• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

KDE Plasma 6.1 Released with New Features and Improved Usability

Nomad76

News Editor
Staff member
Joined
May 21, 2024
Messages
264 (3.67/day)
Plasma 6 hits its stride with version 6.1. While Plasma 6.0 was all about getting the migration to the underlying Qt 6 frameworks correct (and what a massive job that was), 6.1 is where developers start implementing the features that will take your desktop to a new level.

In this release, you will find features that go far beyond subtle changes to themes and tweaks to animations (although there is plenty of those too), as you delve into interacting with desktops on remote machines, become more productive with usability and accessibility enhancements galore, and discover customizations that will even affect the hardware of your computer.





These features and more are being built directly into Plasma's Wayland version natively, avoiding the need for third party software and hacky extensions required by similar solutions implemented in X. Things will only get more interesting from here. But meanwhile enjoy what will land on your desktop with your next update.

Access Remote Plasma Desktops
One of the more spectacular (and useful) features added in Plasma 6.1 is that you can now start up a remote desktop directly from the System Settings app. This means that if you are sysadmin who needs to troubleshoot users' machines, or simply need to work on a Plasma-enabled computer that is out of reach, setting up a connection is just a few clicks away.

Once enabled, you can connect to the remote desktop using a client such as KRDC. You will see the remote machine's Plasma desktop in a window and be able to interact with it from your own computer.

Customization made (more) Visual
We all love customizing our Plasma desktops, don't we? One of the quickest ways to do this is by entering Plasma's Edit Mode (right-click anywhere on the desktop background and select Enter Edit Mode from the menu).

In version 6.1, the visual aspect of Edit Mode has been overhauled and you will now see a slick animation when you activate it. The entire desktop zooms out smoothly, giving you a better overview of what is going on and allowing you to make your changes with ease.

Persistent Apps
Plasma 6.1 on Wayland now has a feature that "remembers" what you were doing in your last session like it did under X11. Although this is still work in progress, If you log off and shut down your computer with a dozen open windows, Plasma will now open them for you the next time you power up your desktop, making it faster and easier to get back to what you were doing.

Sync your Keyboard's Colored LEDs
It wouldn't be a new Plasma release without at least one fancy aesthetic customization features. This time, however, we give you the power to reach beyond the screen, all the way onto your keyboard, as you can now synchronize the LED colours of your keys to match the accent colour on your desktop.

To see the full list of changes, check out the changelog for Plasma 6.1.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source
 
Joined
Feb 6, 2021
Messages
2,789 (2.19/day)
Location
Germany
System Name Sunk Cost Fallacy
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
Motherboard ASRock B650E Steel Legend Wifi
Cooling Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120
Memory 2x16GB Corsair Vengeance RGB 6000 CL30 (A-Die)
Video Card(s) RTX 4090 Gaming X Trio
Storage WD Black SN850X 1TB + 2x 2TB, 2x 4TB Crucial MX500, 4TB Samsung 870 Evo.
Display(s) Alienware AW2723DF, LG 27GR93U, LG 27GN950-B
Case Streacom BC1 V2
Audio Device(s) Bose Companion Series 2 III, Sennheiser GSP600 and HD599 SE - Creative Soundblaster X4
Power Supply bequiet! Dark Power Pro 12 1500w Titanium
Mouse Logitech GPRO X Superlight & G502 X
Keyboard Corsair K65 RGB Mini, Razer Black Widow V3 TKL
VR HMD Oculus Rift S
i'll give it a try when we finally get the open source 560 nvidia driver.
 
Joined
Nov 15, 2010
Messages
138 (0.03/day)
Processor 5700X
Motherboard ASRock Gaming X
Memory 2x8 3600 CL14
Video Card(s) 1080 SEAHAWK
Display(s) ViewSonic XG2703-GS
Waiting for it to land on F40 to test the Persistent Apps even if I will change nothing on daily use

i'll give it a try when we finally get the open source 560 nvidia driver.
Buy an AMD, it will be quicker :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: JLP

bug

Joined
May 22, 2015
Messages
13,501 (4.02/day)
Processor Intel i5-12600k
Motherboard Asus H670 TUF
Cooling Arctic Freezer 34
Memory 2x16GB DDR4 3600 G.Skill Ripjaws V
Video Card(s) EVGA GTX 1060 SC
Storage 500GB Samsung 970 EVO, 500GB Samsung 850 EVO, 1TB Crucial MX300 and 2TB Crucial MX500
Display(s) Dell U3219Q + HP ZR24w
Case Raijintek Thetis
Audio Device(s) Audioquest Dragonfly Red :D
Power Supply Seasonic 620W M12
Mouse Logitech G502 Proteus Core
Keyboard G.Skill KM780R
Software Arch Linux + Win10
i'll give it a try when we finally get the open source 560 nvidia driver.
I believe you only need 555. 6.0 works pretty well with 550 already for me, but I guess ymmv.
 
Joined
Feb 6, 2021
Messages
2,789 (2.19/day)
Location
Germany
System Name Sunk Cost Fallacy
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
Motherboard ASRock B650E Steel Legend Wifi
Cooling Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120
Memory 2x16GB Corsair Vengeance RGB 6000 CL30 (A-Die)
Video Card(s) RTX 4090 Gaming X Trio
Storage WD Black SN850X 1TB + 2x 2TB, 2x 4TB Crucial MX500, 4TB Samsung 870 Evo.
Display(s) Alienware AW2723DF, LG 27GR93U, LG 27GN950-B
Case Streacom BC1 V2
Audio Device(s) Bose Companion Series 2 III, Sennheiser GSP600 and HD599 SE - Creative Soundblaster X4
Power Supply bequiet! Dark Power Pro 12 1500w Titanium
Mouse Logitech GPRO X Superlight & G502 X
Keyboard Corsair K65 RGB Mini, Razer Black Widow V3 TKL
VR HMD Oculus Rift S
I believe you only need 555. 6.0 works pretty well with 550 already for me, but I guess ymmv.
i can't even install distros with wayland as default + KDE on ADA.
non stop black screen crashes "Plasmashell has crashed" even while installing the Distro. (Nobara for example)

for me with three clean installs (Tumbleweed, Nobara and then Tumbleweed again) everything is basically unuseable, constantly crashing and locking up within seconds to minutes. with the 555 beta driver on KDE 6.05
 

bug

Joined
May 22, 2015
Messages
13,501 (4.02/day)
Processor Intel i5-12600k
Motherboard Asus H670 TUF
Cooling Arctic Freezer 34
Memory 2x16GB DDR4 3600 G.Skill Ripjaws V
Video Card(s) EVGA GTX 1060 SC
Storage 500GB Samsung 970 EVO, 500GB Samsung 850 EVO, 1TB Crucial MX300 and 2TB Crucial MX500
Display(s) Dell U3219Q + HP ZR24w
Case Raijintek Thetis
Audio Device(s) Audioquest Dragonfly Red :D
Power Supply Seasonic 620W M12
Mouse Logitech G502 Proteus Core
Keyboard G.Skill KM780R
Software Arch Linux + Win10
i can't even install distros with wayland as default + KDE on ADA.
non stop black screen crashes "Plasmashell has crashed" even while installing the Distro. (Nobara for example)

for me with three clean installs (Tumbleweed, Nobara and then Tumbleweed again) everything is basically unuseable, constantly crashing and locking up within seconds to minutes. with the 555 beta driver on KDE 6.05
Well, 555 is still beta. Have you tried the stable 550 instead?
I mean, it worked for me on a really old install, I broke that (not KDE-related), installed clean and it still worked. Not suing beta drivers and still on Pascal, fwiw.
6.0 was already solid, sorry you're missing out.
 
Joined
Feb 6, 2021
Messages
2,789 (2.19/day)
Location
Germany
System Name Sunk Cost Fallacy
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
Motherboard ASRock B650E Steel Legend Wifi
Cooling Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120
Memory 2x16GB Corsair Vengeance RGB 6000 CL30 (A-Die)
Video Card(s) RTX 4090 Gaming X Trio
Storage WD Black SN850X 1TB + 2x 2TB, 2x 4TB Crucial MX500, 4TB Samsung 870 Evo.
Display(s) Alienware AW2723DF, LG 27GR93U, LG 27GN950-B
Case Streacom BC1 V2
Audio Device(s) Bose Companion Series 2 III, Sennheiser GSP600 and HD599 SE - Creative Soundblaster X4
Power Supply bequiet! Dark Power Pro 12 1500w Titanium
Mouse Logitech GPRO X Superlight & G502 X
Keyboard Corsair K65 RGB Mini, Razer Black Widow V3 TKL
VR HMD Oculus Rift S
Have you tried the stable 550 instead?
i tried that first for the last couple weeks.
everything Wayland related is 100% unuseable on every existing distro :/
 
Joined
Jun 17, 2024
Messages
16 (0.36/day)
System Name Red Jewel / Red Pearl
Processor Ryzen 7 7800X3D / 5800X3D
Motherboard ASRock X670E Taichi / ASUS TUF X570
Cooling Ghalahad II 360 / Coolermaster ML 240
Memory 32GB 7200 / 32GB 3733
Video Card(s) RX 7900 XT / RX 7900 XT
Storage 16TB 4x 4TB / A whole bunch of drives
Display(s) 1440P 170hz / 1440P 165hz
Case LianLi V3000 Plus / Coolermaster MB511
Power Supply 850w MSI
Mouse Logitech G502 HERO / Logitech G302 Lightspeed
Keyboard Cherry mechanical / Logitech G710+
Software Linux | Windows 11 Enterprise LTSC 24H2
If you use Linux seriously, you will be better off on a Radeon card, sadly that's just how it is for now.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JLP

Solaris17

Super Dainty Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Aug 16, 2005
Messages
26,286 (3.80/day)
Location
Alabama
System Name Rocinante
Processor I9 14900KS
Motherboard MSI MPG Z790I Edge WiFi Gaming
Cooling be quiet! Pure Loop 240mm
Memory 64GB Gskill Trident Z5 DDR5 6000
Video Card(s) MSI SUPRIM Liquid X 4090
Storage 1x 500GB 980 Pro | 1x 1TB 980 Pro | 1x 8TB Corsair MP400
Display(s) Odyssey OLED G9 (G95SC)
Case LANCOOL 205M MESH Snow
Audio Device(s) Moondrop S8's on schitt Modi+ & Valhalla 2
Power Supply ASUS ROG Loki SFX-L 1000W
Mouse Lamzu Atlantis mini (White)
Keyboard Monsgeek M3 Lavender, Akko Crystal Blues
VR HMD Quest 3
Software openSUSE Tumbleweed
Benchmark Scores I dont have time for that.
i tried that first for the last couple weeks.
everything Wayland related is 100% unuseable on every existing distro :/
It isn’t too bad on suse but it’s certainly more stable if you don’t enable all the fun things. I can’t wait for 6.1 to hit our repo and 560. It’s been a great experience otherwise on x11. Nvidia has done fantastic on there drivers. Wayland has come a long way recently I’m hoping the growing pains shake themselves out soon.
 

JLP

Joined
Jun 19, 2024
Messages
5 (0.12/day)
Location
Slovenia
System Name Tsiolkovsky
Processor AMD Ryzen 5 7600
Motherboard ASUS ROG STRIX B650E-F GAMING WIFI
Cooling AMD Wraith Stealth
Memory 32 GB G.Skill Trident Z5 NEO DDR5-6000 CL30
Video Card(s) PowerColor Hellhound Radeon RX 7900 GRE OC
Storage Samsung 980 Pro 2TB SSD, WD Black 4TB SATA 128MB 7200RPM
Case Corsair Carbide 330R Blackout Edition
Power Supply Seasonic Prime 80 Plus Titanium 850W
Mouse Logitech MX Vertical Advanced Ergonomic
Keyboard Das Keyboard 6 Pro
Software openSUSE Tumbleweed GNU/Linux with KDE Plasma
Very happy with KDE Plasma 6.0 and can't wait for 6.1 to get available on openSUSE Tumbleweed. Especially looking forward to that multi-monitor barriers feature and the apps persistence/restoration (this one is a major feature I miss in Wayland, sessions management in X11 was such a nice thing and you don't even know how usefull it is until you loose it :/ ).
 
  • Like
Reactions: bug
Joined
Oct 22, 2014
Messages
13,672 (3.83/day)
Location
Sunshine Coast
System Name Lenovo ThinkCentre
Processor AMD 5650GE
Motherboard Lenovo
Memory 32 GB DDR4
Display(s) AOC 24" Freesync 1m.s. 75Hz
Mouse Lenovo
Keyboard Lenovo
Software W11 Pro 64 bit
Can y'all speak English please. :laugh:
 

bug

Joined
May 22, 2015
Messages
13,501 (4.02/day)
Processor Intel i5-12600k
Motherboard Asus H670 TUF
Cooling Arctic Freezer 34
Memory 2x16GB DDR4 3600 G.Skill Ripjaws V
Video Card(s) EVGA GTX 1060 SC
Storage 500GB Samsung 970 EVO, 500GB Samsung 850 EVO, 1TB Crucial MX300 and 2TB Crucial MX500
Display(s) Dell U3219Q + HP ZR24w
Case Raijintek Thetis
Audio Device(s) Audioquest Dragonfly Red :D
Power Supply Seasonic 620W M12
Mouse Logitech G502 Proteus Core
Keyboard G.Skill KM780R
Software Arch Linux + Win10
Can y'all speak English please. :laugh:

plasma6-1.jpg

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.
 

JLP

Joined
Jun 19, 2024
Messages
5 (0.12/day)
Location
Slovenia
System Name Tsiolkovsky
Processor AMD Ryzen 5 7600
Motherboard ASUS ROG STRIX B650E-F GAMING WIFI
Cooling AMD Wraith Stealth
Memory 32 GB G.Skill Trident Z5 NEO DDR5-6000 CL30
Video Card(s) PowerColor Hellhound Radeon RX 7900 GRE OC
Storage Samsung 980 Pro 2TB SSD, WD Black 4TB SATA 128MB 7200RPM
Case Corsair Carbide 330R Blackout Edition
Power Supply Seasonic Prime 80 Plus Titanium 850W
Mouse Logitech MX Vertical Advanced Ergonomic
Keyboard Das Keyboard 6 Pro
Software openSUSE Tumbleweed GNU/Linux with KDE Plasma
Damn, already in Fedora 40 and Arch but still no Plasma 6.1 in Tumbleweed. Looks like there is some integration test failing with it or something. Hope they sort it out soon.

@bug I see you use the same CPU monitoring widgets as I do. Great minds think alike :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: bug
Top