KDE is a well-known desktop environment for 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.
[ You might also like: 10 Best and Most Popular Linux Desktop Environments of All Time ]
In the past few years, a lot of work has been geared towards improving the KDE desktop, with the latest stable release KDE Plasma 5 desktop series comes 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, which means that KDE 5 apps will be faster than KDE 4 besides 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, besides 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 the notifications area has also been redesigned, with fewer popup windows providing a better user experience to access the notifications.
- The lock screen window is also redesigned with a better login interface.
- Smoother performance, KDE 5 Plasma applications are rendered upon the top of the OpenGL scenegraph which means that KDE 5 programs have the priority when being rendered beside other processes.
- Hardware-acceleration migration is now complete, this means that Plasma 5 rendering will be faster now because of the fully-usage of the GPU.
- A nice set of new wallpapers will look perfect on the default theme.
- Many other features that you will explore on your own.
On 27 July 2021, the makers of KDE released yet another Plasma feature update, Plasma 5.22.4. It ships in with several exciting new features and improvements, bringing a classic feel to your desktop. For more details, see the release notes.
Installation of KDE Plasma in Linux
To install KDE Plasma on Ubuntu 20.04 and Linux Mint 20, you have to use the default repository using the following apt commands.
Install KDE Plasma On Ubuntu 20.04
$ sudo apt update $ sudo apt install kde-plasma-desktop
Please note during installation, it will ask you to configure the sddm login manager, click OK, and select the ‘sddm’ login manager as default.
Once the installation process is completed, make sure to restart your system and select Plasma Desktop and enter the password to login to the KDE Plasma desktop environment.
Install KDE Plasma On Linux Mint 20
The KDE Plasma desktop packages are already in the official repository of Linux Mint and you can install them using the following commands.
$ sudo apt update $ sudo apt install kde-plasma-desktop
Choose sddm login manager.
After installation finishes, choose Plasma desktop from login.
Install KDE Plasma on Debian 11/10
$ sudo apt install tasksel $ sudo tasksel install kde-desktop OR $ sudo tasksel
Install KDE Plasma On OpenSUSE
For OpenSUSE, the latest version of KDE Plasma is available from the default repository for your system and you can install it using the zypper command as root.
$ sudo zypper in -t pattern kde kde_plasma
Install KDE Plasma On Fedora 34
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 the most recent version of KDE Plasma using the following dnf commands.
$ sudo dnf update $ sudo dnf install @kde-desktop
Install KDE Plasma On RHEL/CentOS and Rocky Linux/AlmaLinux
# yum groupinstall "KDE Plasma Workspaces"
For Arch Linux, packages are available to download from the official extra repository, activate it, and enjoy it.
KDE Plasma 5.22 Screenshot Tour
I hope that everything has worked fine, you can now enjoy KDE Plasma on your desktop.
In case of any queries or additional information you want to provide to us, you can use the comment section below to give us feedback. Have you tested KDE Plasma 5 on your Linux system? How did you find it?. Please post your thoughts about the KDE desktop using our comment section below.
Hi on executing `sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop` I get this error on the terminal :
Errors were encountered while processing:
/var/cache/apt/archives/libreoffice-common_1%3a5.1.6~rc2-0ubuntu1~xenial2_all.deb
/var/cache/apt/archives/kaccounts-providers_4%3a16.04.3-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa61_amd64.deb
I have open-office installed in Ubuntu instead of libre-office. So, I think that may be the problem.
But I wonder if the kubuntu installation is successful or not. If not, what should I do to resolve this error and make it successful
what a click bait article. Absolute BS “Install KDE Plasma 5.9 …” I’m not interested as to the fact its not properly released just yet I am interested in why the hell you did not change the title and subsequent vid once you realized you were not actually going to show anything to do with plasma 5.9 ? Or is it meant to be misleading click-bait ?
Ok, what am I missing? The article is called “INSTALL 5.9”, there is a demo of it, you’re talking about it, but all the instructions are for 5.8.5 via backports. Are we installing 5.8.5 or 5.9? If these are instructions for 5.8.5 then how do I install 5.9? Why not call the article, “How to install 5.8.5 via backports”?
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.
You are talking about a free (as in beer), open-sourced piece of software that is being provided to you by people who largely don’t get paid much, if anything, for their work. Stop crying because in addition to GIVING this software to you, they didn’t hold your hand and tell you every detail of how to use it in a Hollywood produced video.
RTFM! There is an insane amount of documentation. If you are upset because there are no videos on YouTube, here’s a shocking idea–MAKE ONE YOURSELF! Instead of leaching off of the community and then complaining when it’s not good enough, do a little research and contribute a little bit yourself.
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.