[ Thanks to Steve
Mallett for this link. ]
“KDE is, by design, a fully networked desktop. Network files are
accessible as readily and easily as local files from most
applications. This is accomplished through special protocol
handlers built into KDE, known as I/O slaves. These handlers
implement a specific network protocol such as HTTP, FTP, or IMAP,
and transparently interact with applications when they try to open
a URL that requires that protocol.“In the KDE Info Center you will find a category called
Protocols. If you select this category, you will be presented with
a list of all the protocol handlers installed, and selecting a
given handler will display some usage help (where available) in a
panel to the right…”