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Tag: kde412 (Page 1 of 2)

KDE SC 4.12.5 for Slackware 14.1 (and -current if you want)

April 29, 2014 / / 13 Comments

What is supposed to be the last increment in the KDE 4.12 release cycle: the new KDE Software Compilation 4.12.5 was announced earlier today, again a stability updates for the Applications and Development Platform. The Plasma Workspaces version to accompany this KDE SC release is 4.11.9.

I was in a serious calamity at work and was not able to devote any attention to the release until now, late night, safely situated in the living room with the dub sounds of Bim Sherman flowing out of the speakers. I have a busy day ahead, but I prepared the packages during the weekend (thanks to early access to the sourcecode) and this article is a nice conclusion of a hectic day.

I followed up on my promise to build these packages for the final KDE  4.12, on Slackware 14.1. The packages are available in the “14.1” directory of my ‘ktown‘ repository… not in the “current” directory because I have KDE 4.13.0 available for you Slackware-current users.

Still, KDE 4.12.5 will work fine on Slackware-current if you want this, rather than the more rough & unpolished 4.13.

What’s new in my KDE 4.12.5 packages?

I updated three of the “dependency” packages: LibRaw, akonadi and soprano. I also updated Calligra to the 2.8.2 version which I had already added to my KDE 4.13.0 package set. Upon request, I have added the latest (several months old, but still) KDevelop and even added a new package: “kdev-python” which brings python language support to KDE’s integrated development environment.

I do hope that all of this will get into Slackware-current at some point, but until that time, enjoy my packages and give me feedback about their stability.

How to upgrade to KDE 4.12.5 ?

You will find all the installation/upgrade instructions that you need in the accompanying README file. That README also contains basic information for KDE recompilation using the provided SlackBuild script.

You are strongly encouraged to read and follow these installation/upgrade instructions!

Where to find packages for KDE 4.12.5 ?

Download locations are listed below (you will find the sources in ./source/4.12.5/ and packages in /14.1/4.12.5/ subdirectories). Using a mirror is preferred because you get more bandwidth from a mirror and it’s friendlier to the owners of the master server! And let me say “thank you!” to the mirror admins who provide such an appreciated service to the community.

Have fun! Eric

KDE SC 4.12.4 for Slackware 14.1 and -current

April 2, 2014 / / 23 Comments

Yesterday, I uploaded the packages for the new KDE Software Compilation 4.12.4 which brings us updates to the Applications and Development Platform. The Plasma Workspaces are following a separate version numbering scheme – the new workspaces package version is 4.11.8.

The Slackware-current tree has not seen exciting updates other than security fixes and because of that, again I have built my packages for KDE  4.12.4, on Slackware 14.1 for maximum compatibility.

The packages work fine on slackware-current too – of course. When that changes, I will stop using Slackware 14.1 as the build platform.

What’s new in my KDE 4.12.4 packages?

One of the packages has been renamed. The old “kdnssd” package is now called “zeroconf-ioslave”. The README which accompanies my packages has been updated with a “removepkg kdnssd” command.

The kmahjongg package now has the main program script included and you’ll find it in the KDE menu. Kmahjongg will not work out of the box, but you only have to add the “python-twisted” and “zope.interface” packages from my regular repository to make it work. I do not include these add-ons in the ‘ktown’ repository because I do not want to force Patrick’s hand if he does not want them to be part of Slackware in future.

I also updated the kdeconnect-kde package with a git development snapshot. In my previous blog article I wrote how this interesting little program interacts with the kdeconnect-android app. Don’t forget to add the new “KDE Connect” widget to your system tray if you want to try it out.

kdeconnect-applet

How to upgrade to KDE 4.12.4 ?

You will find all the installation/upgrade instructions that you need in the accompanying README file. That README also contains basic information for KDE recompilation using the provided SlackBuild script.

You are strongly encouraged to read and follow these installation/upgrade instructions!

Where to find packages for KDE 4.12.4 ?

Download locations are listed below (you will find the sources in ./source/4.12.4/ and packages in /current/4.12.4/ subdirectories). Using a mirror is preferred because you get more bandwidth from a mirror and it’s friendlier to the owners of the master server!

Have fun! Eric

KDE 4.12.3 for Slackware-current (and 14.1) plus some goodies

March 4, 2014 / / 67 Comments

Sticking nicely to the well-known KDE Release Schedule, here are packages for the latest and greatest KDE Software Compilation.

The new release 4.12.3 is a further step towards stabilizing the 4.12 platform and comes with updates to Plasma Workspaces, which brings that to version 4.11.7. Incidentally I also updated the Plasma Workspaces (aka kde-workplace)  in the KDE package set which I maintain for Slackware 14.1 (the KDE SC 4.11.5 release will keep getting long-term updates to kde-workspace until this summer)

Principally, I am targeting Slackware-current with my bleeding-edge packages for KDE. However – as was the case with the previous KDE release, there is not all that much divergence between the stable release (Slackware 14.1) and the development tree (Slackware-current). That is why I built my packages for KDE  4.12.3, on Slackware 14.1 for maximum compatibility. They work fine on both platforms.

What’s new in my KDE 4.12.3 packages?

Apart from all-new versions for the core applications, I also updated the oxygen-gtk2 and plasma-nm (and libnm-qt, libmm-qt) packages. I was unable to compile the latest oxygen-gtk3 release because Slackware’s GTK+-3 package is too old.

There is one interesting addition! There is a new package called kdeconnect-kde. Together with the kdeconnect-android app for your smartphone or tablet (no iPhone, surely you don’t own one??) it “fuses” your KDE desktop with your mobile device.

kdeconnect-settings

Prominent features of KDE Connect are: battery status display, clipboard share, notifications sync, multimedia remote control, and all of that over secured network connections. Don’t forget to add the new “KDE Connect” widget to your system tray.

kdeconnect-applet

How to upgrade to KDE 4.12.3 ?

You will find all the installation/upgrade instructions that you need in the accompanying README file. That README also contains basic information for KDE recompilation using the provided SlackBuild script.

You are strongly advised to read and follow these installation/upgrade instructions!

Where to find packages for KDE 4.12.3 ?

Download locations are listed below (you will find the sources in ./source/4.12.3/ and packages in /current/4.12.3/ subdirectories). Using a mirror is preferred because you get more bandwidth from a mirror and it’s friendlier to the owners of the master server!

Have fun! Eric

The week in review

February 6, 2014 / / 10 Comments

I have not been updating this blog for a couple of days, but that did not mean I was sitting on hy hands.

These are the package updates which landed in my various repositories during the last few days:

Calibre

calibreicoNearly every week I have been updating my Calibre packages whenever Kovid Goyal released a new version. Especially the last couple of releases are really exciting. Perhaps you noticed (if you are an ebook lover or even an ebook writer) that the Sigil EPUB editor’s progress had stalled, in fact the software’s development is dead. I did not really care because Sigil had switched its Qt dependency from 4 to 5 and Slackware does not contain Qt5, so new Slackware packages were out of the question anyway. Now, Calibre has been enhanced with an ebook editor. Visually and functionally the Calibre ebook editor application shows similarities to Sigil, however it is a completely different program, and it integrates perfectly into the Calibre GUI. You can invoke it directly by running “ebook-edit” from a terminal or using the “Edit E-book” menu item in your Desktop Environment.

Calibre can also run as a Web Server with an OPDS interface, ideal for when you have an ebook reader with a Wireless network interface – you can download books directly from your library without the need for a USB cable. But it needs to be hidden behind an Apache reverse proxy to make it safe enough to use on the Internet. I recently installed COPS however, which is built from the ground up to be a replacement Calibre OPDS PHP Server. After some discussion with the developer, I talked him into adding an online web-based EPUB reader which is based on Monocle, so that I can read my ebooks directly on my ChromeBook without the need for downloads or browser plugins.

 

LibreOffice

I already posted about my gripes with building the new LibreOffice 4.2.0. Well, I finally managed to make it work, and the resulting packages (for Slackware 14.1 and -current) are available. A significant bug was rapidly discovered in Calc when using a non-english language pack. It seems that other people suffered from this in earlier releases even, and not just on Slackware. Still, this is a release with many improvements. Read more about the new features and fixes on the announcement page. Interesting tidbit: LibreOffice 4.2 offers a new Start screen, with a cleaner layout that makes better use of the available space – even on small screens – and shows a preview of the last documents you opened.

Focus for the 4.2 cycle is performance and interoperability (yeah, when is it not) with MS Office.

Note that I ship my LibreOffice 4.1 and 4.2 packages with additional “libreoffice-dict-<language>” packages, containing dictionary and spellchecker support! If you are still running Slackware 13.37 there’s LibreOffice 3.6.7 for which I also have packages, and users of Slackware 14.0 are served well with LibreOffice 4.1.4.

Package locations:

 

Chromium

chromium_iconAnother update to Chrome/Chromium brings this open source version of Chrome to 32.0.1700.107, and interestingly enough (but I disregarded this) another update appeared one day later which “upgrades” Chromium to 32.0.1700.103. A comment to that blog announcement questions the effective downgrade but there is no answer yet from the developers.

The SlackBuild was modified a bit (thanks dugan!), in order to solve several bugs in the interaction with vBulletin, which is the software powering LinuxQuestions.org (hoster of the main Slackware user forum on the Internet).

I have packages ready for the new chromium:

 

VideoLAN Player

largeVLCThe VideoLAN team released version 2.1.3 of their VLC player yesterday.

This is another maintenance release of the “Rincewind” release, “fixing numerous bugs, and improves decoders, notably for the new formats (HEVC and VP9). Important fixes involve Audio and Video output management on most platforms“. 2.1.3 also “improves the demuxer and decoders for most formats, and the various interfaces“.

Where to find the new VLC packages:

Rsync acccess is offered by the mirror server: rsync://taper.alienbase.nl/mirrors/people/alien/restricted_slackbuilds/vlc/ .

My usual warning about patents: versions that can not only DEcode but also ENcode mp3 and aac audio can be found in my alternative repository where I keep the packages containing code that might violate stupid US software patents.

 

Adobe’s Flash Player plugin

adobe_flash_8s600x600_2There was a minor version number update today, for Adobe’s Flash Player Plugin for web browsers. The update is accompanied by a security bulletin “apsb14-04”

Packages for Mozilla compatible browsers are here (and the update to pepperflash plugin for Chromium should follow shortly):

Icedtea-web

A new release of the web browser plugin for OpenJDK is available since today. Version 1.4.2 finally makes Oracle’s Java version tester page work again (remember that you now have to explicitly allow the plugin to start inside your Firefox or Chromium browser):

java_is_working_7u51_b31

Get the packages at http://slackware.com/~alien/slackbuilds/icedtea-web/

 

 

KDE

The latest  KDE Sofware Compilation is 4.12.2 which is available now and it accompanied by Plasma Workspaces 4.11.6. Mostly bug fix release, you should have no issues upgrading.

Contrary to what I had told before, I have built these packages on Slackware 14.1. I am running them on all my Slackware-current boxes without issues. The difference between Slackware 14.1 and -current is not so big yet, which is the rationale behind my decision to use Slackware 14.1 as the compilation platform this one time (for maximum compatibility). You will find all the installation/upgrade instructions that you need in the accompanying README file. That README also contains basic information for KDE recompilation using the provided SlackBuild script.

You are strongly advised to read and follow these installation/upgrade instructions!

My packages can be found in the ‘ktown’ repository which I maintain for KDE packages:

 

This concludes the week in review. I just finished baking a fresh loaf of bread and the smell makes me mad. Have to wait until the morning (it’s still hot and the time is just past midnight).

loaf-800

Remember:
You can subscribe to the repository’s RSS feed (RSS for ktown and RSS for multilib available too) if you want to be the first to know when new packages are uploaded.

Have fun! Eric

KDE 4.12.1 for Slackware-current

January 14, 2014 / / 10 Comments

Last week I uploaded packages for KDE SC 4.11.5 and those were targeting Slackware 14.1. A solid and safe update of KDE for the stable release of Slackware, a wise choice. Today however, I present the first increment to the newer KDE SC 4.12 series. The two series are being developed in parallel with both delivering their final batch on 29 april 2014 (with releases of KDE 4.11.9 and 4.12.5) . KDE SC 4.12.1 was announced today.

KDE Software Compilation 4.12 focuses on improving and polishing KDE Applications. This package set also features the latest version 4.11.5 of the Plasma Workspaces (aka the kde-workspace package). The Workspaces have been feature-frozen at the end of the 4.11 cycle which is why you won’t find a 4.12.1 version of the package. Starting with KDE SC 4.12.2, the KDE Workspaces 4.11.x releases will be synchronized with those of KDE Applications and Development Platform 4.12.x.

I built these packages on Slackware-current. I have not tested them on Slackware 14.1 but people have reported that the previous KDE release 4.12.0 ran on it without issues.

What’s new in KDE 4.12?

KDE keeps an up-to-date feature plan page for the 4.12 release, as they do for every release past and future. The Kwebkit package has been updated as promised in my previous post. I also updated (lib)kscreen and oxygen-gtk{2,3} packages. A LibRaw package was added as a new dependency for KDE 4.12.0 and of course it’s still there for KDE 4.12.1. An updated version of partitionmanager was added to my repository shortly after the release of KDE 4.12.0 because the version which Slackware ships in its “/extra” package section stopped working. I realize now that I never announced that in the ktown ChangeLog.txt. Due to it being New Year’s Eve at the time I guess.

How to upgrade to KDE 4.12 ?

You will find all the installation/upgrade instructions that you need in the accompanying README file. That README also contains basic information for KDE recompilation using the provided SlackBuild script.

You are strongly advised to read and follow these installation/upgrade instructions!

Where to find packages for KDE 4.12 ?

Download locations are listed below (you will find the sources in ./source/4.12.1/ and packages in /current/4.12.1/ subdirectories). Using a mirror is preferred because you get more bandwidth from a mirror and it’s friendlier to the owners of the master server!

Have fun! Eric

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