14 DAY TRIAL // We've just been informed by Kubuntu developer Rik Mills on the availability of the latest KDE Plasma 5.11.2 desktop environment in the Kubuntu Backports PPA for Kubuntu 17.10 users.
Launched on October 19, 2017, the Kubuntu 17.10 (Artful Aardvark) operating system arrived with the KDE Plasma 5.10.5 as default desktop environment, which was accompanied by the older KDE Applications 17.04.3 and KDE Frameworks 5.38.0 software stacks, but not users can update their systems to KDE Plasma 5.11.2 and KDE Frameworks 5.39.0.
"Please note that 3 more bugfix releases are scheduled by KDE for Plasma 5.11, so while we feel these backports will be beneficial to enthusiastic adopters, users wanting to use a Plasma release with more stabilisation/bugfixes ‘baked in’ may find it advisable to stay with Plasma 5.10.5 as included in the original 17.10 Artful release," said the Kubuntu devs.
Krita 3.3.1 and Latte Dock 0.7.1 also available
Those wanting to update their Kubuntu 17.10 (Artful Aardvark) installations to KDE Plasma 5.11.2 and KDE Frameworks 5.39.0 can do it right now if they install the Kubuntu Backports PPA, which also includes the latest Krita 3.3.1 digital painting app, KIO GDrive for accessing your Google Drive files, and the Latte Dock 0.7.1.
The Kubuntu devs noted the fact the KIO GDrive works with applications like the Dolphin file manager, Kate text editor and Gwenview image viewer to seamlessly integrate Google Drive support into your KDE Plasma 5 desktop environment. Also, Latte Dock is a very welcome addition to your Kubuntu 17.10 OS.
To update your Kubuntu 17.10 machine and install all these goodies, you'll have to fire up Konsole or any other terminal emulator and copy/paste the lines of code posted below. Once you've installed all the updates, make sure to reboot your computer, and please keep in mind that these packages haven't been tested comprehensively, so do report bugs if you find any.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/backports -y
sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade
In related news, the Kubuntu team put out a call for community to test the recently released KDE Plasma 5.8.8 LTS desktop environment in the Kubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus) operating system if you have no plans to upgrade to Kubuntu 17.10. So do help them test the packages if you can, and don't forget to report bugs or any other issues you'll encouter.