Ronnie Tucker

KDE 4.1 beta 1 is now in the Ubuntu repositories for testing. Check Kubuntu.org for full instructions. All you need to do is add a repo, refresh, and you’ll be able to update your KDE 4.0.x to KDE 4.1 beta 1.

Here’s my (KDE 4.1 beta 1) desktop at the moment:

Some things I’ve noticed so far:

• The taskbar can now be semi-transparent (see screenshot above)
• The width, and alignment, of the taskbar can now be altered (by using the little button on the extreme right of the taskbar).
• Comes with desktop themes which skin the taskbar, widgets and widget frames etc.
• PostIt widget can have auto-resized text.
• Couple of new widgets (Folder View, Konq Applet, Kate applet, Lunar, etc)
• Menu Editor
• Widgets can now be locked in place.
• Folders/files now have a +/- icon over their icon to select multiple items without the Ctrl/Shift keys.
• Slight change in graphics here and there.
• Easily switch to classic menu style
• Some new Window effects like wobbly windows, ipod style cover flip, vista style flip.

… and sooooo much more.

Only been using it for a few hours but it seems pretty stable and it was extremely easy to upgrade from 4.0.3 to 4.1b1.

KDE4 rocks!