KDE Plasma 5.13 Released

jrepin writes: KDE unveils the final release of Plasma 5.13, the free and open-source desktop environment. Members of the Plasma team have focused on optimizing startup and minimizing memory usage. Plasma Browser Integration is a suite of new features which make Firefox, Chrome and Chromium-based browsers work with your desktop. For example, downloads are now displayed in the Plasma notification popup, and the Media Controls Plasmoid can mute and skip videos and music playing from within the browser. Browser tabs can be opened directly using KRunner via the Alt-Space keyboard shortcut. System Settings design has been improved further. Window manager gained much-improved effects for blur and desktop switching. Wayland work continued, with the return of window rules, and initial support for screencasts and desktop sharing. You can view the changelog here.

Pretty cool

[110010001000]

This is pretty cool. One of the biggest features of a desktop is browser integration.

Re:Pretty cool

[Ecuador]

Well, Microsoft was the pioneer. I remember how they explained that IE was so integrated into Windows that they could not remove it. Decades ahead of the competition...

Re:

[110010001000]

I remember when Microsoft had a feature called "Active Desktop" (I think) where you could embed webpages into the desktop. So when the embedded Internet Explorer invariably crashed it would take down the desktop. Brilliant engineering. It is only a matter of time before some Millennial comes up with the same idea.

Re:

[Ecuador]

Oh, come on, active desktop was a pretty mature product coming from the people who developed Bob!

Re:Pretty cool

[ArchieBunker]

Don't worry, Poettering will include some alpha build code in the next systemd release.

Re: KDE isn't perfect...

[Anonymous Coward]

I have a dual boot Windows 10/KDE Ubuntu 16.04, and find the start menu makes more sense on KDE, the user interface on the whole makes more sense on KDE, and perhaps nicest of all, I'm not being spied on all the time.

Re: Fuck you you stalking little cunt... apk

[MachineShedFred]

If you were half the security expert you claim to be, you wouldn't:
A. Even give a fuck about what randoms on the Internet say;
B. Need him to give you his name, address, etc. so you can act tough and pretend like you would actually even entertain the idea of a physical confrontation.

Just what the fuck would you do if he gave you that information, anyway? Book a flight? Go bang on his door and yell at him? What if he opened it and shoved a shotgun in your face and told you to get the fuck off his property

Re:

[Wootery]

A noble effort, but trying to reason with ACs is like trying to play chess with pigeons.

Re:

[Wootery]

Yeah yeah. AC comments on Slashdot are consistently of far worse quality than those posted by 'named' (generally pseudonymous) users.

You two ACs (if you really are two different people) have been 'conversing' at the level of unruly children.

The Internet-tough-guy nonsense? Heaven spare us.

Re:

[Wootery]

Yeah, you said. My points remain.

Fixed Akonadi yet?

[Tough Love]

Fixed Akonadi yet? I would say, get rid of the MySQL dependency for a start, or can you not spell ACID? If that is too hard, then just kill Akonadi.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

there are plenty of instructions for how to disable akonadi around the place.

Re:

[Carewolf]

Fixed Akonadi yet? I would say, get rid of the MySQL dependency for a start, or can you not spell ACID? If that is too hard, then just kill Akonadi.

No, it still finds new way to crash. It was woring for whlie, but is now broken again..

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

I too suffered under broken resource-hogging Akonadi for a long time under Debian.

Then i switched to Arch and Akonadi flies completely under the radar, unless you check for it you would never know it was there.

SO many distros are Debian-based, I think they all inherit the bad KDE builds that Debian makes.

Re:

[Maelwryth]

I agree. Just take the thunderbird codebase and fork it or something. Installed Neon...Akonadi problems...Installed openSUSE Leap 15....Akonadi problems...now on Kubuntu 18.04 and everything seems fine so far but I am a little Akonadi shy.

window tabs

[Anonymous Coward]

I'll stick with KDE4 still.

"KWin does not provide window tabs" -- https://community.kde.org/Plasma/5.13_Errata

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

We don't have per-desktop wallpapers in Plasma either, for some reason.

That said I still feel like Plasma is much better than KDE4 overall and worth the update... try it out.

Re: window tabs

[MachineShedFred]

What?

I'm looking at two different wallpapers in Kubuntu 18 right now. The default behavior is to have a wallpaper per display...

Re: window tabs

[MachineShedFred]

Ohh, you're talking about virtual desktops. Carry on...

Re:

[renegadesx]

Yeah I was going to say, I have 3 screens and all have different wallpapers. Virtual desktops: funny I never even noticed they were gone. I used to use them alot when I was a teen (hiding pornography at a moments notice they came in VERY useful).

Re:

[MachineShedFred]

I don't place value on myself based on what prattling idiots like yourself say on the Internet. I am secure in my life, my accomplishments, my family, and my marriage. You couldn't mean less to me, and your opinion is worthless.

I feel honored that I've clearly rattled you in calling you about on your Internet tough guy routine to the point of adding me to your stalker list. I won't be replying to you again, because you just don't matter. And, anyone that might matter already knows that you don't, so wha

Re:KDE still around

[BlazeMiskulin]

Yes. KDE is "still around".

A quick google of "best linux desktop environments" results in...

• Lifewire: KDE Plasma is #4
• Tecmint: KDE Plasma is #2
• ItsFoss: KDE Plasma is #1
• FossBytes: KDE Plasma is #1

It might not be the best for you, but it's still one of the top DEs.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Especially since KDE Plasma deals with display resolution independence WAY better than Gnome. That's a good enough reason to give it a try right there.

Having a Hi-DPI display, and one that isn't, plugged into the same system on Gnome is a fucking shit show. They managed to handle it the worst way possible, and still haven't done anything about it years later. And no, their "fractional scaling" kludge in Wayland isn't a fix when you can't run Wayland on half the god damn hardware out there.

NOT KDE 5!

[NicknameUnavailable]

Don't let the devs year you call it KDE 5 - they are quite adamant that there is no such thing. It's "KDE Plasma" and they will deny the existence of KDE 5 for hours before revealing that fact if you ask them about it in a support channel. Just a cautionary note for KDE users - DO NOT use the term "KDE 5" if you ask for help from the KDE support people, you'll never remember what your original issue was until the discussion ends.

And there was much rejoicing

[OneHundredAndTen]

Or not. One can't help but feeling that the Linux flagship desktop offerings (Gnome and KDE) are more and more irrelevant with every passing year. Linux keeps spinning its wheels in the desktop, and the prospects are that this will remain true for the foreseeable future. I wouldn't be surprised those two offerings - big, ponderous, resource-hungry, my-way-or-the-highway (especially Gnome) - are contributing decisively to keep things the way they are as far as Linux's share of the desktop market is concerned. Well, at least, under Linux, there (still) are alternatives.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Plasma isn't much heavier than Xfce actually, and is far more modern. I alternate between them both, and as of 5.10 noticed I was spending more time in Plasma than anything else. When .13 hits the Void repos, with its support for global menu from all kinds of applications, I may switch to it permanently. There's a few small things that still bug me about it, but KDE has finally gotten close to where it was in the 3.5.10 days again.

Citation please?

[gosand]

Plasma isn't much heavier than Xfce actually, and is far more modern. I alternate between them both, and as of 5.10 noticed I was spending more time in Plasma than anything else. When .13 hits the Void repos, with its support for global menu from all kinds of applications, I may switch to it permanently. There's a few small things that still bug me about it, but KDE has finally gotten close to where it was in the 3.5.10 days again.

I was a longtime user of KDE, but switched to XFCE about 7 years ago and haven't looked back. I find it hard to believe that KDE is somehow now not "much heavier" than XFCE, but would like to hear specs about why you say that is so. A quick search found the system requirements, which are heavier for KDE, but I'd like to know what you're referring to with your statement.

Not looking for a holy war, just curious. I really doubt I would go back to KDE because I've tried others (MATE, Cinnamon) and really jus

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

I run with Intel HD 4500 onboard and 4G of RAM, no discrete GPU, and most of the simpler window effects run pretty damn smooth.

It even pulled me away from i3wm (very minimalist Window Manager). that's how efficient and easy to use KDE Plasma is now.

The DE being heavy or light is also customizable, disable most of the "search" services and it cuts down on RAM usage like crazy. I use mlocate with a systemd timer to update the database, no need for Plasma's services to duplicate file searching functionality.

N

Re:

[Matt McCann]

Here's my two cents annecdote. I'm currently running Plasma 5.12 on openSUSE Tumbleweed. I have a computer for my wife that runs Ubuntu Mate. KDE feels right in line with the speed of Mate. That was not the case in the 4.xx series or early 5.xx series, but since around Plasma 5.8 it has been exceedingly smooth. Now are XFCE/Mate type desktops perhaps a little lighter? Maybe. But I'd think you would be pleasantly surprised by the speed of KDE these days. But if XFCE is your style then no reason to swi

Re:

[Parker Lewis]

Yeap, because we know that soon we'll have KDE 6 and working apps will got broken.

Re:And there was much rejoicing

[Matt McCann]

I used to use Gnome and some of what you say is true, especially the resource demand of Gnome. More recently I've been using KDE on openSUSE Tumbleweed and it's been awesome. They have really smoothed over many of the roughest edges and tuned it up to be very light on resources. It offers compelling features such as KDE Connect to link up with your mobile Android phone and is very slick in that regard. And KDE is definitely nowhere near my-way-or-the-highway territory. It is extremely customizable and has become more intuitive in how to do so in the 5.xx series. Finally, I'd say that the desktop in general is a shifting paradigm, but still an important component. I think they are as relevant as any other desktop setup in their respective ecosystems. With containerization and things like Snaps and Flatpaks becoming a simpler way to distribute apps on Linux, the desktop has many compelling things to offer a user.

Re:

[bryanbrunton]

Sorry, but the Linux flagship desktop offering is ChromeOS. Not Gnome or KDE.

Millions of school kids use ChromeOS every day.

Re:

[ausekilis]

Maybe changing the icon set in the KDE settings window is just too hard?