14 DAY TRIAL // Kubuntu 17.10 and 18.04 users can now try the latest KDE Plasma 5.12 LTS desktop environment on their system, as Kubuntu contributor and developer Rik Mills informed us today.
KDE Plasma 5.12 will be the next long-term support (LTS) version of the popular desktop environment, slated for release on February 6, 2018. The beta version is already out, as of yesterday, giving users a first taste of its new features and improvements, and you can now install it on your favorite Kubuntu or Ubuntu Linux OS.
If you feel adventurous enough to give KDE Plasma 5.12 a try on your Kubuntu 17.10 (Artful Aardvark) or Kubuntu 18.04 LTS (Bionic Beaver) operating system, you can now install the beta version from a special PPA (Personal Package Archive) that was put together by the wonderful Kubuntu team.
"Adventurous users, testers, and developers running Artful 17.10 or our development release Bionic 18.04 can now test the beta version of Plasma 5.12 LTS," reads today's announcement. "As with previous betas, this is experimental and is only suggested for people who are prepared for possible bugs and breakages."
Here's how to install KDE Plasma 5.12 on Kubuntu 17.10 or 18.04
To install KDE Plasma 5.12 Beta, along with KDE Frameworks 5.42.0 on your Kubuntu 17.10 or Kubuntu 18.04 LTS operating system, you will have to first install the Kubuntu Beta PPA on your distro, and then fully upgrade your installation by executing the two sets of commands listed below in a terminal emulator like Konsole.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/beta -y
sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade
Once that's done, you'll have to reboot your computer for the new changes to take effect. That's it, you're now using the latest KDE Plasma 5.12 LTS desktop environment. Also, if you want to enable a Wayland session in the SDDM login screen, you can do so by installing the plasma-workspace-wayland too.
When KDE Plasma 5.12 LTS is released next month, it would be wise to remove the Kubuntu Beta PPA repository, though you'll stillreceive the new stable version. Also, please note that the upcoming Kubuntu 18.04 LTS release will launch with the KDE Plasma 5.12 LTS desktop environment by default.