Install KDE Plasma 5.9 in Ubuntu 16.10/Linux Mint 18, Fedora 23/25 and OpenSUSE
KDE is a well-known desktop environment for the Unix-Like systems designed for users who wants to have a nice desktop environment for their machines, It is one of the most used desktop interfaces out there.
Install KDE Plasma 5.9 in Linux
In the past few years, a lot of work has been geared towards improving KDE desktop, with the latest stable release KDE Plasma 5 desktop series coming with some amazing features and bringing many improvements to the original task manager, KRunner, including Wayland support which came around in Plasma 5 and activities as well, plus a more refined look and feel.
KDE Plasma 5 Features
There is a lot of new features in KDE Plasma 5, here’s a list of the most important new features.
- KDE 5 applications were rewritten using Qt 5; the next generation of the famous Qt library to design graphical interfaces, that means that KDE 5 apps will be faster than KDE 4 beside a better usage of GPU from KDE 5 applications.
- Completely new look for KDE 5 Plasma, with the new slicker plasma theme, KDE 5 Plasma is much more beautiful than KDE 4.x with the new flat design, beside the nice look, the “slicker” theme is lighter than the default theme for KDE.
- The Start menu for KDE 5 Plasma has been redesigned and notifications area has also been redesigned, less popup windows providing a better user experience to access the notifications.
- The lockscreen window is also redesigned with a better login interface.
- Smoother performance, KDE 5 Plasma applications are rendered up on the top of the OpenGL scenegraph which means that KDE 5 programs has the priority when being rendered beside other process.
- Hardware-acceleration migration is now complete, this means that Plasma 5 rendering will be faster now because of the fully-usage for the GPU.
- A nice set of new wallpapers, will look perfectly on the default theme.
- Many other features which you will explore by your own.
On January 31 2017, the makers of KDE released yet another Plasma feature update, Plasma 5.9. It ships in with several exciting new features and improvements, bringing a classic feel to your desktop. However, the developers will continue to do more work towards improving Plasma 5.8 LTS by offering regular bugfixes.
What’s New in KDE Plasma 5.9
Below are the new features in KDE Plasma 5.9:
- Interactive previews have been added to notifications. You can notice this when you take a screenshot using Spectacle’s global keyboard shortcuts (Shift+Print Scr), do not waste time closing the app, simply drag the resulting file from the notification popup directly into a chat window, an email composer or a web browser form and more.
- Supports changing of the icon, label text, working directory, and other properties of a icon widget on your desktop.
- Supports switching between windows in Task Manager using Meta + number shortcuts for heavy multi-tasking purposes.
- The Quick Launch applet now supports jump list actions, bringing it to feature parity with the other launchers.
- Improved look and feel to Plasma apps such as scroll bars and more.
- Global Menus, an old feature in KDE has also returned, which separates the menu bar from the application window.
- Task Manager tooltips have been redesigned to provide more information while being significantly more compact.
- Now supports a new network configuration module in system settings, using QML.
- Additionally, it brings more improvements to Wayland such as functionality to take screenshots or use a color picker, borderless maximized windows. Pointers can now be confined by apps, supports gestures and more.
Here are some official video which shows the most important changes in KDE Plasma 5.9.
Watch Plasma 5.9 in Action
Installation of KDE Plasma 5.9 in Linux
First of all, you have to know that this is the ninth update to Plasma 5, versioned 5.9, which was released on January 31 2017 with many new feature enhancements and new modules to complete the desktop experience.
Important: KDE Plasma 5.9 is not yet packaged in repositories of the main stream Linux distributions, therefore, we will show you how to install or upgrade to KDE Plasma 5.8.5.
Anyway, if you want to install Plasma 5.8.5 on Ubuntu/Kubuntu 16.10/16.04 and Linux Mint 18, you have to use Kubuntu Backports PPA repository on the top of existing installations.
Install KDE Plasma On Ubuntu/Kubuntu 16.10/16.04 and Linux Mint 18
$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/backports
Add Backports PPA
After running above command, it will ask you to enter your password and hit Enter key to continue to add Kubuntu Backports PPA repository on your system.
After adding PPA, run the following commands to update your existing package database.
Note: If you already have Plasma installed, these commands will also upgrade it to a latest available version.
# sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
Upgrade Ubuntu Package Database
Now install KDE Plasma 5.8.5 using following one single command in your system.
$ sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop
Install KDE Plasma 5
Please note during installation, it will ask you to configure sddm login manager, click OK and select the ‘lightdm’ login manager as default.
Configure Sddm Login
Configure Lightdm Login
Once the installation process is completed, make sure to restart your system and select Plasma Desktop and enter password to login into KDE Plasma 5.8.5 desktop environment.
Select KDE Plasma
Login to KDE Plasma Desktop
Install KDE Plasma on Debian
$ sudo tasksel install kde-desktop
Install KDE Plasma On OpenSUSE
For OpenSUSE, latest version of KDE Plasma available from repository for your system using these commands as a root.
$ sudo zypper in -t pattern kde kde_plasma
Install KDE Plasma On Fedora 23-25
For Fedora systems, new KDE plasma updates are available from the default repositories, make sure to keep your Fedora installation up-to-date, in order to install most recent version of KDE Plasma as shown.
$ sudo dnf update $ sudo dnf install @kde-desktop
Install KDE Plasma On RHEL/CentOS 7
# yum groupinstall "KDE Plasma Workspaces"
For Arch Linux, packages are available to download from the official extra repository, activate it and enjoy.
KDE Plasma 5.8.5 Screenshot Tour
KDE Plasma Desktop
KDE Plasma Look and Feel
KDE Plasma Notifications Window
KDE Plasma System Monitor-Window
I hope that everything has worked fine, you can now enjoy KDE Plasma 5.8.5 on your desktop.
That’s all, once Plasma 5.9 is packaged in the official repositories and ready for installation, we will bring you the necessary instructions for the different distributions, until then, stay connected to Tecmint.
In case of any queries or additional information you want to provide to us, you can use the comment section below to give us a feedback.
Reference Links
Have you tested KDE Plasma 5 on your Linux system? How did you find it?. Please post your thoughts about KDE desktop using our comment section below.
After open kde my screen is black . what should i do ?
@Rahat
Try to look through these solutions:
1. Black screen after login Kubuntu 15.04
2. Kubuntu shows black screen after upgrading to 16.04
3. Blackscreen with only mouse pointer after switching to Ubuntu desktop from Kubuntu on 15.04
I have been a fan of KDE for some 17-18 years going back to KDE 3.x. The idea of using GNOME send shivers down my spine. Then KDE decided to introduce KDE 4.0. They broke EVERYTHING that people liked in KDE 3.x. It was not until the release of KDE 4.6 or 4.7 did KDE 4 become usable and part of what helped in its acceptance was the release of some decent HowTos and some YouTube videos, that explained HowTo do common tasks and how to configure it.
You would think KDE would have learned from their disaster with KDE 4, but NO!! They released KDE 5.x and the roll out is an even bigger disaster than KDE 4.0!! We are now up to KDE 5.9 and there is still NO HowTos or YouTube videos out there.
If so I have not found them and I have looked periodically for them. If they are out there could you please post some URL’s. This is the FIRST attempt at a HowTo — sort of — for KDE 5.x. A decent GUI should BUILD on the features that people like that make it usable, not force feed a new GUI on them that is poorly designed that breaks everything people are familiar with, as well as being poorly documented.
I am still waiting for FULL HowTo for KDE 5.x. that tells me HoeTo do various tasks that I currently do in KDE 4.14. For instance In KDE 4.14 I have 10 different Virtual Desktops (VD) each VD has a separate Wallpaper, color, or texture. The last time I tried KDE 5.x this COULD NOT BE DONE. Can it NOW be done and if so HOW?
Likewise in KDE 4.14 each VD has its own set of “Widgets” that are grouped together by function ie Office “widgets” that are commonly used are in one VD; Internet widgets in another VD; and so on. The last time I tried to do this in KDE 5.x The “widgets” placed in one VD showed up in ALL VD. Can you NOW create separate VD each with its own set of “widgets”, and if so HOW?
On the Task Bar where I have icons that start some app that is used infrequently but which I don’t want to have to search through the drop down menu to find. Likewise I hop-skip-and- jump between my VD from my Task Bar. Now I not sure what is on the Task Bar in KDE 5.x.
PLEASE for God’s sake spend some time creating some decent and functional HowTos and YouTube Videos that both illustrate HOW people can configure it ie. HowTo create VD and assign each a different Wallpaper; HowTo put separate “Widgets” to ONE VD yet does NOT get replicated on EVERY VD; and so on.
Thanks for your help.
@Sam
We will do as you have suggested, many thanks for the well expressed concern.
how to remove it completely?
@vedant
Run this command:
sudo apt-get purge kde-* kubuntu-* plasma-*
12 April update: KDE Plasma 5.9 is STILL not available in the “Kubuntu Backports” and “Kubuntu Backports Landing: PPAs for Ubuntu 16.04 or 16.10. Plasma 5.8.5 is still the latest you can install on those Ubuntu versions.
The “Kubuntu Backports Staging” PPA has v5.9.4 but only for Zesty (17.04). (and the official Kubuntu Zesty repository has a never version available anyway).
@Ashley
Okay, useful info here. Many thanks for writing back.
Can plasma 5.9 be installed on linux mint 17.3 and should I if I can?
Totally misleading article.
“KDE Plasma 5.9 is not yet packaged in repositories of the main stream Linux distributions, therefore, we will show you how to install or upgrade to KDE Plasma 5.8.5.”
… “I hope that everything has worked fine, you can now enjoy KDE Plasma 5.8.5 on your desktop.”
… uhh, thanks, I guess?
it is working perfect in my ubuntu 16.04. ..I luv it..thanks
@teekay
Welcome, and many thanks for the feedback.