There's nothing left. In about 120 hours the launch of KDE Plasma 6, Frameworks 6 and the applications of February 2024, to which Qt6 will be added moments later in systems such as KDE neon. It is a historic moment for the project, similar to other leaps of this magnitude, but with the difference that now we are facing something truly mature. After that moment we will have to continue moving forward and today interesting details of what is to come have been revealed.
For example, I find it worth noting that they have improved the presentation that links the overview and present windows, making there only one option to configure their behavior. There is also room on the list for plasma 5.27.11, with more fixes for the latest version of the 5 series which is also an LTS.
New Features Coming to KDE
- Although there is no real session restore in Wayland yet (it is still waiting for the protocol to be finalized), there is now a fake session restore that simply reopens the applications we had open at the last logout and trusts that have appropriately stored their own state internally (David Edmundson, Plasma 6.1).
- In the effect of the Overview and Present windows, the way the windows are arranged is no longer configurable between two imperfect options; Now there is only one layout algorithm and it is waaaaaay better than the old one (Yifan Zhu, Plasma 6.1).
Interface improvements
- When dragging a file or folder over another folder in Dolphin with the option enabled that opens the folder if we hold the dragged file there for a moment, the mouseover folder now shows a small animation showing it opening a little – It is worth watching the video from the original link at the end of this post – (Felix Ernst, Dolphin 24.05).
- Headphones that correctly report battery status now benefit from a nice icon in all Plasma locations that can display battery status (Severin Von Wnuck-Lipinski Plasma 6.1).
- The desktop context menu has lost its "Refresh" action, which was infrequently used and didn't fix most of the missing icon issues people might want to use it for. You can still update manually with F5 if necessary (Nate Graham, Plasma 6.1).
Error correction
- When an iPhone or other Apple mobile device is connected to the machine via a cable, and that phone has a name with an apostrophe in it (for example, "Konqi's iPhone"), it now works (Kai Uwe Broulik, kio-extras 24.02 ).
- Fixed the most common KWin crash on X11, which usually occurred when changing the screen layout (Xaver Hugl, Plasma 5.27.11).
- Changing the address, name style, paper size, or phone numbers on the Region & Language page of system settings now takes effect (Timo Velten, Plasma 5.27.11).
- Fixed an issue that could cause the screen to go black with only a moving cursor after switching from a virtual terminal to another with certain graphics hardware (Jakob Petsovits, Plasma 5.27.11).
- Wind speed now correctly updates with time in the forecasts provided by EnvCan in the Weather widget (Ismael Asensio, Plasma 5.27.11).
- Fixed a bug that could cause dragging and dropping task manager icons to sometimes stop working (Fushan Wen, Plasma 6.0).
- KWin's Zoom effect can now fully zoom into all areas of complex multi-screen setups (Michael VanOverbeek, KWin 6.0).
- A process called "ksmserver-logout-greeter" no longer appears in the task manager while the logout screen is visible (Akseli Lahtinen, Plasma 6.0).
- Fixed a visual bug that could cause window outlines to be slightly disconnected from their windows in certain window sizes when using certain fractional scaling factors (Akseli Lahtinen, Plasma 6.0.1).
- Fixed a visual issue that could cause windows on rotated screens to briefly rotate incorrectly after becoming visible when using the Slide effect (Vlad Zahorodnii, Plasma 6.0.1).
- Fixed a bug where KWin could crash when using the relatively old NVIDIA 340 series drivers (Vlad Zahorodnii, Plasma 6.0.1).
- Fixed Plasma crashing when restarted manually with systemd (Harald Sitter, Plasma 6.1. Link).
- The shortcut selector in the panel settings dialog now respects its Plasma style color scheme as expected (Marco Martin, Frameworks 6.0).
- Toast-style notifications sent by Kirigami-based applications no longer visually overflow when they contain a large amount of text (Jack Hill, Frameworks 6.0).
In total, 169 bugs have been fixed this week.
When will this all come to KDE?
plasma 5.27.11 It should arrive this month, although I cannot confirm it because it is not in the official information. Plasma 6, KDE Frameworks 6 and KDE Gear 24.02.0 will arrive on Tuesday. 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. Plasma 6.0.1 will be released on Tuesday, March 5.
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.