10 Essential Applications Included in Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex

The new release of Ubuntu, codenamed Intrepid Ibex, is scheduled for October 30 and pre-orders are available through ShipIt, a wonderful service which allows you request completely free CDs, which usually arrive in one month.

Intrepid comes with pretty much bleeding-edge packages: GNOME 2.24.1, OpenOffice 2.4.1 (OpenOffice 3.0 is now available, but it is not included in 8.10), Firefox 3.0.3 and GIMP 2.6.1. Although Firefox 3.1 Beta 1 is out, 3.0.3 is the version which ships with Intrepid, and I guess it's a smart choice considering there was enough time to test this release.

In this article I will briefly review 10 most essential applications which come by default included on the Ubuntu desktop CD. I took several screenshots using the default Ubuntu theme, and a few using the new DarkRoom theme.

Music player: Rhythmbox 0.11.6
Rhythmbox is the default music player coming with GNOME, and also the default for Ubuntu. It comes with an audio library, Magnatune and Jamendo music stores, support for podcasts, Internet radio and Last.fm song submission. You can even download music torrent files from Jamendo directly from within Rhythmbox.


Movie player: Totem 2.24.2
I usually prefer KDE/Qt applications over the ones built in GTK, and the same applies here. I always used players like Kaffeine or SMPlayer instead of Totem. Totem has support for DVDs, but most of them won't work even with libdvdcss2 installed, even though in other players they work flawless. Seeking is very slow and choppy. Totem has support for plugins and subtitles. For DVD support and w32codecs, you will have to use the Medibuntu.org repositories.


Office suite: OpenOffice.org 2.4.1
OpenOffice has done some amazing things bringing a completely full-featured office application to Linux, and also offering support for the OpenDocument Format. Although Intrepid comes with 2.4.1, in the meantime OpenOffice 3.0 was released and is available on their official website. Here are the applications included with this office suite:
- OpenOffice.org Writer - word processor
- OpenOffice.org Calc - spreadsheet
- OpenOffice.org Impress - presentation
- OpenOffice.org Draw - drawing
- OpenOffice.org Base - database
- OpenOffice.org Math - equation editor


Web browser: Firefox 3.0.3
I think Firefox needs no introduction. The last stable release is 3.0.3 which is also included in Intrepid, while a beta for 3.1 has been released on the official Mozilla website. If you want Flash support, you will have to install it using sudo apt-get install flashplugin-nonfree with your user password. An extremely annoying bug I could catch was that sometimes right-clicking an image (for example in the form used to write this post) will do anything but open the right-click context menu: it will either try to bookmark it, open it in a new tab or new window and so on. I think this should be fixed. In fact, Firefox behaves in a same manner on Debian too (and probably it's not distro-specific), it won't open the context menu when right-clicking if you just opened a few more images in separate tabs.


File manager: Nautilus 2.24.1
Nautilus comes with tabbed browsing, bookmarks, a 'Computer' place which will list your partitions/hard drives (including the umounted ones) and optical drives. You have three modes for viewing files: icon view, list view and compact view; it provides a sidepanel which you can toggle on/off using F9; you can set emblems to files, sort them by name, type, modification date, size and emblems. Nautilus also comes with a configuration tab for choosing default actions when media is inserted or other devices are connected to the system.


CD/DVD burner: Brasero 0.8.2
Brasero supports burning in multi-session mode, it burns CDs/DVDs and ISO images. You can also create audio CDs, DVDs or SVCDs. It provides a minimal interface, allowing you to drag and drop files to be burnt. Brasero has a very suggestive name, and it is also in tone with the famous Human theme Ubuntu uses. It comes with four plugins by default, one of them being the 'normalize' plugin, which sets consistent volume to tracks burnt to an audio CD. I personally never liked to alter original sound, but some prefer it that way in order to prevent very high sounds.


Terminal application: GNOME Terminal
I find work in a terminal powerful and faster in many occasions. GNOME Terminal is the default shell-like application in Ubuntu, and it supports desktop transparency effects, background images or solid colours, profiles and tabs. An essential tool for any Linux user if you ask me.


Text editor: Gedit 2.24.0
This is the default text editor, which can also be used as an integrated development environment (IDE), just like Geany or Kate in KDE. Gedit has the same simple interface characteristic to GNOME applications, but it can be expanded via plugins. It includes syntax highlighting, indentation, a whole bunch of plugins like the spell checker or document statistics. It's simple but powerful enough for small projects.


IM and IRC client: Pidgin 2.5.2
Cleverly named, this is the default IM and IRC client in GNOME. Pidgin supports various IM protocols like Yahoo!, MSN, AIM, ICQ or Google Talk and can be also used as a basic client for internet relay chat. It comes with plenty plugins, some of which would be:
- Nautilus integration
- Join/part hiding
- Evolution integration
- History (to keep conversation logs)
The good thing is that it supports all those protocols, so you won't need to use a separate client for each of them.


Image editor: GIMP 2.6.1
GNOME comes with Eye of GNOME for viewing images, which I guess should be the 'essential' application instead of GIMP. But since EOG comes with every GNOME distribution, I decided upon the new GIMP. Yes, Ubuntu comes with the new 2.6.1 release instead of the old stable 2.4.x, which apparently will be shipped in Debian Lenny.

About GNOME 2.24.1

Related articles
10 Essential Applications Included in Kubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope
How-To: Compile and Install Wesnoth 1.6 in Debian Lenny and Ubuntu 8.10

5 Simple APT Tricks for Debian and Ubuntu

Here are five simple tricks for APT, the Advanced Packaging Tool used on Debian and Debian-based distributions like Ubuntu.

View all the packages installed on a system
The easiest way to do it is:

dpkg --get-selections

It does not require to be root, and will display all the packages installed via APT. For example, the first lines may look something like:

$ dpkg --get-selections | head
acetoneiso2                                     install
acidrip                                         install
acpi-support-base                               install
acpid                                           install
adduser                                         install
akregator                                       install
alien                                           install
alsa-base                                       install
alsa-oss                                        install
alsa-utils                                      install

You can also put the entire list in a text file by redirecting the output, like this:

dpkg --get-selections > installed_packages.txt

Then read this file with a text editor or using less installed_packages.txt.

List files which get installed by a package
-L is a handy parameter to dpkg which will show you what files a package will install.

dpkg -L package_name

For example:

dpkg -L amarok

Will show all the files which are going to be installed by package amarok. You don't have to be root to run it.

Upgrade your system using a one-liner
Type as root:

apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgrade

This command will update your list of packages, and if its return status is successful, it will proceed to the next command, apt-get dist-upgrade, which will upgrade all of your packages and will install new dependencies if needed. Use dist-upgrade when you want all of your packages to be installed, and no package left as being kept back.

Install the dependencies of an application
Sometimes you need to compile from source a newer version of an application which is already included in the repositories. For example, to install the development libraries for BasKet, you would run as root:

apt-get build-dep basket

And then you can proceed to compile your application. Note that sometimes newer versions of applications may depend on newer libraries or other packages than you do not have in the repositories, so this won't always work.

Remove unused package files
When you install software using APT, the DEB packages are kept inside the /var/cache/apt/archives directory. In time, the size of it could get very large. To see what is the size of that directory, you can use:

$ du -h /var/cache/apt/archives/
4.0K    /var/cache/apt/archives/partial
956M    /var/cache/apt/archives/

In order to clean up all these packages you can use, as root:

apt-get clean

This command will remove all the packages except files which are locked. There is another command, apt-get autoclean, which will remove all the packages which are no longer available in the repository (older versions of packages which can't be downloaded any more).

Battle for Wesnoth - Awesome Turn-Based Strategy Game

Battle for Wesnoth is one of the most popular and played turn-based strategy (TBS) games on Linux, if not the most popular. It's a free, open-source community-driven project which has done some amazing improvements since its initial release, in 2003. It comes with wonderful concepts for gameplay, it includes great 2D artwork and music, and more important, it can keep you playing inside a fascinating universe, either online in multiplayer battles or in single-player mode in beautiful campaigns or single-map mode versus AI.

Although I never was a truly skilled player, I always enjoyed to complete a campaign, go play on the official multiplayer server or just read the forum, which actually is a great resource of strategy tips, ideas, suggestions and debates regarding playability or improvements.

Wesnoth 1.4.5 running in window mode

The development is more alive than many other open-source projects, and it is done in an open fashion on the forums. The developers are implicated there and often talk to other players and eventually listen to suggestions and add them in the development version. The stable release (currently 1.4.x) benefits of updates every few weeks or so, while the development branch (1.5.x) is also put out to the public for testing purposes.

Many add-ons are available: campaigns, factions, new maps and eras. The game comes with six default factions: Rebels, Loyalists, Drakes, Northerners, Undead and Knalgan Alliance. Each faction benefits of its own units available for recruiting; and each unit has special traits and abilities. The battle between players takes place on a hex map, and each hex can provide different defense resistance, depending on the terrain and the type of unit standing on it.

Maps included by default are well-tested and some of them gained real popularity in time due to either playability or situations which can evolve in time. For example, an interesting map is Isar's Cross, a 2vs2 map which although is small-sized, can make the game evolve into very interesting positions, where the whole game can depend on one unit, a village, or just a lost tempo during the day/night cycle. I've seen players who played this map for so long that they play it like chess: well-known combinations and movement rules for X first moves, depending on own race and the enemy's.

Of course, the most important part of the game is that it randomises a battle's result using the chance to hit, so you can't be absolutely sure what the result of a battle will be until it's over. There are strong debates back on the forums, with some players complaining this system may not be the best, but in fact it's the only thing that keeps the game entertaining. After all, a skilled player will always beat a novice player, even if the latter is 'lucky'.

Online playing is a real pleasure. There are always games which you can join, or eventually observe. Tournaments are organised often too, via the Wesnoth Ladder website.

Multiplayer lobby

Another aspect I just love is how players gather on the forum and discuss a situation or issue, accompanied by various replays, suggestions solutions or helping a new player who can't beat a scenario.

The game also provides a complete help system for gameplay and each unit. This is the basic stuff you'll need to learn in order to gain experience and skill. Of course, it needs time to master this game. I play it for maybe 2 years or so (version 1.0.2 if I recall correctly), sometimes occasionally and sometimes for a couple of days non-stop, and I still can't say I qualify more than medium-skilled. The second way of getting help is via the Wesnoth wiki, which contains invaluable information on playing the game, together with complete guides. I already mentioned the third way, which is the forums. Don't forget #wesnoth @ Freenode if you use IRC, you can chat about game aspects there too.

Isar's Cross map

Being actively developed, this game always gives me the impression of constant movement and improvement, like it's 'alive'. Release 1.4.x brought new artwork, a new and improved interface. I'm talking about real improvements: scrolling maps is gives a smooth impression, menus now have sounds when clicked, the game interface is maybe five times faster than 1.2.x, several units are now animated, transparency effects for game messages windows, and these are just a few of the great new features. New official campaigns have been introduced, and plans are to increase it even more in the next stable release.

Waterloo Sunset map

You can run Wesnoth in both fullscreen and windowed mode, using the default shortcut Ctrl+F.

Playing Wesnoth is maybe one of the most awesome gaming experiences, at least it is for me. I like to see this completely free, community-maintained project getting more and more fun and polished with each new release.

Official website
Download Battle for Wesnoth
The Forums

Compiling from source in Ubuntu 8.04 and Debian Lenny
You can compile and install the last 1.4.5 release easily on both Debian and Ubuntu.

Edit your /etc/apt/sources.list file as root and make sure you have a line which starts with deb-src. Ubuntu users, make sure to precede the following command as root. For example, on Debian Lenny the line in the sources.list should look like:

deb-src ftp://ftp.ro.debian.org/debian/ lenny main contrib non-free

While on Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron:

deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy main universe multiverse

Save the file, then update your packages list (also as root):

apt-get update

You will first need to fetch the dependencies as root:

apt-get build-dep wesnoth

Next, download the source tarball from the official website, here, uncompress it using:

tar -xjf wesnoth-1.4.5.tar.bz2

Then change the current working directory to wesnoth-1.4.5 and issue the following commands:

./configure
make
make install

The last one as root. You can pass the ./configure script the prefix parameter, e.g. ./configure --prefix=/home/your_user/usr/, and then make install as normal user if you like. This should be all.

First-Person Shooter Games for Linux II: Nexuiz and OpenArena

Yesterday I reviewed three classic first-person shooter games for Linux, Wolfenstein: ET, UT2004 and ioQuake3. Today I will continue with two other first-person shooter (FPS) games, natively available for Linux: Nexuiz and OpenArena. They both are currently maintained and the wonderful thing about them is that they all are completely open-source, free and usually available in all the major distributions.

In Debian you can install them typing as root:

apt-get install nexuiz openarena

While in Ubuntu you can use Synaptic or precede the above command with sudo and enter your user password.

Nexuiz
Nexuiz is a completely free first-person shooter game which somewhat resembles the Quake 3 gameplay. It was released in 2005 and the current version is now 2.4.2, which comes included in the Debian repositories.

Although I did not play Nexuiz more than a few times before, I was surprised to see how well I can perform in DM games. I think Nexuiz is one of the games which can be learned very easy if you're used to games like Quake. It's very fast paced, but it can look a little too crowded on small maps with over 10 players and fragging does not necessarily need skill, instead fragging and moving cleverly around in order to avoid another 3-4 players around you does need. In fact, this is actually happening with any FPS unless an appropriate map is selected depending on the number of players.


The interface is futuristic, and all the settings can be easily changed without having to search in bloated menus. Since I use the ESDF keys for movement, I had no trouble finding the configuration options, and I also switched the default resolution to 1280x1024. I also had to lower texture and particle details, since my nVIDIA 7600 GS is rather old now. It behaves very well, with only a few FPS drops when the area gets crowded.


I had no trouble connecting to one of the official servers with a low ping, and the server was full of players. Note that for opening the console you will need to use SHIFT+ESCAPE and ESCAPE to quit it. I never understood why they changed this behaviour in games like Quake 4 or ET: QW too for example, nor did I read the explanation somewhere. My guess is that beginner users would accidentally press the ` key and they did not know how to close it anymore.

Nexuiz is one of the games which surely make it a pleasure to play, especially that is completely free. Congratulations to the Alientrap team for putting out this game for the enjoyment of the Linux community.

Homepage
FAQ - read this if you play for the first time

OpenArena
This is probably the most popular game based on the ioQuake 3 engine. It's practically a Quake 3 clone, with its own free data, so if you are used to Quake 3, you will learn how to play this one very easy.


You can use your old cfg file for settings and scripts, and the menus resemble the Quake 3 interface in detail.

All the modes available in Quake 3 are also available in OpenArena: we have DM, TDM, CTF and Tournament. To these, the game also adds four more modes of its own: Elimination, CTF Elimination, Last Man Standing and Double Domination. It includes both new maps and player models, together with new (and more appealing in my opinion) textures, but some of the CTF maps looked to me a little poor in detail. Of course, the bunny hopping feature is available in OpenArena too.


I could only find three online servers which had players connected, the others were empty. Playing with bots is not so bad, but it doesn't compare with playing an online CTF in 4 vs 4.

Edit: In order to be able to download maps which you don't have from the server you are connecting to, open the console typing ` and type: /set cl_allowdownload 1



Homepage

Both Nexuiz and OpenArena have many fans especially in the Linux community, and I think you will easily make friends on an online server.

Although this is a matter of personal taste, I still find Quake 3 or ET more addictive to play, but these two games have two advantages: they have newer graphics and are completely free.

Wine 1.1.7 Released

Wine 1.1.7 was released yesterday, October 25, 2008. According to the announcement on the official website, some major changes and improvements in this release are: improved device management for DOS drives, many RichEdit fixes, basic Direct3D 10 implementation and various bug fixes.

You can download packages for Ubuntu and Debian as well as for other distributions from here. The source code can be obtained from the SourceForge.net project page (direct link).


I created two tutorials which show how to compile and install the last release of Wine in Ubuntu and Debian:

Install Wine 1.1.5 in Ubuntu 8.04 from the WineHQ APT Repository
You will only need to add their APT repository address in /etc/apt/sources.list and install Wine after doing a sudo apt-get update.

Compile and Install Wine 1.1.4 in Ubuntu 8.04
Tutorial showing how to compile Wine from source in Ubuntu 8.04.

Both tutorials work for 1.1.7 too.

3 Classic First-Person Shooter Games for Linux

Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory
A true classic and one of the most played online first-person shooter games, Wolfenstein: ET was supposed to be released as a new mod for Return to Castle Wolfenstein, but the single-player part of the game was abandoned and it was released at no cost, as a standalone multiplayer game.

Today, after over five years since the game was released, ET is still one of the most popular online FPS games out there, at least on the Linux platform.

ET is one of the games which puts accent on the teamplay, as well as learning to use abilities for each class which you play with. There are two factions or sides: the allies and the axis, and you can choose to play as a soldier, engineer, covert ops, medic or field ops. Each of these classes has special abilities, and you'll get points from using them. For example, the engineer can plant mines as well as arming and disarming bombs, while the soldiers clear the path by killing the enemies and the medic heals everybody. That's what I like about this game: you get experience for healing teamplayers with medics for example, rather than going into battle, get yourself killed and leave the players in your team without any chances of revival.


There are many mods available for ET, and although the game is not maintained anymore, the mods and skins are updated and keep the game alive, bringing something new with each new release. The maps are truly wonderful, and after five years, I still love the graphics.

Mastering this game can be hard for newcomers, and you will need over a year of playing constantly to get to a decent level, even if you're used to FPS games. Trickjumps are another aspect of the game: some maps include several places where a trickjump helps you get into a strategic position or reach an objective faster than the usual path.

To fix the sound issues you may have with ET, use the script provided here and follow their instructions to run it. You will also need to update your Punkbuster files if you want to play decently without being kicked on Punkbuster-enabled servers.

Wolfenstein: ET is definitely one of my favourite games and also a wonderful addictive experience. I warmly recommend it to anyone searching for a good FPS game, native on Linux.

UT2004
Unreal Tournament 2004 is closed source, but it's one of the few commercial games which also provide a native Linux port.

I can say UT2004 has everything one would want from a shooter game: it has many types of weapons with secondary fire mode available, vehicles, several official modes of playing, like the Onslaught mode which is pure fun in my opinion, and combines both DM/TDM skills with vehicles, team synchronisation and, yes, brains. Because being late at a power node, even with two seconds, can cost your team the entire game or round. It's truly a game for teamplaying, and you'll never suceed in a 8vs8 Onslaught game all by yourself, no matter how good you are. You'll need to know how to wait in vehicles for your teamplayers, and when. You'll need to have each player with exact tasks, you'll need to know who your best manta/goliath/hellbender players are and let them use it at full potential. The Onslaught mode will be one of the best experiences of the game in my opinion.


I think UT2004 brings you into a new universe the moment you join an online server, and really shows how skilled a player is. UT is not the kind of game where all you have to do is point and shoot, you will have to use a second weapon mode, to move constantly on the map thinking in the same time where your opponent is, help your teammates when needed, leave behind vendetta ideas when in Onslaught, because it will only get you and your team owned (or pwnd, if you like).


UT2004 also have a statistics system available, although don't take it as 100% accurate. I've seen players which switched teams at the end of a game, just because they were losing and they did not want to be included in the statistics with a loss more. I say play the game for pleasure and forget the kiddie non-sense.

A little about the UT3 port for Linux. Currently there is no release date scheduled, and I'm not sure when it will come. According to old news on Phoronix, it will also include a game editor built in wxWidgets.


There is a Linux Demo client, but it has some nasty bug which makes the game freezes and you'll have to kill it in command-line mode. if you don't like the integrated music player, you can use the alsa-oss package and run UT2004 as aoss ut2004, and this way you'll be able to hear both music playing in an audio player like Amarok or Banshee and the game sounds.

One of the most powerful games in the history of shooters, Unreal Tournament became a legend, and I say it's one of the games which can keep you playing it for hours.

Quake 3
In fact, I will talk about ioQuake3 here, which is a project started independently of id Software, after the game was licensed under the GPL in 2005. ioQuake 3 continued development to Quake 3, fixing bugs and bringing new improvements to this true classic game.

I think there are no persons out there, with a minimal experience with computers, who haven't heard about Quake. It's one of the most popular and well-known first-person shooter games ever since the first Quake was released.


To run it, all you have to do is install the ioQuake3 binary provided on their website, and then copy the file pak0.pk3 into your ~/.ioquake3/baseq3/ directory. Games like OpenArena use ioQuake3 and their own packages to create a new, completely free game. It's included in most of the distributions, including Debian and Ubuntu repositories.

The best thing about Quake 3 is that it works very well on old hardware, and there still are servers with enough players to provide a good playing experience. It has many modes available, but I recommend the classic DM, TDM or CTF.

Related articles
First-Person Shooter Games for Linux II: Nexuiz and OpenArena
First-Person Shooter Games for Linux III: Urban Terror

Updated: March 31, 2009

3 Best Video Players for Linux: SMPlayer, VLC and Kaffeine

SMPlayer
SMPlayer is built in Qt4 and it uses the MPlayer engine for video playback. It's one of the most powerful applications out there for watching DVDs, and it supports plenty formats like AVI, MKV, MPG, FLV.


One of the great features about SMPlayer is that it has a configuration file in which it saves all the settings, separately for each video, including the remaining time. So if you close it then re-open a movie later, all the settings which you've set for it will be automatically loaded, and the movie will continue from where you left it. This does not apply yet to DVD ISO images though.


It doesn't seem to support DVD menus, but you can choose both language and subtitles using its menus.

SMPlayer also supports icon themes, it allows to change the style used, the Qt interface can be configured separately from the settings you have in qtconfig-qt4, it shows detailed information about the currently playing file, it allows you to change default keyboard shortcuts, and you can change the video output driver. You can choose from various video output drivers, the default one being xv.


The last version is 0.6.3 for Linux. Debian Lenny comes with SMPlayer 0.6.1, while Ubuntu Hardy Heron with 0.6.0. To install it, use:

On Debian, type as root:

apt-get install smplayer

On Ubuntu, use:

sudo apt-get install smplayer

To compile the last release of SMPlayer in Debian (this should work on Ubuntu too), download the source tarball from here, uncompress it, change the current working directory to smplayer-0.6.3 (or whatever version you may have) and issue the commands:

make QMAKE=/usr/share/qt4/bin/qmake make install

The last one as root.

Homepage

VLC
Also known as the VideoLAN Client, VLC is yet another cross-platform, powerful video player built using the wxWidgets toolkit. The new release, 0.9.4 provides a Qt interface, as well as many interface changes.


VLC plays pretty much any format you feed it with, including DVDs and DVD ISO images. It handles subtitles well and also provides DVD menus. Included in Debian is the 0.8.6h version, but a new release, 0.9.4 is available for download and repositories are available on their official website. The version in the Ubuntu Hardy repositories is 0.8.6e.


The only thing I did not like about VLC is that its interface is somewhat inconsistent, for example the Preferences dialogue has a small size by default, and even if you change it, it will be resized again next time. Also, sometimes the F shortcut for fullscreen does not work.

Homepage

Kaffeine
Kaffeine is a wonderful video player, currently available for KDE 3, but a port for KDE4 is in the works too.

Kaffeine uses the Xine engine for playing videos, and it does a very good job especially with DVDs, reading menus very well. It's light and it starts fast, integrating very good with KDE. The last stable version is 0.8.7, which is included in Debian Lenny repositories. Kaffeine plays pretty much anything and it offers the possibility to configure the Xine engine too, but it uses a little more CPU power than SMPlayer when it comes to high-resolution videos, like x264 Matroska videos of 720p or 1080p.


As I already mentioned, it handles well any type of format, including DVDs, DVD ISO images and mounted images. However I noticed that sometimes it won't play a DVD ISO image, but after mounting that image and pointing Kaffeine to the directory where it was mounted, it won't have any problems playing it.


Homepage

Conclusion
Those three players listed above are the ones which work great for me, and I can play any video content using them. There are tens of other video players out there. I could list just a few here: KPlayer, Codeine, Dragon Player, Xine-UI, Totem, GXine, RealPlayer and so on.

Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex Release Candidate Available

The release candidate of the upcoming Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex is out now. You can read the release notes here.

Ubuntu 8.10 comes with kernel 2.6.27, GNOME 2.24, X.Org 7.4 and OpenOffice 2.4.1.

You can download CD ISO images from the official website here, or get it via BitTorrent (torrent files are available at the same location).

Kubuntu 8.10 'Intrepid Ibex' Beta Screenshots Tour

In less than a week the new Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex should be out.

I took these screenshots using a Kubuntu Intrepid Beta installation after performing a full dist-upgrade, at 1280x1024, with the nVIDIA 173 driver installed. I left all the settings in applications default, but I had to make fonts smaller and resize windows (in Konqueror for example), because they didn't look very well as default. The default theme used is Oxygen.

Moving a window around

Konqueror

Desktop widgets

Dolphin

Dragon Player

KTorrent

Kopete

Konversation

Konsole

K3b - KDE4 port not available yet

Desktop Settings

Good ol' Amarok

About KDE4

Impressions
I think KDE 4.1.2 looks just awesome, and so does Kubuntu. The only problem is that it's not very stable, and there is less than a week until it should be released as a new stable, 18-month supported distribution. Konqueror crashes very often with segmentation fault errors, and gives no feedback in return. It just disappears, so I had to run it from Konsole in order to see the output.

The main problem I encountered was that most of the windows and widgets must be resized, and the resolution Kubuntu uses by default is the maximum supported by my Philips 107P5 CRT monitor, and that's 1920x1440. For this resolution, default fonts are very big.

Here's how the Display tab in System Settings looks like:


You'll have to actually scroll in order to see the drop-down list to select the frequency. I think this is the kind of work which a distribution must fix and polish, not necessarily the KDE team. Of course, Kubuntu never does these things anymore, so I don't even expect it to.

This screenshot also shows the available resolutions, so pick any colour you like:


As you can see, the font size is too big. It's true, after changing the font sizes it looks well, but this should have been done by default.

I encountered artifacts everywhere, but I'm not sure if it's because of the nVIDIA driver or KDE, and I never had the occasion to test KDE 4 with another graphics card. Scrolling and window resizing is also extremely slow.

Here's another addition from the Kubuntu developers, but I guess it never matters that you can see only the upper half of the text 'your password' (and that is after I switched text size from 9 to 7):


I recommend Kubuntu Intrepid if you want eye-candy and bleeding edge software, but I strongly advise against using it for a stable, productive system. I think you'd be better off with Ubuntu or Debian + KDE 3.5.9 for that.

Overall, I found this beta looking very good with a little tweaking, and since I'm a KDE fan, I'm happy to see how good KDE 4.1 can look. I think all the new development which has been put into KDE 4.x, all the eye-candy, beauty, transparency effects, artwork, and a completely new approach really makes up a powerful, innovative desktop environment, and I hope for improvements over time and even more usability where possible.