallpaper" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWCGHMFZ32v8GCpXR87R_YPDxDfgrjYwmsc9l-T8fZsRlB4V0iUJ375Edfs3g_f6sxgdCmmLcd4TlZq1sSQnu_GDQuFgZQ2lWyKuHBOr3P4baU_XmHdGPjB80B1Bt8DaBub-AjWdjWh3w/s1600/Hot_PLasma_Full_HD+.png" title="KDE Hot Plasma Wallpaper" width="600" />
</a>
<br />
<div class="desc">
KDE Hot Plasma Wallpaper</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="responsive">
<div class="gallery">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuCPBc1j13sQNrC2irEkhyUjJGk7649cC67jFmgITMb5bj0rjDAsirYXyUl6Bl6oYYLtnpD0A3s_GP1UKeIjUhSIMoVu97JJU5dNWjRQcX09iPClcpptOO73vjldysd0Cp9QoYb5KAjX4/s1600/Plasm_Coriolis_WQHD.png" target="_blank">
<img alt="KDE Coriolis Wallpaper" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuCPBc1j13sQNrC2irEkhyUjJGk7649cC67jFmgITMb5bj0rjDAsirYXyUl6Bl6oYYLtnpD0A3s_GP1UKeIjUhSIMoVu97JJU5dNWjRQcX09iPClcpptOO73vjldysd0Cp9QoYb5KAjX4/s1600/Plasm_Coriolis_WQHD.png" title="KDE Coriolis Wallpaper" width="600" />
</a>
<br />
<div class="desc">
KDE Coriolis Wallpaper</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="responsive">
<div class="gallery">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSRpZUPpbKPY7C9DqMdWxF3j37l6uGrOSpSZiJJW5PyC8zykdMRuqu7ntSTHpQB09nwSXGBXMGmw8WZN68IC2RzULYvB1uKUVltdosNnIEX-NT6XCzy4-agc86meStXspWxn1PWBunfTU/s1600/Plasm_Overnight_WQHD+.png" target="_blank">
<img alt="KDE Overnight Wallpaper" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSRpZUPpbKPY7C9DqMdWxF3j37l6uGrOSpSZiJJW5PyC8zykdMRuqu7ntSTHpQB09nwSXGBXMGmw8WZN68IC2RzULYvB1uKUVltdosNnIEX-NT6XCzy4-agc86meStXspWxn1PWBunfTU/s1600/Plasm_Overnight_WQHD+.png" title="KDE Overnight Wallpaper" width="600" />
</a>
<br />
<div class="desc">
KDE Overnight Wallpaper</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="responsive">
<div class="gallery">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcCUF76lhxNPUdWIDI-yXhm7TMKo1NJQw-SwJwweCTNuaSYjuxSs1JC_j_vLsNF6HmhAsCBdZQqvftmDTapPn84ykuEDAEDuse6bftH2iYVXI646lUWgVEJEcF4c_4KYJPxBISvuRIxm8/s1600/Cold_Plasma_FullHD.png" target="_blank">
<img alt="KDE Cold Plasma Wallpaper" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcCUF76lhxNPUdWIDI-yXhm7TMKo1NJQw-SwJwweCTNuaSYjuxSs1JC_j_vLsNF6HmhAsCBdZQqvftmDTapPn84ykuEDAEDuse6bftH2iYVXI646lUWgVEJEcF4c_4KYJPxBISvuRIxm8/s1600/Cold_Plasma_FullHD.png" title="KDE Cold Plasma Wallpaper" width="600" />
</a>
<br />
<div class="desc">
KDE Cold Plasma Wallpaper</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="responsive">
<div class="gallery">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-unRrKt-cpKblh7IarXPGKyB2KkXKVDx9E7DrqFSVVf7lmNpNgjrnDVLO7ApBUMgtU4Iunvtl3UMhtGib3TnTZkjHykyP6zHqD5KvaWm75ct-ivJklPE3SSuMPYOmM_0lPTIta6qOFR4/s1600/Plasm_inPaper_WQHD.png" target="_blank">
<img alt="KDE Plasma In Paper Wallpaper" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-unRrKt-cpKblh7IarXPGKyB2KkXKVDx9E7DrqFSVVf7lmNpNgjrnDVLO7ApBUMgtU4Iunvtl3UMhtGib3TnTZkjHykyP6zHqD5KvaWm75ct-ivJklPE3SSuMPYOmM_0lPTIta6qOFR4/s1600/Plasm_inPaper_WQHD.png" title="KDE Plasma In Paper Wallpaper" width="600" />
</a>
<br />
<div class="desc">
KDE Plasma In Paper Wallpaper</div>
</div>
</div>
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</div>
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<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh2YMMOk-JQmBLZG9mGiGYINrQ1qCxOFC1kmOq0sqZzB7HH0xlMwQ5_o8uf2zGlJW3DaKHG5fUulXfxWxTXB-NiAwoDV3HDu32wudsI6LwH6kk50VAcQV3fMKq8otR7h0JsPDSiQ3cZm4/s1600/Screenshot_20190505_073418.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="My desktop, pimping the "Hot Plasma" wallpaper" border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh2YMMOk-JQmBLZG9mGiGYINrQ1qCxOFC1kmOq0sqZzB7HH0xlMwQ5_o8uf2zGlJW3DaKHG5fUulXfxWxTXB-NiAwoDV3HDu32wudsI6LwH6kk50VAcQV3fMKq8otR7h0JsPDSiQ3cZm4/s320/Screenshot_20190505_073418.png" title="My desktop, pimping the "Hot Plasma" wallpaper" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My desktop, pimping the "Hot Plasma" wallpaper</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />J. Cainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14296631305054054017noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2681478928613342687.post-60172702274857992242019-05-04T11:50:00.000-04:002019-05-04T12:15:32.863-04:00You Can Design The Next Plasma Wallpaper And Win A Slimbook!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjMPOCHgHEgFTtKGLwzT3y9v1FRR70NBQyUfS6Ou4O0cxYdjg3SGcPnEss-_GZ8Qcnk4XYWhPn_nSyCUvvfhJHJXH46u9U-6F3Xu7tij1BIjFWm4496v6X9uHDNmebXt4rlQlTw0-RdVM/s1600/News.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="278" data-original-width="462" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjMPOCHgHEgFTtKGLwzT3y9v1FRR70NBQyUfS6Ou4O0cxYdjg3SGcPnEss-_GZ8Qcnk4XYWhPn_nSyCUvvfhJHJXH46u9U-6F3Xu7tij1BIjFWm4496v6X9uHDNmebXt4rlQlTw0-RdVM/s320/News.png" style="display: none;" width="320" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVDxsdFe7v7wv1bqGId3Ozw3wUWV2B-UflNLtUGs-wDAwZEetY6gdCldlyVvJEx0uC9PGSvqPF1VPyJPYfdq7BKpmiU-7jD6GqiXwRAQhFXwK2phroGo9bQ7MmbyqALGmy0HOu0cYTeqo/s1600/plasma-5-10-cascade-4k.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Plasma 5.10 Wallpaper, "Cascade"" border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVDxsdFe7v7wv1bqGId3Ozw3wUWV2B-UflNLtUGs-wDAwZEetY6gdCldlyVvJEx0uC9PGSvqPF1VPyJPYfdq7BKpmiU-7jD6GqiXwRAQhFXwK2phroGo9bQ7MmbyqALGmy0HOu0cYTeqo/s320/plasma-5-10-cascade-4k.png" title="Plasma 5.10 Wallpaper, "Cascade"" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
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<h2 class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
The KDE Community announces contest to design the new Plasma 5.16 wallpaper</h2>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Some people think wallpapers are the most exciting thing ever. Others are indifferent, simply installing their personal favorite and switching to it ASAP.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Whatever your opinion on the matter however, the truth is that the default wallpaper is the first thing someone sees when installing a new distribution. And that impression goes a long way towards having a likeable experience or not. </div>
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As part of the overall aesthetics of a desktop environment, the wallpaper covers the most real estate area visible to the user, and really says a lot about what the designers of the distribution what you sense when first booting up into a freshly installed Linux desktop session. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The folks over at KDE today have announced a new contest whereby you, dear user, can design the wallpaper that will be featured in the upcoming release of Plasma 5.16. </div>
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<h3 class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The details</h3>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Basically, you have the month of May to design and submit an original artwork to the appropriate post over on the KDE forums. A panel from KDE's <a href="http://Visual Design Group" target="_blank">Visual Design Group</a> will pick one winner and that person is submission will be the default wallpaper in plasma 5.16! </div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
So this is an entirely community-driven effort and anyone is encouraged to submit their artwork for consideration. And - there can be three entries per individual, so you have up to three shots at winning. </div>
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<h3 class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
As a bonus, you can win something really kool</h3>
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Sorry for the terrible "K" reference - old habits die hard, you know. Anyway, in addition to having your art represent the overall look of Plasma 5.16 to <i>millions</i> of users and organizations, you can actually win something very cool courtesy of our friends over at Slimbook:</div>
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<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzEIBA5TZBtoBGAjXNIUjGKouUqd_jQc9GsLpFy7n1RjwkwHF45Q_NwOspLgaJlQg27oX-3sxzzQpXzQTxP8urOlZC5Fpi32Sv_Ntt8Y5X98ielbdHWszz4yRZa1NGTY_Ab-_XIicQb8Y/s1600/x08.jpg.pagespeed.ic.0lOfMScrG_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="The prize for the winning Plasma wallpaper submission: A shiny-new Slimbook One Version 2 computer" border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1547" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzEIBA5TZBtoBGAjXNIUjGKouUqd_jQc9GsLpFy7n1RjwkwHF45Q_NwOspLgaJlQg27oX-3sxzzQpXzQTxP8urOlZC5Fpi32Sv_Ntt8Y5X98ielbdHWszz4yRZa1NGTY_Ab-_XIicQb8Y/s320/x08.jpg.pagespeed.ic.0lOfMScrG_.jpg" title="The prize for the winning Plasma wallpaper submission: A shiny-new Slimbook One Version 2 computer" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The prize for the winning Plasma wallpaper submission:<br />
A shiny-new Slimbook One Version 2 computer</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
The <a href="https://slimbook.es/en/power-minipc-one" target="_blank">Slimbook One</a> is a full-blown small form factor computer that packs some serious power under the hood for its size. Designed from the ground up to be Linux friendly, this little powerhouse makes a great gaming box or home theater PC, in addition to more pedestrian type computer duties.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><i>"Our friends at Slimbook have kindly donated a Slimbook One v2 as a prize for the winning participant. The One v2 is an eco-friendly, compact machine, measuring only 12.4 x 12.8 x 3.7 cm. It comes with an i5 processor, 8 GB of RAM, and is capable of outputting video in glorious 4K. Naturally, your One will come decked out with the upcoming KDE Plasma 5.16 desktop, your spectacular wallpaper, and a bunch of great software made by KDE"</i></span> </blockquote>
<br />
Want to win one of these little Linux dynamos for yourself? Well you can by submitting the winning contest artwork.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwZSC3obbeDXotACreh7CAotOUYqyw2Bg0pNqVMeK1iNTQsUQ61xxHhFKLDRAuBbZQ6S4bystk2UM9V-nCM9iJqJjczPqyUWG7EsfkFUuDfBBsHnNsNiRu0OrmJa8fjZUQxEO1hGwlgPA/s1600/Screenshot_20190504_111747.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="KDE Community wallpaper contest tweet" border="0" data-original-height="870" data-original-width="617" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwZSC3obbeDXotACreh7CAotOUYqyw2Bg0pNqVMeK1iNTQsUQ61xxHhFKLDRAuBbZQ6S4bystk2UM9V-nCM9iJqJjczPqyUWG7EsfkFUuDfBBsHnNsNiRu0OrmJa8fjZUQxEO1hGwlgPA/s320/Screenshot_20190504_111747.png" title="KDE Community wallpaper contest tweet" width="226" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Full details on the competition, prizes, rules, etc. are over on the <a href="https://forum.kde.org/viewtopic.php?f=312&t=160487" target="_blank">KDE forums</a>. If you do decide to enter, good luck, and please do show us some pictures of the Slimbook running Plasma with your winning wallpaper when Plasma 5.16 is released <a href="https://community.kde.org/Schedules/Plasma_5" target="_blank">later in June</a>.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h4>
P.S. - A reminder</h4>
<h4>
</h4>
<br />
A friendly reminder, in case you missed it: We recently released a collection of all Plasma 5 wallpapers to date, and even threw in some KDE 4 ones as well!<br />
<br />
Feel free to download and peruse for inspiration if needed.<br />
<br />
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://bit.ly/2GRhDPr" target="_blank"><b>All KDE Plasma 5 Wallpapers Released So Far <br />In One Place: Plasma 5.0 - 5.14</b></a> </h3>
J. Cainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14296631305054054017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2681478928613342687.post-42939473950315119682019-05-01T17:06:00.000-04:002019-05-01T17:06:31.371-04:00We Have A New Poll Out On Twitter: What's Your Biggest Wish For KDE Plasma?<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtEr2MRmqJ14_M_f-mgcIHQH9cWc02tHWNOWMc6VL82QqtH76M-IfqK2fQgvwsFCGWqATHMPR0aSKvX9WoLOglp0RLPHrP73iT2KP2tJ-3dV2y-cJ4TSg4Xn8NG-FMu9zYx2uq686c1r8/s1600/poll_graphic.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1408" data-original-width="1515" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtEr2MRmqJ14_M_f-mgcIHQH9cWc02tHWNOWMc6VL82QqtH76M-IfqK2fQgvwsFCGWqATHMPR0aSKvX9WoLOglp0RLPHrP73iT2KP2tJ-3dV2y-cJ4TSg4Xn8NG-FMu9zYx2uq686c1r8/s320/poll_graphic.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<h3>
<br /></h3>
<h3>
Just out of curiosity, what are your biggest wishes for KDE plasma? </h3>
<br />
We have put a new poll up on our Twitter account for you to give us your thoughts. If one of the choices does not represent what you think is the biggest area needing improvement in KDE Plasma, feel free to leave your thoughts all the matter.<br />
<br />
Thanks in advance for voting! We will follow up with the results here.<br />
<br />
P.S. The poll only runs for 3 days, so do check it out and vote if you have the chance!<br />
<br />
<h4 style="text-align: center;">
<b>>> <a href="https://twitter.com/K_Digest/status/1123675518468022272" target="_blank">You can find it here</a> <<</b></h4>
J. Cainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14296631305054054017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2681478928613342687.post-11163668629866217602019-04-29T14:59:00.000-04:002019-04-29T15:19:27.285-04:00KDE Elisa Music Player Gaining More Features Again, Roadmap Is Impressive<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz9zqbTiebLzShcoXTTrvMjV9yyl5kg8ZuH_mgfk-DXm_FBg0kSKLxaW-3V1XqzMh0qbMfyqjZk9-Zy7MBZ4ZYisWcUblvjMlXPpRYIFfV8v4qAngwkAsx1F5BJo8gFmgEB2uE4cCWTac/s1600/Screenshot_20190429_140355.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz9zqbTiebLzShcoXTTrvMjV9yyl5kg8ZuH_mgfk-DXm_FBg0kSKLxaW-3V1XqzMh0qbMfyqjZk9-Zy7MBZ4ZYisWcUblvjMlXPpRYIFfV8v4qAngwkAsx1F5BJo8gFmgEB2uE4cCWTac/s320/Screenshot_20190429_140355.png" style="display: none;" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
It seems we're talking about the Elisa music player a lot these days, and this is no doubt due to the fact that the application is seeing some steady development lately. This includes some contributions from new developers as well, which is always nice to see.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUcgWFhSwDoSHZHjkn82g3BHYNlykzGZWwYDyCdZW5wRssUjUaMckjEUQJlWjD9MFIbxO3ohsZ5KWTC0RhSIJ4fl8QUjYshl5NCdqExXx-dakNDUJKH95Dy3yGGWi08FU8becVXWFkFBg/s1600/Screenshot_20190429_140355.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="KDE Plasma Elisa music player shown full-screen" border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUcgWFhSwDoSHZHjkn82g3BHYNlykzGZWwYDyCdZW5wRssUjUaMckjEUQJlWjD9MFIbxO3ohsZ5KWTC0RhSIJ4fl8QUjYshl5NCdqExXx-dakNDUJKH95Dy3yGGWi08FU8becVXWFkFBg/s320/Screenshot_20190429_140355.png" title="KDE Plasma Elisa music player shown full-screen" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the nice features of Elisa is using the color<br />
palette of the cover art to create a blurred background,<br />
shown here in full-screen mode. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<h3>
What's new in Elisa music player?</h3>
<br />
The main developer recently blogged an update announcing some more new features in Elisa. One of them is adding a playlist <i>undo</i> feature, thereby preventing a hand-curated playlist in the player from accidentally being deleted.<br />
<br />
<h4>
New music browsing views:</h4>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: #cccccc;"><i>"It is now possible to browse the most recently played tracks or the most frequently played ones.<br /><br />The idea is to show the 50 last played tracks or the 50 most frequently played tracks."</i></span> </blockquote>
More views are on the way as well, once tools are added for the user to be able to better define their criteria. <br />
<h4>
</h4>
<h4>
A new context view</h4>
<br />
A new view is available to show some relevant metadata, such as play count, lyrics, composer, etc.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjx_urszqY8CWJtIDp6EhNPa2A4Z-3e2kq3_FONDdk7uesOP2sAgPwI1XmQAhkaNxtjDOjoFVdaZiyloAOjV0QbCB26kTcq8rKrhWs7M-pOYrqhhkgtsPcIy2FvoUaDCHhdIERMRjoX1Q/s1600/screenshot_20190424_231427.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Elisa's new context view" border="0" data-original-height="529" data-original-width="667" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjx_urszqY8CWJtIDp6EhNPa2A4Z-3e2kq3_FONDdk7uesOP2sAgPwI1XmQAhkaNxtjDOjoFVdaZiyloAOjV0QbCB26kTcq8rKrhWs7M-pOYrqhhkgtsPcIy2FvoUaDCHhdIERMRjoX1Q/s320/screenshot_20190424_231427.png" title="Elisa's new context view" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elisa's new context view</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Also included in the upcoming release are better optimizations and a lower memory footprint.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h4>
Looking further down the road</h4>
<br />
These new features will make it into the next release. Looking onward, as we like to do in Linux-fanboi-land, we can see some additional exciting things potentially coming down the pipeline for Elisa. These (may) include:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Mycroft AI integration</li>
<li>Chomecast support</li>
<li>Many UI improvements</li>
<li>KFileMetadata support</li>
<li>Online radios</li>
<li>High DPI support</li>
<li>DNLA support</li>
<li>Moving to KDE's <a href="https://techbase.kde.org/Kirigami" target="_blank">Kirigami</a> framework</li>
</ul>
I say <i>may</i>, because these are not yet implemented features, and may never be. But for now, they're on the roadmap and many should see the light of day in the not too distant future.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUGsNAlBLG8w7LV6yYTTu3GrEFeHCSbfQ-uO5bCZKGa1BczfnuGBzLBtgAAlcR5vWzAoIEjmuXBh1GB25uoTGGERmqda730BtsETuV1PjHHOygex0gyL4i2lkVwy3EaHbj0FKa9s1yBLA/s1600/Screenshot_20190429_140503.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="KDE Elisa music player in album mode" border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUGsNAlBLG8w7LV6yYTTu3GrEFeHCSbfQ-uO5bCZKGa1BczfnuGBzLBtgAAlcR5vWzAoIEjmuXBh1GB25uoTGGERmqda730BtsETuV1PjHHOygex0gyL4i2lkVwy3EaHbj0FKa9s1yBLA/s320/Screenshot_20190429_140503.png" title="KDE Elisa music player in album mode" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elisa in album-view mode, where tracks can<br />
then be dragged to the current playlist</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
One little niggle I have with Elisa is, at present, cover art support is limited to having a cover image in the album's folder - i.e. having a cover.jpg file on hand, while not supporting embedded cover art. I haven't been able to confirm if this will be changing soon.<br />
<br />
One workaround would be to use a tagger, <a href="https://www.kdedigest.com/search?q=picard" target="_blank">such as Picard</a>, and have it automatically generate the cover art file for you. This is still a bit tedious however, as each album would need to be re-tagged if the separate cover art file is missing. Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but it is worth noting for now.<br />
<br />
You can read more about Elisa's development from the lead dev's blog post <a href="https://mgallienkde.wordpress.com/2019/04/24/new-features-in-elisa-part-2/" target="_blank">here</a>.J. Cainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14296631305054054017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2681478928613342687.post-38681829319656970252019-04-29T09:41:00.000-04:002019-04-29T11:41:26.179-04:00Sometimes You Have To Pay For Open Source Software Or Services, And That's OK<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOIotDQkTWYVHTTcjvaovlxhkoIdB26RIm3JnMg1Io7EdaeDLg5FtU_JoMUfKan7yEPAUv2eOyGen8qYtt1rlD6v1IJF5g_OprB1Hhhe-wL2weLHtY1FoLgcBeODzysxzffxukvkSAKyI/s1600/Commentary_Icon.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOIotDQkTWYVHTTcjvaovlxhkoIdB26RIm3JnMg1Io7EdaeDLg5FtU_JoMUfKan7yEPAUv2eOyGen8qYtt1rlD6v1IJF5g_OprB1Hhhe-wL2weLHtY1FoLgcBeODzysxzffxukvkSAKyI/s320/Commentary_Icon.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
We in the open-source world enjoy so many freedoms that we are grateful and thankful for. In general, we reap the benefits of avoiding vendor lock-in, for example, and are free to use and reuse code as we see fit for our own reasons.<br />
<br />
We are able to get things done for business, pleasure, and education all with tools freely available to us. All this on an operating system whose underpinnings are the pinnacle example of community contributed code.<br />
<br />
It is important to note that when we say freedom, of course we mean Libre - free as in Freedom, not necessarily always freedom from economic realities. Many companies like Canonical, Red Hat, Suse, NextCloud, and even Microsoft all make money from providing the services to clients who deploy their open source technologies. It's a beautiful thing, really.<br />
<br />
However it's not just big companies that make money from open source software. Many small niche companies also use these same business models. And all the way down to the single developer level with a simple application maintained on GitHub, and everything in between all comes together to create the User experience that we utilize every day and - at least for me - could not imagine life without.<br />
<br />
<h4>
Keeping it real </h4>
<br />
On a personal level, I have used Linux now for over 10 years exclusively. Starting with Kubuntu somewhere around 7.10 or 8.04, I was hooked and really never looked back. At one particular point in time for a job I had around then I did run Windows XP in a virtual machine. That was the extent of my interaction with a non Linux operating system. And that was only to access a vendor websites that insisted I run Internet Explorer on Windows.<br />
<br />
Since then, even that need has gone away and tools like KMyMoney and LibreOffice and Firefox and many others have come together to allow me to manage my life only using open-source software. Again for this I am extremely thankful, proud, and humbled.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFyLyp2Y-X252fyRPMzonnQ_R4GNFXpDA31sQSuOlixl2WQ0JHlRs4X4hEAhLcoxQb1L6XCZchopBka6fot0Bp-wF8TtO_0ZnOrXfP_U1p2p-3IVQdZrFb0CsYAM9cZVdN_yaEYizIBaw/s1600/computer_code.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Open source code, freely distributable and usable by anyone is the life-blood of Libre software and communities" border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="960" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFyLyp2Y-X252fyRPMzonnQ_R4GNFXpDA31sQSuOlixl2WQ0JHlRs4X4hEAhLcoxQb1L6XCZchopBka6fot0Bp-wF8TtO_0ZnOrXfP_U1p2p-3IVQdZrFb0CsYAM9cZVdN_yaEYizIBaw/s320/computer_code.jpg" title="Open source code, freely distributable and usable by anyone is the life-blood of Libre software and communities" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Open source code, freely distributable and usable by anyone <br />
is the life-blood of Libre software and communities</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<h4>
Paying it forward in the open source world</h4>
<br />
Sometimes, however, even though the software we use is completely free as in open code, there are reasons one may entertain purchasing software or supporting a community or developers on a personal level. There are a few reasons we may want to do this. Some that come to mind are:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Supporting a project or developer to encourage them to keep making their software better (and making it at all)</li>
<li>Supporting companies who are aligned with our technology and / or privacy or other values</li>
<li>Supporting a community to keep them healthy and innovating</li>
<li>Supporting people in non-dev roles - bloggers (ahem), publishers, podcasters, artists, and others are just a few that come to mind here</li>
<li>Supporting content distribution platforms and their contributors that get stuff to users efficiently and easily. OpenDesktop and the <a href="https://store.kde.org/" target="_blank">KDE Store</a> would be an example here </li>
<li>Sometimes one may want or need to run a commercial, licensed application on Linux that needs to be paid for in order to use. <a href="https://www.codeweavers.com/" target="_blank">CrossOver Linux</a> would be one example</li>
<li>We may want paid-for support for our Linux computers we use for business or mission-critical use-cases</li>
</ul>
<br />
Are any of these mandatory? Of course not. Whether you support an open-source developer or project or content creator or not is entirely up to you. That is part of the whole Freedom deal. Further, one must realize that many do not have the ability to pay at all. Of course there are myriads of other ways one can contribute.<br />
<br />
<h3>
A few real life examples of financially supporting open source</h3>
<br />
In my case, I will give a few examples of where I have personally contributed in the past. These are just a few small examples, and over the years I have supported many projects and communities in different ways. Both financially as well as other ways as my abilities, time, and / or finances would allow.<br />
<br />
I say the above and it is important. For my examples are personal to me and may not be applicable to you. Therefore, I am not endorsing these particular projects for you, dear reader, as your situations (and passions) are likely to be entirely different. Although I would recommend them to anyone if the need fit.<br />
<br />
Again these are just examples and you as an individual would have to find your own open source causes to support.<br />
<br />
<h4>
Supporting a service</h4>
<h4>
</h4>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgE_JVHwb-HsKK9WYh2cpuZ3O4ykpCwXxprgm6hnjiJwXZplZxCuiCPwd2x47qkE2xTiB7ekW0cgoIsg9ZZKIx211KSxSN6WoHIWAZD1TxHwYKL1sZrtQWuylkEDjvTf7QGV-eoznXbG0/s1600/kolab_20190429_085958.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="KolabNow ticked all my boxes in allowing me to move away from GMail for good" border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgE_JVHwb-HsKK9WYh2cpuZ3O4ykpCwXxprgm6hnjiJwXZplZxCuiCPwd2x47qkE2xTiB7ekW0cgoIsg9ZZKIx211KSxSN6WoHIWAZD1TxHwYKL1sZrtQWuylkEDjvTf7QGV-eoznXbG0/s320/kolab_20190429_085958.png" title="KolabNow ticked all my boxes in allowing me to move away from GMail for good" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">KolabNow ticked all my boxes in allowing me to<br />
move away from GMail for good</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Sometime around five years ago I decided to abandon a few Google services. One of these being GMail. In my quest to find an email provider I had a few criteria:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>They had to use open source technologies </li>
<li>They had to have the ability to self host if and when I desired to do so </li>
<li>They had to play well with various email clients once I found the one I really wanted to use long-term </li>
<li>They had to also respect freedom and privacy </li>
</ul>
<br />
<a href="https://kolabnow.com/" target="_blank">Kolab</a> ticks all of those boxes and instantly became a service that I could see as a long-term replacement for Gmail. Kolab has a service called KolabNow which charges a monthly fee to utilize they're full-featured PIM service. These include email, calendaring, address book, tasks, notes and even file storage. They fit the bill then and continue to do so today, hence while I still use them.<br />
<br />
Easy to use and hosted in Switzerland. They are very privacy-focused. I gladly pay for this service monthly.<br />
<br />
<h4>
Supporting a developer</h4>
<h4>
</h4>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXyJ9Z9W7DPyFN6JzPGk0l_lhE8QP2AlemJQD8T78wUJIsS60AeJilMttMTsTuQ2YS55u1eeeJdnEsB4_yELOclTIoLODIcnXzSJfdpG2z04BrHs4vjhXqr8b2wvSFb1IWdt8TRuxFEIA/s1600/UKUU_19.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="UKUU Kernel update utility" border="0" data-original-height="536" data-original-width="600" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXyJ9Z9W7DPyFN6JzPGk0l_lhE8QP2AlemJQD8T78wUJIsS60AeJilMttMTsTuQ2YS55u1eeeJdnEsB4_yELOclTIoLODIcnXzSJfdpG2z04BrHs4vjhXqr8b2wvSFb1IWdt8TRuxFEIA/s320/UKUU_19.png" title="UKUU Kernel update utility" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">UKUU Kernel update utility</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
I have written <a href="https://www.kdedigest.com/search?q=ukuu" target="_blank">here on these pages</a> about UKUU (the Ubuntu Kernel Update Utility), both in its free and recently licensed incarnations. In my case, the freedom and flexibility to download any kernel and install it at will, including release candidates and LTS', along with the ability to easily uninstall them, read the change logs, etc. etc. make the tool extremely valuable to me personally.<br />
<br />
As noted in my previous article on UKUU, the developer moved to a paid only version going forward (although the free version still remains in its original repository for anyone to use). I believe that people's hard work should be rewarded, and bought the license.<br />
<br />
In this particular product's case, it is a one-time lifetime license fee that gives the user updates forever. Small price to pay for such a valuable thing in my case. Again this fit my needs - hence why I supported the developer. Most users will likely never have to install newer kernels as most of this is taken care of by their distribution.<br />
<br />
But there are valid use cases for wanting newer kernels and you can refer to my previous articles on UKUU and elsewhere as to the pros and cons of such a practice. But the long and short of it is that it did what I wanted and I paid for it. No regrets.<br />
<br />
<h4>
</h4>
<h4>
Supporting a community</h4>
<h4>
</h4>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvE3Y7bEIsqkmYKhK-D3D0CXZ-r2M-jN7fYvZV1_TigyXEZAZUHZCNiQOKOe7Wc8m8d2p7wL_oBE0j9NonJbPr6ejxDT9_Si8JL7K0sm8D1st6CVCay_06UxesqBLYRfTyxOS4jlXfqno/s1600/mint_kde4.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Linux Mint KDE4 edition" border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1280" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvE3Y7bEIsqkmYKhK-D3D0CXZ-r2M-jN7fYvZV1_TigyXEZAZUHZCNiQOKOe7Wc8m8d2p7wL_oBE0j9NonJbPr6ejxDT9_Si8JL7K0sm8D1st6CVCay_06UxesqBLYRfTyxOS4jlXfqno/s320/mint_kde4.png" title="Linux Mint KDE4 edition" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The elegant Linux Mint KDE4 edition<br />
lives on in this author's memory</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
One of my first forays into Linux after Kubuntu was the KDE edition of Linux Mint. I really liked the elegance and loved the Linux Mint desktop - especially with its KDE implementation and artwork back then.<br />
<br />
I also really liked the idea that Linux Mint's main developer, Clem, was actually able to quit his job to work on his project full-time. This was achieved solely through donations to the Linux Mint community.<br />
<br />
As time went on, other devs and support people were added to the team, and Linux Mint became a shining example of what the Linux desktop could be. At the time when I used Mint, I subscribed monthly to giving them a small donation. It felt pretty good knowing that I was a small part of something that was growing and becoming a beautiful thing as well as an active community.<br />
<br />
And even though I have since moved on, and Mint has dropped any kind of official support for KDE whatsoever, I do not regret donating money to them back then. If I were using Mint today I would still donate to them I'm sure.<br />
<br />
<h4>
Final thoughts</h4>
<br />
<br />
So here in this article I have provided three examples of supporting open source software: as a service, as a product, and as a community. In two of the cases, the financial obligation was necessary to use the product or service. And in the third example with Mint, while not required, it certainly felt like the right thing to do in order to support something that I used every single day of my life.<br />
<br />
Many years ago I wrote about the <a href="https://www.kdedigest.com/2010/09/5-dollar-kde-challenge.html" target="_blank">$5 Challenge</a> and many of those principles still apply today. But even if that's really not your thing, and you are more of the pragmatic type, if the right tool for the job requires a small financial obligation, I'm okay with that.<br />
<br />
People need money to eat and live and we cannot expect people to endlessly donate time and resources for free. Sadly this is not how the world works.<br />
<br />
Finally, from a purely selfish perspective, I want as many people in open source as possible. And as many people to move to Linux for their everyday computing as possible. While we don't have the marketing arm of huge billion-dollar corporations, we do have each other.<br />
<br />
And our communities.J. Cainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14296631305054054017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2681478928613342687.post-82323817044792806932019-04-28T15:45:00.000-04:002019-04-28T16:04:30.777-04:00KDE Neon Team's Jonathan Riddell Discusses Snaps Within KDE Neon And The Greater KDE Ecosystem<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpwXj39fKgdLQyP9lGPn0Fgh9H32BCkO1dmQf4Dg9-O-cNkRsObNVvZiUHMJBJETJ0ks6WRNlkcj7gvEf0RBPju2Cpd5vo50itBwYeSVUG6UqfmkUJ8Azp-MNXt7XKB5eX17wTe-Q7O5Y/s1600/snap_neon.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpwXj39fKgdLQyP9lGPn0Fgh9H32BCkO1dmQf4Dg9-O-cNkRsObNVvZiUHMJBJETJ0ks6WRNlkcj7gvEf0RBPju2Cpd5vo50itBwYeSVUG6UqfmkUJ8Azp-MNXt7XKB5eX17wTe-Q7O5Y/s320/snap_neon.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<h3>
The problem with the way packaging and distribution has been done in the past </h3>
<br />
In case one has not noticed, a lot of changes have been happening with regard to how software is packaged and delivered to the end of the chain, i.e. a particular distribution's users.<br />
<br />
In the past, software was released by developers as source code, whereby packagers would package the source code into various formats that were the standard for a particular distribution. While being pretty straightforward, it introduced a lot of burden especially for packagers who had to constantly stay up with current releases, as well as current versions of the operating system they are providing packages for.<br />
<br />
This system inevitably leads to delays for users who expect the most current software versions available in order to get the latest and greatest features and bug fixes. <br />
<br />
Other problems arise from the fact that developers develop on a particular operating system on a particular set of hardware. This reality is often less than ideal for distributing software across a multitude of variables with regard to the respective software and hardware nuances in the wild. <br />
<br />
Along came containerized ideas whereby software can be delivered in a universal package format, including all the dependencies required to ensure that it would run on a particular user's machine. The applications could be released once and distributed across any Linux distribution out there.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Enter Snaps</h3>
<br />
Over on his personal blog, KDE Neon dev Jonathan Riddell discusses Snap packages within KDE and some of the benefits of delivering software to users in this manner. he states the following regarding traditional Linux software deployment:<br />
<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: #cccccc;"><i>"No other computer environment works like this and it goes against the fashion of DevOps concepts where the people who code are empowered to deploy to the end user going through QA as appropriate. We changed that with KDE neon where we brought the packaging into KDE making .deb packages. That integration allows for blockages and imperfections which get identified to be solved easily through the most efficient channels."</i></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<br />
<span style="background-color: #cccccc;"><i>"With new containerised formats Linux is changing, and projects like KDE can now package software and send it direct to the user."</i></span> </blockquote>
<br />
<br />
Jonathan dives into the concept of stores, channels and, ultimately, control. And what it all means to the user. The process appears to be fairly automated just the same as packages are built for a traditional .deb and RPM packages for different distributions.<br />
<br />
One interesting point he makes is that Snaps should be built not from within the KDE Neon team, but as part of the greater and global KDE CI build system.<br />
<br />
<h3>
What this means to you</h3>
<br />
Ultimately, Linux is moving in new directions with regard to software deployment. Much to some people's chagrin, containerized formats appear to be the future of software distribution to users.<br />
<br />
In fact, there are already distributions out there that only distribute software via containers. One such example is <a href="https://medium.com/nitrux" target="_blank">Nitrux</a>, whereby all applications are delivered to users via AppImages. I'll be discussing Nitrux more here in the near future, so stay tuned.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheMdo90_y3e_mvK0sO6IgD5KQF_WclV3H6iPzIX0I67s9N_gcvnD9q3OHDCeSJoMHQbLFP2c3tNK2zOQxe414pbKF5-WwN6H1gshxjCFitCmION8IkhXbU2wEvnIyQyXs7tWhCE6Htfcg/s1600/Screenshot_20190428_153544.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Nitrux - The first all-containerized KDE distribution" border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="943" height="118" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheMdo90_y3e_mvK0sO6IgD5KQF_WclV3H6iPzIX0I67s9N_gcvnD9q3OHDCeSJoMHQbLFP2c3tNK2zOQxe414pbKF5-WwN6H1gshxjCFitCmION8IkhXbU2wEvnIyQyXs7tWhCE6Htfcg/s320/Screenshot_20190428_153544.png" title="Nitrux - The first all-containerized KDE distribution" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nitrux - The first all-containerized KDE distribution</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
In the end, a user won't care where an application comes from as long as it is from the official app store of the particular distribution at hand. Weather Snap, Flatpak, AppImage, or repository package, the user just wants the latest and greatest stable release of their software to use.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>And we cannot blame them for that.</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Much more information is available on <a href="https://jriddell.org/2019/04/23/kdes-snap-packages/" target="_blank">Jonathan's Blog</a>.<b> </b></div>
<br />
<br />J. Cainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14296631305054054017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2681478928613342687.post-16762902041389348992019-04-28T13:05:00.000-04:002019-04-28T13:05:55.913-04:00Netrunner Rolling 2019.04 Arch-based KDE Distribution Sees A New Release<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFBfu8lFWMYOKtQooD7pgh_3xpgUzCueB1N3rcJXVN9BaMN7oJFiqvYa22BpHDiV4eyfH-Q7CAHS_ZhPMwtbBRlwpJIMNbKegUZa7JuG_OP90Dw3WWNExNXAH7NRV3j0J0fCtlOMnD0eg/s1600/Netrunner.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFBfu8lFWMYOKtQooD7pgh_3xpgUzCueB1N3rcJXVN9BaMN7oJFiqvYa22BpHDiV4eyfH-Q7CAHS_ZhPMwtbBRlwpJIMNbKegUZa7JuG_OP90Dw3WWNExNXAH7NRV3j0J0fCtlOMnD0eg/s320/Netrunner.png" style="display: none;" width="320" /></a></div>
The KDE Plasma-focused distribution <i><b>Netrunner</b></i> <b><i>Rolling </i></b>has seen a new release. For those new to Netrunner, it's a dual-distribution that comes in two 64-bit varieties, as well as for ARM. These include Netrunner - based on Debian Testing, and Netrunner Rolling, based on Manjaro / Arch.<br />
<br />
For those who refer a rolling release model, the Netrunner team released the 2019.04 image for your use.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqwxRTi736YjFvchl8q_-2LoKqGi2N_KtGrOOSnDlhyphenhyphenjLZ80WK0NWwnlaP5_utZc7gclCQLFANPUNpcVNO3XNwopSnrmmJ5y6vI9i0sFHENiAip6YMgZgjFXl2nIZwWiGWKJpyk5beUlU/s1600/Netrunner.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Netrunner Rolling 2019.04 screenshot" border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqwxRTi736YjFvchl8q_-2LoKqGi2N_KtGrOOSnDlhyphenhyphenjLZ80WK0NWwnlaP5_utZc7gclCQLFANPUNpcVNO3XNwopSnrmmJ5y6vI9i0sFHENiAip6YMgZgjFXl2nIZwWiGWKJpyk5beUlU/s320/Netrunner.png" title="Netrunner Rolling 2019.04 screenshot" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Netrunner Rolling 2019.04 screenshot</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<h3>
What's new?</h3>
<br />
<h3>
New in Netrunner 2019.4 are the following:</h3>
<br />
<ul>
<li>Latest Plasma, Frameworks, and Applications</li>
<li>Qt 5.12.2</li>
<li>LTS Linux Kernel 4.19.32 </li>
<li>Firefox Quantum 66.0.3</li>
<ul>
<li>Includes KDE integration including media controls, KDE dialogue boxes (system handler) and more</li>
</ul>
<li>Firefox is pre-loaded</li>
<li>New dark theme by default using Kvantum engine</li>
<li>Updated readme docs</li>
<li>Webapps as a menu category</li>
<li>OpenDesktop (i.e. store.kde.org) integration in the system and in Firefox, via ocs-url</li>
</ul>
<br />
Also new and interesting for Netrunner is a modified system settings layout, whereby all things having to do with UI are moved to a new section called "Plasma Tweaks". I rather like this idea, as one complaint often heard about KDE configs are that they appear to be scattered all over different parts of the settings GUI. This appears to be an attempt to address this. I'd be curious to see some feedback on it.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHxzk4iQ7F7SsJ9bMyB6u-JzAc_rAjTraPkrFbM-wjA9_wdi4UbXiW03mYe-T3MZHajMZFrkLaekzY4iXXqeshREogM7WvqFfDTaxZiqnM0mFtkVDrlbFtvOEfpxVFTtfW74z_EyD2AYs/s1600/Screenshot_20190413_135735-800x450.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Netrunner's OpenDesktop integration, as seen through Firefox" border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHxzk4iQ7F7SsJ9bMyB6u-JzAc_rAjTraPkrFbM-wjA9_wdi4UbXiW03mYe-T3MZHajMZFrkLaekzY4iXXqeshREogM7WvqFfDTaxZiqnM0mFtkVDrlbFtvOEfpxVFTtfW74z_EyD2AYs/s320/Screenshot_20190413_135735-800x450.png" title="Netrunner's OpenDesktop integration, as seen through Firefox" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Netrunner's OpenDesktop integration, <br />as seen through Firefox</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<h4>
About Netrunner</h4>
<br />
Netrunner is developed by the team over at Blue Systems, who's employees also work on other parts of KDE outside of the Netrunner project itself. According to the website, the OS lives by the following principals:<br />
<ul>
<li>Power-up, don’t dumb-down</li>
<li>Include useful Add-ons, codecs, customizations</li>
<li>Avoid lock-ins, favor libre alternatives</li>
</ul>
To that end, the distro comes pretty loaded with hand-selected apps, thus providing a full user experience out of the box. Examples of this would be including several Dolphin extensions by default, and enabling Firefox to be in "always ready" mode by default.<br />
<br />
Steam, Skype, Kdenlive, Inkscape, Krita, and others are also included, along with the interesting choice of GMusicbrowser for music management. This is a nice touch, especially on the Steam front. <br />
<br />
More information can be found on the <a href="https://www.netrunner.com/netrunner-rolling-2019-04-released/" target="_blank">announcement page</a>. <br />
<br /><br />
<h4>
<br /></h4>
J. Cainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14296631305054054017noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2681478928613342687.post-37324679816732335162019-04-27T11:23:00.001-04:002019-04-28T13:22:29.213-04:00All KDE Plasma 5 Wallpapers Released So Far In One Place: Plasma 5.0 - 5.14 <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG61dH1OLQuR2uc67vLmhIM9NqocLQFVyFuOo80CYv8usNcorvWx2mlDZlg4Zs4WoV2D5yao8oK69Wu2TI-FAOoi9w0WgFBzkgqdeMEFfn9ka5buLL5LdmI_YSSHcloqq95rzZguQ_2WY/s1600/Yackety_Next.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG61dH1OLQuR2uc67vLmhIM9NqocLQFVyFuOo80CYv8usNcorvWx2mlDZlg4Zs4WoV2D5yao8oK69Wu2TI-FAOoi9w0WgFBzkgqdeMEFfn9ka5buLL5LdmI_YSSHcloqq95rzZguQ_2WY/s320/Yackety_Next.png" style="display: none;" width="320" /></a></div>
Ahhh nostalgia. To some degree, we all have it. We all relish in it from time to time. Thinking about those things that hearken back to a point-in-time in the past, where we were excited about what was happening in the open source world, and (what is now) the future.<br />
<br />
Such as it is for some of us with wallpapers. Who can forget the Windows XP wallpaper, for example? More specifically, since this is a KDE-centric site, who can forget all the <i><b>k</b></i>ool <b><i>KDE Plasma Wallpapers?</i></b><br />
<br />
Even if you are the type of person who customizes their wallpaper the
minute you get on a freshly-installed system, the impression you're
left with upon first boot can have an immediate impact. Your thoughts,
expectations, and yes, even eternal hopes that your shiny new system
will provide the visual stimulation to make you want to dive in and
play. Or just get stuff done in an aesthetically-pleasing way. <br />
<br />
<br />
To that end, we are lucky to have had several good ones throughout the years, courtesy of the KDE Community's (And Canada's own) <a href="https://www.opendesktop.org/u/kenvermette/" target="_blank">Ken Vermette</a>.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG61dH1OLQuR2uc67vLmhIM9NqocLQFVyFuOo80CYv8usNcorvWx2mlDZlg4Zs4WoV2D5yao8oK69Wu2TI-FAOoi9w0WgFBzkgqdeMEFfn9ka5buLL5LdmI_YSSHcloqq95rzZguQ_2WY/s1600/Yackety_Next.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="One of Plasma's venerable wallpapers, This one's entitled "Skylight" - From Plasma 5.7" border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG61dH1OLQuR2uc67vLmhIM9NqocLQFVyFuOo80CYv8usNcorvWx2mlDZlg4Zs4WoV2D5yao8oK69Wu2TI-FAOoi9w0WgFBzkgqdeMEFfn9ka5buLL5LdmI_YSSHcloqq95rzZguQ_2WY/s320/Yackety_Next.png" title="One of Plasma's venerable wallpapers, This one's entitled "Skylight" - From Plasma 5.7" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of Plasma's venerable wallpapers<b> </b>via my desktop,<br />
This one's entitled "Skylight" - From Plasma 5.7</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
And, thanks to our friends over at OpenDesktop.org, we bring you every Plasma 5 wallpaper released to date! Curated from the main artist himself, we are making all KDE Plasma 5 wallpapers available as a download for you, our dear readers, to enjoy :)<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhINFcCwM1T4NvqqpzyLrQe19nwvs0OntCYco7qAN3L_HxfoKrE-BF-3LWaE3aIijF85YdZgegdA6NK2et59j_BrhWugbSWix6PQ7Ir4FXU-mDdT3UF4vi9K1InAOzThbJBZ94ZcEiMw1o/s1600/Screenshot_20190427_094906.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Celebrating nearly 5 years of KDE Plasma 5 wallpaper releases" border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhINFcCwM1T4NvqqpzyLrQe19nwvs0OntCYco7qAN3L_HxfoKrE-BF-3LWaE3aIijF85YdZgegdA6NK2et59j_BrhWugbSWix6PQ7Ir4FXU-mDdT3UF4vi9K1InAOzThbJBZ94ZcEiMw1o/s320/Screenshot_20190427_094906.png" title="Celebrating nearly 5 years of KDE Plasma 5 wallpaper releases" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Celebrating nearly 5 years of KDE Plasma 5 wallpaper releases</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h3>
</h3>
<h3>
Nearly 5 years of Plasma and Plasma wallpaper releases</h3>
<br />
The first official release of KDE plasma 5 was in July of 2014. In honor of the nearly five year anniversary of Plasma 5's groundbreaking seminal release, it is only fitting that all of the wallpapers included in past releases be put together in one place.<br />
<br />
For your convenience, I have selected each of the official wallpapers, in the highest resolutions available (4k), and included them in one package that I am making downloadable to our readers with one easy click.it is a way to help all of us remember, celebrate, and take that trip back in time to some of the ones we may have really liked and missed out or lost or forgot about along the way.<br />
<br />
Interestingly, many of the wallpapers lived somewhat shorter lives than others for many, as the ones we may typically think about tend to be tethered to long-term support releases. So I would assume that several of these may be new even to longtime KDE users. For the newly initiated it, it might be interesting to take a trip through the desktop's visual past and look at how the look of KDE has evolved through the years.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghKqE3tiXhW2kOGmhe9K23YVUmJxsTL0lh_9NqKQPM55rb1SjZCsT-ioQkowrsk-jz3b6-IIZ5f0LFIl8JtDpAupH2-kaLzMp5y5HzdQzY-qcgg5v0kGqjGQJBXB6aaUA8bkS68w0DS_g/s1600/plasma-5-0-1-prev-remastered.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="The very first KDE Plasma 5 wallpaper, appropriately named "Next"" border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghKqE3tiXhW2kOGmhe9K23YVUmJxsTL0lh_9NqKQPM55rb1SjZCsT-ioQkowrsk-jz3b6-IIZ5f0LFIl8JtDpAupH2-kaLzMp5y5HzdQzY-qcgg5v0kGqjGQJBXB6aaUA8bkS68w0DS_g/s320/plasma-5-0-1-prev-remastered.png" title="The very first KDE Plasma 5 wallpaper, appropriately named "Next"" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The very first KDE Plasma 5 wallpaper,<br />
appropriately named <i>"Next"</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip93BHs9H0Y54sW-fW8ct-tGNhM9_sGvIWsyxSxHNSQBl_Gi1lKJeqVQl5Gqp8QY8SXx9yFL_YvzO_8yvpzL6M5SSQuNhR-PhJvDb5nTrvhzAekaxr7Z0NwqNCVVKMAX9eUk4WBbu3004/s1600/plasma-5-10-cascade-4k.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="KDE 5.10's wallpaper, known as "Cascade"" border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip93BHs9H0Y54sW-fW8ct-tGNhM9_sGvIWsyxSxHNSQBl_Gi1lKJeqVQl5Gqp8QY8SXx9yFL_YvzO_8yvpzL6M5SSQuNhR-PhJvDb5nTrvhzAekaxr7Z0NwqNCVVKMAX9eUk4WBbu3004/s320/plasma-5-10-cascade-4k.png" title="KDE 5.10's wallpaper, known as "Cascade"" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">KDE 5.10's wallpaper, known as <i>"Cascade"</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h4>
</h4>
<br />
Included in the Plasma 5 collection are:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>5.0, 5.1 - <i>Next</i></li>
<li>5.2 - <i>Vibrant</i></li>
<li>5.3 - <i>Deep</i></li>
<li>5.4 - <i>Horizon</i></li>
<li>5.5 - <i>Event</i></li>
<li>5.6 - <i>Graphite</i></li>
<li>5.7 - <i>Skylight</i></li>
<li>5.8 - <i>Bizmuth</i></li>
<li>5.9 - <i>Canopée</i></li>
<li>5.10 - <i>Cascade</i></li>
<li>5.11 - <i>Opal</i></li>
<li>5.12 - <i>Kokkini</i></li>
<li>5.14 - <i>Cluster</i></li>
</ul>
<br />
An astute reader may have noticed an absence of a wallpaper for Plasma 5.13. Per Ken's <a href="https://kver.wordpress.com/2019/01/17/on-wallpapers/" target="_blank">blog post</a> on the future of KDE Plasma wallpaper releases, he states the following:<br />
<i> </i><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><i>"TL;DR, I’ll be switching to releasing new wallpapers every second Plasma release, on even-numbered versions.<br /><br />This is just a post to refer to for those who have asked me about Plasma 5.15 and a new wallpaper. Since I started working on Plasma 5 wallpapers, there has always been a number of factors determining how exactly I made them. After some agonising debate I’ve decided to slow the wallpaper release pace, because as time has gone on a number of things have changed since I started contributing them"</i></span></blockquote>
So it looks like we'll have to wait until June of this year to see what Ken's got cooking for the Plasma 5.16 bling...<br />
<h4>
</h4>
<h4>
Special bonus</h4>
<br />
As an added bonus, I am also including various wallpapers from the KDE 4 era! Although I do not believe this collection to be complete, long-time users will no doubt recognize many included here! In the list is for example is <i>"Elarun"</i>, the very last wallpaper from the KDE 4 Series. The wallpapers included here are via OpenDesktop user <a href="https://www.opendesktop.org/u/alex-l/" target="_blank">alex-l</a>, so special thanks go out to him!<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn34zZdf9PsNPZcATKkpiLoOcu9M5J27M1cpzkGtCG1S2Ft-t06YCI96-ngLU38jAAYmlXtTB8wCVf9vQHxRDDQK7yeN01EH0ZCfBB1D4B3HAgPdVO7BF67qpFbXNbJ9Ov45J7E72RKOM/s1600/KDE-4-14-Elarun.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn34zZdf9PsNPZcATKkpiLoOcu9M5J27M1cpzkGtCG1S2Ft-t06YCI96-ngLU38jAAYmlXtTB8wCVf9vQHxRDDQK7yeN01EH0ZCfBB1D4B3HAgPdVO7BF67qpFbXNbJ9Ov45J7E72RKOM/s320/KDE-4-14-Elarun.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>"Elarun"</i>, from KDE SC 4.14</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<h4>
Download and enjoy</h4>
<br />
As mentioned earlier, we are
releasing all of the wallpapers for the plasma 5 Series in one
downloadable link. Simply unzip the folder in
your default wallpaper location. That would be in <i>.local/share/wallpapers/</i> for a normal Plasma user.<br />
<br />
<br />
Plasma 5 wallpaper file is <a href="https://my.pcloud.com/publink/show?code=XZQqKO7ZtSF3W5T16x5ib7niuJCcHbTqhdOk" target="_blank">available for download here</a>.<br />
<br />
Do let me know what you think! And also, consider a small donation - every bit helps me bring you the best in KDE-land coverage. Link is in the sidebar :)<br />
<br />
<h4>
One more thing</h4>
<br />
As a second added bonus, I've included Ken's abstract <i>history</i> wallpaper, which is a multi-version containing slices of the first 10 releases.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6lcpe1VGpargCv3IJMwmDd54VRqHuOWXJZdeFNCWsFM1zA-D8gc3En4idbvP50DpNZVxNWNyuTfMa23bYMbqhJGBDIDe6gHaKDkiEkXFfgOZbXohA3Ii4UQM3-N81qlniYl3fP9MkpGk/s1600/history-noLogo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Plasma 5 mash-up wallpaper, entitled "history"" border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6lcpe1VGpargCv3IJMwmDd54VRqHuOWXJZdeFNCWsFM1zA-D8gc3En4idbvP50DpNZVxNWNyuTfMa23bYMbqhJGBDIDe6gHaKDkiEkXFfgOZbXohA3Ii4UQM3-N81qlniYl3fP9MkpGk/s320/history-noLogo.png" title="Plasma 5 mash-up wallpaper, entitled "history"" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Plasma 5 mash-up wallpaper, entitled "history"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<br />
</KDigest!>J. Cainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14296631305054054017noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2681478928613342687.post-89254721746762898882019-04-23T19:02:00.000-04:002019-04-23T19:02:23.462-04:00Several Updated Applications Landing In KDE Neon Today<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigK9UmMqwaQ4EVwDB9SxI-zOFUIBxOoggkYZSlaNgyJvpbNVFL-LF-9rL4CDOEBbZ-UBpzXqNZAO8VRKeveu5ZHdFhwr4A4yacYiXjfxiW88SEIfZtvMtQVluxKh4ux_pMmGcSvwf18Ho/s1600/neon_logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigK9UmMqwaQ4EVwDB9SxI-zOFUIBxOoggkYZSlaNgyJvpbNVFL-LF-9rL4CDOEBbZ-UBpzXqNZAO8VRKeveu5ZHdFhwr4A4yacYiXjfxiW88SEIfZtvMtQVluxKh4ux_pMmGcSvwf18Ho/s200/neon_logo.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
Today saw several updated applications landing in the KDE Neon repositories, the KDE Neon team announced today.<br />
<br />
Arriving fresh for your downloading or installing pleasure are the following:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.kdedigest.com/2019/04/kde-financial-application-skrooge-gets.html" target="_blank">Skrooge 2.19</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.kdedigest.com/2018/03/kmymoney-moves-to-plasma-5-with.html" target="_blank">KMyMoney</a> 5.0.4</li>
<li>Kipi Plugins 5.9.1 </li>
<li><a href="https://www.kdedigest.com/2019/04/kdenlive-video-editor-1904-released.html" target="_blank">Kdenlive major refactoroo</a> 19.04 </li>
</ul>
<br />
It would appear to be a good day for those of you looking to either get your financial house in order, as well as open sauce content creators across the world.<br />
<br />
Also announced is new functionality in Dolphin file manager that allows thumbnails of Appimages to be shown, which is always nice to see. <br />
<br />
As for Kipi Plugins, they should be of interest to those who use KPhotoAlbum, Gwenview, or Spectacle, and wish to have some social-sharing functionality built-in. More information can be found about the reasoning for releasing Kipi Plugins as a stand-alone release can be found over at <a href="https://jriddell.org/2019/04/19/kipi-plugins-5-9-1-released/" target="_blank">J Riddell's blog post</a>. <br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-vZ6L0EdPWOvGKpmHvMxpq-1kL148lblWyqXfXa_PsfHFX0V23u2XzWKDxfAbt80I4PE6yF_HtWr1qmfeSR5HnfI9WQ0r1lbIeo1ZrPCWC3p7NJccnUPhHBSGaULJc3URf1L5wVF-mwg/s1600/Screenshot_20190423_185423.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Tweet announcing today's releases for KDE Neon" border="0" data-original-height="836" data-original-width="598" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-vZ6L0EdPWOvGKpmHvMxpq-1kL148lblWyqXfXa_PsfHFX0V23u2XzWKDxfAbt80I4PE6yF_HtWr1qmfeSR5HnfI9WQ0r1lbIeo1ZrPCWC3p7NJccnUPhHBSGaULJc3URf1L5wVF-mwg/s400/Screenshot_20190423_185423.png" title="Tweet announcing today's releases for KDE Neon" width="285" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tweet announcing today's releases<br />for KDE Neon</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The original Tweet from the Neon team can be found <a href="https://twitter.com/KdeNeon/status/1120708230165016577" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />J. Cainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14296631305054054017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2681478928613342687.post-86754008784397646002019-04-23T18:31:00.001-04:002019-04-23T18:38:56.832-04:00Potential Security Flaw In KDE's Krusader And Akregator Remain Unfixed In KDE Applications 19.04<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHsMMWWxHPl7ZAKi59VqiChCyB3Dm7X4cagfef3gKWEgX5YHRI_NhLQI58GnMUHT_HHozqwEOrIxwDOTleeiyd1pizrvvvHMrbe5iK0-OUp0qPqQVzEWby1pgtUhKxDoddeIgPfPfyivA/s1600/bugs.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1108" data-original-width="1108" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHsMMWWxHPl7ZAKi59VqiChCyB3Dm7X4cagfef3gKWEgX5YHRI_NhLQI58GnMUHT_HHozqwEOrIxwDOTleeiyd1pizrvvvHMrbe5iK0-OUp0qPqQVzEWby1pgtUhKxDoddeIgPfPfyivA/s200/bugs.jpeg" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />
A potential security risk has come to light from a few interconnected bug reports over on the KDE bug tracker website. These bug reports indicate that a user using either Konqeror or Akregator may be subject to tracking and / or fingerprinting across the web, even when steps are taken to implicitly prevent this from happening.<br />
<br />
It should be noted here that as of this writing, In the case of Kubuntu and KDE Neon, Konqeror is not available for installation via Plasma Discover, although it is installable via the command line, synaptic, or the Muon package manager.<br />
<br />
The issue appears to be related to the applications (sometimes option, sometimes not) usage of the Qt Webengine back end.<br />
<br />
In the report, the bug's author states the following:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"Despite proxy settings pointing to Privoxy, as well as Easylist+Easylist Privacy, Easylist Germany, Fanboy List and quite some other lists enabled in the ad blocker settings according to https://panopticlick.eff.org/ neither Konqueror 17.08 nor Akregator 17.08 block trackers or protect against fingerprinting"</i></blockquote>
<br />
Since the bug is still open, we can assume this is the case still today, even though the bug reports are nearing 1 1/2 years old now.<br />
<br />
The report also states that perhaps <a href="https://www.kdedigest.com/2019/04/checking-out-kdes-falkon-web-browser-in.html" target="_blank">Falkon</a> web browser is affected, but this has not been confirmed. Further, since Falkon comes with <a href="https://www.falkon.org/about/" target="_blank">adBlock pre-installed</a>, this is not likely to be a factor.<br />
<br />
A follow-up comment on the bug report states that Konqeror5 gives the option of using different back-ends including KHTML and / or QtWebkit. However, this would be hit or miss depending on the distribution being used. Also, a user could not be expected to know this or how to go about changing backends. Further, in the case of Akregator, the user is not given a choice in the settings as to which backend to use.<br />
<br />
For now, security-conscious users may want to stay clear of using Konqeror for general web browsing. In the case of Akregator, hopefully this will be addressed in an upcoming release, although the lack of activity on the bug report(s) may indicate otherwise. <br />
<br />
The relevant bug reports can be found <a href="https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=387549" target="_blank">here</a> for Konqeror and <a href="https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=387550" target="_blank">here</a> for Akregator, although they are essentially exactly the same.<br />
<br />J. Cainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14296631305054054017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2681478928613342687.post-64890941566185972752019-04-22T11:50:00.001-04:002019-04-22T11:50:19.852-04:00Kdenlive Video Editor 19.04 Released With Massive Code Rewrite And New FeaturesToday marked the landmark release of Kdenlive 19.04. This release marks a massive milestone for the development team by completing a large overhaul of the underlying code, while still managing to bring in many exciting new features. The project was officially started in 2003, and has been evolving and improving ever since.<br />
<br />
Equally tantalizing in the announcement is the fact that because of the new code, future development will be easier and more closely aligned with the roadmap that will allow the venerable editor to gain more professional features in upcoming releases.<br />
<br />
According to the release announcement -<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: #9fc5e8;"><i>"Kdenlive 19.04 refactored edition conclude[s] a 3 year cycle in which more than 60% of the code base was changed with +144,000 lines of code added and +74,000 lines of code removed. This is our biggest release ever bringing new features, improved stability, greater speed and last but not least maintainability (making it easier to fix bugs and add new features)."</i></span></blockquote>
<br />
The new code will allow for better aligning to the project's future roadmap, which include works in progress towards what the team has identified as "Pro" features. These are things like providing an audio mixer and better audio tools, interlace, deinterlace capabilities, multicam editing, G'MIC integration, OpenGL support, and others.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1o5FJjTT21AnGyGq7Rk4gAqSdntAMUbIpV5fdkn3t7BV0Ylj86MmL_EcV0mWX66qwGssPbsXgv2GcuFeLVkVmqiYO6oTjw5TqbseP1xqRPF6E-6HehDns5cn6J5OK5HcwOD2Uww-MvEI/s1600/Screenshot_20190422_113516.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Kdenlive 19.04 screenshot" border="0" data-original-height="903" data-original-width="1438" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1o5FJjTT21AnGyGq7Rk4gAqSdntAMUbIpV5fdkn3t7BV0Ylj86MmL_EcV0mWX66qwGssPbsXgv2GcuFeLVkVmqiYO6oTjw5TqbseP1xqRPF6E-6HehDns5cn6J5OK5HcwOD2Uww-MvEI/s400/Screenshot_20190422_113516.png" title="Kdenlive 19.04 screenshot" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<h4>
What's New In 19.04?</h4>
<h4>
</h4>
That aside, the release announcement is rather massive for an open source project like this, and so many new features were added with 19.04 that should make casual and semi-pro video editors alike rather happy. They include:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Auto-splitting on audio and video clips</li>
<li>Track layout resize by dragging the edges </li>
<li>Better keyframe handling</li>
<li>Audio recording tools right within a track </li>
<ul>
<li>For narrative voiceovers for instructional videos or commentary</li>
</ul>
<li>Clips can be dragged into a project via only the audio, or only the video portions, or both</li>
<li>Better monitor support with overlays</li>
<li>Many effects and composition improvements </li>
<li>Better titling tools</li>
<li>Better KDE Store integration for downloading add-ons, whereby the relevant add-ons can be downloaded from the relevant parts of Kdenlive, as opposed to having them all lumped together</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_eKHuBg8D35bsHer7gKIPVtHlT33yQQy6PWZRCc05MbNFgqzjVQay8LHRA_wxdIjiIo6Bh4ePtLyjP6A1MkYosf8qL6fJ-G2NupzOOEViZvhJmFbSeEpHOur6Awtj2tTj9vXgTQwpuyo/s1600/kdenlive_logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Kdenlive logo" border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_eKHuBg8D35bsHer7gKIPVtHlT33yQQy6PWZRCc05MbNFgqzjVQay8LHRA_wxdIjiIo6Bh4ePtLyjP6A1MkYosf8qL6fJ-G2NupzOOEViZvhJmFbSeEpHOur6Awtj2tTj9vXgTQwpuyo/s320/kdenlive_logo.png" title="Kdenlive logo" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kdenlive logo</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
Despite a few lingering bugs, the project seems well on it's way towards realizing a truly powerful and flexible tool, and likely should rank right up there with Krita, Dolphin, Okular, and others in fast becoming flagship <a href="https://kde.org/applications/" target="_blank">KDE Applications</a>.<br />
<br />
The full list of exciting changes and improvements can be found over on the <a href="https://kdenlive.org/en/2019/04/kdenlive-19-04-released/" target="_blank">announcement page</a>, including many animated examples and short video clips.<br />
<br />
Exciting times for this welcomed and important KDE project, to be sure.<br />
<br />J. Cainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14296631305054054017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2681478928613342687.post-79808676257737432642019-04-22T09:16:00.000-04:002019-04-22T09:16:52.799-04:00Kubuntu 14.04 And 16.04 Officially Hit End Of Life And Users Asked To Upgrade<br />
Over on the Kubuntu mailing list it was announced today that the two previous long term support incarnations of Kubuntu have officially been retired, leaving the current 18.04 LTS release as the only remaining supported LTS version.<br />
<br />
Users are encouraged to upgrade to a newer version - either Kubuntu 18.04 <i>Bionic Beaver </i>LTS or the current 19.04 <i>Disco Dingo</i> release.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb_O0GbLdJfEbLcBVdO3UUSeS2x3X7lzhaFYDcGlgtPrYrfBvMK1tBPsImPtUpA4wOJwpc6TQz-KNrAwNIacGOh23GKvDW35B4QCp6-jprhw-uZXKZ4QgRDLTVLE9OqyCXB0BBVt12CHI/s1600/kubuntu1404.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Kubuntu 14.04 LTS, running KDE 4.13" border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1366" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb_O0GbLdJfEbLcBVdO3UUSeS2x3X7lzhaFYDcGlgtPrYrfBvMK1tBPsImPtUpA4wOJwpc6TQz-KNrAwNIacGOh23GKvDW35B4QCp6-jprhw-uZXKZ4QgRDLTVLE9OqyCXB0BBVt12CHI/s320/kubuntu1404.jpeg" title="Kubuntu 14.04 LTS, running KDE 4.13" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kubuntu 14.04 LTS, running KDE 4.13</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
Kubuntu developer and council member Rick Mills stated today:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"As the newly released Kubuntu 19.04 makes it's way into the world,<br />inevitably other things come to their end.<br /><br />Kubuntu 14.04 LTS was released in April 2014, and reaches 'End of Life'<br />for support on 25th April 2019. All Kubuntu users should therefore<br />switch to a newer supported release. Upgrades from 14.04 to a newer<br />release are not advised, so please install a fresh copy of 18.04 or<br />newer after running a backup of all your data.<br /><br />Kubuntu 16.04 LTS was released on 21st April 2016, and was supported for<br />Kubuntu for a period of year 3 years [1]. Kubuntu 16.04 LTS support<br />therefore ends 21st April 2019, and users are invited to upgrade to<br />18.04 LTS, or perform a fresh install of that or newer release.<br /><br />I would thank users of both releases, especially for the amazing<br />additional community support on IRC, forums, mailing lists, and elsewhere."</blockquote>
<br />
In either case, do note that users are recommended to perform a fresh install rather than trying t to perform a distribution upgrade multiple times to get there. The experience will go much better that way, from all that we've gathered so far.<br />
<br />
The new <i>Disco Dingo</i>, as well as the <i>Bionic Beaver</i> LTS releases can be torrented or downloaded from the <a href="https://kubuntu.org/getkubuntu/" target="_blank">Kubuntu website</a>. <br />
<br />
As an aside, this would officially mark the end of any kind of "officially supported" version of KDE 4 from Canonical, which from a nostalgia-perspective is kind of sad. <br />
<br />
J. Cainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14296631305054054017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2681478928613342687.post-20081600546944434462019-04-21T15:48:00.001-04:002019-04-21T15:48:14.022-04:00KDE Financial Application Skrooge Gets A New Point ReleaseThe team behind the KDE Financial application Skrooge has announced the release of version 2.19.9, a point release available for immediate download.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJsBIE-lyt54f0bl2h8JbhXP9eYkdTl7jVkTbwTI4eAAtRtTbk4MkXQ5pOHUY2RpPAMjnKhXfeoEeQV3UcihXPSfb8FSzxqNSnsAH1R9ETsrmRdrttO1pwtdRr8BkJuTH7crXGQoisegE/s1600/Screenshot_20190421_152916.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Skrooge logo - A personal finances manager, powered by KDE" border="0" data-original-height="217" data-original-width="365" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJsBIE-lyt54f0bl2h8JbhXP9eYkdTl7jVkTbwTI4eAAtRtTbk4MkXQ5pOHUY2RpPAMjnKhXfeoEeQV3UcihXPSfb8FSzxqNSnsAH1R9ETsrmRdrttO1pwtdRr8BkJuTH7crXGQoisegE/s320/Screenshot_20190421_152916.png" title="Skrooge logo - A personal finances manager, powered by KDE" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Consisting mainly of bug fixes and performance improvements, the KDE Frameworks-based personal finance application looks to better manage your finances with the following new patches:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Improved QIF import functionality</li>
<li>Fixed a potential crash when importing a CSV file</li>
<li>Fixed an error in the default monthly report</li>
<li>New scaleable icons icons and icon fix for OSX</li>
<li>Added a new tracker with running balance in the Operations page</li>
<li>Various performance improvements</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijCI1nVvw3eolgQVF1DDFPGm70onD5Uq4awIHZyxN-PI0ESsfM-LDJ2I7qoSbSG_qlfBbRmky7MZ2aA_Y-ubeYtl38_f2Gc_ARttcT2qNh5tdSnItd3_LmX2PB0ZcFRvDmwpgV4IVHFs4/s1600/scrooge_screenshot_1.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Skrooge screenshot, courtesy of Snapcraft.io" border="0" data-original-height="825" data-original-width="1170" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijCI1nVvw3eolgQVF1DDFPGm70onD5Uq4awIHZyxN-PI0ESsfM-LDJ2I7qoSbSG_qlfBbRmky7MZ2aA_Y-ubeYtl38_f2Gc_ARttcT2qNh5tdSnItd3_LmX2PB0ZcFRvDmwpgV4IVHFs4/s320/scrooge_screenshot_1.webp" title="Skrooge screenshot, courtesy of Snapcraft.io" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Skrooge screenshot, courtesy of Snapcraft.io</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h4>
</h4>
<h4>
</h4>
<h4>
Getting Skrooge</h4>
<br />
Skrooge should be in your local software store for installation. To get the latest, however, head on over to the project's <a href="https://skrooge.org/download" target="_blank">download page</a> to see all of your installation options, including <a href="https://snapcraft.io/skrooge" target="_blank">Snap</a> and <a href="https://flathub.org/apps/details/org.kde.skrooge" target="_blank">Flatpak </a>packages.<br />
<br />
KDE is blessed to have two well-received financial applications in Skrooge and KMyMoney. Hopefully, they continue to gain users and can evolve and flourish in the future.<br />
<br />
If you've never tried a personal finance application before, here are a <a href="https://www.moneycrashers.com/reasons-use-personal-finance-budgeting-applications/" target="_blank">few good reasons to do so</a>.<br />
<br />
Of course, we prefer open source solutions which respect our privacy and give us the tools to use as we see fit. If Skrooge ticks all the boxes for you with regard to financial budgeting and management software, do let us know.J. Cainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14296631305054054017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2681478928613342687.post-32293991065520558462019-04-21T11:13:00.001-04:002019-04-21T11:15:47.010-04:00MusicBrainz Picard - The Ultimate Music Tagger And Collection Manager For Linux<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpY4Sn8NRG9PKyvUWm1dNWWvSrjxIDySzgUvg9ROtAZdjCG417uCG_4a45xkhkRK-zg4qFYmDCjZw4KoF5-EmsQzMyzXKZShBzJjm7plBKS7luqLJ6Nc_j6Otpn_KoV5VfzxqBhwMdjhE/s1600/picard_logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpY4Sn8NRG9PKyvUWm1dNWWvSrjxIDySzgUvg9ROtAZdjCG417uCG_4a45xkhkRK-zg4qFYmDCjZw4KoF5-EmsQzMyzXKZShBzJjm7plBKS7luqLJ6Nc_j6Otpn_KoV5VfzxqBhwMdjhE/s320/picard_logo.png" style="display: none;" width="320" /></a></div>
If you are an audiophile, or a wanna-be one like me, and have an extensive music collection, you probably at various points in the past have looked for ways to organize and manage your music collection in and intelligent and easy manner.<br />
<br />
For the uninitiated, music tagging is a method of tagging music to a common standard that is either a based on a single user's preference, or a commonly accepted set of tags and attributes based on private and / or public databases. Music tags provide a uniform way to embed attributes into music files. Things like artist, album, song title, cover art, lyrics, release year, record label, country of issue, user rating, etc. all can be embedded into files so that information can be passed to music players and for other various uses. Basically, it's a way to keep your music collection from being complete chaos. Therefore, many music aficionados insist on properly tagged music files.<br />
<br />
For example, you may have a song in your collection simply titled "song_11.ogg" on your drive. Not much info there now is there? By using a tagging application or service, the song can be automatically identified and renamed what it really is, like "Track 11- Fire Water Burn.ogg". Of course there's much more we can do with this, but this is just a simple example. <br />
<br />
Furthermore, properly organized and tagged music files can be used buy schemantic desktops, such as KDE plasma's inherit file indexing abilities. Along with the Dolphin file manager this can be used to view, sort, and search files based on tag attributes.<br />
<br />
This makes it easier to provide searches of a more powerful nature. For example, one might want to only search and view songs in their collection that are of a particular genre, and with least a 3-star rating.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGcV4xeXNpKbxxYSaqGhvoaDc0sgIx59d0MA27pL6pFBZcXSRx2LSehU78usUYxon9JH47rkqm8FKtuWKIJdujuzsRuzZi2YLCFRQ83fIvUHCZS860J6yH9e_xaJXATc-LRgm4Ix4q2zU/s1600/dolphin_tags.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Looking at a particular song's tags, simply by hovering over a song file in Dolphin's main windoww" border="0" data-original-height="697" data-original-width="755" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGcV4xeXNpKbxxYSaqGhvoaDc0sgIx59d0MA27pL6pFBZcXSRx2LSehU78usUYxon9JH47rkqm8FKtuWKIJdujuzsRuzZi2YLCFRQ83fIvUHCZS860J6yH9e_xaJXATc-LRgm4Ix4q2zU/s320/dolphin_tags.png" title="Looking at a particular song's tags, simply by hovering over a song file in Dolphin's main windoww" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking at a particular song's tags, simply by<br />
hovering over a song file in Dolphin's main window</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
In this case, the above picture shows all of the tags to a particular song that dolphin shows simply by hovering over the file. These tags were automatically downloaded and applied to all the songs in this particular album with a few mere mouse clicks. Pretty cool stuff! <br />
<br />
<h3>
A (Very) Brief History </h3>
<br />
Many of us old enough to remember - back in the day - using music tagging programs where we had to make manual edits on a track-by-track and album-by-album basis to the music that we ripped from CDs or <b>*ahem*</b> may have acquired through other channels. And we may also remember that the process used to be rather painstaking and monotonous, to say the least.<br />
<br />
In the past, applications were created to specifically aid in editing tags. In KDE world, for example, we have the <a href="https://www.kdedigest.com/search?q=amarok" target="_blank">Amarok Music Player</a> that allows for music tags to be created and edited. We also are blessed to have the <a href="https://userbase.kde.org/Kid3" target="_blank">Kid3 Tag Editor</a>, available for download from your local distribution's repositories and software stores. <br />
<br />
Additionally, along came commercial services such as <a href="https://www.mediamonkey.com/" target="_blank">MediaMonkey</a> that allowed one to upload their music collection and have tags applied to them on a more hands off and semi-automated manor. While convenient, many errors would occur due to the fact that there are many times just simply too many versions and releases with a given artist and album title. For example, what if you acquired a limited, Japanese special issue of an otherwise typical American album release?<br />
<br />
All of which may mean going back again and making manual changes and corrections. While perhaps okay for some, for true audiophiles - or just people with massive O.C.D. when it comes to organizing files, this approach still was not the mecca that one had hoped for.<br />
<br />
Of course there are many other options out there both native and online. And while one is surely free to check out and use the best solution for them, we are going to talk about the one that I have found to be hands-down the best at tagging and organizing music.<br />
<br />
<h3>
The One Tool To Rule Them All</h3>
<br />
So you have a collection of music you've acquired and maybe have even tried to organize it in the past. But now you are convinced you want a uniform, logical, and relatively easy to use approach to tag and organize your music. If you find yourself in this camp, then you need to check out MusicBrainz Picard.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-saVI07oKhETmp-H5Th5jSzALNZ1rU3WzqKsvplzpdDCkvfCAMPfH3dY3HZyjUKUpVYSanev7uQ6n7LqvFA6h0jUJBUVouPqThHnvv3XIkwqWNDfP6UTC4yicmMEpFu_7JLDvO9mRM7g/s1600/picard_logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="MusicBrainz Picard logo" border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-saVI07oKhETmp-H5Th5jSzALNZ1rU3WzqKsvplzpdDCkvfCAMPfH3dY3HZyjUKUpVYSanev7uQ6n7LqvFA6h0jUJBUVouPqThHnvv3XIkwqWNDfP6UTC4yicmMEpFu_7JLDvO9mRM7g/s320/picard_logo.png" title="MusicBrainz Picard logo" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">MusicBrainz Picard logo</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
By definition, Picard is described as the following:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"MusicBrainz Picard is a cross-platform (Linux/Mac OS X/Windows) application written in Python and is the official MusicBrainz tagger. It supports the majority of audio file formats, is capable of using audio fingerprints (AcoustIDs), performing CD lookups and disc ID submissions, and it has excellent Unicode support. "</i> </blockquote>
Which means Picard based on the excellent MusicBrainz encyclopedia of music releases. In order to understand Picard, we need to understand what it interacts with: MusicBrains itself.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"MusicBrainz is an open music encyclopedia that collects music metadata and makes it available to the public.<br /><br />MusicBrainz aims to be:<br /><br /> - The ultimate source of music information by allowing anyone to contribute and releasing the data under open licenses.<br /> - The universal lingua franca for music by providing a reliable and unambiguous form of music identification, enabling both people and machines to have meaningful conversations about music.<br /><br />Like Wikipedia, MusicBrainz is maintained by a global community of users and we want everyone — including you — to participate and contribute."</i></blockquote>
<br />
Both the encyclopedia and the Picard Music Tagger are products of the MusicBrainz Foundation, and are effectively open source - free for anyone to use and contribute to. According to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MusicBrainz" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>, "Since 2003,[12] MusicBrainz's core data (artists, recordings, releases, and so on) are in the public domain, and additional content, including moderation data (essentially every original content contributed by users and its elaborations), is placed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-SA-2.0 license."<br />
<br />
So it's open source, free, and has been around quite a long time now, so it's curated, robust, and mature. All things we like to hear in Open Source Land.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Using Picard</h3>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4DAfTqR0mZZtJawGu-WPPgj9pf8xlWduzlCywRaE1RlWCxglbDIohchMbVJiD-QXd_vuLbbVl1gDBAH1qspUqKmdAOw5pVwkMMoJtiQ54b351GF0I3faadPyQYXMaoxG0kGIeaTLBIIM/s1600/picard_with_elisa.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Picard Music Tagger tagging and organizing an album to be played back by KDE's Elise Music Player" border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4DAfTqR0mZZtJawGu-WPPgj9pf8xlWduzlCywRaE1RlWCxglbDIohchMbVJiD-QXd_vuLbbVl1gDBAH1qspUqKmdAOw5pVwkMMoJtiQ54b351GF0I3faadPyQYXMaoxG0kGIeaTLBIIM/s320/picard_with_elisa.png" title="Picard Music Tagger tagging and organizing an album to be played back by KDE's Elise Music Player" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Picard Music Tagger tagging and organizing an<br />
album to be played back - in this case - <br />
by KDE's Elise Music Player</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjrEuLGaqPDVZrMbvAG9RQBc1YP53dTv5q5_Iz3iFj05fyXDcE-I4zRZ-bU2auppYHK1gurfbq92Ljc7hHDf07RYNwcNQgt5diPy97xSCmShlMuotN1HlVRhHQlW9TvmWe4HxJCbyAuRg/s1600/vlc_tag_info.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Here we can see additional tag info from Picard, as shown in the current media panel within VLC" border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjrEuLGaqPDVZrMbvAG9RQBc1YP53dTv5q5_Iz3iFj05fyXDcE-I4zRZ-bU2auppYHK1gurfbq92Ljc7hHDf07RYNwcNQgt5diPy97xSCmShlMuotN1HlVRhHQlW9TvmWe4HxJCbyAuRg/s320/vlc_tag_info.png" title="Here we can see additional tag info from Picard, as shown in the current media panel within VLC" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here we can see additional tag info from<br />
Picard, as shown in the current media <br />
panel within VLC </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
This is where it must be stated that there is a <i>bit </i>of a learning curve with Picard. That is to say that it is a tool that, once configured the way you want it to be, is a breeze to use (no pun intended here, KDE peeps!) Here is my workflow for Picard -<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>open Picard</li>
<li>tell it to open the folder that contains an album I want to tag</li>
<li>hit the acoustic ID button to have Picard identify my album based on it's sonic fingerprint (there are other ways to identify your songs / albums as well)</li>
<li>Confirm the music is properly identified</li>
<li>Click "save"</li>
</ul>
<br />
Upon completion, tags are written (including cover art) and my music is transferred to my music collection location automatically. Further, it is organized properly by Artist > Album > Songs. For me, the automatic moving and organizing of files is invaluable. This way, my unruly, unorganized and un-tagged files are <b>never</b> intermixed with my actual collection. Because I like things proper like that. Your workflow may vary based on any number of factors.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKWBpqDLKCKYx26vk_51Yf8N3j4enE_1syf4TPGc9f7HDp2q0Zn3WbyA65F_iyciPYHUln9aFiM3WT1k61EhCTssbp-o0ckch0KrUAUtDm1cYJ-boARjFoFS6u_-URqKqyZ0WhNEYtm-0/s1600/picard_tagged_and_matched_2_cover_art.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Here we see an album properly identified and matched by Picard. Once the "save" button is pressed, the album will be transferred to my collection, properly organized, tagged, and waiting to be enjoyed" border="0" data-original-height="983" data-original-width="970" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKWBpqDLKCKYx26vk_51Yf8N3j4enE_1syf4TPGc9f7HDp2q0Zn3WbyA65F_iyciPYHUln9aFiM3WT1k61EhCTssbp-o0ckch0KrUAUtDm1cYJ-boARjFoFS6u_-URqKqyZ0WhNEYtm-0/s320/picard_tagged_and_matched_2_cover_art.png" title="Here we see an album properly identified and matched by Picard. Once the "save" button is pressed, the album will be transferred to my collection, properly organized, tagged, and waiting to be enjoyed" width="315" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here we see an album properly identified and<br />
matched by Picard. Once the "save" button is pressed,<br />
the album will be transferred to my collection,<br />
properly organized, tagged, and waiting to be enjoyed</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR6U1cBuH0RKSfjlyMX3hQdjpgfjb9aC4pA4SLr_mV9eku2MS8VlBmcNFthOacY_lwCzcFPvp6wWMksDGNN5PjsOVG-mOsP19M41Ni-pFO1Kq3nGj2qC2y_teJ6Hp9dNnYvKcqahAnBGo/s1600/file_naming_moving.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Options abound in Picard, in true open source fashion" border="0" data-original-height="809" data-original-width="911" height="284" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR6U1cBuH0RKSfjlyMX3hQdjpgfjb9aC4pA4SLr_mV9eku2MS8VlBmcNFthOacY_lwCzcFPvp6wWMksDGNN5PjsOVG-mOsP19M41Ni-pFO1Kq3nGj2qC2y_teJ6Hp9dNnYvKcqahAnBGo/s320/file_naming_moving.png" title="Options abound in Picard, in true open source fashion" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Options abound in Picard, in true open source fashion</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
Because of so many options, use cases, and personal preferences, I will not go into great detail, as to how to use Picard would likely be as individual in nature as your music collection is. Picard's options are vast and thorough, but straightforward in nature. You will have to experiment to decide what is right for you.<br />
<br />
<br />
However, as stated before, once set up to the way you like, it really becomes set-it-and-forget-it as you won't have to go through that process again. And your music files will once again become a joy to tag and organize.<br />
<br />
Once you've downloaded Picard, you may want to peruse the <a href="https://picard.musicbrainz.org/quick-start/" target="_blank">Quick Start Manual</a>, because sometimes you just gotta <i><b>RTFM</b></i>, you know?<br />
<br />
<h3>
OK I'm Intrigued, How Do I Get Picard?</h3>
<h3>
</h3>
Glad you asked! First off, feel free to head over to the <a href="https://picard.musicbrainz.org/downloads/" target="_blank">downloads page</a> for the project. Further it very well should be already in the repositories of your favorite Linux distribution of choice.<br />
<br />
Do note that for those on a long-term support release such as (K)Ubuntu 18.04, KDE Neon, etc., you will likely find the available Picard package to be outdated. There is <a href="https://launchpad.net/~musicbrainz-developers/+archive/ubuntu/stable" target="_blank">an official PPA for that</a>, of course, so just add it to stay current with the latest releases.<br />
<br />
There is also a Flatpak download, as well as packages for Arch, Debian, Fedora, Gentoo, and OpenSuse, along with the source code for you hard-core compilers out there.<br />
<br />
It's also available in the <a href="https://snapcraft.io/picard" target="_blank">Snap Store</a>, although the version here is not the latest. <br />
<br />
<h3>
Final Thoughts</h3>
<br />
Picard music tagging system is an excellent program that integrates with an excellent database and an excellent, open source community. I have not even scratched the surface of what all you can do with regard to the MusicBrainz.org website and its related services such as MetaBrainz, ListenBrainz, Etc. Hopefully, however, this has served to sort of peak your interest in this open source community and its products.<br />
<br />
More specifically, for those looking to enhance and organize their large or small music collection, I hope you find that Picard is a wonderful tool for getting that job done.<br />
<br />
If you have tried it in the past or even recently because of this article, do let us know your thoughts.<br />
<br />
And as always, thanks for reading.<br />
<br />
</K*Digest!><br />
<br />
J. Cainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14296631305054054017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2681478928613342687.post-25468408180445163992019-04-15T05:39:00.001-04:002019-04-15T05:40:10.968-04:00Feren OS Linux Is Moving To KDE Plasma<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2Dt_h-NKYjNdSUv-FTBpNmMtzXCM_EYgGk1qm4sv-jFr_4jUPimGsFt55cRAbQVhxDpXalNmN4rWZtPfdUw5HHDrg-Bk95xjJrzFZ0oWQYE2nElx0P8a0Qa_P0-aAuztMMuzQUBNQqQI/s1600/ferenandkde.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2Dt_h-NKYjNdSUv-FTBpNmMtzXCM_EYgGk1qm4sv-jFr_4jUPimGsFt55cRAbQVhxDpXalNmN4rWZtPfdUw5HHDrg-Bk95xjJrzFZ0oWQYE2nElx0P8a0Qa_P0-aAuztMMuzQUBNQqQI/s400/ferenandkde.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Some time ago, Feren OS announced a new project, called <b>Feren OS Next</b>. The 'Next' part referrs to an ongoing move to KDE Plasma. Originally a fork of Linux Mint in 2015, and therefore using the Cinnamon Desktop by default, the decision was made to move to the KDE Plasma desktop and technologies for the long term of the OS. Once complete, the 'Next' part will be dropped as KDE Plasma will be the standard going forward. For those who would like to stay on the Cinnamon desktop, it will still be available under the new name "Feren OS Classic". <br />
<br />
I recently has occasion to speak to a FerenOS developer <a href="https://twitter.com/K_Digest/status/1117049614165860352" target="_blank">on Twitter</a>, and here's what he has to say regarding the ongoing transition to KDE Plasma:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"Status-wise, the Migration is going relatively well, though there is mainly just a near-completed core experience. However, there is still much to go yet, from Feren OS exclusive features to bug fixes for what is going to be there by the time the migration really starts...</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Roadmap-wise... there is no real roadmap just yet, outside of Finish 'Next', move Feren OS with Cinnamon to 'Feren OS Classic', move 'Next' to being the main Feren OS flavor once done, and then make an optional migration tool for Feren OS Classic amd64 to turn it into KDE."</i> </blockquote>
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOEFDnIuTe2kwflY1YLu-LDvWj3jIAegkV3SM67siYMgnPEesKw4GKeyveslPaA0Em5xXwsJ2uqnE3UMQCFUleDTLE8nMzpr_F16P5qaxGorBZfniy3ZBs6kPstCaWy5Rr7LL2Us38-Vk/s1600/tweetwithferendev.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="My Twitter conversation with a Feren OS Dev regarding moving to KDE Plasma 5" border="0" data-original-height="696" data-original-width="605" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOEFDnIuTe2kwflY1YLu-LDvWj3jIAegkV3SM67siYMgnPEesKw4GKeyveslPaA0Em5xXwsJ2uqnE3UMQCFUleDTLE8nMzpr_F16P5qaxGorBZfniy3ZBs6kPstCaWy5Rr7LL2Us38-Vk/s320/tweetwithferendev.png" title="My Twitter conversation with a Feren OS Dev regarding moving to KDE Plasma 5" width="278" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My Twitter conversation with a Feren OS Dev<br />
regarding moving to KDE Plasma 5 </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
This is great news for the KDE Community.<br />
<br />
A recent blog post from the lead developer also states that<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"Back-end Changes -<br />- The 'KDE Neon' Repository (User Edition) was added, meaning that you will now always have the latest Plasma and KApps versions at all times on supported versions of the Ubuntu base<br />- Another Feren OS Repository (temporary) folder called 'neon-required' has been added to provide fixed versions of packages such as 'qt5-style-plugins' and related packages for the version of Qt provided by KDE Neon's Repository<br />- Plasma is now at version 5.15<br />- 'feren-safeguards' is now in Feren OS Next, meaning your system is now slightly safer from attempts to run a certain destruction command (as well as doing it humorously)<br />- Most importantly: The Ubuntu Base was downgraded to 18.04"</i></blockquote>
<br />
So we can see that not only is the move from Cinnamon to KDE Plasma underway, but it also appears that a move to a KDE Neon base is also taking place, utilizing Neon's repositories (in addition to Feren's own) and the Ubuntu 18.04 base.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc-HaSplICSo7fQ84_XdQeglZftI15TzaVrwDscoKGK3fg6RxS8exA8LcOfdpGzH_u1lGCf7Rgbt-5FuZrvoTA65gIaOg0jhJezc1JVzYawBl1SqmMLTqLpNNpZlt8WWoo67h9mhknlCE/s1600/ferenos_today_cinnamon.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="583" data-original-width="1100" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc-HaSplICSo7fQ84_XdQeglZftI15TzaVrwDscoKGK3fg6RxS8exA8LcOfdpGzH_u1lGCf7Rgbt-5FuZrvoTA65gIaOg0jhJezc1JVzYawBl1SqmMLTqLpNNpZlt8WWoo67h9mhknlCE/s320/ferenos_today_cinnamon.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Feren OS as it appears today, with a<br />
customized Cinnamon desktop,<br />
which in the future will be known <br />
as 'Feren OS Classic'</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<h4>
Some unique aspects of Feren OS</h4>
<br />
It's obvious that the Feren OS team tries to make things as painstakingly easy for the user as possible. The distribution provides tools, for instance, to <a href="https://ferenos.weebly.com/feren-os-transfer-tool.html" target="_blank">migrate away</a> from a current Windows installation as well as settings to perform security updates automatically. Many decisions appear to be with the new Linux user in mind, both now and in continuing in future releases. <br />
<br />
Default application choices include several Office Suite options, the Vivaldi web browser, Skype, an email client, document viewer, etc.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpIHXWaFpqgzkYIbZW2FRNZ4io9WOQN5ymi9Arb0ULpL0X1hp800mUYS6qXssUNn_ryEWQBbOmYAJ2qolXTmSpU8BTlXeymymwjtguz7fTBKlwPFj-kd6f4LYeSXzIIJ9n1tTgfBjmKeQ/s1600/ferenApps.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Feren OS' default application, as they are today" border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpIHXWaFpqgzkYIbZW2FRNZ4io9WOQN5ymi9Arb0ULpL0X1hp800mUYS6qXssUNn_ryEWQBbOmYAJ2qolXTmSpU8BTlXeymymwjtguz7fTBKlwPFj-kd6f4LYeSXzIIJ9n1tTgfBjmKeQ/s320/ferenApps.png" title="Feren OS' default application, as they are today" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Feren OS' default application, as they are today</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
It will be interesting to see the transformation of Feren OS going forward. While I have not had the opportunity yet to try out the OS for myself, I could easily see how it could be a good fit for new users and experienced pro's alike.<br />
<br />
It will also be interesting to watch how Feren OS differentiates itself from, say, Kubuntu or KDE Neon. If the migration and customization tools come along into the KDE-based 'Next' version, along with unique application defaults and perhaps theming, etc., Feren OS will certainly be one to keep an eye on.<br />
<br />
In the meantime, welcome Feren OS to the KDE family.<br />
<br />
You can learn more about Feren OS from the project's <a href="https://ferenos.weebly.com/" target="_blank">homepage</a>. <br />
<br />J. Cainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14296631305054054017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2681478928613342687.post-85311097498634646242019-04-14T07:52:00.000-04:002019-04-14T08:04:18.762-04:00We Have Everything We Need And Should Be Thankful...The Rest Is Just Excuses<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTXaAKevVVZeEuh1-kdfHPQmeeAPnbZRbZm3r9jtGJtEDzIt__U9GkrmNJYWdkCoEiPlaM4uBhGAi0eCi6QZcjZh3LghfFkklLrV3HJKifnHtC3YrPJzhdQo_WQXZUa3hqUIslYZfwxpc/s1600/serveimage.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="306" data-original-width="598" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTXaAKevVVZeEuh1-kdfHPQmeeAPnbZRbZm3r9jtGJtEDzIt__U9GkrmNJYWdkCoEiPlaM4uBhGAi0eCi6QZcjZh3LghfFkklLrV3HJKifnHtC3YrPJzhdQo_WQXZUa3hqUIslYZfwxpc/s400/serveimage.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Excuse me while I vent for just a minute here. I have been thinking about this for a while now, and tonight I was sitting here jamming music on Amarok, one of the long-forgotten but truly amazing projects to ever come out of the KDE Community. And I thought, how blessed are we?<br />
<br />
I mean if there's something you want to do on Linux, you can do it. And if you say you cannot, it's merely an excuse and a rehashing of old ideologies or technical limitations that no longer can possibly hold any merit.<br />
<br />
Let me get this out of the way now. There are a few AAA games and granted there are old, crusty, walled technologies like Adobe Suite and Office. And some of us work for companies who force us to use Microsoft technologies and other normally-accepted, but closed and otherwise less-than-ideal things. In spite of that, really, when we add all that up, we're probably talking about <b>the 10%</b>.<br />
<br />
For the rest of us, the open source community has risen and brought us just about every conceivable thing you could want to do on a personal computer or a laptop (or even a Pinebook or a Pi - hashtag winning?!).<br />
<br />
Really. We have digiKam and OBS, and Lutris, and Krita, and Latte Dock, and KMyMoney, KDEnlive, KDE Connect, WikiMedia, Simon, OpenStreetMaps, and an entire Community (with too many projects to possibly name) making software that while not perfect, pretty much kicks ass and gets the job done.<br />
<br />
We have so many good (and smart) content creators it's not even funny. Even the mainstream is starting to take notice! <br />
<br />
We argue because we are passionate about what we do, but at the end of the day we all want the same thing. Whether it's advancements by Canonical, Pop_OS, the KDE Community, Gnome, the fine folks over at Red Hat and openSuse, we see a need and we fill it. And give it all away - code-wise. Because we're awesome like that.<br />
<br />
The community steps up and produces artwork, we produce technologies that allow easy migration to other platforms, we have business software, art software, social media software, productivity software, gaming software. If you name the need then the open source community will produce it. And people who make little money will blog and Youtube and <b><i>preach</i></b> it. All for not enough recognition and sometimes vitriol, apathy, and instead.<br />
<br />
This is a shout out to the content creators and programmers and community volunteers and testers and users who simply get the job done. Most of the time it's thankless, but the world would not be the same without us. To all the visionaries, teachers, supporters, users, developers, and every other Community member that gives of their time based on pure unselfish love, this goes out to you. Keep up the good fight and never give up.<br />
<br />
I could shout out to so many people and organizations, but I would be leaving good people, organizations, and companies out. From devs to release teams to kernel maintainers to people just trying to scratch an itch to people working on future career goals to people who just are ideologically-aligned to FOSS <b>to people actually making a living in this beautiful space </b>- so this is instead to ALL OF US. <br />
<br />
We are the 2% and we're passionate about what we do and why we do it. Never forget that. And we accept everyone and anyone. No judgements, no eye rolls. Just respect. <br />
<br />
At some point we need to get past the fragmentation and language barriers and time barriers and other real but overcomeable things to make us better than we are today. Thanks for the last 10 years of me being Windows-free , and here's to one hell of a ride from here. If you agree in any kind of way, feel free to list your comments, rants, dreams, and whatever else below.<br />
<br />
We may have different laws and borders and DNA, but we are one. We are FOSS. J. Cainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14296631305054054017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2681478928613342687.post-47297126547974274512019-04-13T11:00:00.000-04:002019-04-13T11:00:05.578-04:00The KDE Elisa Music Player Gets New Features In Upcoming Release<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKRQKalYQlaHIk8pU35ucA9IelS9U_jjlmAnRdiK5_Y__tqx8_qF2ALPTuEXuT0mMylF73kkBrVWfW3xmSn7902JWlobV7ZORXpX0wmN-Gvh2fw2aHBeZpKrGne5mbD8b4QuRT5cFgwo4/s1600/Elisa_v_01_.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKRQKalYQlaHIk8pU35ucA9IelS9U_jjlmAnRdiK5_Y__tqx8_qF2ALPTuEXuT0mMylF73kkBrVWfW3xmSn7902JWlobV7ZORXpX0wmN-Gvh2fw2aHBeZpKrGne5mbD8b4QuRT5cFgwo4/s320/Elisa_v_01_.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
We <a href="https://www.kdedigest.com/2019/04/more-than-year-since-its-last.html" target="_blank">recently reported</a> on the current status of KDE's long time audio player Amarok, and it's slow move to using KDE Plasma 5 technologies. Recently another one of KDE's audio players, Elisa, has been receiving some technology and feature updates that will soon be coming up in the next release. Under active development, Elisa seeks to fill the void that legacy audio players have left in KDE Plasma userspace.<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: #e69138;">→ For an overview of Elisa Music Player, see our previous article - <a href="https://www.kdedigest.com/2018/04/plasma-5-gets-its-first-proper-music-player-with-the-release-of-elisa.html" target="_blank">Plasma 5 Gets It's First Proper Music Player With The Release Of Elisa</a></span> <br />
<br />
<h3>
A quick look at what's new</h3>
<br />
<h4>
libVLC Support</h4>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOH_-TXx6i2WOftPM7MRCcR7XDZLkEyj90EjI7YVihJBrOk9Qkiuw20kdBzUcD5DvELMJhDXWdwqgcd5aARWaM3hoCO0M4DeXG0DltSI4EFqfeQ9aGzgFjZ_DpUjARFRkJa7rb-w15KNM/s1600/vlc_logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Elisa music player moving to VLC backend - VLC logo graphic courtesy of VideoLan.org " border="0" data-original-height="946" data-original-width="907" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOH_-TXx6i2WOftPM7MRCcR7XDZLkEyj90EjI7YVihJBrOk9Qkiuw20kdBzUcD5DvELMJhDXWdwqgcd5aARWaM3hoCO0M4DeXG0DltSI4EFqfeQ9aGzgFjZ_DpUjARFRkJa7rb-w15KNM/s320/vlc_logo.png" title="Elisa music player moving to VLC backend - VLC logo graphic courtesy of VideoLan.org " width="306" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elisa music player to support VLC backend - <br />
VLC logo graphic courtesy of VideoLan.org </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Among the new features coming to Elisa that were announced so far include the ability to support the VLC (via libVLC) as a back-end. In addition to having an easy-to-use API to aid in future development, the developer states that the move will allow Elisa to support additional audio formats.<br />
<br />
Of course, this will help give Elisa the ability to play expanded music collections from a variety of sources, as well as help with cross platform support.<br />
<br />
<h4>
New real-time progress bar </h4>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM63DoSPWGgXRDMSohOrGoUG__Umcy8c7gs3FOuW5m0iKn3PT6EphlTVBFBvTmpLJYdmHVBJUDN2_rm98oUkw4MZgZUo6K-Agbr2Wxispyg8XYbLkMv8kbklRHNhfib_6mZRZa3z4_TR0/s1600/Elisaprogressbar.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Elisa's new track progress bar" border="0" data-original-height="24" data-original-width="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM63DoSPWGgXRDMSohOrGoUG__Umcy8c7gs3FOuW5m0iKn3PT6EphlTVBFBvTmpLJYdmHVBJUDN2_rm98oUkw4MZgZUo6K-Agbr2Wxispyg8XYbLkMv8kbklRHNhfib_6mZRZa3z4_TR0/s1600/Elisaprogressbar.png" title="Elisa's new track progress bar" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elisa's new track progress bar</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Additionally, Elisa will support a new progress bar on the Plasma desktop. This will be via a new progress meter anytime Elisa is running inside Plasma Workspace. It's a nice visual queue and a quick way to look at the status of the currently playing track in a native KDE Plasma way.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h4>
Party Mode Improvements</h4>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjf6OIBHGbY9ROLBqcJ1g18HgcjSp5W2uwCN5HgeZey6taB4Mn7vAKLKeQlokyF9NsoaYfARXQz8g1hCw1UX5L8HWaFcaKV1bVRz8H0GMTF0TWWTKpXkLsnI8D9HANNgucOP_YHbEa-Ic/s1600/Screenshot_20190413_100545.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Elisa's improved 'party mode' for music playlist playback" border="0" data-original-height="395" data-original-width="726" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjf6OIBHGbY9ROLBqcJ1g18HgcjSp5W2uwCN5HgeZey6taB4Mn7vAKLKeQlokyF9NsoaYfARXQz8g1hCw1UX5L8HWaFcaKV1bVRz8H0GMTF0TWWTKpXkLsnI8D9HANNgucOP_YHbEa-Ic/s320/Screenshot_20190413_100545.png" title="Elisa's improved 'party mode' for music playlist playback" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elisa's improved 'party mode' <br />for music playlist playback, including<br />touch screen support</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
Finally, Elisa has a redesigned "party mode" with a simplified playlist view. Basically, party mode is a full-screen version of Elisa featuring a simplified view with playlist and current-track cover art. One could see using this at parties or get-togethers either on a laptop screen or possibly cast to a television like in a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10-foot_user_interface" target="_blank">10ft interface</a> environment.<br />
<br />
The improved party mode also gives the ability to touch a track on a playlist and have the new song immediately play upon clicking it. The author mentions the use-case of using touch screens with Elisa, for instance.<br />
<br />
<h4>
The Future</h4>
<br />
In his recent blog post, states the following:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"Quite some other features are already ready. They will be the subject of other posts.<br /><br />There are still some features that are still under review for the next stable release. This is the main reason no firm date are currently set for the next release.<br /><br />I would like to be able to make the best possible release. In order to do that, feedback would be very welcome."</i></blockquote>
<br />
So, as of now, we will have to wait for the official release announcement of the next stable version of Elisa, as well as to see what else is planned for this upcoming release.<br />
<br />
<h4>
Helping Out</h4>
<br />
Like most open source projects, the Elisa team would welcome your help. If you're interested in seeing how you may be able to lend a hand, see the Getting Involved section <a href="https://mgallienkde.wordpress.com/2018/10/09/0-3-release-of-elisa-music-player/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
The source article for this update can be found <a href="https://mgallienkde.wordpress.com/2019/04/11/new-features-in-elisa/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
As always, thank for reading!<br />
<br />
</KDigest><br />
<br />
<br />
<h4>
<br /></h4>
J. Cainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14296631305054054017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2681478928613342687.post-577097356172102572019-04-13T07:35:00.001-04:002019-04-13T07:35:41.930-04:00KDE Releases Frameworks 5.57.0 With Many Under The Hood Improvements<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjMPOCHgHEgFTtKGLwzT3y9v1FRR70NBQyUfS6Ou4O0cxYdjg3SGcPnEss-_GZ8Qcnk4XYWhPn_nSyCUvvfhJHJXH46u9U-6F3Xu7tij1BIjFWm4496v6X9uHDNmebXt4rlQlTw0-RdVM/s1600/News.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="278" data-original-width="462" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjMPOCHgHEgFTtKGLwzT3y9v1FRR70NBQyUfS6Ou4O0cxYdjg3SGcPnEss-_GZ8Qcnk4XYWhPn_nSyCUvvfhJHJXH46u9U-6F3Xu7tij1BIjFWm4496v6X9uHDNmebXt4rlQlTw0-RdVM/s320/News.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Today the KDE Community announced the immediate release of Frameworks 5.57.0, which contains many improvements and fixes to the underlying Qt-based building blocks for the KDE Plasma Desktop. As a reminder, KDE Frameworks are defined as:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>" ...over 70 addon libraries to Qt which provide a wide variety of commonly needed functionality in mature, peer reviewed and well tested libraries with friendly licensing terms."</i></blockquote>
<br />
And from the Frameworks page itself:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>" The individual Frameworks are well documented, tested and their API style will be familiar to Qt developers.<br /><br />Frameworks are developed under the proven KDE governance model with a predictable release schedule, a clear and vendor neutral contributor process, open governance and flexible LGPL or MIT licensing.<br /><br />The frameworks are cross-platform and function on Windows, Mac, Android and Linux."</i></blockquote>
<br />
In addition to KDE Plasma, other examples of projects that use KDE Frameworks are the lightweight <a href="https://lxqt.org/" target="_blank">LX-Qt</a> desktop and the <a href="https://nxos.org/" target="_blank">Nitrux Operating System</a>, as well as many others - including projects for Windows and Android.<br />
<br />
KDE Applications are currently released monthly, with the next planned release scheduled for May 11th, 2019.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h3>
What's New?</h3>
<br />
In addition to numerous bug and regression fixes, highlights in this release of Frameworks are:<br />
<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Baloo File Indexer</li>
<ul>
<li>Allow time based search (e.g. using <a href="https://www.unix.com/tips-and-tutorials/20526-mtime-ctime-atime.html">mtime</a>) </li>
</ul>
<li>Breeze Incons </li>
<ul>
<li>Add "notifications" and "notifications-disabled" icons</li>
<li>Make start-here-kde also available start-here-kde-plasma</li>
<li>New Sublime merge icocn </li>
</ul>
<li>KFileMetaData</li>
<ul>
<li>Implement support for writing rating information for taglib writer</li>
<li>Added support for extracting data from .ogg and .ts files</li>
</ul>
<li>KIO</li>
<ul>
<li>Improve executable dialog buttons' icons </li>
<li>Will now show list of tags in PlacesView</li>
</ul>
<li>KNewStuff</li>
<ul>
<li>Switch (force) URLs to https</li>
<li>Updated link to fsearch project</li>
<li>Handle unsupported OCS (KNewStuff) commands</li>
</ul>
<li>NetworkManagerQt</li>
<ul>
<li>Various WireGuard improvements</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
<br />
In addition, as mentioned earlier, there are many, many bug and papercut fixes as well to BluezQt, KArchive, KCMUtils, Kirigami, and others. The full announcement can be found <a href="https://kde.org/announcements/kde-frameworks-5.57.0.php">here</a>.<br />
<br />
Look for KDE Frameworks' latest update to land in your distribution soon. The next release coming to KDE Plasma will be the release of KDE Applications 19.04 next week.<br />
<br />
</KDigest><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />J. Cainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14296631305054054017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2681478928613342687.post-11883348027590641272019-04-08T14:21:00.000-04:002019-04-08T17:58:47.926-04:00Olivia Audio Player Has Arrived For Linux With A Few Unique Features<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ-i2Kkc5cLQ_QNgm6r9qBcq7WfXpRfW3Tuy6h7bmIdtaS8XBAu9KR9YNoTrW6ibnQJuUOO6XRtTMR1R0fzULhVRoawXq3kfU94BQPleGUD6izntR98oTVlQdJPMgYBM27JVuoE9AtyQQ/s1600/OliviaMP.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1600" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ-i2Kkc5cLQ_QNgm6r9qBcq7WfXpRfW3Tuy6h7bmIdtaS8XBAu9KR9YNoTrW6ibnQJuUOO6XRtTMR1R0fzULhVRoawXq3kfU94BQPleGUD6izntR98oTVlQdJPMgYBM27JVuoE9AtyQQ/s320/OliviaMP.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Yes, Virginia, another music player has arrived on the Linux scene. Following the heels of newer audio players gracing your software center such as Babe and <a href="https://www.kdedigest.com/2018/04/plasma-5-gets-its-first-proper-music-player-with-the-release-of-elisa.html" target="_blank">Elisa</a>, Olivia has formally announced it's arrival. Built using Qt and Python, the Olivia music player attempts to make your music dynamic and in the Cloud.<br />
<br />
<h4>
Some Unique Features</h4>
<br />
A few of the things that stood out in trying this music player that are that are a bit different are:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Online music search</li>
<li>Automatic downloading of audio from online streams, including YouTube</li>
<li>Extracts audio of YouTube streams, and optionally saves them </li>
<li>Dynamic theming, including based on album art</li>
<li>Search suggestions</li>
<li>Minimal mode</li>
<li>Internet radio sorted by country</li>
<li>Top music chart by country (but not by genera yet)</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGFf-JVGxZqyHxAsfnp7MDyLJBSl1SIXDNH6Duh8ykXejQla9Qz0gj2UNp_U6CFdZoUWIJY6_Ln8S65_FRmp6xhtKb2_ccOGkEub9ywy8RnIk1VoJ9IY_NS9MVeRaVOmXMFD7E789sh6c/s1600/Screenshot_20190408_132701.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Olivia Music Player's Ability To Dynamically Change Appearance Based On Album Art Is A Cool Feature" border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGFf-JVGxZqyHxAsfnp7MDyLJBSl1SIXDNH6Duh8ykXejQla9Qz0gj2UNp_U6CFdZoUWIJY6_Ln8S65_FRmp6xhtKb2_ccOGkEub9ywy8RnIk1VoJ9IY_NS9MVeRaVOmXMFD7E789sh6c/s320/Screenshot_20190408_132701.png" title="Olivia Music Player's Ability To Dynamically Change Appearance Based On Album Art Is A Cool Feature" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Olivia Music Player's Ability To Dynamically Change<br />
Appearance Based On Album Art Is A Cool Feature</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
The fact that Olivia is entirely cloud-based really reminds me of the <a href="https://github.com/tomahawk-player/tomahawk" target="_blank">Tomahawk player</a>, announced all the way back in 2010 at Camp KDE. In retrospect, Tomahawk was really ahead of its time, providing features such as cloud-source streaming and sharing among friends - features that Olivia looks to continue.<br />
<br />
From the GitHub page, we can see these types of features coming to light in the roadmap ahead:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkOMQ8GnCtUDQEgK52_XQ9XUmvwqwhQwflU5uBflkpzlY3t1Uae1MSXdXoibHU1F7YkR8MBLRmKsRn7pmrK20YTR4Of3cElvMpZ-JXNIhucKAgluAP5pqxyk1rCL44bWBZmLo_zw43tIY/s1600/Screenshot_20190408_135453.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Olivia's lead developer shares some future goals" border="0" data-original-height="192" data-original-width="779" height="78" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkOMQ8GnCtUDQEgK52_XQ9XUmvwqwhQwflU5uBflkpzlY3t1Uae1MSXdXoibHU1F7YkR8MBLRmKsRn7pmrK20YTR4Of3cElvMpZ-JXNIhucKAgluAP5pqxyk1rCL44bWBZmLo_zw43tIY/s320/Screenshot_20190408_135453.png" title="Olivia's lead developer shares some future goals" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Olivia's lead developer shares some future goals</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
More features like cloud synchronization of music using an online account, and sharing music among friends appears to be coming soon.<br />
<br />
Curiously, play back of local music has not yet been implemented, and does appear to not be a high priority at this time. Although I would expect this functionality to appear fairly soon, as it is hard to have a full-fledged audio player without this innate ability. <br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQYBkoEQUtvuaaOTIRpr-mlYPX02xNv1lTbxZEmBGEHTk7RV1NTu4u8cp7cWZt2bIcGTEhe_hRZmGkUN20M2r3no37JPDCoUNSVWYi4fKy2Z9TmXLOTQT-k9DmjsxF4Xft6qjICa0aW_0/s1600/Screenshot_20190408_132129.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQYBkoEQUtvuaaOTIRpr-mlYPX02xNv1lTbxZEmBGEHTk7RV1NTu4u8cp7cWZt2bIcGTEhe_hRZmGkUN20M2r3no37JPDCoUNSVWYi4fKy2Z9TmXLOTQT-k9DmjsxF4Xft6qjICa0aW_0/s320/Screenshot_20190408_132129.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Olivia has a classic, three-panel design but with<br />
everything being pulled from the Internet, as <br />
opposed to reading from local files</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<h4>
No Local Playback, No Bueno? </h4>
<br />
For many people, the lack of local library access may be a deal-breaker. I know for me personally, I have invested a lot of time in organizing and properly tagging a large music collection. The thought of not being able to use Olivia to playback local files would not be something I would be content with from a user perspective.<br />
<br />
However since it appears likely that this feature will be added, and in the long run what we may have here is a very nice balance and a very capable online-enabled media player. I suspect that many users will appreciate the ability to download the audio-only portion of YouTube music videos. The dynamic theming is rather pleasing as well (however this function is entirely optional).<br />
<br />
<h4>
Trying It Out</h4>
<br />
Right now the easiest way to test Olivia is via the <a href="https://snapcraft.io/olivia-test" target="_blank">Snap Store</a>. This will install a testing branch for users to easily try out. Users of Plasma Discover who have the Snap Store repository enabled can install it easily directly from within Discover. An Appimage version is planned, and of course the application can be built from source as well.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVZh-QHBMahZeFCT1rIpZFRjMsN0W97Hc6jnDd9ZCrZtcC0XOaSSmK3OzasLssLVZBWvdNDwdk116OFO4nSmpfoOswYNlRmH6bIhgTbOTbLJa4eY7RbxGjRJH6Ow8lW4NKst999fpSahs/s1600/Screenshot_20190408_122457.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Olivia as seen in Plasma Discover" border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVZh-QHBMahZeFCT1rIpZFRjMsN0W97Hc6jnDd9ZCrZtcC0XOaSSmK3OzasLssLVZBWvdNDwdk116OFO4nSmpfoOswYNlRmH6bIhgTbOTbLJa4eY7RbxGjRJH6Ow8lW4NKst999fpSahs/s320/Screenshot_20190408_122457.png" title="Olivia as seen in Plasma Discover" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Olivia as seen in Plasma Discover</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The project's homepage can be found on <a href="https://github.com/keshavbhatt/olivia#olivia---elegant-music-player-for-linux" target="_blank">GitHub</a>.<br />
<br />
<b>** Edit ** </b>It's now also available in Arch's AUR Repositories, <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/kde/comments/bagrqu/olivia_elegant_music_player_for_linux_desktop/ekeh0wo/" target="_blank">courtesy of a packager on Reddit</a>. J. Cainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14296631305054054017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2681478928613342687.post-62444731707243271072019-04-08T05:34:00.000-04:002019-04-08T05:58:40.202-04:00Checking Out KDE's Falkon Web Browser In Detail<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj37K9fN6nHJswyXh4PTWP-3c9gADte0bwBcqfBEKO5hbB7iikZgevs9En7MpsXbT5Tg1a1VwSwLYI9ZH5RKRTgrpdrSwaJW2-8E4OKnlaQAPLGIlwLmz0LtTitfW2adQ-K589csmuJTkQ/s1600/Screenshot_20190408_021325.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="455" data-original-width="598" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj37K9fN6nHJswyXh4PTWP-3c9gADte0bwBcqfBEKO5hbB7iikZgevs9En7MpsXbT5Tg1a1VwSwLYI9ZH5RKRTgrpdrSwaJW2-8E4OKnlaQAPLGIlwLmz0LtTitfW2adQ-K589csmuJTkQ/s320/Screenshot_20190408_021325.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
If you have used Linux for sometime, you may remember the QupZilla browser. Those who have been following along with Falkon's development over the last year or so may know that QupZilla, a browser built using QtWebEngine, which itself is based on the Chromium engine, <a href="https://www.kdedigest.com/2018/03/kde-web-browser-falkon-gets-new-branding-and-new-release.html" target="_blank">moved under the KDE Applications umbrella and was renamed Falkon</a>. Because, you know, it <b><i>has</i> </b>to have a "K" in it, right?<br />
<br />
Falkon aims to be very lightweight and fast, while providing a robust feature set that would exemplify a modern browser. Just without all of the bloat. So let's take a look and see what's under the hood, shall we?<br />
<br />
<h4>
What Falkon Has Going For It</h4>
<div>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibyUHGY04qAlkl_NrPF31n0KuhM5WVtWVDCqzeicypDf59Wq4X_Av6wRfs2gcxaEZyvh8WcAW5RC42GYGvSj3MSSGXEaH0ut5mLLpRWLd9POkOxMlChZUvBAJ6qLRBhD9oslV8VLebZhc/s1600/Screenshot_20190408_020123.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Falkon Browser 3.1 Running In KDE Neon" border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibyUHGY04qAlkl_NrPF31n0KuhM5WVtWVDCqzeicypDf59Wq4X_Av6wRfs2gcxaEZyvh8WcAW5RC42GYGvSj3MSSGXEaH0ut5mLLpRWLd9POkOxMlChZUvBAJ6qLRBhD9oslV8VLebZhc/s320/Screenshot_20190408_020123.png" title="Falkon Browser 3.1 Running In KDE Neon" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Falkon Browser 3.1 Running In KDE Neon</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Upon launching Falkon, the first thing you may notice if you normally use one of the big browsers out there, is that the interface is very streamlined and simple. This surely represents one of the things that people like about KDE's browser is that it is light. And I can tell you it is also very fast. The simple interface containing the address bar, a search bar (with DuckDuckGo as the default - a nice touch) and tabs on top pretty much sums up the extent of the interactive real estate on the top of Falkon. Pressing F11 will remove all GUI components, leaving you with nothing but the web page you're looking at.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-urNg3RUL8-L2Cpf_LF-8c2a2C7LsN70ZRLQzDAXZckKygI4OR332jcWNkl0uwjWUMzj7J-hMZrWdNxMbGEqjZQ7gLyToAYhja3j8op-MRWV0_f1x1HL6IcPkpfs5lG0NOdFdTDviQ40/s1600/Screenshot_20190408_031254.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="A quick look at Falkon's menu shows a feature-rich set of options" border="0" data-original-height="661" data-original-width="311" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-urNg3RUL8-L2Cpf_LF-8c2a2C7LsN70ZRLQzDAXZckKygI4OR332jcWNkl0uwjWUMzj7J-hMZrWdNxMbGEqjZQ7gLyToAYhja3j8op-MRWV0_f1x1HL6IcPkpfs5lG0NOdFdTDviQ40/s320/Screenshot_20190408_031254.png" title="A quick look at Falkon's menu shows a feature-rich set of options" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A quick look at Falkon's menu shows a<br />
feature-rich set of options</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Pressing the hamburger menu exposes Falkons menu that is very feature-rich and contains all of the basic essentials. Tab management, file management, email integration, print options, history, bookmarks and bookmark tools are some of the features you will find here. </div>
<div>
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<h4>
In Session</h4>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
One of the nice features that Falkon brings to the table is the idea of sessions. Sessions appear to be like tabs that are grouped by a common workflow. In other words, sessions are groups of tabs that are saved under a certain name, like the idea of profiles. Using this tool, one could set up - for instance - a work profile, a social media profile, a blogging profile, etc etc. I like this idea as it really helps keep users on task and gives a nice ability to group tabs together and invoke them on demand in order to streamline ones workflow. Sessions also appear to autosave and therefore changes to them can be undone at will. Sessions can also be copied and renamed on demand.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
One interesting application of this would be for Plasma users who utilize KDE Activities might want to have Falkon open in a certain Activity showing only tabs from a certain session to best align workflows with the Activity the user is in. I will have to experiment with this some to see what productivity gains one might expect should they try to utilize these two concepts together.</div>
<div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxQmIaQ7D07rAU3mK7M4CStKhdwb1khHWBgkD0PXLArJkvVDDq4xenNk1lzN7cQ20qFek9eplX-Q6d0ueUyhEm7rRbmbTrI3qTd14bXvOozrzZJpIWnAHsE9bnqpiKSwQaIZOeHh-Xoz0/s1600/Screenshot_20190408_041148.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Faikon comes with bookmark import and export tools, so you can bring your Firefox bookmarks with you" border="0" data-original-height="653" data-original-width="918" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxQmIaQ7D07rAU3mK7M4CStKhdwb1khHWBgkD0PXLArJkvVDDq4xenNk1lzN7cQ20qFek9eplX-Q6d0ueUyhEm7rRbmbTrI3qTd14bXvOozrzZJpIWnAHsE9bnqpiKSwQaIZOeHh-Xoz0/s320/Screenshot_20190408_041148.png" title="Falkon comes with bookmark import and export tools, so you can bring your Firefox bookmarks with you" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Falkon comes with bookmark import and export tools,<br />
so you can bring your Firefox bookmarks with you</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
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<h4>
Privacy</h4>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Falkon comes with a robust privacy configuration that allows the user to manage cookies, JavaScript, HTML5 permissions and whether or not to send "do not track" status to servers. Cookie management includes both whitelists and blacklists, as well as the option to delete cookies on closing the application. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Additionally, the Adblock extension is installed and enabled by default. For search, the default engine utilized is DuckDuckGo, as mentioned earlier. In the preferences section you can see all of the search engines installed along with their shortcut keys. For example, the search engine that I use most often is <a href="https://www.startpage.com/" target="_blank">Startpage</a> which you will also find listed there, along with the ability to set it as the default. You can of course also add whatever other search engines you happen to like.</div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAScYwZmcuZMyAABNpv9hiMQK52ekjtbICf6LFt0aQC74SuxknYBE3w4mRtTookeknOzbE3MSXWySvIgS8azBUI9QVco4-R0EjkQGlWo8XwqNTokenp20LsyloXg5XVDY6tFp_fnIT6BM/s1600/Screenshot_20190408_042528.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Default and other search options in Falkon 3.1" border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="497" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAScYwZmcuZMyAABNpv9hiMQK52ekjtbICf6LFt0aQC74SuxknYBE3w4mRtTookeknOzbE3MSXWySvIgS8azBUI9QVco4-R0EjkQGlWo8XwqNTokenp20LsyloXg5XVDY6tFp_fnIT6BM/s320/Screenshot_20190408_042528.png" title="Default and other search options in Falkon 3.1" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Default and other search options in Falkon 3.1</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
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<h4>
Password Management</h4>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
In case you were wondering, Falkon does have built-in password management. By default, it utilizes the Kwallet system. Optionally, the user can configure the storage of passwords in a separate database. This can be either plain text or encrypted. There is also a built-in add-on you can enable to utilize Gnome-keyring for password management. Missing, however, is support for other leading password systems, such as LastPass, or <a href="https://keepassxc.org/" target="_blank">KeepassXC</a>, among others. This could perhaps be an issue for users who I have already committed to utilizing a different password management system than what is currently offered within Falkon. In my case, for example, I utilize KeepassXC. However it is not that difficult to copy a website's password from a password management system and paste it into the appropriate field in a browser. So to me it's not a big deal but perhaps it could be an issue for some due to it being slightly less convenient. And of course if you do not currently have a password management system, <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/24/15921282/best-password-manager-1password-lastpass-dashlane-how-to" target="_blank">you certainly should</a>. And it is nice to know that Falkon comes with this ability already baked in.</div>
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<h4>
Footprint</h4>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
As mentioned earlier, Falkon is very light and fast. According to my system monitor, Falkon was only using around 150 megabytes of memory with six tabs open! On my system with 16GB of memory, that equates to 0% of my available RAM. Nice. This as opposed to Firefox, which had about 10 times that amount of memory usage. Granted, Firefox in my case has a few extensions enabled and certainly that adds to memory used, but it's easy to see that Falkon stays very lights and is definitely not the resource-hungry machine that Chrome and Firefox can tend to be.</div>
<div>
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<div>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBx-hHdyNNEX9BOO481TJbusAY2oEu0ze2paPHudH8NOoW_gwlWqi4nS4V3TKcqlghI8XI1DEQMDw5ewEnXKpJqFsEBAiW_-2OPcb8ohKZvBL2HyfPqJxos9scAoPo5ulroO86eoMcxNE/s1600/Screenshot_20190408_044248.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Falkon has a relatively small memory footprint" border="0" data-original-height="264" data-original-width="903" height="93" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBx-hHdyNNEX9BOO481TJbusAY2oEu0ze2paPHudH8NOoW_gwlWqi4nS4V3TKcqlghI8XI1DEQMDw5ewEnXKpJqFsEBAiW_-2OPcb8ohKZvBL2HyfPqJxos9scAoPo5ulroO86eoMcxNE/s320/Screenshot_20190408_044248.png" title="Falkon has a relatively small memory footprint" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Falkon has a relatively small memory footprint</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h4>
Spellcheck Woes</h4>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
One of the things that is slightly less than ideal with Falkon at the moment is the lack of built-in spell check. In fact, as wonderful as Falkon is, this may well be a deal-breaker for many users who otherwise might really want to switch to Falkon as their daily driver for surfing the web. A quick look on Userbase's <a href="https://userbase.kde.org/Falkon" target="_blank"><i>very sparse</i> Falkon page</a> lists the lack of a built-in dictionary as a known problem. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Apparently this is a limitation of using the Chrome rendering engine. Frankly, in the past, this has stopped me from using Falkon in any sort of serious capacity. As a writer, as well as just performing certain daily tasks that I do on the web, spell check is crucial. In my case, spelling is definitely not a strong suit - and the need for a spell-checker is pretty paramount. </div>
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<div>
For those willing to work a little, there is a workaround however...</div>
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<h4>
Getting Spellcheck Working (At Least In English)</h4>
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<div>
The wiki States the need to find a Hunspell dictionary file and then provides a method for converting to the format that Falkon needs in order to use said dictionary. This would mean converting to Chromium's .bdic format. However the commands provided in my case did not work to convert a .dic file I already had on my system. Instead I received an error that the required tools were not installed to perform the conversion. I got around this by a quick search for an English dictionary in .bdic format and was able to find one as a direct download from Google's <i>Chrome Edged </i>channel. </div>
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<div>
If you are interested, the US-English dictionary file can be downloaded directly from Google using <a href="https://dl.google.com/edgedl/chrome/dict/en-us-3-0.bdic" target="_blank">this link</a>. If you do this, you likely will need to create the qtwebengine_dictionaries folder to house the dictionary, as per the location instructions in Falkon's spell-check settings. It lists two possible locations to put the dictionary - but just putting it in the first one listed was enough for me to get it working, like so: </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
sudo mkdir /usr/share/qt5/qtwebengine_dictionaries/<br />
sudo cp en-us-3-0.bdic /usr/share/qt5/qtwebengine_dictionaries/</blockquote>
<br />
Now spell check is working as intended. Of course, if you do not speak English as a first language, you will have to find another way to get a valid dictionary in the correct format <i><b>and</b></i> installed in the proper location. This all seems a bit arduous for something that really needs to be standard. What is even more puzzling, is that dictionaries are supplied in most every installation of Linux out there and in the correct language for the location of the given user. So I would really like to see this addressed in an upcoming version as I see it as a blogger for more widespread adoption. Case in point, author Jesse Smith recently wrote on Distrowatch about the challenges in getting Falkon <a href="https://www.distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20190408#tips" target="_blank">up and running (with spellcheck) on MX Linux</a>.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWfQOmcmUaNSLKEh7klHr1bWFSYPENUj_i-pXrbU_I040SyBckW_r9tLTVWSdf6U9k4akkaHqCYwgPDhCUEFVAvJyYzosrRxvQGWBLjwfmJbkIeyedj2ZQpLoTKjTiMe1Ks0YV0UpJvk4/s1600/Screenshot_20190408_033546.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Spellcheck finally installed and working in Falkon 3.1" border="0" data-original-height="733" data-original-width="998" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWfQOmcmUaNSLKEh7klHr1bWFSYPENUj_i-pXrbU_I040SyBckW_r9tLTVWSdf6U9k4akkaHqCYwgPDhCUEFVAvJyYzosrRxvQGWBLjwfmJbkIeyedj2ZQpLoTKjTiMe1Ks0YV0UpJvk4/s320/Screenshot_20190408_033546.png" title="Spellcheck finally installed and working in Falkon 3.1" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spellcheck finally installed and working in Falkon 3.1</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<h4>
Getting Falkon</h4>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Falkon has recently been <a href="https://www.falkon.org/2019/03/19/falkon-310-released/" target="_blank">updated to version 3.1</a>. It should be available in the repositories for many Linux distributions out there. Additionally, it is available as a Snap from the <a href="https://snapcraft.io/falkon" target="_blank">Snap Store</a> as well as in Flatpak format. All available options, including source code and Windows binaries, can be found on the project's <a href="https://www.falkon.org/download/" target="_blank">download page</a>.</div>
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<br /></div>
<h4>
Conclusion</h4>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I have found Falkon to be a nearly entirely feature complete, lightweight, and extremely fast browser. As a KDE advocate and user, I'm delighted to see it come under the umbrella of KDE Applications. I truly think it is one of the "showcase" software pieces within KDE overall. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
However, it is not perfect. And the lack of support for some of the more popular password managers, as well as the complete absence of a built-in dictionary for a spell check purposes, keep Falkon from shooting to the top of the list when it comes to day in and day out use of a web browser for personal and professional use.</div>
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J. Cainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14296631305054054017noreply@blogger.com0