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KDE Plasma 5.11 Released (kde.org)
jrepin writes: KDE publishes this autumn's Plasma feature release, KDE Plasma 5.11. Plasma 5.11 desktop environment brings a redesigned settings app, improved notifications, a more powerful task manager. Plasma 5.11 is the first release to contain the new "Vault," a system to allow the user to encrypt and open sets of documents in a secure and user-friendly way, making Plasma an excellent choice for people dealing with private and confidential information.
Keep up the good work fellas. I want to shout out to the great artists that contribute their work to KDE. You guys put it over the top. Rock on.
Is vault a GUI around ecryptfs? I could not find the underpinning technology in TFA.
I like KDE. It has flaws sure and it is easy to pick on those. However it still offers great and easy configurability: you can have focus follow mouse or click to focus. Auto-raise on hover or not, with configurable time. Different policies for remembering window pos/size on open, on a per-window or per-app basis if you like. Almost anything can be configured.
When all other desktops are chasing the "no configuration for YOU" model, it is nice to have a single one left which still believes I am able to decide for myself how I want it to work, even if that single one still has troubles here and there.
One of the really nice things about Linux is that there is a wide variety of user interfaces available for it.
KDE is intended to be something that isn't completely alien to Windows users. If that's not to your liking, there are others that aren't like that at all. Odds are that at least one of them would be your cup of tea.
If you want different, stop whining and go install i3 or awesome or something. KDE Plasma has a great UI.
Don't often use a GUI, but when I do, it's KDE (Score:1)
by Seven Spirals ( 4924941 ) on Tuesday October 10, 2017 @06:17PM (#55345827)
Welcome to the Internet, young luddite! I'm glad that you quickly found a website that shares your lack of interest in technology.
Well, I often use a GUI, but I don't see much need for a fullblown desktop anymore, so I use i3.
These things want to be the digital switchboard for your life, which was pretty neat ten years ago, but it's obsolete now that everyone carries a smartphone. What I need is something to manage GUI output to the physical screen on my laptop and desktop, and a tiling window managers does the trick.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
Stop trying to copy Apple and Microsoft designs!
Why? They've done all the hard work figuring out how to make things people will use and people are accustomed to and productive with it.
Do something different, something innovative, something that will make people want to use it over Apple and Microsoft
Being fast, stable and not being proprietary or invasive is all the innovation I require.
KDE seems to have gotten the message. Don't indulge iconoclasts and convolute the basic functionality of a traditional desktop. There was never anything actually wrong with the design of traditional desktops except when they fail to fully exploit the capabilities of hardware. Today that problem is apparent when dealing with scaling on high resolution displays. Users just want that issue solved; scale, do it without glitches and disruptions and leave the rest alone. Do that and we're good for another ten years until we're all wearing VR headsets or something.
You're free to go make whatever innovate thing pleases you; nothing is stopping you. But the fact that KDE is no longer among the DEs trying to force feed "innovation" on its users is a minor miracle as far as I'm concerned. Thank you KDE.
Maw! Fire up the karma burner!
Yeah, right after Microsoft copied from KDE they copied it right back! Actally Microsoft still doesn't have most of the capabilities KDE has. Go ahead, change your Windows to look like OS X, with the buttons on the upper left, and while you are at it create several named virtual desktops and application groups that automagically go them when launched with Windows.
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
They keep releasing new shiny versions of their desktop instead of spending time to polish existing features.
The result is outdated and dead applications that are no longer updated, bugs and glitches that are never fixed. And generally a worse experience than we had with kde 3.
Have they finally fixed the whole desktop crashing when you turn off a monitor?
Because the KDE devs don't understand the principles of a good interface, ergo they are doomed to re-invent it poorly.
No, it's a horrible thing. It would be wonderful if there existed a single GUI framework that was 100% configurable, so you wouldn't have to choose which to install.
Install one package, pick your window/widget behaviors preference, and skin it. Instead we have several incompatible re-inventions of the wheel.
Ironically, what you are proposing is a reinvention of the reinvention of the wheel.
I suppose it will be lost on this crowd, though.
LOL@vword: electron
This is a GUI framework that's 100% configurable: gcc + vi. Some assembly required.
Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
Ah yes, a variation on the old Linux "don't like it? code it yourself!" mantra.
Isn't that what got us into this mess?
The solution is Emacs: an operating system with all imaginable tools included. It even contains systemd and Call of Duty 9. /s
Stop trying to copy Apple and Microsoft designs!
Why? They've done all the hard work figuring out how to make things people will use and people are accustomed to and productive with it.
Oh right so it's all hating all over Apple and Microsoft UXD but when it comes time to put up or shut up the plan is just shut up and copy them.
KDE Plasma is the closest you're going to get to that exact vision...
Well and briskly spoken
KDE seems to have gotten the message. Don't indulge iconoclasts and convolute the basic functionality of a traditional desktop. There was never anything actually wrong with the design of traditional desktops except when they fail to fully exploit the capabilities of hardware. Today that problem is apparent when dealing with scaling on high resolution displays. Users just want that issue solved; scale, do it without glitches and disruptions and leave the rest alone.
In a nutshell, this. I get flamed every time I call Gnome for being the shitty system it is. I'm typing this on Fedora 27 Beta using KDE with 3 x 1920x1080 screens - and it just works. It doesn't take 1/4 of a window with big ass thumb/touchscreen friendly bars. It stays out of my way and lets me get the rest of the stuff I want to do done.
If KDE got the manpower behind it that gets wasted with Gnome, it wouldn't just be superior, it'd be fantastic.
Sendmail is like emacs: A nice operating system, but missing an editor and a MTA.
This is as good place as any to post some current problems with KDE/Plasma under (K)ubuntu. I know, it works better under eg. OpenSUSE, which I'm using on a laptop. I might go for it on my desktop machine as well...
Overall, I keep returning to KDE. I haven't had complete luck with wireless and certain mouse and keyboard shortcuts in eg. XFCE. (Does anyone know how I can, in XFCE, bind right mouse button (not middle) in title bar to "lower window"? How can I set super+tab for "walk around workspaces"?)
Thank you KDE developers and all collaborators for the hard work involved in making KDE the best DE out there.
Oh really? Tell me, can I download a KDE theme that makes my desktop behave exactly like a Mac, or Windows 7?
No, no, no, no.... Just stop endlessly fiddling about with the desktop altogether. It was good enough 10 years ago.
Go and write some actual programs, that do actual work, that people actually want to do. Then Linux might actually get some users.
My reason for not using Linux as my main desktop OS is not that the desktop isn't good enough to use. It was ten years ago. I don't use Linux as my main desktop because there are no useful programs available to do the things I need to do. The few that do exist are about 20 years out of date, lack essential features, are clunky, and frankly aren't up to the job. The tools I need exist on Windows and (to a lesser extent) OsX.
Gnome/KDE etc. all endlessly sit around reinventing things that were already working fine. Then they remove things that users want and break other things.
This is is the endless circle jerk of the Linux desktop. Endlessly reinventing the wheell... badly... forever...
Maybe not exactly, but you're probably going to get a lot closer with KDE than with anything else.
If you want to use OSX, use OSX. If you want to use Windows 7, use Windows 7. After all, the point isn't to turn KDE into a perfect clone of any system, but to be able to tune it so you can get a long with it despite being brought up on an inferior system.
Kimpanel: another try to workaround kimpanel window not getting updated issue.
This was really the most annoying and persisiten bug that I can recall - panel would not get updated if using nvidia binaries and there was a full-screen app (i.e. game) in the background. I hope it is fixed!
Not just use the same recent file method as firefox and gnome and I will donate 100 EUR to the developer who does it, that is the last thing that really annoys me.
Moritz
Well, I often use a GUI, but I don't see much need for a fullblown desktop anymore, so I use i3.
These things want to be the digital switchboard for your life, which was pretty neat ten years ago, but it's obsolete now that everyone carries a smartphone.
That's what you think.
The point isn't that you can't get what you want today. Of course you can buy a Mac if you have the choice. But oftentimes you have to use someone else's computer or your workplace will choose for you.
The problem we have right now is that the vendors provide a standard one-size-fits-all interface when it should be up to the user. The computer should adapt to the way the user works, not the other way around.
But you're right, KDE is probably the most configurable, but it's still a pain in the ass. It's nowhere near what I'm thinking of in terms of being able to load some preferences and get the same desktop experience you're used to on your own computer, without having to install software or configure anything manually.
Well.
First things first. Frequently the first thing people do when they get outside of their comfort zone, e.g leaving Windows is to try to turn their new platform into Windows. Of course that doesn't work very well, because fundamentally Linux isn't Windows, surprise, surprise. Then they proceed to declare Linux a failure and retreat back to Windows. Hence "if you want to use OSX, use OSX" etc, since if you insist on thinking Linux is OSX you're only setting yourself up for failure, intentionally or not.
Technically, I guess what you're proposing is already possible. If you for instance consider putting the directories containing all the relevant settings on a USB-stick, and bind-mount them to their corresponding place in your $HOME, I can't see why that wouldn't work.
That said, it would of course be a complete PITA, and run into other issues like the process not being very streamlined (solvable) or social issues such as getting permissions enough to mount anything non-standard on a machine which isn't yours.
None of this, however, is directly related to KDE as such. Also noteworthy is that it is already perfectly viable to have your desktop configured differently from everyone else's and have it migrating with you, if your $HOME is mounted via NFS, but I don't think that's the use-case you have in mind.
That leaves the applications out, which I think you meant to imply. That too is solvable, but it kind of depends again on whether you're going for a centralized or decentralized approach. In a centralized approach you could for instance run all your clients diskless from the same "image" - I don't think just exporting /usr is viable any more.
The decentralized version would be one of the various solutions which allows you to install software under your own home as root. The problem with the decentralized model is that the more you decentralize the clunkier things get for the user who needs to keep track of everything, and CENTRAL losing control over the users and what software they are actually using, which rarely seem popular.
In the end, it's more about social/political and practical issues than technical. And they are all on a different level than your DE.
Thanks, that is food for thought.
How good is i3 in managing session? In KDE after restarting my computer I have all my KDE/Qt apps from previous session started. I use 8 virtual desktops, and I use quite a lot KDE/Qt apps, so session management is essential for me, and KDE does it lawlessly. I've tried GTK based desktop environments (XFCE, LXDE), they don't handle session management as good as KDE.
Whiny, lazy and entitled millennial shits like you got us into this mess. You expect everyone else to pull your weight for you.
If you want to use a computer, it helps to learn about it. Otherwise just go buy an iPad and continue to be a drooling, content-sucking plebe.
*flawlessly*
This push for things like Google Material Design are starting to make everything look like an Android app. On desktop apps this means a complete loss to 3D hints on input components and big empty areas inside windows and dialogs. And who does this effect? End users. They spend more time looking around trying to find where to push or type to get through navigating the UI. Well, everywhere except those big empty spots.
Hey, I'd be perfectly happy to put in countless hours on such a project. It's just that nobody has even slightly started working on a viable solution.
No, the lazy ones are programmers who can't be bothered to take time to polish features ("good enough" syndrome), don't listen to user feedback ("RTFM" syndrome) and whose egos won't permit them to consider better approaches ("not invented here" syndrome).
Stop trying to copy Apple and Microsoft designs!
Why? They've done all the hard work figuring out how to make things people will use and people are accustomed to and productive with it.
Please, tell me they have NOT copied MS or Apple! Windows 10 is a horrible desktop, I fight it daily at work. As var as Macs go, I have never understood them. They just don't make sense with the way my brain works... and I know there are distros out there that try to mimic that UI, but I will never use them.
I ditched KDE a good ten years ago when stability went to hell. I have since been on XFCE and love it. Unless they do something to lose me, I have no reason to go back to KDE. (I do still use kdenlive though, so there is a little bit of KDE on my system I guess) :)
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
Is KDE still around? Seriously I gave up on KDE in 2010 after the disaster of the 4.x series and the steadfast refusal to acknowledge important features were lost from the 3.x series. The two I care about the most are creating submenus on the panel and using background images in konsole. I've been using TDE and am glad we still have a workable desktop environment.
Ahh ok- so gnome is shitty but your chosen DE is not? Glad we got that covered. Gnome is FANTASTIC for me and I have never had a better workflow. Just because it doesn't work for you doesn't mean it's a shitty DE. That'd be as dumb as me saying KDE sucked balls simply because I didn't like it.
I use quite a lot KDE/Qt apps,
Stop right there. That means you should probably use KDE.
As for i3, it doesn't do sessions at all. In return, the startup is literally instantaneous, even on an older machine. It is a tiling window manager so typically the most sensible way to use it is to have each app control the entire screen, although you can split the screen various ways -- useful if you have a large monitor.
You can easily configure i3 to automatically launch certain apps to certain workspaces. This isn't quite the same as sessions of course, but it covers most of the utility for most people.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
Yep, cue the XKCD about too many competing standards...
Adding another standard can't fix the situation. You'd need Apple, MS, KDE, Gnome at least to get on the same bandwagon and that ain't gonna happen.
I know! We can implement the desktop in a browser window, using JavaScript!!
But gnome IS verifiable shit. Just take it to a class which teaches HCI, if you even know that that means. If you like it, that doesn't mean it's good. It means you're either deeply ignorant of what makes a good UI, or severely brain-damaged.
I get flamed every time I call Gnome for being the shitty system it is.
Perhaps the problem is that you're using such absolute terms as "shitty".
I find Gnome incredibly irritating and problematic, but I also recognize that there are people who find it useful and enjoyable -- so I can't, in all honesty, call it "shitty".
It's just not for me.