Archives For November 30, 1999

KDE Plasma 5.3

(K)Ubuntu 15.04 users are now able to install or upgrade to KDE Plasma Desktop 5.3 through Kubuntu-backports PPA.

KDE Community does not announce the release of Plasma 5.3 at the moment. According to the beta release, Plasma 5.3 comes with better power management, new Bluetooth applet, improved Plasma widgets, big steps towards Wayland support, and numerous bug-fixes. For more, go to kde.org

Install or upgrade to Plasma 5.3 in Ubuntu:

The new release has been made into Kubuntu Backports PPA, available for Ubuntu 15.04 and its derivatives.

To upgrade it in Kubuntu 15.04, open terminal and run below commands one by one to add the PPA and upgrade the whole system:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/backports

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

For non-KDE users, you may also need to install below package via command:

sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop

KDE Plasma 5.2 has been announced today with a number of new components, new features and many more bug-fixes.

According to the release note, the new release comes with below new components:

  • BlueDevil to manage Bluetooth devices.
  • KSSHAskPass, a graphical UI to enter SSH keys’ passwords.
  • Muon: install and manage software and other addons for your computer.
  • Login theme configuration (SDDM)
  • KScreen, a System Settings module to set up multiple monitor support.
  • GTK Application Style, configure themeing of applications from Gnome.
  • KDecoration: this new library to make themes for KWin, Plasma’s window manager.

Also there are many other highlights in the KDE Plasma 5.2, such as:

  • Undo changes to Plasma desktop layout
  • press Alt-space to easily search through your computer
  • Breeze window decoration theme is now used by default.
  • New plasma widgets: 15 puzzle, web browser, show desktop
  • Various improvements and over 300 bug-fixes.

Fore more details, go to KDE.org.

How to Install / Upgrade to KDE Plasma 5.2 in Ubuntu:

For (K)Ubuntu 14.10 and derivatives users, the latest packages are available for install / upgrade at the Kubuntu Next Backports PPA.

Just open a terminal window, and run below commands one by one to add the PPA, update package cache and install or upgrade KDE:

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/next-backports

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

sudo apt-get install plasma-desktop plasma-workspace plasma-workspace-wallpapers

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

That’s it. Enjoy!

KDE Plasma 5.1 has been announced recently which brings back many popular features, a wide variety of improvements, and a large number of fixes.

KDE Team announced the Plasma 5.1 recently, which brings back many features that users have grown used to from its 4.x predecessor. Popular additional widgets such as the Icons-only Task Manager, the Notes widget and the System Load Viewer make their re-entry. Support for multiple time zones has been added back in the panel’s clock. The notifications have been visually improved, along with many bigger and smaller bug fixes.

For the detailed changes, see the official announcement.

Install / Upgrade KDE Plasma in Ubuntu:

For (K)Ubuntu 14.10 Utopic, the latest binaries have been made into KUbuntu Next PPA.

Press Ctrl+Alt+T to open terminal. When it opens, run commands below one by one to install / upgrade:

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/next

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

sudo apt-get install kubuntu-plasma5-desktop plasma-workspace-wallpapers

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Once installed, restart your system!!

(Optional) To remove KDE Plasma 5.1 and revert the changes, run below commands:

sudo apt-get install ppa-purge

sudo apt-get remove kubuntu-plasma5-desktop

sudo ppa-purge ppa:kubuntu-ppa/next

For (K)Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, the Plasma 5 is available in the project Neon PPA. Installing it won’t overwrite your current installation, but the PPA is unstable and you may encounter bugs. Use it as your own risk!

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:neon/kf5

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install project-neon5-session project-neon5-utils project-neon5-konsole project-neon5-breeze project-neon5-plasma-workspace-wallpapers

(Optional) To revert the changes, run:

sudo apt-get purge project-neon5-*

sudo apt-get autoremove

sudo add-apt-repository -r ppa:neon/kf5