KDE desktop

KDE 

(

http://www.kde.org

)

 provides a full featured  Windows replacement  

style desktop and application environment for Linux and other UNIX like 

operating systems. KDE is based on the cross platform Qt programming toolkit 

from Trolltech, and uses the KParts component model together with the DCOP 

IPC/RCP mechanism, which we describe in 5.1,  KDE Kiosk framework  on 

page 90.

With KDE you can place icons and folders on your desktop and start applications 

from the KDE panel (Kicker), where you can also freely arrange KDE applets 

(time, battery and wireless status, virtual desktop chooser, etc.). SuperKaramba

(

http://netdragon.sourceforge.net/

)

 might be an interesting option for even 

more fine tuning of KDE. Significant applications 

(

http://www.kde apps.org

) 

for 

the KDE desktop include:

Kontact

 PIM application with 

Kolab

 or 

eGroupware

 as calendaring server

KOffice

 suite (KWord, KSpread, KPresenter, Kivio, Karbon, KChart, Kexi, 

etc.)

K3b

 CD/DVD burning application

Digikam

 digital photo management application

Scribus

 desktop publishing system

Konqueror

 Web and file browser

Note:

 Apple is using and extending the KHTML rendering engine in its Safari 

Web browser.

GNOME desktop

GNOME

 (

http://www.gnome.org

) 

is an open source desktop environment 

based on CORBA (ORBit2) and the GTK+ GUI toolkit. It is the default desktop for 

Red Hat and is also used by some traditional UNIX vendors including Sun. 

Significant GNOME desktop applications 

(

http://www.gnomefiles.org

) 

include: 

AbiWord

 word processor

Gnumeric

 spreadsheet program

Evolution

 e mail and calendaring client

With Novell Groupwise, OpenGroupware, Scalix, Bynari, Sun, ExchangeIT, or 

even Microsoft Exchange calendaring server as backends

  GnomeMeeting

  GNUCash

GTKam

 (GUI for gphoto2)

 Chapter 4. Technical planning 

55