Learning Linux

Know Thy KDE

Do you know that KDE is not only a complete desktop environment, but it also is a complete suit of utilities, applications, tools, goodies and what ever you can call it, including a complete Office Suit. With KDE 3.2 and greater version, you may never need to go anywhere else for your SOHO (small office home office) computing need.

Let us see that what goodies are there in KDE 3.2 (the latest stable release, but soon we will see 3.3 with many more goodies) and what commands are needed to run them.

KDE 3.2 comes with many set of packages such as Koffice, Kdebase, Kdeutils, Kdetoys, Kdesdk, Kdepim, Kdenetwork, Kdemultimedia, Kdegraphics, Kdeedu, Kdegames, Kdeartwork, Kdeadmin, Kdeaddon etc., and with KDE3.3, we will have some extra stuff bundled with Kdeextragear. Note that even if you have installed complete KDE3.2, even then you may find it difficult to launch many useful KDE applications from Start Menu (they are not available by default). Further, even if you add these items in your Start Menu items, every time you need to start them, you have to dig deep in menus, their sub-menu and sub-sub-menu. In some cases, such as if you want to run KDE applications in Gnome, XFCE or in twm environment, there are no option but to run them through command line since you may not find KDE menus there. In this article, we will learn in brief about KDE3.2 applications, utilities and commands to run them. About 30 odd Kdegames and a few not-so-common utilities were not included here. You are encouraged to hunt and find them yourself.

For clarity, throughout this article, Application name are printed in Bold, commands to run them are in Bold Italics and their descriptions are in normal text. Just remember the KDE application names (well, most of the time) which are simple, easy to remember, and type them as a command to run it in any terminal, and they will start immediately; provided they are installed properly. You can keep this article as brief reference material for KDE applications. Further, if you want to know more details about application and how to use them, then start the particular application and click on its Help menu. Nearly all KDE applications have very concise, fully explained help which you can refer.

Konqueror konqueror It is an advanced file manager, web browser and a basic file viewer combined in to one. Mastering Konqueror had been discussed in great details elsewhere in LFY.

KEdit kedit This is KDE's simple text editor.

KWrite kwrite This is KDE's advanced text editor through which you can efficiently write program code in many programming language.

KWord kword It is word processor of KDE that comes with Koffice.

KFormula kformula This small utility lets you write complex formulae which you can cut and pest in other KOffice applications.

KSpread kspread It is spread sheet program of KDE.

Kugar kugar It is a repeort generation tool, and comes with Koffice.

KChart kchart This small utility works independently or with KSpread and draws Charts and Graphs based on defined data.

Kontour kontour It is a vector drawing program for educational purpose.

KDevelope kdevelpoe It is a graphical, C/C++ Integrated Development Environment tool to build KDE applications.

FSView fsview It gives you graphical representation of file system of current or a defined directory. A great tool to manage disk space. It also works with Konqueror as it’s plug-in.

Kate kate It is a programmer's text editor which lets you write C, C++, HTML, Bash Scripts, MDI etc. More over, it has self contained terminal emulator.

KCron kcron Kcron is a graphical front end to Cron, the robust Unix System Scheduler. You can easily schedule your tasks with this graphical tool.

KDat kdat It is the KDE's tar based graphical backup tool that works with Tape Drive.

KdePrintFax kdeprintfax With this small utility, you can fax a file

Kdesu kdesu This tool lets you run an application in super user mode. Simply give command kdesu command-name and it will ask you for root password. Give the valid one and it will run application command-name in super user mode.

KHelpCenter khelpcenter It is the KDE help center where you can find detailed help on using KDE applications described here. This also gets started when you click on Help menu on any KDE application.

KMenuEdit kmenuedit With this utility you can add/remove or edit Start Menu items.

Konsole konsole This is KDE front end for terminal but it gives you many more options such as tabbed terminal, Midnight Commander with normal/root user options.

KPager kpager It is a small utility that lets you quickly go to a particular desktop. It can be docked anywhere or made floating on desktop and on clicking over icon of any desktop, you can instantly switch to that one.

KPersonalizer kpersonalizer This utility lets you configure KDE's basic setup in simple, 5 quick steps. Advanced setup can later be changed through KDE's Control Center.

KPrinter kprinter This utility lets you print a file through any connected printer.

KSysGuard ksysguard It is a tiny utility that graphically displays System Load, Swap usage, Memory usage etc.

KSysTrayCmd ksystraycmd Through this utility, you can add or remove commands or programs on your system tray.

Ktip ktip This is a help/hint utility that gives you some very useful tips about using KDE at its fullest. You can set it to show tips on system startup or periodically after a set interval. Presently it has more than 60 useful tips in its database.

FlashKard and Keduca flashcard or keduca as the case may be. This is Children's memory and learning game played through flash cards.

Kalzium kalzium This application lets you learn Periodic Table of elements. It also gives you all basic properties of elements.

KHangMan khangman As the name suggests, it is a Hangman game to improve your vocabulary. It has multilingual capabilities.

Kig kig It is an interactive geometry drawing educational tool.

KPercentage kpercentage This utility helps you improve your percentage calculating capabilities.

KStars kstars Want to bring starry night on your desktop for filling your appetite of Star gazing? KStars simulates Stars, Star-Clusters, Constellations, Nebulae, Galaxies, Planets, Sun, Moon etc. accurately in your monitor. It is a great tool to learn Astrology.

KTouch ktouch It is a small utility that interactively train you to type speedily.

KVocTrain kvoctrain With this utility, you can improve your vocabulary of any language since you can create your own language database.

KColorEdit kcoloredit This tool lets you change colour of KDE's palette.

KGhostView kghostview A KDE utility that lets you view and print Postscript (*.ps) and Adobe Portable Document (*.pdf) files.

KIconEdit kiconedit You can edit any Icon with this tool.

Kooka kooka It is a scanner utility of KDE for generic Scanners. With another application gocr, it can work as OCR program.

KPaint kpaint It is a basic drawing program and an image file format converter.

KPdf kpdf It is a simple, *.pdf file viewer utility based on xdf.

KPovModeler kpovmodeler It is 3D modeler scene creator for Pov-Ray

KRuler kruler It is a tiny application that can measure any object on your desktop. But it measures only either vertically or horizontally.

KSnapShot ksnapshot This utility lets you take screenshots of your desktop. You can take full screen or selected area and can save them in various image format.

KuickShow kuickshow It is an image browser and image viewer application of KDE.

KView kview It is simple image viewer but has some image manipulating capabilities built-in.

Multimedia: Noatun noatun It is a music player that plays music of various file format, KsCD kscd plays Audio CD for you, KRec krec records audio for you, KMix kmix is a sound mixer tool and K3b k3b is a CD / DVD burning tool. Similarly, KAudioCreator kaudiocreator is CD ripper and audio encoder tool.

KGet kget It is an advanced download manager that can be used independently and can be integrated with Konqueror.

KDict kdict It is KDE dictionary tool that can be set up as local server. It works in sync with www.dict.org

Kopete kopete It is KDE's multi protocol Instant Messenger client

KPPP kppp It is Internet Dialer tool of KDE with simple, easy to administer interface.

KAddressBook kaddressbook It is KDE's address book application through which you can manage your contacts.

KMail kamil It is a very capable email client of KDE.

KAlarm kalarm This utility lets you set your personal alarm message, can schedule your commands and e-mail clients for their periodic running.

KTimer ktimer KDE's timer utility that helps you runs commands on specific intervals.

Kandy kandy This KDE tool lets you to sync your Mobile Phone with your Computer.

KArm karm This small application keeps time for tasks. For example, it can tell you your wasted time while you played Doom.

KBabel kbabel It is po file translation tool with some advanced feature like auto translation, find and replace etc.

Kompare kompare This utility lets you compare between file and folder and display the differences it finds in highlighted, colorful entries.

KDEtoys: KMoon kmoon It shows you moon face for current day of system date. KOdometer kodo It measures your mouse pointer travel mileage over your desktop. KTeaTime kteatime This is small, fun utility that act as timer, great for taking a short break from your work when your desktop tea is ready.

KTux ktux is a nice little screensaver.

KWorldClock kworldclock This is the world clock that displays local time when you point with mouse pointer on its globe.

Ark ark It is an archiving tool, which helps you managing your files in tar, gz, bz2 file formats.

IRKick irkick This utility lets you connect your infrared peripherals through infrared remote control.

KCalc kcalc This is KDE's calculator with trigonometric, logarithmic, statistical and logical functions.

KCharSelect kcharselect With this small tool, you can select special character and copy / paste them in other KDE application.

KDEPasswd kdepasswd This graphical front-end of passwd command lets you change your password.

KDiskFree kdf This is Disk Usage indicator utility.

KFloppy kfloppy This is a floppy formatter.

KHexEdit khexedit You can edit any binary file with this tool.

KJot kjot It is a small utility to write down and organize small notes.

Kregexpeditor kregexpeditor It is KDE’s regular expression editor

KWalletManager kwalletmanager It is a password management tool that stores your password in encrypted state, and dynamically helps you in supplying your many passwords with just one master password.