- No easy dialog based desktop configuration
- No common application development framework or application help system
- Lack of network transparency on the application level
- Authoring of X11 applications extremely difficult and tedious
To the user KDE brings among other things:
- A good looking contemporary desktop exhibiting complete network transparency.
- An integrated help system allowing for convenient, consistent access to help on the use of the KDE desktop and its applications
- Consistent look and feel of all KDE applications
- Standardized menu and toolbars, key bindings, color-schemes, etc.
- Internationalization: KDE is available in more than 50 languages
- Centralized consisted dialog driven desktop configuration
- A great number of useful KDE applications
The Kdesktop Environment
Konqueror Browser
Konqueror is KDE’s next-generation web browser, file manager and document viewer. The standards-compliant Konqueror combines the features and functionality of Internet Explorer/Netscape Communicator and Windows Explorer. Konqueror supports the full gamut of current Internet technologies.
KIO Network Transparency
In addition, KIO’s network transparency offers seamless support for accessing or browsing files on GNU/Linux, NFS shares, MS Windows SMB shares, HTTP pages, FTP directories and LDAP directories. The modular, plug-in nature of KDE’s file architecture makes it simple to add additional protocols.
aRts Multimedia Architecture
KDE 2.0 introduced a new multimedia architecture based on aRts, the Analog Realtime Synthesizer. ARts enables playing multiple audio or video streams concurrently, whether on the desktop or over a network.
The K Development Environment
KDE offers developers a rich set of major technologies. Chief among these are the Desktop COmmunication Protocol (DCOP), the I/O libraries (KIO), the component object model (KParts), an XML-based GUI class, and a standards-compliant HTML rendering engine (KHTML).
DCOP Messaging: DCOP is a client-to-client communications protocol. The protocol supports both message passing and remote procedure calls.
KIO Network Technology: KIO implements application I/O in a separate process to enable a non-blocking GUI without the use of threads. The class is network transparent. Its modular and extensible design permits developers to “drop in” additional protocols.
KParts Components: KParts, KDE’s component object model, allows an application to embed another within itself. The technology handles all aspects of the embedding.This technology is used extensively by the KOffice suite and Konqueror.
XML GUI Builder: The XML GUI employs XML to create and position menus, toolbars and possibly other aspects of the GUI. This technology offers developers and users the advantage of simplified configurability of these user interface elements.
KHTML Rendering Engine: KHTML is an HTML 4.0 compliant rendering and drawing engine. The class supports a full gamut of internet technologies. The KHTML class can easily be used by an application as either a widget or as a component .
CONCLUSION: Here by we have successfully studied the KDE desktop Environment.
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