Just to get it out of the way: I’m a bit older than most you. I’m an old school FOSS contributor: Slackware, couple kernel merges, and some weak device driver contributions.
I’m just not WOW’d by this Plasma release. I’m seeing the news everywhere, and it seems everyone is clamoring to get it, but it mostly seems like 90% cosmetic changes, no? I must be missing something.
Here are the things I’ve gathered are non-cosmetic:
- Update to QT6
- Better Wayland interactions (HDR notable)
- Compositor improvements for gaming
Everything else seems like eye candy. I feel like Gnome and forks, or Xfce have been faster to the fight on these things, and this KDE release took many years. So what do I have wrong here?
As others have said, moving to QT6 was a massive effort. There were a lot of changes due to that. And if you would have followed their progress, they always said the user will only see minor changes, so there’s that.
Another thing that has changed is much better Wayland support and this is also a big effort.
QT6 is FINE. It’s just earthshaking, y’know?
Here are the things I’ve gathered are non-cosmetic:
Based on https://kde.org/de/announcements/megarelease/6/, I think that many more things are not just purely cosmetic changes.
I must be missing something.
I would say you simply have the wrong expectation that with a so-called mega release a lot of big changes have to happen that the user has to notice immediately. However, many of the changes in Plasma 6 are probably not huge. But many smaller changes are also many changes.
And as others have already written, the changeover to QT 6 was probably not an easy task.
I also see Plasma 6.0 as a basis for things that are planned in Plasma 6.1 or later versions, for example, and are therefore not yet visible to the user. Articles on the development of Plasma are regularly published at https://pointieststick.com, which provide a more detailed insight into the development process.
I’m just saying this as a computer user. A super hyped PR push for something like this should make some shockwaves.
So you’re saying you don’t see the value in a piece of software which provides a graphical interface getting updated graphics? Of course the update is a lot of eye candy. That’s literally how you improve a DE. You make it look better.
I’m wondering why the entire community is collectively shitting themselves over a minor overhaul, when other DEs have been making big swinging changes.
I’ll bite: big swiping changes like what?
You mean “swinging”? I’ll also bite. Things that would make me switch:
- incorporating Valve’s work
- Simplifying KDE apps and menus
- Fix the fullscreen composite issues
- Fix dbus access for apps launched via KDE
- Hone the media controls like GNOME
- Fix Kwallet so it doesn’t crash on every unexpected error
- Stop the constant refresh rate negotiation for VRR and make it not blank screens
- Stop the unnecessary userland restrictions for devices like USB ports
- Stop secondary mounts to remote locations just because I connected that one time
- If the secret store isn’t working, just say so. Don’t loop and ask me if I want to relaunch
All fairly low-hanging fruit.
Still waiting on the list of those swinging/swiping changes that the other DEs are making
You straight up missed it then. Sorry.
Update to QT6
This one is a big thing. Lots of stuff changed between qt5 and qt6, so it was a massive effort to get done. They also used this “rewrite” to clean up the code a lot.
Yes people seem to undermine “background” related updates, but they should pause and appreciate having a stable and secure system
In my personal and very subjective experience though, KDE is generally 90% cosmetic. I even cringe when a package requires QT as a dependency because I always associate it with the extraneous bling of KDE.
I half agree. The QT library is incredibly easy to use, cross-platform, and powerful though.
+better virtual desktop gestures
One of the KDE devs sharing why it is ‘Mega Release’ from their perspective. Quite interesting to hear about all the things that go on in the background in software development. https://tube.kockatoo.org/videos/watch/e6e8f177-22f1-432a-9c7f-ab76b17a5b54
Sure. Still doesn’t make sense
So what do I have wrong here?
Nothing, as far as I’m concerned. I guess DEs have to constantly change or they become stale to some people. I’m an older guy than the normal demographic here too and stale is exactly what I want. I run i3 with a bunch of terminals, a browser, and sublime text when vi in a terminal isn’t enough (yes, it’s really vim, but it’ll always be vi to me), and I xsetroot the classic weave pattern for my background. That’s it. I don’t need or want menus, widgets, themes, file managers or anything else. I guess someday Wayland will win, and I’ll be forced to do something different, but until then, not changing this extremely productive and efficient environment.
Friend, thank you. This is this informed explanation I wanted, and turns me to appreciating the work. I’d give you a token if I could.
One thing that annoyed the hell out of me with KDE/QT, was that the numpad didn’t work for shortcuts, so I couldn’t tile windows with it.
Does QT6 still have this problem?I’d want to try it in a VM in Gnome Boxes. What distribution would you recommend for a first try after years of Gnome on Fedora?
Probably the Fedora 40 KDE spin, which will come out in April
Well I guess I’ll try the Fedora 40 spin if it’s really vanilla KDE the way Workstation is vanilla Gnome.
You think Xfce has been “faster to the fight” on what exactly? It’s famously slow to do anything. It still doesn’t even have Wayland support at all, let alone support as good as Plasma.
Plasma vs Gnome is a lot more subjective depending on your priorities, and Gnome was certainly faster to get to Wayland as it’s primary display protocol. I’m not quite sure about what else you might think Gnome is faster at though. It’s actually way behind in things like gaming support and HDR.
Plasma 6 was specifically planned to focus on a polished release and reduction in technical debt, not introducing flashy new features. I haven’t tried it yet, but I LIKE those priorities for a major porting effort. I’m looking forward to trying it when it comes to my distro.
Looks are half the experience.
Naw, son.
You seem to be stuck in the early 2000s (at best). Also, I’m not your child.
Didn’t say you were. It’s just a connotation to denote that you are lesser than me. Read it again, and accept it.
Removed by mod
Faster to the fight for what? Wayland? Xfce doesn’t even have a working Wayland session yet, so surely not. The new Plasma update is indeed being hyped for stability and Wayland. Wayland is finally ready to be used by default and that’s a big deal. Many of the biggest issues with 5.27 have been fixed, which has improved usability a lot. HDR is also a big deal, people have been waiting for years for it to work on desktop Linux. Yes, there is also a lot of “eyecandy”. People constantly complain Plasma looks ancient compared to GNOME, so they’re doing something about it.
