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KDE Plasma 5

KDE Plasma 5 is the fifth generation of the KDE Plasma graphical workspaces environment, created by KDE primarily for Linux systems. KDE Plasma 5 is the successor of KDE Plasma 4 and was first released on 15 July 2014.[1][4][5] It was succeeded by KDE Plasma 6 on 28 February 2024.[6]

Developer(s)

KDE

15 July 2014 (2014-07-15)[1]

5.27.11[2] Edit this on Wikidata / 6 March 2024
n/a

C++, QML

Unix-like

FreeBSD and Linux

KDE Plasma 4

KDE Plasma 6

Desktop environment

GPL 2.0 or later[3]

kde.org/plasma-desktop

Plasma 5 includes a new default theme, "Breeze", and increased convergence across different devices. The graphical interface was fully migrated to QML, which uses OpenGL for hardware acceleration, providing better performance and reduced power consumption.[1][4]


Plasma Mobile is a Plasma 5 variant for Linux-based smartphones.

Plasma Desktop for any mouse or keyboard driven computing devices like desktops or laptops

for smartphones

Plasma Mobile

for TVs and set-top boxes incl. voice interaction[13]

Plasma Bigscreen

Plasma Nano, a minimal shell for embedded and touch-enabled devices, like IoT or automotive

[14]

KRunner, a search feature with many available plugins. In addition to launching apps, it can find files and folders, open websites, convert from one currency or unit to another, calculate simple mathematical expressions, and perform numerous other useful tasks.

[15]

Flexible desktop and panel composed of individual Widgets (also known as "Plasmoids") which can be individually configured, moved around, replaced with alternatives, or deleted. Each screen's layout can be individually configured. New widgets created by others can be downloaded within Plasma.

layouts

Clipboard with a memory of previously-copied pieces of text that can be called up at will.

Systemwide notification system supporting quick reply and drag-and-drop straight from notifications, history view, and a Do Not Disturb mode.

Central location to control playback of media in open apps, the phone (with KDE Connect installed), or the web browser (with Plasma Browser Integration installed)

Activities, which allow users to separate methods of using the system into distinct workspaces. Each activity can have its own set of favorite and recently used applications, wallpapers, "", panels, window styles, and layout configurations. It also couples with ksmserver (X Session Manager implementation) which keeps track of apps that can be run or shutdown along with given activity via subSessions functionality that keep track of state of applications (not all applications support this feature as they do not implement XSMP protocol).[16]

virtual desktops

Encrypted vaults for storing sensitive data.

Night Color, which can automatically warm the screen colors at night, or user-specified times, or manually.

Styling for icons, cursors, application colors, user interface elements, splash screens and more can be changed, with new styles created by others being downloadable from within the System Settings application. Global Themes allow the entire look and feel of the system to be changed in one click.

Management allows apps which were running when the system shut down to be automatically restarted in the same state they were in before.

Session

GNOME

Comparison of X Window System desktop environments

Default lock screen of Plasma 5

Default lock screen of Plasma 5

Plasma 5 showing KRunner and display management

Plasma 5 showing KRunner and display management

Power management and keyboard brightness OSD

Power management and keyboard brightness OSD

Shutdown screen of Plasma 5

Shutdown screen of Plasma 5

Login screen of Plasma 5

Login screen of Plasma 5

Plasma System Settings

Plasma System Settings

Official website

Plasma Mobile website

Plasma user wiki

Plasma developer wiki