AT A GLANCE
Many of KDE SC 4.5.0 features and improvements are easy to spot. From changes in the Oxygen icon theme to a complete rework of the system tray, many changes are Look&Feel related.
Click on image to enlarge.
The default plasma theme (Air) has seen some subtle changes and refinements. The end result is a more polished look, which is further improved by the new system tray icons. In previous KDE SC reviews, I referred to this area as one that needed an urgent update because its icons and overall looks were dated and not up to par with the rest of the environment. Fortunately, things have been improved, and quite significantly.
One of the most obvious changes is that update in the overall looks, which is mainly led by a new set of icons that I personally love. They look simple, yet modern and refreshing. The system tray settings interface has also been reviewed and improved. Hidden icons are now shown via a pop-up menu, as shown on the image above. Another very welcome enhancement, or perhaps bug fix, is that property menus are no longer behind the panel, regardless of its height.
The Oxygen default icon theme also gets a revamp, and quite a nice one at that. The changes are most visible when using the KickOff menu style, but also look good on the classic menu and all over the desktop environment. Improvements don't stop there, though. Flexibility has been pushed even further and now we can modify Oxygen's widget style and window decorations to the minute detail. Oxygen settings can easily be accessed by typing the following line on krunner:
oxygen-settingsSpeaking of krunner, it also got its share of improvements and new features. Among other things, it can be used to handle open applications, contacts and even open windowed widgets.
A set of new wallpapers (one of them was used for the screenshots on this article) also comes along with KDE SC 4.5.0, and I have to say that all twelve desktop backgrounds are beautiful and top quality. Another welcome change makes the wallpaper selector look better and easier to use.
Click on image to enlarge.
Unfortunately, not all visual elements have been improved. As was the case on previous KDE SC versions, the add widgets applet still appears behind the panel, partially covered by it, which is clearly not the way it should be. (EDIT: This problem seems to be related to Compiz being enabled. The problem does not appear when Compiz is off.)
Click on image to enlarge.
System notifications have also received some improvements, specially in terms of Look&Feel. In my opinion, they now look much more polished and better integrated within the KDE desktop. I have to say, though, that Amarok notifications
PERFORMANCE & FUNCTIONALITY
One of the coolest improvements in KDE SC 4.5.0 comes from the performance department. As soon as the upgrade happens, one needs to reboot the system for all the changes to make effect, and on that first boot one can already tell that everything feels a bit quicker and snappier. Among other things, there have been improvements around common cached elements, such as icons, which now load much faster. This simple detail has a system wide effect that has an impact on menus, widgets, windows, etc.
The KDE control center has undergone a deep make over. Categories have been reorganized, new items added, and the overall feel is that the whole thing makes more sense now.
Both Dolphin and Konqueror also got improvements, along with many other typical KDE applications, such as Gwenview, Kopete or Kinfocenter, to give just a few examples.
INSTALLING KDE SC 4.5.0
Not all distros will offer upgrading to KDE SC 4.5.0 straight away. Fortunately, PCLinuxOS 2010 continues to shine as one of the (if not THE) fastest distros to release stream changes to its users. I know Fedora users got this release on their unstable repositories five or six days ago, but I am not sure if they got it on the standard ones by now.
In any case, the upgrade is simple, but I would recommend using the dist-upgrade apt-get option to ensure you download everything that's required. Simply open a terminal and type the following as root.
apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgradeNote that upgrading with this option can take a bit longer than the usual update.
NOT TO SPOIL ALL THE FUN...
As I was playing around with KDE SC 4.5.0 and unlocking its secrets, I was feeling like I was going to spoil the fun to others about to start using it, so I decided to keep some details (and screenshots) out of this article.
All I can say is that KDE SC 4.5.0 is by far the most exciting KDE release I have used and that it is a huge step in the right direction. Better looks, bug fixes, better performance and a host of new features make this desktop environment the best it has ever been.
The question is... What are you waiting for?
Thanks to the guys at http://fedoreando.com/ for their great KDE SC 4.5.0 review, it was a great reference!
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