KDE Plasma 5.11 Beta Released (kde.org)

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KDE Plasma 5.11 Beta Released (kde.org)

Posted by BeauHD on Thursday September 14, 2017 @12:05PM from the new-and-improved dept.

JRiddell writes: The original and best linux desktop has a new version, KDE Plasma 5.11 beta is out. UI improvements include a redesigned System Settings and notification history. Privacy improvements include Plasma Vault, which helps you store your files securely. Progress on Wayland support continues with many people now using it as their daily setup. The full changelog can be viewed here.

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Best Linux Desktop? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-14 12:23 · Score: 2, Funny

I think the GNOME team would disagree. I hear the next version of GNOME is eschewing all legacy widgets, menus, cursors, and other harbingers of uncoolness to all be replaced with hamburger buttons.
1. Re:Best Linux Desktop? by Hognoxious · 2017-09-14 12:27 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Unless they introduce an app that you click and it orders a hamburger. That'll look like a banana.
  
  --
  Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
2. Re:Best Linux Desktop? by lucm · 2017-09-14 12:56 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  I think the GNOME team would disagree.
  KDE Plasma is very nice. It is currently the most advanced and polished desktop, of all o/s (not just Linux). Little annoyances (like incompatible clipboards) are a thing of the past. It's a very pleasant environment.
  Between the old school GNOME and the buggy Cinnamon, KDE is a pretty good option.
  
  --
  lucm, indeed.
3. Re:Best Linux Desktop? by dknj · 2017-09-14 13:40 · Score: 1, Informative
  
  KDE has bad memory leaks. I use it extensively as a desktop and not a week goes by without having to jump to a console to kill an app or have to physically reboot because the lock screen has decided to leak all of my physical ram and swap space. Every release I report the bug, every release the bug just moves to another part of the system. I have given up on PIM because akondi is a crashing POS. KDE's KIO plugin architecture is cool but useless because all files must be copied temporarily to be given a file handle to third party apps. So if you have a 2GB mp4 file on an sftp drive somewhere, it will copy the entire file before playing it. KIO was introduced back in KDE3, so when I complain about a buggy feature in KDE it's because it has been buggy for the past decade.
  Lets not get into how all the different KDE addon libraries are a breeding ground for malware.
  -dk
4. Re:Best Linux Desktop? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-14 13:48 · Score: 0
  
  KDE Plasma is very nice. It is currently the most advanced and polished desktop, of all o/s (not just Linux).
  I agree. It's the best desktop on any OS now.
  It still has flaws though, including some functionality from the 4.x days that isn't back yet. But every time I try anything else, it seems very primitive compared to KDE. It is also maybe the last desktop env left that hasn't tried to stop you from configuring it. It has a vast number of config options you can use, including some unheard of on other desktops.
  Anyone who wants to donate to the KDE project can do so here. I believe it is important to put your dollars/euros/yen/whatever to support good OSS.
5. Re:Best Linux Desktop? by nnull · 2017-09-14 15:34 · Score: 1
  
  I would agree and I was using it as my defacto desktop, but I had to switch to Cinnamon (It's not too bad really, latest Cinnamon is pretty decent) due to KDE's compositor constantly crashing on me. I'm sure it was fixed already, but kind of like Cinnamon too.
6. Re:Best Linux Desktop? by Barsteward · 2017-09-14 18:02 · Score: 1
  
  I use KDE all the time too and never suffer bad memory leaks. what distro are you using?
  
  --
  "The hands that help are better far than lips that pray." - Robert Ingersoll (1833-1899)
7. Re: Best Linux Desktop? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-14 20:18 · Score: 0
  
  I disagree it's any good, specially when the application ecosystem is fragmented (qt4 and qt5), and keeps crashing in multimonitors setup. Last time i tried (5.10) it crashed often enough to be unusable.
  But looks cute, tho.
8. Re:Best Linux Desktop? by jareth-0205 · 2017-09-14 22:32 · Score: 1
  
  I think the GNOME team would disagree.
  KDE Plasma is very nice. It is currently the most advanced and polished desktop, of all o/s (not just Linux). Little annoyances (like incompatible clipboards) are a thing of the past. It's a very pleasant environment.
  Between the old school GNOME and the buggy Cinnamon, KDE is a pretty good option.
  Agreed - I was a dedicated 3.5 user and never followed into KDE 4 - through all its iterations over years I never liked it and used other WMs instead. Installed 5 about six months ago and never felt the need to look elsewhere.
9. Re:Best Linux Desktop? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-14 22:36 · Score: 0
  
  > It is currently the most advanced and polished desktop, of all o/s (not just Linux)
  AFAIK there isn't even a complete LTS distro release available, and most of the unstable alternatives are pretty buggy in my experience. The number of regressions in features to KDE 4 is also pretty large. KDE 4 is IMO both more advanced and polished than Plasma 5.
10. Re: Best Linux Desktop? by Steelheart · 2017-09-14 23:22 · Score: 1
  
  The dm seems buggy, had problems with suspend/resume. Kept crashing constantly, my latest problem was that plasma shell stopped updating anything on screen, so the task manager showed a static image of windows long since closed and the clock was frozen... that's not the marque of a good usable desktop. Cinnamon is much less configurable, but it also seems a lot less buggy and doesn't depend on a tenth of the crap that KDE relies on.
11. Re:Best Linux Desktop? by StormReaver · 2017-09-15 00:05 · Score: 1
  
  Kubuntu has been my only desktop for several years, and I don't see that changing anytime soon. That said:
  
  KDE has bad memory leaks.
  The only really bad memory/CPU leak I have seen in KDE is plasmashell. I have to kill and restart it several times a day because of memory and CPU usage problems. It seems to revolve around the system tray animations. Other than that, I leave it (Kubuntu) running continuously between system upgrades. At least plasmashell can be killed and restarted without interfering with my work flow.
  
  I have given up on PIM because akondi is a crashing POS.
  Akonadi is a steaming pile of garbage; no arguments there. I abandoned kdepim for the same reasons, which really sucks because korganizer is otherwise awesome.
  I totally agree with you about KIO, and had also filed a bug report against it years ago. When I need to copy files between computers, KIO is great. It is completely unsuitable for streaming, though, for the reasons you mentioned.
  As far as the add-on libraries, though, I'm at a total loss as to what you're talking about.
12. Re:Best Linux Desktop? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-15 00:55 · Score: 0
  
  Little annoyances (like incompatible clipboards) are a thing of the past. It's a very pleasant environment.
  It is AFAIK currently completely broken in multi GPU setups or anything that runs with multiple X screens. Note that this works with older KDE versions so its not an issue with X itself. Can't say anything about GNOME, I left that shitfest behind the day GNOME 3 hit Debian.
13. Re:Best Linux Desktop? by gosand · 2017-09-15 01:49 · Score: 1
  
  Kubuntu has been my only desktop for several years, and I don't see that changing anytime soon. That said:
  
  KDE has bad memory leaks.
  The only really bad memory/CPU leak I have seen in KDE is plasmashell. I have to kill and restart it several times a day because of memory and CPU usage problems.
  Wow. You read what you wrote, right? Kill and restart several times a days?! See, this takes me back. I used to use KDE on Redhat, then on Mandrake, then Kubuntu. This was all over a period of about 10 years, so I don't recall the versions of KDE, but it got progressively worse. I leave my machine on all the time, and I was working from home for about 8 years. My CPUs would randomly just peg at 100% and never come back. Hard boot required. Sometimes during work, sometimes in the middle of the night. I struggled with it for about 6 months, and even after an upgrade to a new release it continued. I had to give up on it, and switched to XFCE and have never looked back. I've tried KDE again, and even Cinnamon and Mate. Nothing has made me want to give up XFCE yet.
  For me, KDE was great and filled the need I had at the time... but now I need simple things that work.
  
  --
  
  My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
14. Re: Best Linux Desktop? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-15 01:58 · Score: 0
  
  Try using different source for paper of a printer... You can't.
  As far as I know, at the moment you have to change the defaults with CUPS to use different trays or paper types.
  Not cool.
  Otherwise, I've had the wm crash upon login, and other crap regressions.
  Also, I'm no fan of this modern looking but not very useful flat design. At least that can be remedied easily.
  Oh, and I sorely miss the desktop globe as a background, as well as being able to have different backdrops per virtual desktop.
  Reason : apparently I don't know how to use a DE, I should use activities for that.
  Thought it was KDE, for that kind of treatment I'd use GNOME...
  aRTee
15. Re:Best Linux Desktop? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-15 02:06 · Score: 0
  
  currently running the developement version of KDE NEON, I have two cheap nvidia graphics cards and 4 monitors connected. The only small issue and it is an X server one, is that the modeline setting xorg.conf becomes too long to handle 4 monitors, so while 3 monitiors display the login prompt, the 4th only shows up once I login.
16. Re:Best Linux Desktop? by lugat · 2017-09-15 02:12 · Score: 1
  
  Sorry but lost faith in the KDE project ... IMHO they're mostly caring for mobile forgetting the normal / power desktop user. And i get the impression that they only test it under virtual machines. This impression comes from observing lot's of bugs related to graphic cards / display. I have been a KDE user from 98 to a year ago. Left it mostly because of this bug, which i just checked right now and is not yet solved after at least two years: https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug....
17. Re: Best Linux Desktop? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-15 02:36 · Score: 0
  
  I use kde neon as .y main desktop. It's been getting better but I still get a lot of complete lockups where I can't even drop to a shell. The only thing I can do is shut down and reboot using the power button.
18. Re:Best Linux Desktop? by JohnFen · 2017-09-15 04:52 · Score: 1
  
  I don't have the problems you mention with KDE. It works fine for me.
  But then, I disable almost all of the bells and whistles it comes with. Most of them are either bad or extremely buggy, and the KDE team has been consistently making the situation worse by adding more bloat and useless stuff with each release.
  Especially Akonadi. It's the poster child for "piece of shit software".
19. Re: Best Linux Desktop? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-15 05:08 · Score: 0
  
  This happened to me in Kubuntu 14.04 (KDE 4.x), but since I disabled the 'desktop effect' the problem was gone. You might want to install ssh server, just for emergency case, like this case for example.
20. Re:Best Linux Desktop? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-15 05:15 · Score: 0
  
  Kubuntu 14.04, 16.04 are LTS. Then there is Debian stable, OpenSuse counterpart, etc.
21. Re: Best Linux Desktop? by buchanmilne · 2017-09-15 05:46 · Score: 1
  
  The bug you linked to (Bug 35622 - misrenders http://www.angryflower.com/) was opened in 2001 and closed in 2002.
  Are you sure that was the right one?
  (I happily use KDE 5
  8 on a desktop - with Intel graphics - with no issues, it is quite a bit better than 4.x in many ways, and quite pleasant to use. $work issues Macbooks, so I haven't run KDE 5 on a laptop, in my previous job I ran KDE4 on my work-issued laptop with radeon graphics and had no issues)
22. Re:Best Linux Desktop? by Lord+Kano · 2017-09-15 06:14 · Score: 1
  
  I don't like anything after KDE 3.5. For that reason, the Trinity Desktop Environment is a godsend.
  LK
  
  --
  "Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
23. Re:Best Linux Desktop? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-15 08:48 · Score: 0
  
  I don't have the problems you mention with KDE. It works fine for me.
  But then, I disable almost all of the bells and whistles it comes with. Most of them are either bad or extremely buggy, and the KDE team has been consistently making the situation worse by adding more bloat and useless stuff with each release.
  Especially Akonadi. It's the poster child for "piece of shit software".
  As a Gentoo user I find that when you compile from source, all or nearly all of these mysterious problems reported by other people just disappear. KDE has been rock-solid stable for me ever since the days when Trolltech had a non-GPL license for the Qt libraries. Running the latest Plasma now (Gentoo Unstable) with all the extra packages installed. It continues to be rock-solid.
24. Re:Best Linux Desktop? by JohnFen · 2017-09-15 09:04 · Score: 1
  
  That may be true, but I don't disable all that stuff in order to make it work right, I disable all that stuff because I don't want it. I could change to another desktop (and probably should), but ... well... if it ain't broke, and all that.
25. Re:Best Linux Desktop? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-15 23:44 · Score: 0
  
  > Kubuntu 14.04, 16.04 are LTS
  KDE is not part of Ubuntu main, but only universe. It doesn't get LTS support (or any support) from Canonical.
  Now, if you go back to Ubuntu 12.04... There kubuntu-desktop is part of main.
Windows 10 is better by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-14 12:25 · Score: 0, Offtopic

More secure, no systemd, and it's free.
1. Re:Windows 10 is better by sgtsquid · 2017-09-14 12:56 · Score: 1
  
  More secure, no systemd, and it's free.
  And it even installs itself, whether you like it or not!
2. Re:Windows 10 is better by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-14 13:42 · Score: 0
  
  You know, I wanted to mod it funny, I really did. But you have to consider the rest of the community here, who you just put into relapse at the sight of "systemd". They are all going to have to take an extra dose of their meds now to calm down.
Original? by gregh76 · 2017-09-14 13:19 · Score: 1

Maybe the first FOSS one.
1. Re:Original? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-14 14:36 · Score: 0
  
  It wasn't exactly FOSS originally (the Qt lib it was based on had some non-FOSS clauses) - that is why the Gnome project started. But it was the first fully integrated desktop environment to be available up on Linux.
2. Re: Original? by gregh76 · 2017-09-17 10:28 · Score: 1
  
  You're right. I stand corrected. Thanks!
Honest Question by jmccue · 2017-09-14 13:36 · Score: 2

How much better is KDE 5.x that KDE 4.x in relation to eye strain ?
For me, before 4.x, blood would almost pour out of eyes after 30 minutes. 4.x is 100x better (still on 4.x), but no matter what I did after a while I would get a bit of eye strain.
With GNOME (2.x/3.x) on the same machine I have no issues, so I end up using that or a window manager most of the time. But I do prefer KDE workflow much more.
BTW, I have download and tried many KDE 4.x themes/color schemes, if it was not for "Lucky Eyes" 4.x would be worse for me.
1. Re:Honest Question by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-14 16:44 · Score: 1
  
  Maybe there's something wrong with you. I never experience "eye strain" on any of them, even with prolonged use.
2. Re:Honest Question by kammermusik · 2017-09-14 20:05 · Score: 1
  
  Regarding eye strain: have you considered inverting your desktop's colors, e.g. with xcalib -i -a (the internal invert effect doesn't play nicely with transparency), probably configured to a shortcut like Meta+Q? This is what I do. In fact: I have to do it to be able to use the computer for a prolonged time. Reading bright text on dark backgrounds significantly reduces eye strain, compared to the opposite (dark text on bright background), which is the default for most desktop environments, applications, web sites etc. Granted it takes some getting used to (e.g. a text mentions the red line and you have to look for the cyan one), but after you've managed that, your eyes really benefit from it.
  Back on topic, I really love KDE for its configurability. E.g. I can actually assign my own (keyboard) shortcuts to whatever I desire to do with them. Every time I have to use Windows, I have to enable the desktop zoom (which then lingers around somewhere in the form of a magnifying glass icon) and have to use the predefined shortcut for color inversion, Ctrl+Alt+I, which is incredibly inconvenient as I have to use both of my hands to trigger it (speak of accessibility). Same for zooming in/out.
3. Re:Honest Question by McLoud · 2017-09-15 00:04 · Score: 1
  
  I use it everyday for both work and home, breeze dark theme is pretty good for my eyes (and I wear glasses)
  
  --
  sign(c14n(envelop(this)), x509)
4. Re:Honest Question by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-15 02:39 · Score: 0
  
  I got massive eye strain with all kde's. XFCE a little bit. But with gnome 2xx/3xx and unity I barely have any eye strain or none at all. Windows 7 some eye strain. Windows 8/8.1 massive eye strain that it makes my eyes uncontrollable teary and I get tired. Windows 10 is a bit better than 8/8.1 with the blur effect on but i still get tired after 20 minute use.
  Regardless of changing fonts, desktop themes, or the monitor settings it makes no difference with those desktop editions including the windows platform that cause the eye strain. Some people like me are just too sensitive.
5. Re: Honest Question by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-15 03:05 · Score: 0
  
  I turned the brightness down on my monitor. It helps a lot with eye strain.
6. Re:Honest Question by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-15 04:39 · Score: 0
  
  Try adjusting your font rendering settings? In particular, turn off subpixel rendering. Stay with greyscale.
7. Re:Honest Question by jmccue · 2017-09-16 00:56 · Score: 1
  
  Thanks, will give xcalib a try.
8. Re: Honest Question by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-19 07:53 · Score: 0
  
  I turned off my monitor. That helps even more!
KDE developers hate productive people by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-14 15:09 · Score: 0

KDE went to shit starting with 5.x when they forced the focus into the search box for the classic launcher.
Here's a tip for you: not all of us are so dumb that we need a fucking search box to find our applications. Removing the ability to use the launcher solely with the keyboard is a deal killer for anyone who is actually productive with his or her computer.
As much as I hate Windows, at least you can install ClassicShell and continue to use the launcher/start menu the way that God intended it to be used.
And yes I'm mad, I was a happy KDE user until the abomination that is 5.x Plasma came out.
1. Re:KDE developers hate productive people by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-14 15:44 · Score: 0
  
  On Linux, Windows and Mac I pretty much exclusively use the search to launch apps.
  macOS (primary OS these days): Command-Space, "te", Enter -> open a terminal
  Windows: Windows key, "putty" or "cmd", Enter -> ditto (depends what I'm doing)
  Linux: Windows key (usually, depends what I've configured), "term", Enter -> tada
  Sure beats stuffing around with the mouse for 2-3x longer and breaking flow. TBH, I don't use Linux GUIs often these days since the OSX switch 5 years ago, but I'm still very fond of both WindowMaker and KDE.
2. Re: KDE developers hate productive people by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-14 18:48 · Score: 0
  
  That seems to be a lot of trouble to launch a terminal. I set it up to a keyboard shortcut
3. Re:KDE developers hate productive people by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-14 23:36 · Score: 0
  
  Linux: Windows key (usually, depends what I've configured), "term", Enter -> tada
  
  In XFCE: Win+T opens terminal.
  Using KDE 4.x: Win then whatever letter you have set up as the first letter for your terminal opens it up.
  Windows+Classic shell: same as with KDE 4.x.
  Forcing the focus on the search field is an utter waste of time unless you have never operated a computer before. But you know what, that's fine, a lot of people haven't, just give me a damn way to get rid of the damn thing.
4. Re: KDE developers hate productive people by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-15 03:10 · Score: 0
  
  On my kde setup I can use a keyboard to call up the dropdown application menu whic I can use to search for applications by typing its name or navigating menus. I can use a mouse, keyboard, my phone's touchscreen or keyboard or even voice commands on my phone or computer should I so choose. I'm not sure what your comment is even talking about.
More 'flat' bullshit by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-14 19:14 · Score: 0

How original. Did they think that up for themselves? No affordances anywhere. Hideous WHITE backgrounds with text that could be a button, or might just be a title, but you won't know until you've moused over it, brilliant.
Why not just have a completely white screen ALL the time, and when you move your mouse around, it reveals icons like a torchbeam shining on a small area - that would be REALLY 'clean' and 'modern', wouldn't it.
What the hell happened to user interface design? Copying other's stupid ideas is not designing, it's COPYING.
1. Re: More 'flat' bullshit by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-14 20:22 · Score: 1
  
  Use oxygen and chill. Kde user moaning about default settings? God almighty...
2. Re: More 'flat' bullshit by ArchieBunker · 2017-09-15 01:00 · Score: 1
  
  If the default settings are terrible why don't they get changed by the developers? Just goes to show how far from reality they are.
  
  --
  Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
3. Re: More 'flat' bullshit by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-15 01:59 · Score: 0
  
  Even tho I completely agree about KDE developers being stubborn (I'm looking at you, breeze scrollbar width!), it offers plenty of options to change things if you don't like them. So do all the other desktops on open/free systems. Because one size never fits it all and you may like things that I don't like and viceversa.
  If someone moans that default settings are not good for them, in this case the default of the many themes available being too flat, I think they should change them. The alternative is not give the user to change anything and take it as it comes, love it or hate it (see macOS or Windows).
  I think that a lot of people in the linux community moan to exhaustion is because they can. There are way too many options they can choose from instead of being imposed one of them. So, because of that, either use oxygen and chill, or use a complete different operative system and chill.
4. Re: More 'flat' bullshit by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-15 05:22 · Score: 0
  
  It's tradition or some kind of test, I think, I'm not kidding. I have to spend an hour or two to set the environment.
5. Re:More 'flat' bullshit by iampiti · 2017-09-15 05:49 · Score: 1
  
  Totally agree. It goes like this:
  - Propietary OS makes some UI change
  - Open source desktop environments blindly copy it whether it's any good or not.
  - Many people get annoyed.
  Also teens call you luddite for not wanting to use a touchscreen UI with a keyboard and mouse. Maybe when they grow up they'll find out how much better the classic UI is for that use case.
  At least in KDE you can always switch themes and tweak configs but the default theme/settings are going to be much more polished and of course they'll always be the UI abomination in vogue
Original and best? by advocate_one · 2017-09-14 19:15 · Score: 1

"The original and best linux desktop"
that's a matter of opinion...

--
Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.
1. Re:Original and best? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-15 00:46 · Score: 0
  
  The right opinion, in this case. :)
2. Re:Original and best? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-15 02:24 · Score: 0
  
  KDE *is* about a year older than Gnome, so it can beat it on the "original" front...
3. Re:Original and best? by Tough+Love · 2017-09-15 19:31 · Score: 1
  
  KDE *is* about a year older than Gnome, so it can beat it on the "original" front...
  And KDE *is* much better than Gnome, so it can beat it on "best" front too.
  
  --
  When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
Interface still bloated... by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-14 20:26 · Score: 0

.... with empty space. Might be cool in a 27" screen, but with 13"/15" screens you end with a little screen space to work.
Origina? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-15 07:13 · Score: 0

Original? Not by a long shot.