Final release will be available on February 11th, 2020

Jan 16, 2020 14:34 GMT  ·  By

The KDE Project announced today the general availability of the beta version of the upcoming KDE Plasma 5.18 LTS desktop environment for Linux-based operating systems and Linux-powered devices.

KDE Plasma 5.18 is a major version of the popular Linux desktop environment as it's the third LTS (Long Term Support) series, coming three and a half years after the first LTS branch and two years after the second one. This means that KDE Plasma 5.18 LTS will be supported with maintenance update for the next two years.

"LTS stands for "Long Term Support" and this means 5.18 will be updated and maintained by KDE contributors for the next couple of years (regular versions are maintained for 4 months). So, if you are thinking of updating or migrating your school, company or organization to Plasma, this version is your best bet," reads today's announcement.

What's new in KDE Plasma 5.18 LTS

Highlights of the KDE Plasma 5.18 LTS release include support for GTK apps using client-side decorations (CSD) and to insert Plasma's settings for icons, fonts, cursors, etc., a new global edit mode to easily customize your desktop layout, the ability to enable the Night Color feature via keyboard shortcuts or through a new System Tray widget.

The system notifications have been made more clearer and useful, informing users when a connected Bluetooth device runs out of power and allowing them to drag a downloaded file to places. System Settings received optional User Feedback settings, redesigned Application Style settings featuring a grid view, and improved search.

The Plasma Discover package manger now lets users search for add-ons from the main page and offers nested comments for add-ons. Users will also be able to open the Emoji Selector via keyboard shortcut or through the application launcher, Nvidia GPU stats are now displayed in KSysGuard, and fractional scaling on X11 should show fewer visual glitches in apps.

The KDE Plasma 5.18 LTS beta release is now available for public testing on select GNU/Linux distributions that offer unstable repositories for testing the current development versions of the KDE Plasma desktop environment, such as KDE neon. The final release of KDE Plasma 5.18 LTS will be available for everyone starting February 11th, 2020.

Customize Layout Global Settings
Customize Layout Global Settings
Emoji Selector
Emoji Selector
Nvidia GPU stats
Nvidia GPU stats
GTK Applications with CSDs and Theme Integration
GTK Applications with CSDs and Theme Integration

KDE Plasma 5.18 LTS (11 Images)

KDE Plasma 5.18 LTS Beta
Customize Layout Global SettingsEmoji Selector
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