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KDE Plasma 4

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KDE Plasma Workspaces
Developer(s)KDE
Written inC++ (Qt)
Operating systemUnix-like, Microsoft Windows
TypeWidget engine and desktop
LicenseGNU Lesser General Public License
Websitekde.org/workspaces

Plasma Workspaces is the umbrella term for all graphical environments provided by KDE.

Three Plasma sub-projects are currently being developed: Plasma Desktop for traditional desktop PCs and notebooks, Plasma Netbook for netbooks,[1] and Plasma Active for Tablet PCs, Nokia N900 style smartphones and similar devices.[2]

The Plasma Workspaces are released as part of KDE Software Compilation 4.

The logo of plasma can be explained by three symbolic interpretations as stated by Aaron Seigo, the lead developer of Plasma. The first interpretation, the orange lozenge represents the slick and energetic new desktop; the three colored drops indicate the merger of Kicker, KDesktop and SuperKaramba. The second interpretation indicates the orange item is C++, while the three colored drops are JavaScript, Python and Ruby bindings. Finally, the third interpretation emphasizes the combination of technical excellence, artistic beauty and usability.[3]

Available workspaces

Desktop

KDE’s Plasma Desktop

Plasma Desktop is a workspace that was developed first and was declared mature with the release of KDE SC 4.2. It aims at desktop PCs and bigger laptops. In its default configuration it resembles earlier KDE Software Compilation releases and Microsoft Windows but extensive configurability allows radical departures from the default layout.[4]

Netbook

KDE Plasma Netbook newspaper view

Plasma Netbook is the second workspace. It aims at netbooks and may also be used on tablet PCs. The first stable release shipped with KDE SC 4.4.

Plasma Active

Plasma Active is not a workspace on its own. It is a service built on top of the Plasma frameworks that enables to create full-fledged workspaces using only QML files without the need to program in C++.

Plasma Active serves as base for touchscreen-compatible workspaces.

Mobile

Plasma Mobile is targeted at smartphones and small tablet devices that are mainly used via touch input. It is still being developed with the first stable release expected to be due in 2011, although individual KDE applications may be released earlier as part of the porting effort to MeeGo. Preview releases of the Kontact applications and a document viewer based on KOffice are already available.

  • First technology preview of Plasma Mobile during “Tokamak 4”.
    First technology preview of Plasma Mobile during “Tokamak 4”.
  • Technology preview of Plasma Mobile on video.
  • KOffice document viewer under Maemo 5
    KOffice document viewer under Maemo 5
  • Early development version of KMail Mobile.
    Early development version of KMail Mobile.

Tablet

Plasma Tablet is a prototype implementation that combines elements from Plasma Netbook (notably its newspaper view) with elements from Plasma Mobile.[5]

Contour

Contour is another prototype of a Plasma interface for tablet devices. It was developed by basysKom[6]

Features

Notes widget in Plasma 4.3
The Panel (taskbar) of Plasma Desktop 4.3.

Plasma features containments, essentially an applet that contains other applets. Two examples of containments are the desktop background and the taskbar. A containment can be anything the developer wants: an image (either raster graphics or an SVG image), animation, or even OpenGL. Images are most commonly used, but with Plasma the user could set any applet as the desktop background without losing functionality of the applet. This also allows for applets to be dragged between the desktop and the taskbar (two separate containments), and have a separate visualization for the more confined taskbar. From KDE 4.0 to KDE 4.2, the default theme Oxygen was characterized by dark tones. In KDE 4.3, replaced by the new Air theme, which predominates in transparency and white as base color. New themes for Plasma can be chosen and installed through an authority.

The scalable nature of the Plasma widgets allows for them to be resized and rotated to any size, with only a brief pause to redraw themselves. The Kross scripting framework allows developers to write widgets in a variety of programming languages in addition to C++.[7] Widgets are aware of their size and can be made to show more or less data depending on their size.

Plasma can support other widgets. Support for SuperKaramba (the widget engine used in the KDE 3 series) has been added for legacy reasons.

KRunner

KRunner in Plasma Desktop 4.3
QuickSand interface

KRunner is a versatile tool to the user for various functions.[8] Replaces the dialog box "Run Command" in previous versions of KDE SC, it inherits from the application launcher feature, however, expanding the possibilities through a modular plug. KRunner stores the efforts made to propose them as needed via an auto-complete feature of search terms. It can be shown on the desktop via the keyboard combination ALT+F2 or by selecting "Run Command ..." in the desktop menu.

These functions are handled by the plugin:

  • Application launcher, type at least three letters of the desired name or description, KRunner shows applications associated with the terms of the research allowed the selection of the desired one.
  • Calculator, simply enter the desired operation to show the result, it also supports sophisticated expressions.
  • Contacts can search for entries in the KDE address book allowing you to directly open. For example, KMail write an e-mail. The address of the recipient of your choice is automatically added to the message.
  • Unit Converter converts values between different units of measure.
  • Web history, search history of recently visited sites in Konqueror.
  • Recent documents, search for matches recently opened files.

Technology

Its technology is a fundamental rewrite of several desktop interaction technologies included in previous KDE desktop environments for Unix-like systems, focusing on eye candy and special graphical effects. It most notably replaces the previous KDesktop shell, Kicker taskbar and SuperKaramba widget engine used in the K Desktop Environment 3 series with a unified workspace for KDE SC 4. Plasma also provides a resolution-independent interface, making the desktop look almost identical regardless of screen size or resolution. Plasma’s applets range from informative widgets to mini-applications like calculators and dictionaries. An important feature of Plasma is that there is no longer a distinction between panels (like the taskbar), desktop icons, and widgets; they are created the same way.

Plasma separates components into "data engines" and their visualization counterparts. This is intended to reduce the total programming effort when there are multiple possible visualizations of given data; and to make it easier for the data engine and its visualizations to be written independently.

Supported widgets

This is a list of widgets that the current release version of Plasma supports. Please note that not all widgets are supported by default in all Linux distributions; some may require different packages, or even a recompilation of Plasma.

Default environment

These operating systems offer it as the default environment:

References

  1. ^ "Plasma/Plasma-Netbook". Retrieved 2010-11-21.
  2. ^ "Plasma Active". Retrieved 2011-05-09.
  3. ^ "Plasma". Retrieved 2010-11-21.
  4. ^ "Plasma Desktop". Retrieved 2010-11-21.
  5. ^ Artur Souza (2010-12-03). "KDE's Mobile Team Meets for First Sprint". KDE. KDE.NEWS. Retrieved 2011-01-01.
  6. ^ "Contour Open Source Project announced – a new and innovative usage paradigm for digital devices". basysKom. 2011-04-11. Retrieved 2011-04-24.
  7. ^ Linux.com: KDE's Plasma is heating up
  8. ^ "KRunner". Retrieved 2010-11-21.
  9. ^ "Chakra Project". Retrieved 2010-11-26.
  10. ^ "Kubuntu website". Retrieved 2010-11-06.
  11. ^ Ryan Paul (2009-08-21). "OpenSUSE community konfesses love for KDE, makes it default". Condé Nast Digital. Ars technica.
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