Three months after a version which introduced new features such as the cursor that enlarges to find it — by quickly moving the mouse —, KDE has done today official launch of plasma 6.2. In the two previous releases — 6.0 and 6.1 — the project had to do a lot of work to ensure that the changes from the previous 5 series would not present too many problems. With that under control, the K-loving team says it's time to deliver what was promised, specifically in relation to Qt 6 and Wayland.
One of KDE's long-standing goals was to make Plasma more suitable for artistsPlasma 6.2 includes a bunch of features for drawing tablets, and there's even a dedicated section in System Preferences. Until I install Plasma 6.2 on one of my computers, I can't confirm whether this section is there by default or whether a package needs to be installed, as is the case with the remote desktop option in 6.1.
Other new features in Plasma 6.2
Related to the above, KDE has implemented More complete support for the color management protocol in Wayland, and it’s enabled by default. On the other hand, they’ve also improved brightness management for HDR and ICC profiles, as well as HDR performance. This translates into a better experience when designing graphics, watching videos, and also when playing games.
Given that manage energy consumption System performance is important for conserving resources and being environmentally responsible, so in Plasma 6.2 you can prevent apps from blocking power saving, adjust the brightness of each monitor individually, and switch power profiles from the Battery widget. Pressing Meta + B toggles between modes, with a leaf icon for power saving and a rocket for high performance.
Improvements to Discover, system update and accessibility
The default Plasma software store is Discover, and now supports PostmarketOS packages for mobile devices. This will allow those on this operating system to write reviews and will present more accurate licensing information. As for updates, you can now choose to shut down the system after an offline update or offline.
In the accessibility section, Plasma 6.2 has improved its System Preferences page and added colorblind filters. Additionally, support for the “Sticky keys” feature has been added.
Plasma 6.2 has also brought some visual touch-ups, such as a change to the accent colors and system tray, a reimagined explorer widget, and unified dialogs and pop-ups, as well as the welcome app, sound effects, and actions.
Among the rest of the changes:
- The Weather Report widget now shows “similar” temperatures, adds more information about BBC weather forecasts, and more.
- It is now possible to disable window borders in the Pager widget.
- The Minimize All widget now minimizes only the current virtual desktop windows and activity.
- Custom shortcuts can now be given custom names.
- There is now a built-in cropping tool when setting a new user avatar.
- A donation request notification has been added once a year. Its activation depends on the choice of distribution.
Fewer changes than usual?
Plasma 6.2 has introduced a change list just as long as before, but slightly different. This release has focused more on what is not seen, as in a Wayland that is worth continuing to improve so that things are as stable as in X11, which after years in which only corrections have been applied it is difficult to find something that does not work. KDE is already working on the new thing that will arrive in 6.3, but there is still a long way to go before that at least three months.
plasma 6.2 it was announced a few moments ago, and that means that its code is now available. Now it is time to implement it in the different distributions, among which Kubuntu will not be included for its Oracular Oriole that will arrive next Thursday.