The interest of the next stable version of Ubuntu has centered in Gnome, but it is not the only version that will incorporate an updated desktop. The Kubuntu team has confirmed the arrival of Plasma 5.11, the next great version of the KDE Project desktop.
Plasma 5.11 will be available in Kubuntu 17.10 although not in the official version but in an update that will arrive weeks after the October 19, Kubuntu 17.10 release date. This update is due to the Ubuntu release schedule, which freezes the distribution before the release of the version, that is, before October 10 and therefore cannot be included in the official version.
Installing Plasma 5.11 on Kubuntu
Plasma 5.10.5 will be the version that Kubuntu 17.10 arrives with, but that is something we can change. Actually there is an unofficial repository that allows us to have and use the beta of Plasma 5.11. We can use this repository to install the latest version of Plasma in the latest versions of Kubuntu. To do this we just have to open the terminal and write the following:
sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:kubuntu-ppa/beta sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade
This will install the beta version of Plasma 5.11, version that after the release of October 10 will be a stable version and therefore we will quickly have the latest version of Plasma. But first, we must delete the repository after installation, to avoid future problems, as it is also recommended not to use it now on production computers, due to problems that may occur.
The Kubuntu team is one of the most active teams in the entire Ubuntu Community, although we do not necessarily need to have the latest version of Plasma on our desktop, that is, not if this version is in development. That is why I do not recommend installing it on production equipment.