14 DAY TRIAL // The KDE Project announced today the general availability of the beta version of the upcoming KDE Plasma 5.15 desktop environment for Linux-based operating systems.
More than three months in development, the KDE Plasma 5.15 desktop environment sees a public beta release today, allowing users to get an early taste of the huge number of improvements and new features implemented by the hard-working people behind this Open Source project before the final release next month.
"Plasma 5.15 brings a number of changes to our configuration interfaces, including more options for complex network configurations. Many icons have been added or redesigned. Our integration with third-party technologies like GTK and Firefox has been made even more complete," reads today's announcement.
Here's what's new in KDE Plasma 5.15
While no major feature stands out, the KDE Plasma 5.15 release includes dozens of smaller changes that make a big difference the next time you upgrade your desktop environment. Highlights include support for viewing the battery status of connected Bluetooth devices in the Power widget, revamped Virtual Desktops settings page with Wayland support, and native integration for Firefox.
The Plasma Discover package manager received a lot of attention this cycle, adding better support for the Flatpak and Snap universal binary formats, improved handling of local packages, the ability to upgrade a GNU/Linux distribution from the Update Notifier widget, easier installation of available updates from the Updates page, and new Sources page that replaces the older Settings page.
Among other noteworthy changes, we can mention that KDE Plasma 5.15 brings a "Transparent with light text" theme to the Notes widget, multiple usability improvements to KRunner, the ability to download and install new wallpaper plugins directly from the wallpaper configuration dialog, screen reader support for desktop icons for visually impaired users, and a much-improved Breeze icon theme.
Last but not least, KDE Plasma 5.15 supports virtual desktops and touch drag-and-drop on Wayland, WireGuard VPN tunnels in the Plasma NetworkManager widget if the appropriate NetworkManager plugin is installed, and allows users to mark network connection as "metered." KDE Plasma 5.15 beta is available for testing here and the final release is expected to hit the streets on February 12, 2019.
