Introduction

Feisty Fawn, the current name of the latest development branch of Kubuntu, will expand on the brand new infrastructure that has landed in Edgy as well as branching out in some exciting new directions. Feature development in the Feisty Fawn release will be improvements to hardware support in the laptop, desktop and high-end server market, and aggressive adoption of emerging desktop technologies.

Herd 4 is the fourth in a series of milestone CD images that will be released throughout the Feisty development cycle as images known to be reasonably free of CD-build or installer bugs. They represent very current snapshots of Feisty. Kubuntu 7.04, Feisty Fawn, Herd 4 releases can be downloaded from the following URL:

• http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/releases/feisty/

NOTE: This is an alpha (pre-) release. Pre-release version of Feisty are NOT encouraged for anyone needing a stable system or for anyone who is not comfortable running into occasional, even frequent, breakage. Pre-release versions of Feisty ARE recommended for Kubuntu developers and those who want to help in testing, reporting, and fixing bugs.

Screenshots are available at: http://www.thecodingstudio.com/opensource/linux/?q=node/55

New In Feisty Herd 4

Feisty Fawn Herd 4 CD release brings with it many new and exciting applications. For this latest release of Kubuntu 7.04, usability looks to be the common theme. Besides usability there have been updates to many common applications as well as a changing in the default database application in Kubuntu. With every new pre-release, updates will be documented allowing you to thoroughly test your Kubuntu 7.04 installation. Remember that all of these features are part of a pre-release version of Kubuntu, and may still have issues. We ask that any problems you come across that you file a bug, if one has yet to be filed for your problem.BR https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+filebug

Adept Changes

Adept has had another overhaul here recently bringing new features, bug fixes, and probably the biggest change and the most wanted change... Universe and Multiverse repositories are now enabled by default.

Konqueror Flash Plugin Installer

Konqueror now allows installation of Flash 9

Logout

KMenu -> Logout... BR

Herd 4 brings a new layout for the beginning of the logout or shutdown process. The next two sections highlight these changes which can be viewed by the image below.

Logout Dialog

The logout dialog has changed drastically from the previous layouts. Now the options are provided as large icons with identification text in a simple yet effective window. Note the new layout in the above image.

Logout fade

The new fade which can be noticed when logging out or shutting down, is totally different from previous releases. The new fade rolls in from the top and continues until the screen has a smoked look to it. Note the new fade coming down halfway in the above image.

Support for more laptop buttons

Out-of-the-box experience for laptop users is improved by support of more laptop buttons. If your laptop has special button for Battery, Suspend or Hibernate action, it is very likely that these keys will perform the right function (by using Guidance Power Manager). If this is not the case, please provide more info about your laptop keys on KubuntuLaptopKeycodes page and we will try to improve it before final release.

The default action for Power button was also changed: on the system with single logged user, it will ask user about the action to be performed with new Logout dialog (as presented in previous topic).

Network presence detection in KMail

If you use KNetworkManager (which is default since Herd3), then your Kontact/KMail will be aware about network presence and will not complain if you get disconnected from the network temporarily and will reconnect automatically when network becomes available.

Kicker Layout

The Kicker in Kubuntu Herd 4 has changed drastically over the previous default layouts making it now only cleaner, but a lot more functional. For one, there are now only 3 large icons to the left of the Kicker (KMenu, Show Desktop, and System Menu), a compact quick launcher (Konqueror, Kontact, Amarok, and Kopete), and 2 virtual workspaces/desktops instead of 4. This not only creates more room, but it also provides a quick way to launch the popular applications.

Apport

Apport is a crash handler for non KDE applications and can report detail bug reports into Ubuntu bug tracking system. For more background information see ["Apport"] page.

Feedback

We want to hear what you think about the current release of Kubuntu 7.04, The Feisty Fawn, Herd 4 CD Release. We want to know if it Rocks, if it is just OK, or it is flat out wrong. No matter the feedback, as long as it is in line with the [http://www.ubuntu.com/community/conduct Ubuntu Code of Conduct] we would like to hear it.

So what are you waiting for, head on over to the [:FeistyFawn/Herd4/Kubuntu/Feedback:Feedback Page] and let us know!