Consider this situation. You have multiple programs installed for a particular file type. Now double clicking it opens an application, but you want it to open in another application.

For example, you want your images to open in showFoto instead of Gwenview, so how do you go about doing this? Let me show you how to do so!

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The release KDE4 brought in the new kickoff menu, the slab-style menu which was first introduced in openSUSE 10.2. The premise is simple – instead of unfolding menu after menu, the submenu opens within the menu itself. What makes the Kickoff a killer is the inclusion of search.

While I love Kickoff menu and can’t live without it, lot many people prefer the old KDE style menu.

So lets see how to get the old traditional K Menu back – it’s simple, no editing of config files required!

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Plasmoids are the little widgets that have made an appearance with KDE4. Plasmoids can basically do anything – from displaying your desktop and associated wallpaper to showing your laptop’s battery level,or even display the latest comics or post a tweet to twitter. While KDE 4 comes with some plasmoids, you can add extra plasmoids which do other things – from displaying your current system status to showing your current GPU temperature. Lets see how to do so.

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It’s no secret that KDE4.0 didn’t get good reviews. Fact is it was heavily criticized, mainly for instability problems. So much so that it was argued that KDE 4.0 shouldn’t have been pushed out as a .0 release. But that was past, and today KDE 4.1 was released. Judging from the reactions, its no doubt that the KDE team has almos redeemed its mistakes of the 4.0 release.

Linux.com carries a review of KDE4.1, and here’s what they say

One of the most controversial announcements during the KDE 4.1 development cycle was the reported removal of icons for the desktop. In actuality, desktop icons are not missing from the new version, they’re just handled differently. This version introduces a Folder View plasmoid, which is a container you can place on the desktop that can show the contents of any directory.

As far as eye candy, KDE 4.1 looks simply stunning. While its theme uses the same foundation as 4.0, the developers have improved it with many tweaks.

Some of the most notable new features in KDE 4.1 include the introduction of the minimalistic Dragon Player for videos, tree view and tabbed browsing features in Dolphin, and several improvements in Gwenview, such as a thumbnail bar and the repositioning of the rotate and full screen options to easier to reach places to minimize mouse movement.

TuxMachines has a collection of reviews of  KDE4.1, you might want to check it out.

For those who want to try KDE4.1, openSUSE KDE4.1 Live CD is available, download it from here.
If you’re already using openSUSE 11, upgrade to KDE4.1 using the 1-click installer.

KDE 4.1 Alpha 1 was just released, and it looks very promising indeed! Here’s what bastion of PolishLinux had to say:

Desktop

First thing worth noticing is the new looks of KRunner. Unfortunately, on the current stage, it behaves in an unpredictable manner. In some cases after typing one letter I had to wait a few seconds for KRunner to catch it and prompt me with a list of available choices. What is more, it randomly hung up completely, exceeding the maximum response time, forcing KWin to kindly ask me to kill it.

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Korneliusz Jarzebski, the autor polishlinux has posted a neat article on visual changes in KDE 4.1. Amongst new features include an option in the taskbar to Show tasks from the current screen only, ability to resize Kickoff menu. Kwin also gains the Coverswitch   effect, which is a visual effect similar to Cover Flow in Compiz Fusion and in MacOS and one of the neatest effects, I might add). Marble, the geography app also gains a new view & the maps can be watched using Globe, Flat and Mercator views. Amarok in particular has gone through some visual and backend changes. The default and non-changable backend is now Phonon.A new Plasma applet,  the one displaying the information obout currently performing artist basing on Wikipedia has also been added.

Watch the screenshots over at polishlinux