Summary
Four months afterthe release of 6.3, the KDE team has announced the full release version 6.4 of the Plasma desktop environment. It’s bringing several brand-new features and improvements for KDE fans like myself.
Let’s start with the most colorful new features. First, Plasma’s KRunner application, whichI’ve enjoyed putting to use lately, has a new color-oriented feature: type in anyhex codeand KRunner will show you a little sample of that color. If you happen to know the official CSS or SVG name of a color, you’re able to type that too, and KRunner will identify and show it to you.
Second, there are new color management dials and knobs when you go to System Settings > Display and Monitor. Plasma can now walk you through HDR calibration with its new wizard, and it’ll also let you limit color depth. There’s Extended Dynamic Range support now as well. Of course, you’ll only see settings for these if you’re using a monitor that supports those features.
You’ll find some changes in your taskbar too, including a green “New!” tag highlighting recently installed software. I know this will be helpful because sometimes when I install something, it seems like anyone’s guess which categorization folder Plasma will decide to put it in.
Some of the widgets in the app drawer are getting updated too. The Disks & Devices menu will now automatically scan for file system errors when you plug a disk in. If Plasma detects errors, it will show a “Try to Fix” button that you can click to initiate an automatic repair. The media player widget also has a new speed controls for audio or video you’re playing.
The notifications that show up above your task drawer are also getting improvements. For one, you’ll now get a visual graph of your transfer speeds when you move files around, in addition to the remaining time estimate. There are also small improvements to the software update and microphone access notifications. All Plasma notifications will now by default enter “Do Not Disturb” mode when you fullscreen any application, which is a nice little quality-of-life update for gamers.
There are several small changes coming for Plasma user interfaces you might detect if you’re looking closely. The dark version of Plasma’s default “Breeze” theme is getting a little darker, and in any theme the desktop will get shadier in the background whenever you’re asked to authenticate. There are also updates to the InfoCenter, KMenuEdit app, and the lock screen password field.
To see everything new, check out the link to the official announcement post below. As a daily driver of KDE Plasma, I’m looking forward to giving 6.4 a try when it shows up. I don’t see it yet on my Garuda Linux dekstop, but it usually arrives pretty quickly. Be sure to keep your Plasma-sporting distro up-to-date to ensure you get this update as soon as possible.
If you aren’t currently using it but want to give the KDE life a go, check out some ofour recommended distros with Plasma environments. When you’re ready to daily-drive it, I recommend you followour guide to installing Linux.
