We are gradually approaching the moment when the big change of 6 will be available for users of KDE. It will be available, but it seems unlikely to me that many projects will make the leap without hesitation. The neon ones will, but others, among which I would include Kubuntu, could wait many months. It's a big leap, and I think it will take time for perfection to take hold.
Already in March we will return to another normality, to that of the 6th, and software such as the May 2024 applications will begin to arrive. That is what Nate Graham began to talk about today, with four of them among which I would highlight that Spectacle will be capable to read QR codes in screenshots. Let's go with the News list.
Post-Mega-Launch
- KCalc now shows the operation we have entered next to the result (Gabriel Barrantes, KCalk 24.05):
- Spectacle now scans QR codes in screenshots and offers the opportunity to open their links (Dinesh Manajipet, Spectacle 24.05).
- The weather widget now displays weather alerts for US locations using the NOAA weather backend (Ismael Asensio, Plasma 6.1).
- The drawing tablet page of System Settings can now be used to configure pen or tablet buttons to act as modifier keys instead of triggering actions (Tino Lorenz, Plasma 6.1).
KDE 6 Mega-Release: interface improvements
- It is no longer possible to drag an application or window from the Task Manager to another part of its panel, accidentally creating a launcher widget from it (Niccolò Venerandi).
- Scrolling through the volume sliders in the Audio Volume widget and System Preferences page now scrolls in increments of the user-configured volume step, instead of changing the volume by 1% for each scroll mark or do nothing (Yifan Zhu).
- In Plasma Wayland session, two screens can now be mirrored on the Display Settings page of System Preferences using a visible combobox, not just by the hidden method of dragging one screen on top of another in the display area (Yifan Zhu ).
Error correction
- The all-important Wobbly Windows effect works again when using the Zoom effect to zoom in on something (Vlad Zahorodnii).
- On the Cursors page of System Preferences, the preview of available cursor sizes is now the correct size when using a scaling factor greater than 100% (Yifan Zhu).
- Now when changing the name, icon, command, etc. of an app marked as a favorite in Kickoff, the item is updated immediately, rather than the changes taking effect after restarting Plasma (Marco Martin).
- Fixed a bug that could cause panels in Auto Hide mode or the new Dodge Windows mode to be improperly unhidden and locked in a non-hidden state when display settings changed in certain ways (Yifan Zhu).
- Fixed several issues that caused keyboard shortcuts using the number keys on the numeric keypad to not register correctly in X11 and Wayland sessions (Nicolas Fella and Eugene Popov).
- It is no longer possible to open a widget's "Alternatives" popup multiple times (Niccolò Venerandi).
In total, 150 bugs have been fixed this week.
When will this all come to KDE?
plasma 5.27.11 and Frameworks 115 will arrive in February. Plasma 28, KDE Frameworks 2024 and KDE Gear 6 will arrive on February 6, 24.02.0. The next major update of the applications will land in May, and the next one will probably return to the usual schedule of April-August-December.
To enjoy all this as soon as possible we have to add the repository backports of KDE, use an operating system with special repositories like Kde neon or any distribution whose development model is Rolling Release.
Images and content: pointieststick.com.