The third milestone for my Google Summer of Code 2019’s project porting KDE Connect to Windows involves porting the remaining plugins of the linux build so they work similarly on the Windows build. Cool stuff!
There are a lot of plugins in KDE Connect that improve the user experience by providing various features. The project team keeps working hard (in their free time only as a volunteer service) to maintain and create new feature-rich plugins that comprise the usability of KDE Connect. Information about these plugins and their implementation in the Windows build as on the time of writing the post is stated below:-
| Plugin Name | Description | Works on Windows? | How to Access/ Use? |
|---|---|---|---|
| battery | relays the battery information (%age levels, low battery notification et al)for more info: https://invent.kde.org/kde/kdeconnect-kde/blob/master/plugins/battery/README | ☑ | Right click on the KDE Connect system tray icon -> Low battery notification will show up when battery level goes down a certain amount (depends on other device’s settings) |
| clipboard | syncs the clipboard of connected devices to have same content available on both devices.for more info: https://invent.kde.org/kde/kdeconnect-kde/blob/master/plugins/clipboard/README | ☑ | Works passively; enabled by default.Simply copy some text on one device and it will get to the other device’s clipboard instantly |
| contacts | allows access to contacts of the connected device.for more info: https://invent.kde.org/kde/kdeconnect-kde/blob/master/plugins/contacts/README | ☑ | The contacts are stored as VCards, having one contact file for each contact. These are saved in the kdeconnect configs folder for now. Refer to documentation at community.kde.org/kdeconnect |
| findmyphone | remotely ring your phone from desktop. | ☑ | Right click on the KDE Connect system tray icon -> -> Ring device |
| findthisdevice | remotely ring your desktop from phone | ☑ | FOR ANDROID: Tap the hamburger menu (top right) in the KDE Connect App -> Ring |
| lockdevice | remotely lock the desktop | ❔ | REASON: It can be worked on, if users are interested in this feature 😉 |
| mousepad | allows controlling the mouse cursor from your phone | ☑ | FOR ANDROID: Open KDE Connect App -> Remote Input |
| mpriscontrol | allows controlling the media playback of desktop apps through other devices(play, pause, next, previous) | ❔ | REASON: Technical limitations due to the operating system don’t allow the full experience as seen in the linux build of KDE Connect |
| mprisremote | control the media playback of connected device remotely via your desktop | ❌ | REASON: The implementation is done via plasmoids (part of KDE Plasma) , which are not implemented for Windows in any shape or form. |
| notifications | receive mobile notifications on your PC and interact with them as you would on your mobile phone | ☑ | Works passively, enabled by default. |
| pausemusic | pauses/ mutes any playing media (on desktop) when there is a call on connected mobile | ☑ | Works passively; enabled by default.NOTE: Due to technical limitations of the operating system, we cannot reliably pause any/ every media that was playing when the mobile was called. Hence, on Windows, the desktop volume will only be muted when there is a call, and un-muted accordingly when the user is done with the call. |
| photo | click a photo on your mobile and instantly transfer it to your desktop | ☑ | works from within kdeconnect-cli.exe : kdeconnect-cli.exe -d –photo |
| ping | send a notification to the remote device | ☑ | Open KDE Connect Settings -> Ping |
| presenter | point to items on desktop screen using mobile as a pointing device | ☑ | FOR ANDROID: Open KDE Connect App -> Slideshow Remote -> Tap and hold POINTER button |
| remotecommands | trigger commands predefined on the remote device | ❔ | REASON: It can be worked on, if users are interested in this feature 😉 |
| remotecontrol | Remotely control connected desktop | ❔ | REASON: It can be worked on, if users are interested in this feature 😉 |
| remotekeyboard | Use your keyboard to send key-events to your paired device | ☑ | FOR ANDROID: Open KDE Connect App -> Remote Input -> Keyboard Icon in the top right corner |
| remotesystemvolume | control the volume of other connected desktops | ❔ | REASON: It can be worked on, if users are interested in this feature 😉 |
| runcommand | Execute console commands remotely from mobile | ☑ | Add commands from within KDE Connect Settings -> Run commands plugin -> SettingsTo trigger the added commands:-FOR ANDROID: Open KDE Connect App -> Run Command |
| screensaver-inhibit | prevent your device from going to sleep while connected | ☑ | Works passively.Enable the plugin from KDE Connect Settings |
| sendnotifications | send desktop notifications to your mobile | ❔ | REASON: It can be worked on, if there are enough users who would like to have this feature |
| sftp | Browse the remote device filesystem using SFTP | ☑ | Right click on the KDE Connect system tray icon -> -> Browse device |
| share | share files, text, url from your mobile to desktop | ☑ | FOR ANDROID:-To Share Text: Select some text/ URL -> Share -> KDE Connect -> NOTE: Yes, the software will automatically detect the difference between a simple text and a URL being shared and handle them differently. It’s awesome, I know. 😂To Share File(s): Open KDE Connect App -> Send files |
| sms | Manage mobile’s SMSes from your desktop. Send SMSes and view received ones. | ☑ | Right click on the KDE Connect system tray icon -> -> SMS Messages |
| systemvolume | remotely control the volume of desktop from mobile | ☑ | FOR ANDROID: Open KDE Connect App -> Multimedia Control |
| telephony | notify user on desktop about any incoming/ missed call(s) | ☑ | Works passively; enabled by default |
You can try out the latest build of kdeconnect from this link : https://binary-factory.kde.org/job/kdeconnect-kde_Nightly_win64/
Just head on to this link, and click on the link that says something like kdeconnect-kde-master-XXX-windows-msvc20XX_64-cl.exe
This link will always have the latest build (the latest compiled code on which the developers work) available for you to download, in the foreseeable future! (Yes, bookmark it!)
UPDATE: The binary-factory builds will not have the best support for Windows Notifications until the next release of KDE Frameworks! If you want to try out the latest build, you can either it compile it yourself using the instructions here or I’ll link a build in the comments below, so you can try that out instead too!
I’ll be back with a HOWTO for trying out both types of the build -> 1) as a Windows Store app (.Appx package), 2) as a desktop app (.exe installer)