KDE Blogs 

Last month I've "stolen" code from KSpread's CSV import dialog, and now it's tweaked quite much: support for setting primary key (including autodetection) support for 'first row contains column names' flag (including autodetection) column types are autodetected Import is performed to a new table, within a single transaction, and (what's usual for Kexi) in a database-engine independent way, thanks to KexiDB layer. As an extension of above, support for pasting clipboard contents will be added. Read More

Do you know the feeling when your job just isn't fun because you have to come to work every day and hack at features you don't like or don't need or both? I DON'T! Read More

Living rooms are overrated. My next apartment is so going to have a studio / computer / theater room instead. My living room gets little use other than having hosted about half a dozen KDE folks for various lengths of time. But my bedroom is getting overcrowded. Read More

The last weeks have been amazing, this is the only word I can use to describe what happened in kdom/ksvg2/kcanvas development. KCanvas has been rewritten some weeks ago to go back from the old chunk-based rerendering algorithms to a new strategy, using z-ordered trees (well read the source :-) - it turned out to perform much faster, especially when panning/zoominf, it also simpified internal KCanvas code a lot, and yes it's much more OOP. Read More

With our project OpenUsability, we (1) will provide a booth at the LinuxTag in Karlsruhe/Germany, June 22. to 25. As usability people, it is our mission to make things more usable and to put a smile on each (inter)face. Therefore, we are also planning to make the LinuxTag a 'better place': On our booth, we will have sofas, free coffee, tea, and other drinks, possibly some relaxing music.... :) Read More

Some progress has been made on the Qt 4 front this week. I've implemented a simple QHttp based version of XMLHttpRequest that will ultimately be bound to KJSEmbed/Qt4. This will mean that the scripts will be able to access web based XML services such as news feeds, weather reports etc. I've now also got a working build environment to begin helping with the kdelibs porting effort. A couple of hints for getting Qt 4 working with the KDE 4 branch: Read More

Thank you Chris for your work on this live-CD. MCNLive! rocks Chris ... can you put my face on PlanetKDE?

I watched Star Wars Reveletions and here my impression: the pictures and the graphics are amazing ... too bad the story and the actors weren't at the rendez-vous ... but it enabled me to kill 45 minutes of a boring day ... so it wasn't so bad in the end :) Read More

I have mentioned it before, and I will repeat it here again: any commercial software vendor pondering to sell his product or service on the Linux platform is horrified by the complications he has to deal with. As you might know, I am involved with FreeNX, the project to make remote GUI access fast. FreeNX is based on the core NX libraries and utilities which are developed by NoMachine.com (a commercial company), but released under the GPL. Now, releasing code under the GPL, and for free, doesn't sustain a commercial company. What NoMachine does for a living, is to compile their code and bundle it into an "NX Server" product, put some good propietary addons into the bag and sell the thing, while still releasing the core parts as GPL-source code. Their source code is an invaluable gift to the Free and Open Source Software communities -- but it requires an experienced user to compile, install and use. NoMachine's server products are easy to handle. FreeNX makes the source code gift from NoMachine usable for a broader user base. NX and FreeNX are pretty cool, because they can help you to gain remote access to your own company desktop while you are "on the road" or working from a home office -- and it works amazingly well even over a dial-up modem link. Or they can help to create and run a Linux (and Cross Platform) Application Server Farm for Thin and Fat Clients much more efficiently than by using traditional means like LTSP. NX and FreeNX provide the fastest remote GUI experience that is out there, and the most secure one (using SSH) over the internet.] But this is not an editorial about the technical merits and features of NX. I'd rather take it as example to hightlight another topic: the pains any ISV has to take upon himself if he decides to support the Linux OS with his products. Look that the download site of NoMachine.com, look closely on the list of NX Clients they offer (for free as in beer, I should say -- NoMachine only charge for their server licenses): Read More

Aaron's last blog entry was a real eye-opener to me. I didn't know KFlog before. I'll tell a friend of mine about it, who "has to" use Linux at work (and he likes it) but who uses MS Windows at home... guess why? He is a glider/sailplane pilot, and told me there is no feasible software on Linux to use for his hobby. The fact that "KFLog is the only flight analyser program available for Linux to be recognized by the FAI IGC" will surely help to convince him. (FAI is the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, and IGC its International Gliding Commission.) I wonder if KFlog could be useful for paragliding too? I'll find out, sometime.... Read More