The developers of the open source KDE Plasma desktop environment for Linux distributions have released Plasma 5.24, which brings a number of performance improvements, visual tweaks, and new features.
It’s also a long term support (LTS) release, which means it will continue to receive bug fixes and other updates until the next major update, which will be Plasma 6.
Among other things, Plasma 5.24 brings these changes:
- A new Overview effect allows you to view thumbnails of all your running apps and windows across all of your virtual desktops on one screen. You can also drag windows from one desktop to another in this view. Overview is still in beta, so you have to enable it in System Settings -> Workspace Behavior -> Desktop Effects and then activate it by holding the Windows/Meta key and pressing W.
Plasma 5.24 Overview effect - Cover Flip and Flip Switch effects have also returned, and can be enabled in the Task Switcher settings.
- New windows are opened in the center of the screen by default.
- There’s a new wallpaper called Honeywave.
- You can change your wallpaper by right-clicking any image in the Dolphin file manager and choosing the “Set as Wallpaper” option.
- The default Breeze theme has an updated look, and enhanced customization options: you can pick any color to use as an accent color.
- You can adjust screen resolution, orientation, or scaling by right-clicking on the desktop and choosing the Configure Display Settings item
- Critical notifications now have an orange strip on the side to make them stand out.
- Fingerprint authentication is now supported, allowing you to enroll up to 10 fingerprints to unlock your device, provide authentication for apps that request passwords, or run sudo commands from a terminal emulator.
You can find more details about these and other changes in the Plasma 5.24 release announcement.
The Plasma Mobile team has also announced the release of Plasma Mobile Gear 22.02, which brings new features for the phone & tablet-optimized version of KDE Plasma. New features include updates to Settings, Clock, Calendar, Dialer, and other apps as well as to the Quick Settings panel and Task Switcher.