From:	 Waldo Bastian 
To:	 kde-announce@kde.org
Subject: KDE PROJECT RELEASES KDE 2.2ALPHA1
Date:	 Mon, 23 Apr 2001 20:03:13 -0700

KDE PROJECT RELEASES KDE 2.2ALPHA1

    For those of you who like the cutting edge or want to help the KDE
developers continue their phenomenal development pace, but aren't yet ready
to compile from CVS, the KDE Project (http://www.kde.org/) has just
released KDE 2.2alpha1. A list of some of the significant additions
and improvements versus the recent 2.1 release is below, as well as a
list of currently available pre-compiled binaries (please read the KDE
Binary Packages Policy (http://dot.kde.org/986933826/)).  Please bear in
mind that this is an alpha release and those enjoying a stable desktop
should use KDE 2.1.1.


CHANGELOG: KDE ALPHA 2.2.1

 * kdelibs changes:
      o One major change you will notice right away is from KDE's new
        modular printing subsystem based on the new KPrinter class. It is
        compatible with the existing QPrinter class and also features a
        new printer management tool. Its plugin design currently supports
        lpr, CUPS and PDQ.
      o Konqueror also benefits from the new HTML form completion added to
        KHTML, which allows Konqueror to supply possible completions to
        text fields in web forms via a drop down menu, very similar to how
        it does with URLs in the location bar.
      o Of interest to developers, KDE-DB, a modular database-connectivity
        class, has been added to kdelibs. The MySQL plugin is the most
        complete, but also the PostgresSQL one works.
      o KDE's font selection dialog has received a facelift: it is now
        possible to preview fonts in dialogs using the KFontAction class.
 * New applications. Kaboodle, a quick multimedia viewer/player, has been
      added to kdemultimedia. It complements noatun but is intended for use as
      a KPart (e.g., to preview a video in Konqueror). KScan, a library to
      access raster scanners using SANE, as well as Kooka, a front-end for
      KScan, have been added to kdemultimedia.
 * KMail. The KMail developers have implemented the oft-requested IMAP
      support. In addition, KMail features improved (non-blocking) sending.
 * Theming. Theming has gotten a big boost with support for both Windows
      themes from Tucows and pixmap-based IceWM themes and the addition of
      a Quartz Style.
 * Networking.
      o Caldera has contributed a new smb kioslave which works with
        libsmbclient, released by the Samba team.
      o KDE now supports SOCKS (a generic utility which re-implements a
        number of libc functions).
      o KDE now supports IPv6 (tested on Linux, AIX, Tru64 4.x and
        Solaris 2.6 and 7).
 * Desktop. For the desktop, KDE 2.2 adds the new audiocd:/ ioslave,
      which, for example, permits you to drag'n'drop audio CD tracks onto
      your desktop using Konqueror and have them automatically be encoded
      as .MP3 or Ogg Vorbis,
 * Administrivia. On the less ambitious side, Kant has been renamed as Kate.



PACKAGES: KDE ALPHA 2.2.1

    More packages may be released in the coming days (in particular Mandrake
is said to still be working on their binaries), please read the KDE Binary
Packages Policy (http://dot.kde.org/986933826/).  

 * Source code:
      http://ftp.kde.org/unstable/2.2alpha1/distribution/tar/generic/
 * Tru64: 4.0e, f, g or 5.x:
      http://ftp.kde.org/unstable/2.2alpha1/distribution/tar/Tru64/
 * RedHat: 7.1 (i386):
      http://ftp.kde.org/unstable/2.2alpha1/distribution/rpm/RedHat/7.1/i386/
 * SuSE: 7.1 (i386):
      http://ftp.kde.org/unstable/2.2alpha1/distribution/rpm/SuSE/i386/7.1/