SuperKaramba

Infobox Software
name = SuperKaramba



caption = SuperKaramba theme "Aero AIO"
developer = SuperKaramba project
latest_release_version = 0.51 (KDE4)
latest_release_date = 19 July 2008
genre = Application software
operating_system = Linux
platform = KDE
license = GNU General Public License
website = http://netdragon.sourceforge.net/

SuperKaramba is a tool that allows one to easily create functionality enhancement modules on a KDE desktop. Currently, only Linux is officially supported, although it also works well on FreeBSD and NetBSD. This program is similar to gDesklets for GNOME, Yahoo! Widget Engine for Windows and Mac OS X, DesktopX for Windows, and Dashboard for Mac OS X and also the 'gadgets' subset of Google Desktop for Microsoft Windows.

The interactive programs are usually embedded directly into the background and do not disturb the normal view of the desktop. The use of SuperKaramba is not limited to KDE, but certain libraries from KDE are required. SuperKaramba is included in KDE 3.5.

How it works

Authors use text files to create themes that define their widget. They then have the option of adding a Python, Ruby or JavaScript script to make the widget interactive.

Possible uses

* Interactive weather forecasts
* Control and announcement of MP3 playing with XMMS or Amarok
* Calendar and notes
* Original clocks
* System monitor for CPU, network, non-removable disks
* Notification of new messages in mailboxes
* News tickers and RSS aggregators
* Animated menu bars
* Custom toolbars
* Search tools

History

Karamba was originally written by Hans Karlsson as a school project in March 2003. [http://www.efd.lth.se/~d98hk/karamba/ (Broken link)] It gained a lot of popularity when it was uploaded to kde-look [ [http://www.kde-look.org/content/show.php?content=5561 Karamba KDE-Look.org ] ] and people began writing themes for it. Karamba only functioned on text files that were written with pseudo-xml format. It became so popular so quickly that Hans had to hand over the project to others who had time to expand upon what he had begun.

By the end of April 2003, Adam Geitgey [ [http://www.kde-look.org/usermanager/search.php?username=ageitgey ageitgey's profile KDE-Look.org ] ] took over maintenance of the project. He added python scripting support to karamba, which is where it took on a new name, SuperKaramba. Adam kept the project alive, added new features and applied patches from other developers until around April 2005. At that point a group of developers who wanted to move SuperKaramba even further, pushed to get it included in a KDE major release.

SuperKaramba was integrated into KDE 3.5 [ [http://developer.kde.org/development-versions/kde-3.5-features.html KDE Developer's Corner - KDE 3.5 Feature Plan ] ] as part of the kdeutils package, and some of the ideas that it presents have become part of KDE 4’s desktop and panel interface called Plasma, which also has support for the SuperKaramba widgets.

See also

* Comparison of widget engines
* Widget engine

Notes and references

External links

* [http://netdragon.sourceforge.net/ Sourceforge Project Homepage]
* [http://www.kde-look.org/index.php?xcontentmode=38 Karamba Themes at kde-look.org]
* [http://techbase.kde.org/Development/Tutorials/SuperKaramba SuperKaramba Tutorial]
* [http://www.biodesign.com.ar/blog/?cat=2 Karamba Themes at Biodesign.com.ar]