Page 43 - DCAP602_NETWORK_OPERATING_SYSTEMS_I

Unit 2: RedHat Linux Basics

aRts Multimedia Architecture notes

KDE 2.0 introduced a new multimedia architecture based on aRts, the Analog Realtime
Synthesizer. aRts enables playing multiple audio or video streams concurrently, whether on the
desktop or over a network. ARts is a full-featured sound system, and includes filters, a modular
analog synthesizer and a mixer. Its architecture allows developers to create additional filter
plugins and users to apply sequences of filters using a graphical drag-n-drop approach. Video
support is available for MPEG versions 1, 2 and 4 (experimental), as well as the AVI and DivX
formats.

Customizability

KDE’s customizability touches every aspect of this next-generation desktop. KDE’s sophisticated
theme support starts with Qt’s style engine, which permits developers and artists to create their
own widget designs. KDE ships with over 14 of these styles, some of which emulate the look
of various operating systems. Other configuration options permit users to: choose among icon
themes and system sounds (using a simple drop-and-replace approach); configure key bindings;
select from over 50 languages; customize toolbar layouts and entries and menu composition;
employ single-click or double-click to activate desktop items; navigate the desktop using a
keyboard instead of a mouse; and much, much more. Moreover, KDE fully supports Unicode
and KHTML is the only free HTML rendering engine on GNU/Linux/X11 that features nascent
support for BiDi scripts such as Arabic and Hebrew.

Standards Compliance

Besides the exceptional compliance with Internet and file-sharing standards mentioned above,
KDE achieves exceptional compliance with the available GNU/Linux desktop standards. KWin,
KDE’s new re-engineered window manager, complies to the new Window Manager Specification.
Konqueror and KDE comply to the Desktop Entry Standard. KDE generally complies with the
X Drag-and-Drop (XDND) protocol as well as with the X11R6 session management protocol
(XSMP).
the k Development environment as Development platform

KDE offers developers a rich set of major technologies. Chief among these are the Desktop
COmmunication Protocol (DCOP), the I/O libraries (KIO), the component object model (KParts),
an XML-based GUI class, and a standards-compliant HTML rendering engine (KHTML).

DCOP Messaging

DCOP is a client-to-client communications protocol intermediated by a server over the standard
X11 ICE library. The protocol supports both message passing and remote procedure calls using
an XML-RPC to DCOP “gateway”. Bindings for C, C++ and Python, as well as experimental Java
bindings, are available.

KIO Network Technology

KIO implements application I/O in a separate process to enable a non-blocking GUI without
the use of threads. The class is network transparent and hence can be used seamlessly to access
HTTP, FTP, POP, IMAP, NFS, SMB, LDAP and local files. Moreover, its modular and extensible
design permits developers to “drop in” additional protocols, such as WebDAV, which will then
automatically be available to all KDE applications. KIO also implements a trader which can locate
handlers for specified mimetypes; these handlers can then be embedded within the requesting
application using the KParts technology.

LoveLy professionaL university 37