This week, June 10-16, has been an important week when it comes to KDE releases. First, the KDE community released plasma 5.16, the latest version of its graphical environment that came with many new features. It is true that he has come up with a problem (at least in my team), but the general feeling is positive. Later came the KDE Applications 19.04.2, which further enhances the KDE suite of apps. But KDE Community does not rest and they have already published a new entry from KDE Usability & Productivity speaking of what they plan to release next.
The 75th week of KDE Usability & Productivity does not attract as much attention as previous weeks, but it does include VERY outstanding news. Personally, I had yet to read anything about anything related to Night light but, from the looks of it, they had mentioned it weeks ago. Whether it's the first time or not, the truth is that we will soon be able to improve our circadian cycle thanks to a new function that basically helps our body understand that it is already dark. Here we tell you everything you need to know.
KDE Usability & Productivity 75: Less New, But Some Highlights
Explained quickly and badly, when we are looking at a screen with the default colors, our body "understands" that we are looking at a window that "tells" us that it is daytime. If "it is daylight", it is not until we turn off the screen that it begins to prepare for sleep. That can be avoided by removing some blue tones. In Linux we have long had Red shift, but it does not work as well as we could hope for because it is not integrated into the system. Ubuntu offers "Night Light" or Night Light since Ubuntu 17.10, but Kubuntu / Plasma lack this feature. Yes, we can use it in Plasma 5.17 in what I think is the highlight (for me it is the first time I read it) of week 75 of KDE Usability & Productivity. Your name, night color.
The most important thing about this novelty is not the function itself (the aforementioned Red Shift already existed), but that will be integrated into the system, with its own section in the settings. From these settings we can configure when it will be activated and at what temperature. If it is like the Ubuntu version, and it seems that it will be similar, we can tell it to activate at a certain time or to do it automatically at the same time as it is night / dawn.
Other new features: fixes and performance improvements
- The Baloo file indexing service notices when the extended attributes of a folder change, so it no longer does unnecessary work when we have renamed a folder, it is faster and lighter. This also helps reduce power consumption (KDE Frameworks 5.60).
- The lock screen is more difficult to unlock when something has caught the keyboard focus (Plasma 5.17)
- Settings for font rendering save and recall fine under all circumstances (Plasma 5.16.1).
- There is no longer a one-pixel gap between the panel and the application window when using certain third-party themes with Qt 5.13 (Plasma 5.16.1).
Interface improvements
- The session selector and keyboard on the SDDM home screen are visible alongside everything else.
- Discover no longer displays a huge unnecessary horizontal fill for screenshots in Plasma and additional applications (Plasma 5.16.1).
- The Night Color system settings page has received an improved layer (Plasma 5.17).
- The Konsole 19.08 settings window has been modernized and improved.
- The text of the Dolphin 19.08 information panel can be selected and copied with the mouse.
- Improved DPI support in Yakuake 3.0.6.
This week we are only talking about a new feature: when using multiple screens, you can now configure which settings are applied to each screen in particular, what will be possible in Plasma 5.17.
And, when can we enjoy all these news? Plasma 5.16.1 will be a maintenance release and we can install it on Tuesday June 18. The next big release, the one that will allow us to use Night Color, will be Plasma 5.17 that will take place on October 15. Both versions will release 5 maintenance updates, the latest being Plasma v5.17 from January 7, 2020. Regarding KDE Applications, v19.08 coincides with August 2019.
Kubuntu 19.10 Eoan Ermine will arrive with Plasma 5.16.x but, as you already know, we can update to Plasma 5.17 by adding the KDE Backports repository. Of course, always bearing in mind that we may encounter small problems that will not be present in the version offered by Canonical.
Is there anything that interests you from what was published this week in KDE Usability & Productivity?