2002.04_K-Splitter-from Online Banking to Kde 3.pdf

NEWS

MONEY

K-splitter

MATTERS

In this month’s K-

splitter we look at

the financial side of

KDE – banking

online with

Konqueror and

converting money

into euros with

Keurocalc – as well

as tips on

implementing KDE 3

Introduction to the change-over

KDE 3 casts its shadow way before it but before we

all dive in and start using it, it’s always better to be

safe than sorry. That’s why not everyone will want

to throw KDE 2 series overboard straight away. In

fact, it is possible with a little fore thought to use

both KDE 2.2 and KDE 3.0 at the same time.

However, because no two computer are the same,

when it comes to switching over, the more

information the better.

For all those who want to try out KDE 3.0 right

away, we hereby present you with additional sources

of information; firstly on how you can keep your

stable working environment without having to miss

out on experimenting with the new version. You can

find the official introduction, fresh from KDE

Headquarters, at http://www.kde.org/kde2-and-

kde3.html .

A somewhat different approach is taken by Anne-

Marie Mahfouf in her description at

http://women.kde.org/projects/coding/kde2+3.html

(Figure 1). Here you can simply define a separate user

for the use of KDE 3.0, while when you log in as

normal the usual KDE 2.2 will still be at your disposal.

Take care: both instructions use the CVS tree of KDE

3.0 and thus take up quite a bit of disk space. The Qt

version alone, which is indispensable for smooth

Let’s see how it prints!

There is, and always has been, good news to

report from the printer front, so what could be

better than giving the KDEPrint-Project its very

own Web site? At http://printing.kde.org you will

find chatter and gossip from the printer scene,

enriched by FAQs, Tips and Tricks and Tutorials on

the subject of printing under KDE.

If you’d like to join this project: Chris Howells

and co. have set up a KDEPrint mailing list, and

you can register on it at http://mail.kde.org/

mailman/listinfo/kde-print .

CVS tree: When several

developers are working on a

software project, there is a

particular need for a

procedure which prevents

anyone unintentionally over-

writing amendments made

by their co-programmers, or

destroying the sole working

version. Many projects

therefore use a “Concurrent

Versions System”. An older

development version can be

rebuilt at any time from a

CVS file tree, but it is mostly

used to distribute the latest

program code.

running, demands 120Mb of your hard disk. For KDE

itself you will have to factor in at least an extra

600Mb of spare disk space.

Users of KDE 2.2 may also wish to re-optimise their

system. For this, Oliwier Ptak has provided an

introduction, explaining how to build optimal KDE-

2.2.2 binary packages from the sources. This can be

found at http://www.userlocal.com/articles/

kde222/kde222fromsource.htm .

Konqueror and the banks

Unfortunately aggro with the bank is something that

happens frequently, however this isn’t always

necessarily to do with unpaid bills. Sometimes it’s just

Figure 1: Simply define a new user for KDE 3.0!

Figure 2: Does your bank get along with Konqueror?

LINUX MAGAZINE

Issue 19 • 2002

NEWS

that the browser simply won’t do what you want

when it comes to the increasingly popular online

banking – and it’s still Linux users who are at a

disadvantage.

This is a situation Oliver Strutynski wants to

change. Bugged by the fact that his favourite

browser, Konqueror, didn’t work on one or two

financial sites, he has now set up a homepage to

point out the black – and thank heavens, also the

white – sheep among financial service providers.

At http://home.in.tum.de/strutyns/banking you’ll

find, neatly arranged by countries, a list of banks and

how they cope with the KDE browser. If your bank

has a green field, you’re in luck: no problems there.

But even for all those who have already encountered

problems, the site is well worth a visit: for those

banks marked out in yellow there are some tricks and

tips from other users, which may help you to handle

banking transactions with Konqueror.

Active participation is also required: at the end of

the site you will find an input box, in which you can

enter banks not yet listed and potential workarounds

for known problem children.

The euro is here

If you found handling

exchange rates a

problem before the

introduction of the euro,

then it’s unlikely that

things have become any

simpler. For those who

are struggling with

conversion rates, there’s

a new lifeline in the form

of Keurocalc (Figure 3).

You can find the latest

version at

http://www.caldera

.de/~eric/keurocalc/ .

In addition to pure

conversion, Keurocalc

also makes a marvellous pocket calculator, so that when you are buying

something new you can not only find out in seconds what this fun is costing

you, but you can also find out whether you can actually afford it all...

Tips and tricks on dealing with the euro symbol within KDE and KOffice can

be found at http://www.koffice.org/kword/euro.phtml .

Read me!

Hong Feng, a former employee at O’Reilly &

Associates in Peking, has started an ambitious new

project. His online magazine, the “Free Software

Magazine”, will not only be about the world of Free

software but will also follow its principles. The

approval of the Free software scene is

correspondingly great: the magazine is officially

supported by the FSF (Free Software Foundation). The

FSF chairman, Richard Stallman, has himself insisted

on contributing the editorial for the first issue, which

you can see for yourself at http://www.rons.net.

cn/english/FSM/RMS_preface .

Figure 5: Magazine founder Hong Feng

with the FSF chairman Richard Stallmann

(FDL) is given preference, and you can look up its

principles at http://www.gnu.org/licenses/

licenses.html#FDL .

Figure 4: The Free Software Magazine

Summit conference

A whole range of KDE developers were invited to

FOSDEM ( F ree and O pen Source S oftware

De velopment M eeting, http://www.fosdem.org/ ),

which took place this year on 16 and 17 February in

Brussels. In addition to swapping news, there was

also a chance to hack and the developers were

provided with a KDE room of their own. Many turned

up and lectures were well attended. The weekend

was a great success. A British contingent flew the

flag and some even managed to sample some of the

Belgium beer.

But what does all this have to do with KDE? A

great deal, since Hong Feng is still looking for authors

to write articles to do with KDE and Qt software

development. The only condition for this: the articles

submitted must be under a recognised Open Source

Licence. The “GNU Free Documentation License”

Issue 19 • 2002

LINUX MAGAZINE

Figure 3: The right computer makes

dealing with the euro easier

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