The first beta release of the MiDesktop project, a fork of the KDE 1.1.2 desktop environment adapted for modern systems, has been released. To address issues and eliminate licensing restrictions specific to the Qt 1 branch, the KDE 1 codebase has been ported to the Osiris framework, which develops an updated fork of Qt 2.3.2. MiDesktop's code is distributed under the GPLv2 license. Ready-to-use builds are available for Debian 13 and Ubuntu 24.04.
MiDesktop's key features include a simple interface, lightweight design, and high performance. The developers strive to maintain the overall minimalist approach to desktop development from the late 1990s and early 2000s, while eliminating the shortcomings inherent to those systems and modernizing the KDE 1 codebase without overloading the user environment with unnecessary functionality.
To run MiDesktop, any Linux- systems with glibc and an X server, such as XWayland or X.Org Server, or the Wayback layer. Dependencies include libjpeg, libtiff, libpng, Osiris Toolkit 2.4.4+, libxcb, libxkb, and gettext. CMake and GCC 12+ are required for building.
Changes in the beta release include:
- Added a new MiPanel taskbar based on the KPanel version supplied with Corel Linux.
- KCalc, KHexdit, KScreenshot, Ark and KNotes applications have been ported.
- Full support for scrolling using the mouse wheel has been implemented (previously, scrolling only worked when the cursor was placed on the scroll bar).
- Correct display of fonts has been ensured (antialiasing did not work previously).
- Fixed issues with menus disappearing and accidental clicks on the panel.
- Tree-like display of lists in KDE Control Center has been improved.
- Resolved issues with resizing windows of GTK applications such as Firefox that caused part of the window to shift outside the visible area.
Source: opennet.ru
