KDE 4.0's release event has ended finally last month (January 2008). KDE 4.0 is ready and now available to download. Get it here. In this post, you will be introduced several useful resources to know about KDE and new features in KDE 4.0.

Firstly, I will show you two ways to check the current of your KDE. You should check this before upgrading to a new version.

• Graphical method: open Konqueror and look at what's written in "About"
• Command method: run this command in your terminal
  

  kded --version

Now, you can follows a screenshots tour with 50 nice pictures to know what is new in KDE 4.0. Then, this tutorial will tell you how to install KDE 4 in Kbuntu Gutsy. If you want to know more details of this release please watch "KDE 4.0 Release Event Keynote" below.

KDE users are experting for the release schedule of KDE 4.1 as follows:

• March 31st, 2008: Soft Feature Freeze
• April 22nd, 2008: Hard Feature Freeze
• April 22nd, 2008: Tag KDE 4.1 Alpha 1
• April 29th, 2008: Release KDE 4.1 Alpha 1
• May 20th, 2008: Message Freeze
• May 20th, 2008: Tag KDE 4.1 Beta 1
• May 27th, 2008: Release KDE 4.1 Beta 1
• June 17th, 2008: Tag KDE 4.1 Beta 2
• June 24th, 2008: Release KDE 4.1 Beta 2
• July 8th, 2008: Artwork Freeze
• July 8th, 2008: Tag KDE 4.1 RC 1
• July 15th, 2008: Release KDE 4.1 RC 1
• July 22nd, 2008: Tag KDE 4.1.0
• July 29th, 2008: Release KDE 4.1

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Do you agree with me that Kpdf is the best tool in top 5 PDF readers? At the point in time when I am writing this post, the current version is Kpdf 0.5.8. You can read here to see what are new features of this version. I think that I should write some small tips for this tool. But I will do it latter. Now I will blog for how to change a default PDF reader.

Yesterday, I have installed all tools in top 5 PDF readers. Now, I try to double-click on a PDF document, it is shown up in Acrobat Reader. That means Acrobat Reader is set as the default PDF viewing program in my computer. I don't want to remove them right now. May be I will make another comparison next time. But I prefer Kpdf, so it should be the default one. To make it as the default PDF viewing program I have carried out the following steps in both Ubuntu and Kubuntu.


In Ubuntu Gutsy 7.10.

• Right-click on the PDF document
• Select Properties
• Open With" tab
• Select KPDF option from the list (see the picture)
  

• Click "Close" button to finish
  

In Kubuntu Gutsy 7.10.

• Right-click on the PDF document (or use Alt + Enter)
  
• Select Properties
• Click on "Tool" button at the right side of "Properties" window
• Move Kpdf to the top of the list of available tools in "Application Preference Order" panel, the result looks like the following picture

• Click "Apply" and "OK" then to confirm changes
• Try to double-click on a PDF document again ... It's OK!
  

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That is the truth. Skype brings happiness to Linux users. After a long time, Skype finally has offered a new feature - video conference - for Linux users. A beta version of Skype 2.0 is available for downloading. Ubuntu Linux users can download a Debian package here . This package is used to install on Ubuntu Feisty but I have installed and tested successfully in Ubuntu Gutsy. Packages for other Linux distributions can be found here to download. Now is the time to evaluate about it's quality.

For technical features and release notes, you can read on Skype for Linux page

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The KDE Project today (October 16th, 2007) announced the immediate availability of KDE 3.5.8, a maintenance release for the latest generation of the most advanced and powerful free desktop for GNU/Linux and other UNIXes. KDE now supports 65 languages, making it available to more people than most non-free software and can be easily extended to support others by communities who wish to contribute to the open source project.

While the developers' main focus lies on finishing KDE 4.0, the stable 3.5 series remains the desktop of choice for the time being. It is proven, stable and well supported. The 3.5.8 release with its literally hundreds of bugfixes has again improved the users' experience. The main focus of improvements for KDE 3.5.8 is

• Improvements in Konqueror and its web browsing component KHTML. Bugs in handling HTTP connections have been fixed, KHTML has improved support of some CSS features for more standards compliance.
• In the kdegraphics package, lots of fixes in KDE's PDF viewer and Kolourpaint, a painting application, went into this release.
• The KDE PIM suite has, as usual, seen numerous stability fixes, covering KDE's email client KMail, the organizer application KOrganizer and various other bits and pieces.

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VnTutor have generated a VIM commands cheat sheet v1.0 for new VIM users. However, it is also needed professional for users as references. In this cheat sheet, commands with similar functions are grouped together.

Print it out and stick it on your wall if possible!

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This is a list of essential keyboard shortcuts for Linux Gnome.

Please leave your messages for new ones!

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OpenOffice.org is a multiplatform and multilingual office suite. It is a free office suite. A new version OpenOffice 2.3 is officially released today (September 17th, 2007) for Linux fans. OpenOffice 2.3 boasts of some improved features, that include the following:

• New chart wizard, with support for 3D Charts
• Revamped Toolbars
• Export documents as Wiki pages on OpenOffice 2.3 Writer
• Enhanced Autosum on OpenOffice 2.3 Calc
• Report Builder on OpenOffice 2.3 Base

It can be downloaded from various official Open Office mirror sites. You can download it right now from this mirror. Then, you select “OpenOffice.org-2.3.0″ as the distribution, your platform and language. The following picture is my case.

Click on "Go" button to start downloading (136.6 MB).
The new release contains hundreds of bugfixes and enhancements. You can read more notes here to know what is new in this version. Try it while it's hot.

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Are you looking forward a free game for your Ubuntu box? There are a lot free games which can run on the Ubuntu Linux platform. Here, I would like to introduce a list of top games that can be played on Ubuntu.

• Americas Army: Free First Person Shooter (FPS) by the United States Armed Forces.

• Chromium: Fight enemy space ships.

• Doom 3: A science-fiction horro first-person shooter game set in 2145 in the Union Aerospace.

• Enemy Territory: Free multiplayer FPS (first person shooter) game using Quake technology with World War II settings.

• Frozen Bubble: Shoot colorful bubbles.

• Neverball: Roll a ball through an obstacle course.

• Rushing Bender: a futuristic single and a multiplayer racing game.

• SuperTux: 2D jump and run side-scroller game, similar to the original SuperMario games.

• Tux Racer: Downhill penguin racing.

• Vega Strike: 3D space simulator.

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