KDE Software Compilation 4.10
JustBefore 5
© Radovan Janjuevi'c, 123rf.com
KDE SC 4.10 was released six months after KDE 4.9, adding many new features. In the background, work is in full swing for the next generation, KDE Frameworks 5: a KDE based completely on Qt5 and QML.
The new KDE Software Compilation (KDE SC), like its predecessor, comprises the Plasma interface for various platforms (desktop, netbook, Plasma Active) [1], the applications [2], and the back-end architecture [3]. The architecture in turn consists of the KWin window manager, the libraries, the Akonadi framework for storing PIM data, and the SDK itself.
The KDE 4.10 SDK is the first version to unite the previously separate components of the developer platform [4] in the form of the Plasmate tool [5]. The project has been developing the tool since the beginning of 2010 as a kind of mini-SDK for coding plasmoids, data engines, and search plugins for Plasma programs, but it was primarily intended for Plasma Active [6]. Because the developers wanted to merge the code of the individual plasma workspaces after porting to QML anyway, Plasmate is becoming increasingly important.
Version 4.10 makes use of "Qt Quick" on a much larger scale and now provides a scripting API for the KWin window manager. A more superficial innovation in KDE 4.10 is a new Air theme. KDE SC 4.10 [7] is available by download from the KDE website [8], although it will be more practical for most users to wait until KDE SC is available in the repositories of their chosen distributions. The first distribution to include KDE 4.10 before this issue went to press was Chakra Linux.
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