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A little about basic KDE technology…

KDE (K desktop environment) technology is a graphical user interface (GUI) which can be used on Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows and UNIX systems. KDE has chosen to develop its platform upon the UNIX system so as to improve application integration. The UNIX systems had started of as character user interface (CUI). To enhance this user interface between the user and the software KDE chose the UNIX platform as it could express its desktop environment more dynamically through this system. Since its conception it has generated many applications for the desktop environment.

In 1996 Matthias Ettrich founded the KDE while he was still a student in Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen. He was not satisfied with the desktop environment that was met on UNIX systems. He felt that there were certain features within the UNIX applications that were not well integrated. In order to rectify this problem he designed the KDE to suit to bring in a centralized application solution. Matthias proposed to construct KDE with the Qt toolkit which enabled him to design KDE as dynamic software.

So far there have been 11 major releases of KDE which include 1.0, 1.1, 2.0, 2.1, 2.2, 3.0, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4 and 3.5. The KDE 4.0 is to be released in October 2007. But the KDE X.0 is of exceptional capability as it has it has binary and source compatibility. Through these major releases there have been changes in the program libraries of the KDE releases which have also improved as the newer versions of KDE have to offer greater user interface.

KDE has focused on providing users to expresses their applications needs uniformly whether that is on a UNIX or a Microsoft system. There have been many improvements upon KDE technology some of which include- improvement in API for portable and network devices which have been called Solid, creating a search frame work and a Meta data which is called Tenor, creating libraries that are adjustable for both Mac OS and Windows operating system. These are just some of the improvements that have occurred with the releases of the KDE version. But it’s interesting to see the different technologies that have been used to develop its architecture.

The architecture of KDE is based upon the platform of Trolltech’s Qt toolkit. The architecture has been designed to run on any Operating system so as to maintain uniformity across all platforms. Some of the base technologies used in the KDE architecture include- aRts- soundserver, KWin- a window manager application,

KHTML- the powerhouse of HTML, KParts- a graphical framework. There are plenty of other technologies used to construct the base architecture of KDE these are just some of them.

Thus KDE is a dynamic application environment that has enabled the integration of the desktop environment to the operating system. It has enhanced operability through many platforms and thus enjoys a wider popular appeal. KDE still continues to grow as a desktop environment with its web servers located in Germany and a panel of experts still dedicated to the innovation of KDE.

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Filed under: KDE Technology