4 ways KDE Plasma 6.5 beta is shaping up to be a beautiful, customizable Linux desktop

KDE / Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNET Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. ZDNET key takeaways KDE Plasma 6.5 beta is now available for testing. New release brings better performance, reliability, and visuals. The full release will be available on October 21. KDE Plasma is probably the most elegant desktop environment on the market. Even out of the box, it's beautiful, user-friendly, highly customizable, efficient, and reliable. What more could you ask for from a desktop? Also: 8 free Linux apps that are surprisingly useful - no command line required Recently, the beta version of Plasma 6.5 was released, and the changes are legion. Although many of those changes are small improvements, they all come together to make KDE Plasma better than ever. What are those changes? Let's start from big to small. 1. Wayland Wayland is the Linux graphical protocol for now and the future. At this point, there is no going back (nor is there a reason to, because Wayland is a vast improvement over X11). The migration from X11 to Wayland has been long and (at times) challenging. Fortunately, it looks as though the dust has settled and Wayland has the full support of most desktops and distributions. Also: X11's dying days mean you'll be forced to switch to Wayland For KDE Plasma 6.5, the Wayland enhancements include the following: GPU Underlays : Addresses a request for improved Wayland display performance. This also helps if a window has server-side decorations with rounded corners, there are subtitles on top of a window, or there's another window on top of it. : Addresses a request for improved Wayland display performance. This also helps if a window has server-side decorations with rounded corners, there are subtitles on top of a window, or there's another window on top of it. Tablet Dials and Rings : Support for configuring touch rings and tablet dials from within Plasma settings. : Support for configuring touch rings and tablet dials from within Plasma settings. Picture-in-Picture : Support for Wayland's picture-in-picture functionality. : Support for Wayland's picture-in-picture functionality. Pointer Warping : Additional Wayland support for pointer warping (the automatic and instantaneous movement of the mouse pointer to a new position on the screen). : Additional Wayland support for pointer warping (the automatic and instantaneous movement of the mouse pointer to a new position on the screen). Display Mirroring: Support for simultaneous display mirroring/reflection on Wayland. 2. Performance and reliability enhancements KDE Plasma is already one of the fastest (non-lightweight) desktop environments on the market, and version 6.5 ups the ante with the following: KWin Timer : The KDE Plasma window manager, KWin, now uses a lighter timer for its render loop to reduce resource usage. : The KDE Plasma window manager, KWin, now uses a lighter timer for its render loop to reduce resource usage. Desktop Icon Fixes : Icons will no longer shift or reset when switching desktop layouts. : Icons will no longer shift or reset when switching desktop layouts. Firmware Updates : The KDE Discover firmware updater backend (Fwupd) performs much faster. : The KDE Discover firmware updater backend (Fwupd) performs much faster. Flatpak: Support for flatpak+https:// URLs for simplifying the installation of Flatpak apps from Flathub. Also: This official Ubuntu Spin might just be the perfect intro to Linux 3. KDE Plasma configuration There are several enhancements for KDE Plasma configurations, which include: KISS : KDE Plasma has a new initial setup wizard to help with initial user creation and first-run configurations for all new installations. : KDE Plasma has a new initial setup wizard to help with initial user creation and first-run configurations for all new installations. KNightTime : A new module for scheduling automatic dark/light theme switching and adjusting screen color temperature based on the time of day. : A new module for scheduling automatic dark/light theme switching and adjusting screen color temperature based on the time of day. Rounded bottom corners : Rounded bottom corners for windows are now the default. : Rounded bottom corners for windows are now the default. Scrollable panels : Plasma panels are now scrollable when they contain too many items. : Plasma panels are now scrollable when they contain too many items. Grayscale node : Support for a grayscale display mode. : Support for a grayscale display mode. Hardware drivers : Hardware drivers can now be installed from a distribution's repositories. : Hardware drivers can now be installed from a distribution's repositories. Sound themes : Support for sound themes has been added (the default is called "Ocean"). : Support for sound themes has been added (the default is called "Ocean"). Klipper favorites : You can now mark clipboard entries as favorites for permanent saving. : You can now mark clipboard entries as favorites for permanent saving. KRunner : Support has been added for finding global shortcuts and custom sort ordering for search results. : Support has been added for finding global shortcuts and custom sort ordering for search results. Printer ink monitoring: KDE Plasma will now alert you when printer ink is low. Also: Garuda KDE Dr460nized might be the coolest-looking Linux distro available 4. Appearance/accessibility Finally, let's take a look at some of the enhancements for appearance and accessibility, which include: Colorblindness correction : Filters for correcting color vision deficiencies have been added. : Filters for correcting color vision deficiencies have been added. Screen reader improvements : Screen reader is better capable of describing actions and keyboard shortcuts. : Screen reader is better capable of describing actions and keyboard shortcuts. Screencasts : Specific windows now include titlebars, borders, and shadows. : Specific windows now include titlebars, borders, and shadows. Network Page: Within the Network Settings page, improvements have been made to the "Add Connection" dialog. Also: 7 most Windows-like Linux distros - if you're ready to ditch Microsoft When will it be available? Right now, KDE Plasma 6.5 is in beta, but you can kick the tires on the new release by downloading an ISO of KDE Neon (make sure to download the testing version). The full version of 6.5 is scheduled to be released on October 21, at which point it should start making its way into distribution repositories.