| OpenSUSE 11.3 hits second milestone, features KDE 4.4 desktop |
Feb. 23, 2010
 The Novell-sponsored OpenSUSE project released Milestone 2 of its OpenSUSE 11.3, featuring Linux 2.6.33, GNOME 2.3 beta, and a new network security stack. OpenSUSE 11.3 Milestone 2 also debuts the new KDE 4.4 desktop, which adds a netbook interface, plus new tabbing and social networking features.
The OpenSUSE project, which acts as the community upstream source for Novell's SUSE Linux, released Milestone 1 of version 11.3 in late January. OpenSUSE 11.3, which is scheduled for final release in July, offers upgraded versions of open source software including Linux 2.6.33, OpenOffice 3.2 Beta4, VirtualBox 3.1 beta 1, and Mono 2.6.
The release also includes the major new 4.4 release of the KDE desktop (see farther below), as well as the 2.30 beta 1 of the GNOME desktop. Live CDs with either environment are now said to be available. Plans for the upcoming Milestone 3, meanwhile, include the switch to GCC 4.5.0 as the default compiler, says the OpenSUSE project.
OpenSUSE 11.3 Milestone 2, featuring the Digikam 1.1 photo app
(Click to enlarge)
GNOME was updated to 2.30 beta 1 (technically called GNOME 2.29.90), offering a new user interface for Nautilus, including a split view mode. Other enhancements are said to include unlimited scrollback in gnome-terminal and a new accessibility stack based on the DBus inter-process communication (IPC) technology.
Other upgrades include OpenOffice 3.2 final, as well as a 1.1 version of the Digikam photo management application (pictured above). An updated version of the Empathy messaging client, meanwhile, provides considerable bugfixes and translation updates. In fact, says the OpenSUSE project, "We'll most likely feel comfortable enough to push it [Empathy] into the GNOME default installation since the UI has been improved a lot and it's more solid now."
In other update news, Evolution (2.29.90) adds an account-wide search scope for emails, and offers an improved sidebar, as well as ECalModel interaction. VirtualBox OSE 3.1.4 is largely a maintenance release, says the project.
Under the hood
OpenSUSE's base system has been enhanced with the addition of the ghostscript-library (8.70), which "fixes a large number of issues with transparency, especially as it interacts with color space conversion, mask contexts and patterns," says the OpenSUSE project. Other ghostscript enhancements are said to include better font handling, especially when generating PDFs.
In addition, OpenSUSE has upgraded the Hwinfo hardware library (version 16.12) to improve device renaming detection, as well as detection of more CPU features, says the project. Meanwhile, the Gnutls library has switched to the 2.8 branch (2.8.5), and the Libgphoto2 digital camera library was updated to version 2.4.8 with improvements to EOS, Nikon, and Fuji S5 capture support.
OpenSUSE's NetworkManager 0.7.999
(Click to enlarge)
Enhancements were also made to the network connection stack including NetworkManager (0.7.999), pictured above, as well as to ModemManager (0.3), and improvements to various plugins. Other upgraded apps include aria2 (1.8.1) and the IMAP client of fetchmail (6.3.14). Upgraded development tools include Bootchart 2.0.0.9, and Kiwi 4.16 (for creating distribution images), which offers a new XML schema and a kernel/initrd update hotfix mechanism.
OpenSUSE features the new release 2.6 of the Mono cross-platform implementation of Microsoft's .NET development framework. Mono 2.6 adds support for CoreCLR security, as well as a soft debugger that is integrated in the co-released MonoDevelop 2.2, says the project. In addition, the Csharp shell is now said to support auto-completion.
The previous OpenSUSE 11.2 arrived in November, based on Linux kernel 2.6.31. The release offered improved partitioning, established ext4 as the default file system, and offered early support for the Btrfs filesystem. Other OpenSUSE 4.3 improvements included improved package management and mirror handling.
KDE 4.4
Following up on the 4.3 version of the KDE desktop environment released in August, KDE 4.4 adds social networking and online collaboration features, a netbook-oriented interface, a new tabbing feature, and the KAuth authentication framework, says the KDE Community. Released in final form on Feb. 9, KDE 4.4 is also said to have fixed 7,293 bugs and implemented 1,433 new feature requests.
KDE 4.4's Plasma desktop
(Click to enlarge)
KDE's Plasma desktop improves the "Social Desktop" widget, now called the Community widget, enabling users to send messages and locate friends from within the widget itself. A new Social News widget, meanwhile, shows a live stream of social networking updates, and a new Knowledge Base widget allows users to search for answers and questions from different providers, including OpenDesktop.org's knowledge base, says the KDE Community.
KDE Plasma desktop with new social networking features
(Click to enlarge)
KDE 4.4.0 also debuts the Plasma Netbook alternative interface, which is optimized for smaller displays and touchscreen input. The Plasma Netbook shell features a full-screen application launcher and search interface, as well as a "Newspaper" feature that offers widgets that display content from the web and various small utilities, says the KDE Community.
The KWin window manager now enables users to group windows together in a tabbed interface for more efficient handling of large numbers of applications, says the KDE Community. Windows can now be snapped to a side of the screen, and users can maximize windows by dragging them. Interaction between workspace applications is said to be enhanced, with smoother animations and better performance. A more configurable window decorator that supports scalable graphics is said to streamline the development of themes.
In KDE 4.4, the KDE Software Compilation offers numerous updates to applications. Highlights include a "much improved" GetHotNewStuff interface, which adds the ability to download new levels in KAtomic, new stars, or functionality-enhancing scripts from within the application. Meanwhile the KDE PIM team is said to have ported the first applications to make use of the newly integrated data storage and retrieval groupware cache system, Akonadi.
The Nepomuk semantic framework for research collaboration, now offers "sufficient stability and performance," to the point that Dolphin's new desktop search feature makes use of Nepomuk, says the KDE Community. Nepomuk, which was offered in KDE 4.3.2, appearing in Mandriva 2010, is said to enrich and interconnect data from different desktop applications using semantic metadata stored as RDF.
The new KAuth authentication framework offers more secure authentication, and uses PolicyKit as a backend, providing and seamless cross-desktop integration, says the KDE Community. Now incorporated in a few selected dialogs in System Settings, KAuth will be further integrated into the KDE Plasma Desktop, as well as KDE applications, over the coming months. KAuth features include the ability to cache passwords, as well as grant and revoke fine-grained authorization policies. Other infrastructure changes are said to include the upgrade to Nokia's Qt 4.6 application development framework.
Availability
The OpenSUSE 11.3 Milestone 2 is available for free download. The project asks for testing help, especially in the GNOME accessibility stack. The announcement, with links to downloads, may be found here. The final version is due in July.
The KDE SC 4.4 announcement should be here.
-- Eric Brown
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