The K Desktop Environment

Next Previous Table of Contents

3. Getting KDE

3.1 Where do I get KDE?

The main distribution site for KDE is

However, this site is often under heavy load, so you might prefer one of the KDE mirror sites:

You can find an up-to-date list of KDE mirrors at the KDE mirror list.

3.2 Are there Linux distributions that come with KDE?

Yes, major Linux distributions already ship KDE. As building a distribution takes some time, they might not always contain the latest version, but for a start or to avoid downloading from the Internet, they do provide a good starting point.

Below are some of the distributions we know to ship KDE. You can find an up-to-date list of distributions that ship with KDE at the KDE Distribution List.

In addition, some computer magazines are available with a CD containing KDE:

We expect that, once KDE 1.0 is released, all major distributions will come with KDE.

3.3 What is the current version?

Currently, the latest stable version is 1.1.1.

3.4 Where do I find KDE snapshots?

You can get the latest snapshots at ftp://ftp.kde.org/pub/kde/unstable/CVS/snapshots. You might also want to consider setting up your own CVS client in order to maintain the latest snapshot at all times. Please refer to the KDE cvsup page on doing that.

By the way, if you want to know what CVS is, please refer to What is CVS?.

3.5 Where do I get Qt?

Qt is a product of a Norwegian company, Troll Tech. You can always get the latest Qt version from their FTP server:

Troll Tech ftp server

However, you should also be able to get Qt from the above mentioned KDE mirror sites. And with most up-to-date Linux distributions, Qt is already included. Please see Prerequisites for the version of Qt you need.

3.6 What is Qt, by the way?

Qt is a C++ based class library to build user interfaces. It provides most of the widgets you will see in a KDE application: Menus, buttons, sliders etc. Qt is a cross-platform library, which allows you to write code that will compile on Unix as well as the Windows platform. You can learn more about Qt at http://www.troll.no.

Next Previous Table of Contents