KDE Plasma 5.27 sounds like a really great update to this desktop environment, the same one used on the desktop mode for the Steam Deck and my personal choice for my PC too.
Coming in on Valentines Day and the "I Love Free Software Day" (that's apparently a thing?), it brings an absolute ton of enhancements to the desktop experience including a new introduction wizard to guide you through a first time install that might help a few confused users. There's also a window tiling system, updates to app themes, upgrades to the widgets system, adjustments to system settings so it's not so overloaded, Discover now supports full Steam Deck system upgrades and so much more.
KDE Plasma 5.27 is also a Long Term Support release so it will continue to see fixes until some time in 2024 when the next LTS release of Plasma becomes available.
Some of the other changes includes:
- Multi-monitor overhaul: Those of you who use multiple monitors should benefit greatly from a major overhaul of how Plasma handles them. Arrangements will now be more robust, without the chance of panels and desktops getting lost after monitors are unplugged or re-arranged.
- Use global shortcuts to run terminal commands: The Shortcuts page in the System Settings utility now lets you configure keyboard shortcuts not only for apps, but also to launch terminal commands and scripts.
- Activate "Do Not Disturb" mode from the command line: If you spend most of the time in the terminal and are being overwhelmed with notifications, just type
kde-inhibit --notificationsand Plasma will enter "Do Not Disturb" mode.- Send windows to Activities: Do you use Activities to compartmentalize your private work, public life, and play time? If so, now you can move or copy windows to one, some or all of your Activities by right-clicking on the titlebar and choosing where you want it to go.
- Save power with one keystroke: While on the lock screen, hit the Esc key to turn off the screen and save some power.
- Customized menu entries. If you like customizing how apps launch, KDE's Menu Editor has always let you set environment variables when opening your apps, but now it's much easier to do so, as Plasma 5.27 gives the editor a specific text box for exactly that purpose.
By far my favourite bit is the focus on multi-monitor support, which has been a real nuisance at times. Looking forward to seeing that in action on both my Desktop and my often-docked Steam Deck. Hopefully now there will be less dancing around to get it to actually remember layouts.
As for when to expect the update? That all depends on what Linux distribution you use for Desktop Linux. For Steam Deck specifically, it will likely come in the next major SteamOS update.
See the full announcement for more.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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15 comments
Oh sweet bajesus let this be the end of monitor issues. It’s torture whatever code was written before.
In testing for Arch: https://archlinux.org/packages/?sort=&q=Plasma-desktop
Probably already available in KDE Neon.
Last edited by itscalledreality on 14 February 2023 at 7:10 pm UTC
In testing for Arch: https://archlinux.org/packages/?sort=&q=Plasma-desktop
Probably already available in KDE Neon.
Last edited by itscalledreality on 14 February 2023 at 7:10 pm UTC
0 Likes
If I remember correctly, Plasma 5.27 is the version which adds initial rpm-ostree support to Discover. This is huge for me as it offers GUI support for updating Fedora Kinoite to both minor and major releases.
Recently, I discovered (no pun) that Kinoite works quite well as a refuge for non-techy ex-Windows 10 users. They wanted a familiar default UI that works on whatever new/old (non-Nvidia) hardware they threw at me, and for my sanity I wanted a distribution that was immutable. Kinoite does this, and does it well considering its young age. I have much less concern with users updating their own OS if it is immutable, just needed GUI support. Hopefully the wait is now over! The cherry on top (for me) is that the last item on my "new user distro must haves list" is being taken care of in Fedora 38 Silverblue (hopefully Kinoite too), which is unfiltered Flathub access.
I guess time will tell if my distribution choice will give future me a load of headaches, but for now it has been a lifesaver.
Last edited by Numeric on 14 February 2023 at 8:02 pm UTC
Recently, I discovered (no pun) that Kinoite works quite well as a refuge for non-techy ex-Windows 10 users. They wanted a familiar default UI that works on whatever new/old (non-Nvidia) hardware they threw at me, and for my sanity I wanted a distribution that was immutable. Kinoite does this, and does it well considering its young age. I have much less concern with users updating their own OS if it is immutable, just needed GUI support. Hopefully the wait is now over! The cherry on top (for me) is that the last item on my "new user distro must haves list" is being taken care of in Fedora 38 Silverblue (hopefully Kinoite too), which is unfiltered Flathub access.
I guess time will tell if my distribution choice will give future me a load of headaches, but for now it has been a lifesaver.
Last edited by Numeric on 14 February 2023 at 8:02 pm UTC
4 Likes, Who?
Dana Souly Feb 14, 2023
Awesome.
I do like XFCE better, but this Multi-monitor overhaul could convince me to test KDE again.
I do like XFCE better, but this Multi-monitor overhaul could convince me to test KDE again.
0 Likes
I really hope multi monitor support is sorted......
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I see 5.27 is still under 'test' on the arch repo's. Any idea when those will get released?
0 Likes
slaapliedje Feb 14, 2023
In case anyone was wondering, the new Debian Stable (Bookworm) should release with 5.27 of Plasma Desktop.
2 Likes, Who?
fenglengshun Feb 15, 2023
I see 5.27 is still under 'test' on the arch repo's. Any idea when those will get released?It's usually a matter of days -- Arch packagers are usually faster at testing and releasing Arch than GNOME for some reason (as I recall a case where GNOME users being annoyed how long it took for them to release it.
In case anyone was wondering, the new Debian Stable (Bookworm) should release with 5.27 of Plasma Desktop.Nice. It is supposed to be the LTS release as the final Plasma 5 point release so it really would have been a shame if Debian didn't get it for their next release.
Also, I didn't even know `kde-inhibit` is a thing.
0 Likes
The new tiling stuff really is amazing. Together with the better multimonitor experience they surely are right about 'the best plasma release ever' ^^
0 Likes
If I remember correctly, Plasma 5.27 is the version which adds initial rpm-ostree support to Discover. This is huge for me as it offers GUI support for updating Fedora Kinoite to both minor and major releases.
Recently, I discovered (no pun) that Kinoite works quite well as a refuge for non-techy ex-Windows 10 users. They wanted a familiar default UI that works on whatever new/old (non-Nvidia) hardware they threw at me, and for my sanity I wanted a distribution that was immutable. Kinoite does this, and does it well considering its young age. I have much less concern with users updating their own OS if it is immutable, just needed GUI support. Hopefully the wait is now over! The cherry on top (for me) is that the last item on my "new user distro must haves list" is being taken care of in Fedora 38 Silverblue (hopefully Kinoite too), which is unfiltered Flathub access.
I guess time will tell if my distribution choice will give future me a load of headaches, but for now it has been a lifesaver.
Kinoite sounds interesting. Is it Fedora Silverblue but with KDE instead of Gnome?
1 Likes, Who?
officernice Feb 15, 2023
Awesome.
I do like XFCE better, but this Multi-monitor overhaul could convince me to test KDE again.
The lack of that is actually what pushed me away from XFCE. However, I jumped to i3 also to save resources as I am only rocking 8GB.
0 Likes
Yes!!!!!! Ok ... I do love me some multi monitor improvements (although I don't really have much to complain about currently) but this has got me super happy!!
"Save power with one keystroke: While on the lock screen, hit the Esc key to turn off the screen and save some power."
WOOOO!!! Biggest thing I missed when I changed distros from popos with its custom gnome to manjaro with kde. I know, might seem trivial, but I hated waiting for my monitors to time out, especially at night.
"Save power with one keystroke: While on the lock screen, hit the Esc key to turn off the screen and save some power."
WOOOO!!! Biggest thing I missed when I changed distros from popos with its custom gnome to manjaro with kde. I know, might seem trivial, but I hated waiting for my monitors to time out, especially at night.
0 Likes
Nice!
One thing Fedora users may enjoy, if you use Kinoite - ie the KDE version of Silverblue, with KDE 5.27 Discover now officially supports rpm-ostree.
What that means that is if you're using Kinoite, you'll be able to perform full system updates from the GUI; as opposed to needing to use "rpm-ostree update" command for system updates going forward.
This will be available straight away with Fedora 38 and I believe 5.27 is planned to hit Fedora 37 at some point.
Last edited by BlackBloodRum on 15 February 2023 at 4:40 pm UTC
One thing Fedora users may enjoy, if you use Kinoite - ie the KDE version of Silverblue, with KDE 5.27 Discover now officially supports rpm-ostree.
What that means that is if you're using Kinoite, you'll be able to perform full system updates from the GUI; as opposed to needing to use "rpm-ostree update" command for system updates going forward.
This will be available straight away with Fedora 38 and I believe 5.27 is planned to hit Fedora 37 at some point.
Last edited by BlackBloodRum on 15 February 2023 at 4:40 pm UTC
1 Likes, Who?
Kinoite sounds interesting. Is it Fedora Silverblue but with KDE instead of Gnome?
Yup. Here's the project's official text from their docs:
What is Fedora Kinoite’s relationship with Fedora Silverblue, Fedora IoT and Fedora CoreOS?https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/fedora-kinoite/faq/
Fedora Kinoite uses the same core technology as Fedora Silverblue, Fedora IoT and Fedora CoreOS. However, Kinoite is specifically focused on workstation/desktop use cases with the KDE Plasma desktop.
1 Likes, Who?
The Wayland implementation is just out of this world. My desktop has a smoother experience than on Windows now. This really has been one of the biggest issues with x11, super glad they solved it.
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