Among those joining KDE Applications 18.04 are KBackup and Kamoso. The releases' synchronization with KDE Applications proper means that they will now be part and parcel of a default KDE experience. Also making a return to KDE-prominence is the long-standing chat application Kopete.
KBackup is a KDE backup utility that is simple to use and encourages users to set up a routine to backup their important data. It has recently been ported to Plasma 5 and gained a few nice new features as well.
We wrote about KBackup recently, but just to reiterate here it is a welcome addition in order to get users into performing better habits for the long-term maintenance and security of their valuable work and personal data. As I mentioned in the article linked above, my only wish is that it integrated with Plasma Vaults in order to allow encrypted backups, but perhaps that feature will come at a later time.
The second addition for Frameworks 18.04 is Kamoso. Kamoso is the KDE webcam application that allows users to take snapshots and record video using their webcam. Also making the transition to plasma 5, Kamoso is a nice little utility to give basic webcam functionality out of the box so users don't have to go searching for an application to handle basic webcam use[1].
An Old Friend Returns
Like the Amarok music player, another familiar KDE application that many thought had seen it's best days now sees new life in a post-KDE4 world. Coming back from the ashes of Konki's past comes Kopete, an instant messenger application for KDE.
Kopete was the standard for years and years back when instant messaging clients were all the rage, and lets users chat via AOL Instant Messenger, Google Talk, and the like. Like KBackup, Kopete recently has made the jump to Plasma 5, so it will come on board to join with its reunited fellow Internet, Networking, & Communication applications in KDE[2].
As many users have moved on to applications like Telegram and Discord to handle communication duties, it will be interesting to see how many people launch Kopete for internet-based correspondence. Also interesting will be to watch for any additional plugins and themes written for it (A Plasma 5-themed skin seems appropriate), as well as seeing how many of the old plugins, themes, etc. work today. You can get a list of what's currently available from the UserBase entry, along with additional information.
What's missing?
One of the applications I was hoping to see the light of day this time around was a KDE-branded fork of Rosa image writer for creating bootable USB images. Many distributions ship with some type of USB creation utility, with varying degrees of success. I've tested Rosa many times and it has never failed me yet.
Jonathan Riddell wrote last year about the application, how it needed testing and some code clean-up, and could be adapted to include all major KDE distributions on request. Presumably, this was done in order to get the image writer moving in a direction of completeness that it could be released in a more proper fashion. Perhaps in the future this application can be properly branded and included by default in Applications (hint hint...)[3].
What do you think? Are there other KDE apps that you wish were defaults in Applications? Feel free to let us know.
Links:
[1] Kamoso on UserBase
[2] Kopete on UserBase
[3] ISO Image Writer - jriddell.org
</K*Digest!>
