Developer(s) | KDE |
---|---|
Initial release | 23 October 2000 |
Final release | 2.2.2 / 21 November 2001 |
Written in | C++ (Qt 2) |
Operating system | Unix-like with X11 |
Predecessor | K Desktop Environment 1 |
Successor | K Desktop Environment 3 |
Type | Desktop environment |
Website | kde |
K Desktop Environment 2 was the second series of releases of the K Desktop Environment. There were three major releases in this series.
K Desktop Environment 2 introduced significant technological improvements compared to its predecessor. [1]
DCOP (Desktop COmmunication Protocol), a client-to-client communications protocol intermediated by a server over the standard X11 ICE library. [1]
KIO, an application I/O library. It is network transparent and can access HTTP, FTP, PoP, IMAP, NFS, SMB, LDAP and local files. Moreover, its design permits developers to "drop in" additional protocols, such as WebDAV, which will then automatically be available to all KDE applications. KIO can also locate handlers for specified MIME types; these handlers can then be embedded within the requesting application using the KParts technology. [1]
KParts, a component object model, allows an application to embed another within itself. The technology handles all aspects of the embedding, such as positioning toolbars and inserting the proper menus when the embedded component is activated or deactivated. KParts can also interface with the KIO trader to locate available handlers for specific MIME types or services/protocols. [1]
KHTML, an HTML 4.0 compliant rendering and drawing engine. It supports many Internet technologies, including JavaScript, Java, HTML 4.0, CSS 2, and SSL for secure communications. It is compatible with Netscape plugins such as Flash. KHTML also has the capacity to embed components within itself using the KParts technology. [1]
Konqueror was introduced as web browser, file manager and document viewer. It used KHTML for displaying web pages. [1]
K Desktop Environment 2 also shipped with the initial release of the KOffice suite, consisting of a spreadsheet application (KSpread), a vector drawing application (KIllustrator), a frame-based word-processing application (KWord), a presentation program (KPresenter), and a chart and diagram application (KChart). Native file formats were XML-based. KOffice included a scripting language and the ability to embed individual components within each other using KParts. [1]
The K Desktop Environment 2.1 release inaugurated the media player noatun, which used a modular, plugin design. For development, K Desktop Environment 2.1 was bundled with KDevelop. [2]
The KDE 2.2 release featured up to a 50% improvement in application startup time on Linux systems and increased stability and capabilities for HTML rendering and JavaScript. A number of new plugins were included in Konqueror. KMail received the addition of IMAP support (including SSL and TLS), while KOrganizer got native iCalendar support. Other improvements included a new plugin-based print architecture and a personalization wizard. [3]
After celebrating KDE’s 20th birthday with a re-release of K Desktop Environment 1.1.2 on 14 October 2016, [4] KDE and Fedora contributor Helio Chissini de Castro also did re-releases of Qt2 in October 2017 [5] and KDELibs 2.2.2 in December 2017. [6] [7]
Date [8] | Event |
---|---|
2.0 | |
23 October 2000 | KDE 2.0 released |
5 December 2000 | 2.0.1 Maintenance release. |
2.1 | |
26 February 2001 | KDE 2.1 released |
27 March 2001 | 2.1.1 Maintenance release. |
30 April 2001 | 2.1.2 Maintenance release (kdelibs only). |
2.2 | |
15 August 2001 | KDE 2.2 released |
19 September 2001 | 2.2.1 Maintenance release. |
21 November 2001 | 2.2.2 Maintenance release. |
21 December 2017 | 2.2.2 Restoration re-release. |
Konqueror is a free and open-source web browser and file manager that provides web access and file-viewer functionality for file systems. It forms a core part of the KDE Software Compilation. Developed by volunteers, Konqueror can run on most Unix-like operating systems. The KDE community licenses and distributes Konqueror under GNU GPL-2.0-or-later.
Calligra Suite is a graphic art and office suite by KDE. It is available for desktop PCs, tablet computers, and smartphones. It contains applications for word processing, spreadsheets, presentation, databases, vector graphics, and digital painting.
KHTML is a browser engine developed by the KDE project. It is the default engine of the Konqueror browser, but it has not been actively worked on since 2016. Moreover, KHTML will be discontinued for KDE Frameworks 6.
KDevelop is a free and open-source integrated development environment (IDE) for Unix-like computer operating systems and Windows. It provides editing, navigation and debugging features for several programming languages, and integration with build automation and version-control systems, using a plugin-based architecture.
Quanta Plus, originally called Quanta, is a web Integrated development environment (IDE) for HTML, XHTML, CSS, XML, PHP and any other XML-based languages or scripting languages. Quanta was licensed under GPL before the release of version 2.0 final.
The KDE Advanced Text Editor, or Kate, is a source code editor developed by the KDE free software community. It has been a part of KDE Software Compilation since version 2.2, which was first released in 2001. Intended for software developers, it features syntax highlighting, code folding, customizable layouts, regular expression support, and extensibility. The text editor's mascot is Kate the Cyber Woodpecker.
Krusader is an advanced orthodox file manager for KDE and other desktops in the Unix world. It is similar to the console-based GNU Midnight Commander, GNOME Commander for the GNOME desktop environment, or Total Commander for Windows, all of which can trace their paradigmatic features to the original Norton Commander for DOS. It supports extensive archive handling, mounted filesystem support, FTP, advanced search, viewer/editor, directory synchronisation, file content comparisons, batch renaming, etc.
Kontact is a personal information manager and groupware software suite developed by KDE. It supports calendars, contacts, notes, to-do lists, news, and email. It offers a number of inter-changeable graphical UIs all built on top of a common core.
KDE Software Compilation 4 was the only series of the so-called KDE Software Compilation, first released in January 2008 and the last release being 4.14.3 released in November 2014. It was the follow-up to K Desktop Environment 3. Following KDE SC 4, the compilation was broken up into basic framework libraries, desktop environment and applications, which are termed KDE Frameworks 5, KDE Plasma 5 and KDE Applications, respectively.
Kicker is the main panel used in KDE 3 and earlier, and also in the TDE desktop. Together with KDesktop, it forms the graphical shell. It can be customized by the user. By default, it has the K Menu, a Desktop Access button, a Home button, a Konqueror button, a Kontact button, and a Help button. It also has the Desktop Preview & Pager, the Taskbar, the System Tray, and the Clock.
Kugar is a discontinued tool for generating business quality reports for KOffice. The reports can be viewed and printed. It includes a standalone report viewer and a KParts report viewer. The latter means that any K Desktop Environment 3 application can embed the report viewing functionality and that reports can be viewed using the Konqueror browser.
KDE Platform 4 was a collection of libraries and software frameworks by KDE that served as technological foundation for KDE Software Compilation 4 distributed under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL). KDE Platform 4 was the successor to KDElibs and the predecessor of KDE Frameworks. KDE Platform 4 is the only version of KDE Platform, and in 2013 it was replaced by KDE Frameworks 5.
Dolphin is a free and open source file manager included in the KDE Applications bundle. Dolphin became the default file manager of the KDE Plasma desktop environments in the fourth iteration, termed KDE Software Compilation 4. It can also be optionally installed on K Desktop Environment 3. It replaces Konqueror as the default file manager for KDE SC 4, but Konqueror can still be used as an alternative file manager.
K Desktop Environment 3 is the third series of releases of the K Desktop Environment. There are six major releases in this series. After the release of KDE 4, version 3.5 was forked into the Trinity Desktop Environment.
K Desktop Environment 1 was the inaugural series of releases of the K Desktop Environment. There were two major releases in this series.
The KDE Software Compilation was an umbrella term for the desktop environment plus a range of included applications produced by KDE. From its 1.0 release in July 1998 until the release of version 4.4 in February 2010, the Software Compilation was simply known as KDE, which stood for K Desktop Environment until the rebrand. The then called KDE SC was used from 4.4 onward until the final release 4.14 in July 2014. It consisted of the KDE Plasma 4 desktop and those KDE applications, whose development teams chose to follow the Software Compilation's release schedule. After that, the KDE SC was split into three separate product entities: KDE Plasma, KDE Frameworks and KDE Applications, each with their own independent release schedules.
rekonq was a lightweight, QtWebKit-based web browser developed inside the free software project KDE. It is the default web browser of Chakra GNU/Linux, and was formerly of Kubuntu. rekonq has been officially included in KDE Extragear since 25 May 2010. In contrast to Konqueror, a web browser and file manager also developed by KDE, rekonq aims to be a standalone and simple web browser. Its code was initially based on Qt Development Frameworks' QtDemoBrowser and is developed on KDE Projects' Git repository.
KDE Frameworks is a collection of libraries and software frameworks readily available to any Qt-based software stacks or applications on multiple operating systems. Featuring frequently needed functionality solutions like hardware integration, file format support, additional graphical control elements, plotting functions, and spell checking, the collection serves as technological foundation for KDE Plasma 5 and KDE Gear distributed under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL).
The KDE Gear is a set of applications and supporting libraries that are developed by the KDE community, primarily used on Linux-based operating systems but mostly multiplatform, and released on a common release schedule.
KDE Projects are projects maintained by the KDE community, a group of people developing and advocating free software for everyday use, for example KDE Plasma and KDE Frameworks or applications such as Amarok, Krita or Digikam. There are also non-coding projects like designing the Breeze desktop theme and iconset, which is coordinated by KDE's Visual Design Group. Even non-Qt applications like GCompris, which started as a GTK-based application, or web-based projects like WikiToLearn are officially part of KDE.