KDE developers continue to polish Plasma 6.8 ahead of its final release on October 14. One of the more visible changes concerns tiled windows. In Plasma 6.8, tiled windows now use square corners, helping adjacent windows fit together more naturally instead of leaving rounded gaps between them.
The Dictionary widget has also received visual attention. It now adapts its colors more fully when users switch the active color scheme or Plasma style. Its overall appearance has been adjusted to better match the rest of the Plasma desktop.
System Monitor gets a couple of improvements as well. Its Processes and Applications pages should no longer occasionally display duplicate scrollbars, while GPU memory usage is now measured more accurately both in System Monitor itself and in related widgets.
Plasma 6.8 will also reduce unnecessary notifications when the display configuration changes. KDE says notifications are now avoided when they provide little practical value, making connecting, disconnecting, or rearranging displays less noisy.
Spectacle receives several important fixes. An issue that sometimes prevented screen recordings from being saved has been resolved, and the application’s Share functionality is working again.
Remote desktop users also get fixes in Plasma 6.8. Authentication now works correctly with FreeRDP 3.32 and newer. KDE addressed a problem where remotely closed sessions using progressive mode could become stuck and prevent users from starting another session.
Moreover, dragging a file or screenshot thumbnail from a notification once again offers “Move” as an available action. KDE also fixed an unusual clipboard bug that could incorrectly render certain Unicode characters when they appeared at a specific position in copied text.
Accessibility continues to receive attention too, with the Brightness & Color widget now fully usable with screen readers.
There are stability improvements under the desktop as well. KDE fixed a case where Plasma could crash when applications closed or crashed in certain circumstances. Plus, Task Manager’s option for filtering tasks by virtual desktop has been updated to work correctly with Plasma’s per-screen virtual desktop functionality.
According to KDE, there are still a few reported regressions in Plasma 6.8 at this stage. However, developers continue to encourage users to test the beta and report issues before the final release on October 14.
Meanwhile, development has already moved beyond 6.8. Early Plasma 6.9 work includes a new “Move to Screen” action in Task Manager’s context menu, improved handling of custom UFW firewall rule comments, and several smaller interface refinements.
For additional details, see KDE’s latest “This Week in Plasma” report.
Last but not least, October 14 is shaping up to be a particularly notable day for KDE for another reason, too. Alongside the Plasma 6.8 release, KDE is also set to premiere “KDE: The Documentary,” a film looking back at the project’s history, from Matthias Ettrich’s original 1996 Usenet call for a Linux desktop environment through some of the major challenges and turning points that followed.
A trailer is already available, with the full documentary scheduled to arrive on KDE’s 30th anniversary.
The Trinity Desktop Environment (TDE) is better!
Needs more TDE….
Define “better”.
If you mean using obsolete technology probably full of security bugs, then sure.
Joking aside, “better” is like “prettier”, it heavily varies from people to people.
I personally don’t mind having choices but I’m happy with Plasma and haven’t found any reason to switch to something else.
Well, then I see no other way than “Get involved, soylent ‘green’!”
For people who have used KDE since the KDE 2 or early Plasma days, seeing those early struggles and turning points documented properly will be a lot to take in. I am curious to see how much weight the film gives to the community and volunteer contributors versus the core developers. Fingers crossed it’s a fair and accurate portrait.