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 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.
5. 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)
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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....
11. 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".
12. 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)
13. 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
14. 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.
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!
Original? by gregh76 · 2017-09-14 13:19 · Score: 1

Maybe the first FOSS one.
1. 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 jmccue · 2017-09-16 00:56 · Score: 1
  
  Thanks, will give xcalib a try.
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 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.
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...
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
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