DATELINE OCTOBER 10, 2000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

KDE Desktop 2.0 Final Release Candidate Available for Linux^®

Final Release Candidate of Leading Desktop for Linux^® and Other UNIXes^®

October 10, 2000 (The INTERNET). The KDE Team today announced the release of KDE 2.0 RC2, the second and (barring any unforeseen problems) final release candidate for Kopernicus (KDE 2.0), KDE's next-generation, powerful, modular desktop. The KDE team has previously released five Beta versions -- the first on May 10 of this year -- publicly; the sole prior release candidate was released internally only. RC2 is based on Trolltech's^tm Qt^® 2.2.1 and includes the core libraries, the core desktop environment, the KOffice suite, as well as the over 100 applications from the other standard base KDE packages: Administration, Games, Graphics, Multimedia, Network, Personal Information Management (PIM), Toys and Utilities. This release marks the last opportunity for developers and users to report problems prior to the official release of Kopernicus (KDE 2.0) slated for this October 23.

Downloading and Compiling KDE 2.0 RC2

The source packages for RC2 are available for free download at ftp://ftp.kde.org/pub/kde/unstable/distribution/2.0RC2/tar/src/ or in the equivalent directory at one of the many KDE ftp server mirrors. RC2 requires qt-2.2.1, which is available from the above locations under the name qt-x11-2.2.1.tar.gz. Please be advised that RC2 will not work with any older versions of Qt. Qt is not part of KDE's release testing.

For further instructions on compiling and installing RC2, please consult the installation instructions and, should you encounter problems, the compilation FAQ.

Installing Binary Packages of KDE 2.0 RC2

Some distributors choose to provide binaries of KDE for certain versions of their distributions. Some of these binary packages for RC2 will be available for free download under ftp://ftp.kde.org/pub/kde/unstable/distribution/2.0RC2/ or under the equivalent directory at one of the many KDE ftp server mirrors. Please note that the KDE team is not responsible for these packages as they are packaged by third parties, typically, but not always, the distributor of the relevant distribution.

RC2 requires qt2.2.1, which is available from the above locations under the name qt-x11-2.2.1 or some variation thereof adopted by the responsible packager. Please be advised that RC2 will not work with any older versions of Qt. Qt is not part of KDE's release testing.

At the time of this release, pre-compiled packages are available for:

• Linux Mandrake
• Redhat 7.0 and RedHat 6.2
• SuSE 6.4 and SuSE 7.0

Check the ftp servers periodically for pre-compiled packages for other distributions. More binary packages will become available over the coming days.

About KDE

KDE is an independent, collaborative project by hundreds of developers worldwide to create a sophisticated, customizable and stable desktop environment employing a component-based, network-transparent architecture. Currently development is focused on KDE 2, which will for the first time offer a free, Open Source, fully-featured office suite and which promises to make the Linux desktop as easy to use as Windows^® and the Macintosh^® while remaining loyal to open standards and empowering developers and users with Open Source software. KDE is working proof of how the Open Source software development model can create first-rate technologies on par with and superior to even the most complex commercial software.

For more information about KDE, please visit KDE's web site.