Hands on: Explore the KDE 4.1 Linux desktop

Folder View
There are a number of major changes in KDE 4.1, in addition to the tremendous number of bug fixes. The KDE PIM suite of applications (Kmail, Kontact, etc) has now been ported to KDE 4, something notably missing from version 4.0.

However, one of the most visible changes is a new Plasma applet called Folder View. In earlier versions of KDE, similar to other desktop operating systems, the desktop itself behaved like a standard folder, where you could drop files or application launchers. Indeed, there is a real ‘Desktop’ folder where all these files are contained.

Things have changed in KDE 4. The desktop is now part of Plasma and, as such, behaves rather differently. The Folder View plasmoid restores the older functionality by allowing you to manage files on the desktop, but it goes further than that.

The default is for a single Folder View plasmoid for the ‘Desktop’ folder, and this can be resized and moved about just like any other Plasma applet. You can have as many as you wish. You can also place a filter on what is shown, so your Folder View of your Documents folder might show only ‘.odt’ files, for example.

Initially, it takes some getting used to, but it quickly becomes apparent how much more flexible this approach is, and how it can make better (and tidier) use of the desktop space. For those who still prefer the traditional way of doing things, the intention in KDE 4.2 is to allow a single Folder View plasmoid to cover the full desktop, thus emulating the traditional desktop, but still providing the extra filtering features of the Plasma applet.

Other changes include the introduction of Dragonplayer, a simple audio and video player. There are also various other minor additions, such as a hex editor and CD player. Overall, the changes are less tangible than simply individual pieces of new software; the desktop feel is such a vast improvement over the earlier release that it almost feels like a complete redesign.

For example, if you hover the pointer over a file’s icon in Dolphin (the file manager), a small plus symbol will fade in over the icon; this is an intuitive method for selecting multiple arbitrary files with just the mouse ­ and clicking the symbol will turn it to a minus sign, deselecting it.