The new version of KDE Plasma 6.5 It is now available for GNU/Linux systems with a host of changes focused on improving the daily experience: a more polished interface, accessibility tweaks, graphical performance, and more cohesive system utilities. The project strengthens its focus on Wayland without neglecting features highly requested by the community.
Far from being a major coup, this is a broad and consistent update that fine-tune hundreds of details across the desktop: from better tone mapping in HDR to faster Discover, to new permission options and improvements to key tools like KRunner, Klipper, and the Network Panel.
Plasma 6.5 Look and Feel
The visual area receives subtle but welcome changes: windows with rounded bottom corners In Breeze, panels that scroll when they accumulate too many elements and a grayscale mode that adds to the color blindness correction filters.
- Automatic transitions between light and dark themes depending on the time of day or the chosen profile.
- Support for XDG Wallpaper portal so apps with portals can change the background and lock screen.
- The Sticky Notes widget has a revamped interface for more comfortable note-taking.
- The Discover and System Monitor sidebars are now resizable.
- Window screencasts include title bar, borders, shadows, and pop-up menus.
- Ocean theme volume adjustment and system notification when connecting new devices.
- Viewing ink levels on compatible printers.
Wayland, KWin, and graphical improvements in Plasma 6.5
On the graphics front, Plasma 6.5 aims for a more robust Wayland session. The tone mapping curve for HDR content, fixed full-screen visual issues, and streamlined window activation/raising. Additionally, there are improvements designed for efficiency and new experiences.
- Experimental support for the Picture-in-Picture protocol in Wayland.
- Support for overlay plans to improve composition efficiency.
- Tracking the text insertion point in the Zoom effect on Wayland to zoom in exactly where you need to.
- Improvements to nested KWin session handling and fix for unexpected crashes in the window manager.
Productivity and shortcuts
Productivity is boosted with improvements to KRunner, the clipboard, and the application launcher. KRunner is now available uses fuzzy matching when searching for apps and can locate global shortcuts, while Klipper lets you set clipboard entries as favorites so you always have them at hand.
- Sleep, Power, and Restart keys in the Apps menu accept the Enter key to activate.
- Ability to automatically switch to a different Global Theme at night.
- Mute all microphones with the dedicated button/shortcut.
- When the system is muted and you change the volume, all playback devices unmute to avoid confusion.
Settings, accessibility, and devices
The settings panel is now clearer and more accessible. It has improved the description of actions and shortcuts for screen readers on the Shortcuts and Autostart pages, and the desktop has been audited to eliminate flickering that may affect people with photosensitivity.
- The old Flatpak Permissions page has been reworked into a general Application Permissions page.
- The Orca screen reader better announces changes such as the state of the Caps Lock key.
- The Drawing Tablet page does not appear if no tablet is connected.
- configuration touch wheels and dials of tablets from System Preferences, and notice if a custom driver is in use.
- Possibility to hibernate from the login screen (SDDM).
- Support for configuring VPN with the FortiGate provider.
- In remote desktop sessions, you no longer need to create a separate account: your user account works as expected, and the clipboard is synchronized between the client and server.
- Wi-Fi & Networks page with clearer messages; when sharing a connection, the password and a QR code are displayed.
- Bluetooth switch visible in System Preferences and assistant that hides unnamed devices by default.
- Game Controllers page with more relevant information.
- Disks and Devices Widget: Mount without pre-checking or run a manual check without mounting.
Initial installation and administration
For equipment that comes with Plasma from the factory, it is released KDE Initial System Setup, a tool designed for OEMs that guides you through the initial desktop setup when you turn on a new computer.
Discover and app ecosystem
Plasma Discover software store speeds up startup and explains better what blocks your startup when it takes a while to open. It also adopts new installation methods and expands its driver review and management capabilities.
- Supports URLs of the type
flatpak+https://to install Flathub apps with one click (automatically opens Discover). - Installing hardware drivers from your distribution's repositories.
- Possibility to write reviews even on apps that don't have ratings yet.
Other integration changes include the Monospace font family defined in System Preferences being automatically synchronizes with GTK apps, improving visual consistency between applications.
Network, notifications and weather
The network and notifications area becomes clearer and more useful in everyday life, with improvements in Do not disturb mode and treatment of wireless networks.
- Button to see all missed notifications when you turn off Do Not Disturb.
- Detected Wi-Fi networks appear on the Wi-Fi network page in System Preferences.
- The Weather widget retrieves data as soon as you resume your computer from sleep.
Plasma 6.5 Availability
The update will be reaching the stable repositories of distributions such as openSUSE Tumbleweed, Arch Linux, Fedora Linux and KDE neon in the coming days. Those who prefer can check out the downloads and release notes on the project's official website.
With a very practical approach, Plasma 6.5 combines Visual improvements, Wayland optimizations, new configuration tools, accessibility improvements, and a more capable Discover. It's not a deal breaker, but a solid step that polishes the desktop on almost every front and makes life easier for both new and long-time KDE users.
