The third point release in the Ubuntu 24.04 LTS series, Ubuntu 24.04.3 rolls all the critical security, bug, and other software updates issued to the Noble Numbat since the last installation image (ISO) was generated for Ubuntu 24.04.2 LTS, released earlier this year.
On board is the new hardware enablement stack (HWE) that rolled out to existing users of 24.04 last month. This enables devices to boot from newer Linux kernel and graphics drivers, Linux 6.14 and Mesa 25.0.7 respectively, both back-ported from Ubuntu 25.04.
The Mesa update also introduces the mesa-amber package to the LTS. This includes drivers for older legacy graphics cards that are no longer supported in the main mesa package.
Fixes for those come “baked” into this refresh ISO, along with power alerts to follow new EU guidelines on energy settings in consumer electronic devices, such as laptops.
If you use Ubuntu 24.04 LTS you do not need to download this ISO and reinstall to benefit as there’s nothing included you don’t already have — assuming you’ve been installing updates often, that is!
The point of Ubuntu point releases
Long-term support (LTS) versions of Ubuntu are supported for a minimum of 5 years. During the first 3 years, periodical ‘point releases’ are put out. These refresh the install image (ISO) so new users don’t have to download up to 3 years worth of updates after installing.
Plus, as point releases rebase the system on top of a newer Linux kernel and graphics driver stack, point release ISOs will boot on )and better support) newer hardware – hardware which may not have been available when the original ISO was created in April 2024.
A new version of the KDE Plasma desktop environment is out and, as you’d expect, the update is packed with new features, UI tweaks, and performance boosts.
KDE Plasma 6.3 is the fourth major update in the KDE Plasma 6.x series and it also marks the one-year anniversary of the KDE Plasma 6.0 debut – something KDE notes in its announcement:
One year on, with the teething problems a major new release inevitably brings firmly behind us, Plasma’s developers have worked on fine-tuning, squashing bugs and adding features to Plasma 6 — turning it into the best desktop environment for everyone!”KDE
How time flies!
Read on for a breezy overview of the key changes in the latest update!
KDE Plasma 6.3: What’s New?
Fractional Scaling Overhaul
KWin zoom will reveal the new pixel-perfect grid alignment
Anyone KDE Plasma on a high-resolution display and making use of fractional scaling may find themselves noticing how much sharper UI elements look in this release compared to earlier ones – pin sharp Plasma desktop, ahoy!
KDE says it ‘overhauled’ how fractional scaling works in this release, with KWin making “a stronger effort to snap things to the screen’s pixel grid, greatly reducing blurriness and visual gaps everywhere and producing sharper and crisper images.”
And anyone eager to see just how tight the pixel-perfect alignment get can make use of the Zoom effect in Kwin, which now shows overlays grid on top of the screen at (very) high zoom levels.
Sticking with displays, screen colours are said to be more accurate when Night Light is active, whether using ICC profiles or not. Plus, KWin now offers the option to choose screen colour accuracy (albeit in some cases at the cost of increased resource usage).
Customisation
Want to clone a panel? It’s now click-button easy
KDE Plasma 6.3 buffs its customisation potential by making it easier to clone panels in Edit mode (just click the ‘Clone panel’ button), and support scripting to adjust panel opacity levels and which screen in a multi-monitor setup a panel appears on.
Widget Explorer makes it easy to remove a widget, even if it’s not visible on screen/located on a display since unplugged, whilst widgets themselves are said to have a (slightly) translucent look to them.
Symbolic icons were added to the category sidebar in the Kickoff menu a few releases ago but those who aren’t a fan will be pleased to hear it’s now possible to change category icons to something else via the Menu Editor app.
Launcher category icons can be changed using Menu Editor
Finally, no release of KDE Plasma is complete without a distinctive desktop background. I dare say some of those reading this post would be able to identify KDE Plasma releases based solely by the wallpaper each shipped with.
After several releases sporting digital illustrations, KDE Plasma 6.3 sees a return of KDE’s iconic abstract-y geometric background designs – a fine return to form!
Creativity
Tweaks to graphics tablet tuning are on offer in Plasma 6.3
An array of digital art-focused features were carried in KDE Plasma 6.2 last October, and this area benefits from further refinement here in KDE Plasma 6.3 with new options to customise, fine-tune, and adjust graphics tablet behaviour.
The Drawing Tablet page in System Settings is reworked and reorganised, with tabs splitting out settings into logical groupings and new configuration options added, including:
Map the tablet canvas to the entire screen
Tablet calibration is now more accurate
Stylus testing feature shows detail on tilt and pressure
Adjust stylus pressure curve and range
Re-map/swap stylus’ button functions
After adjusting graphics tablet settings it may be desirable to know what was changed, so the System Settings app’s nifty ‘Highlight changed settings’ toggle now works on the Drawing Tablet page too.
In all, another solid set of updates for KDE creatives to take advantage of.
CPU Monitoring
A big complaint with most GUI system monitor tools (not just KDE’s) is how they tend to use a lot of resources whilst monitoring resources – a bit catch 22, to a degree.
Perhaps aware of that, KDE devs saw scope for improvement in KDE Plasma’s native System Monitor app, with CPU monitoring said to be more accurate than before and using ‘vastly fewer CPU resources’ whilst doing its job.
Welcome, for sure.
Discover
As the default software/app management tool in KDE Plasma, Discover sees some appreciable implements in this update, including several that help flesh out its support for Flatpak.
Discover now highlights pending permissions changes in sandboxed app updates, supports the flatpak:// URL scheme, and makes it clear when if a Flatpak app is ‘verified’ through a trusted sources, such as Flathub.
Snap also sees some buffs, including better refresh support (‘refresh’ is the Snap term for updating) by allowing individual apps to be refreshed (rather than all). It also now sets a proper percentage and download speed during install, keeping users aware.
Informational Uptick
Info Center offers more details, including battery charge cycles
Plasma 6.3 introduces a new background service able to detect and report when the kernel terminates an app due to a lack of system monitor. A notification appears to say which app was affected and offers tips on how to avoid it happening again.
On the subject of notifications, if notifications arrive when Do Not Disturb mode is active Plasma will now only show the number of missed notifications when turning it offer, rather than sending an endless stream of them!
Elsewhere, the Info Center tool fleshes out its statistics to show more detail on system GPUs and relay detail on battery charge cycles (nixing the need to resort to other ways to find that info out).
Beyond
KRunner (and searches made using it, as it does more than simply return a list of matching apps) now supports Page Up and Page Down keys and ctrl + arrow keyboard shortcuts to hop between categories, which is handy.
Other notable changes and new features in KDE Plasma 6.3 include:
Option to auto-disable laptop touchpad when mouse connected
Bluetooth “Pair Device” is now always visible
Plasma can generate random passwords for network hotspots
Digital Clock widget displays all events on days with more than five
Show Target menu entry when right-clicking a symlink
SDL Game Controller API replaced with Joystick API
Disks & Devices applet can now eject non-mounted optical media
Windows below others no longer jump to the top when dragging a file out
Volume OSD only shows if using keyboard shortcuts or scrolling over applet
New Help category in launcher, and Settings category removed
Spectacle screenshot/screen recording tool is now included in KDE Plasma
Screen-recordings can be saved as animated WebP or GIF
Plasma Browser Integration support for Mozilla Firefox Flatpak
Kickoff now changes categories on click (switch-on-hover option available)
Naturally, there’s plenty more to Plasma 6.3 than the cherry-picked highlights above. There are countless bug fixes, accessibility improvements, smaller tweaks, requisite package, framework, library, and tooling uplifts and more.
Refer to the raw changelog should you wish to pore over a list of every fix, tweak, and commit made between KDE Plasma 6.2.5 point release and this new KDE Plasma 6.3.0 stable release.
Get KDE Plasma 6.3
KDE Plasma 6.3 is rolling out to KDE neon (stable edition) users from today, rolling-release Linux distributions should be pushing the update out in the near future.
Users of fixed-release distros (like Ubuntu) won’t receive this update automatically but it may become available by way of third-party repos/PPAs in due course.
De KDE gemeenschap presenteert met trots Plasma 6, Frameworks 6 en Gear 24.02
Uitgegeven woensdag, 28 februari 2024
Plasma 6
KDE Plasma is een moderne, rijk aan functies bureaubladomgeving voor op Linux gebaseerde besturingssystemen. Bekend om zijn slanke ontwerp, aanpasbaar interface en uitgebreide set toepassingen, het is ook open-source, verstoken van advertenties en maakt bescherming van uw privacy en persoonlijke gegevens een prioriteit.
Installeer Plasma op uw huidige laptop en geniet van alle voordelen van de nieuwste van het nieuwste computer ervaring, zelfs als uw hardware niet wordt ondersteund door Windows 11. U kunt ook kiezen voor enige erg elegante machines, voorgeïnstalleerd met Plasma zoals de Steam Deck en vele laptops en ultrabooks.
Twee Leaps (sprongen) in de toekomst
Met Plasma 6 heeft onze technologie stapel twee belangrijke opwaarderingen ondergaan: een transitie naar de laatste versie van ons framework, Qt, voor toepassingen en een migratie naar het moderne Linux grafische platform, Wayland. We hebben ons best gedaan om te verzekeren dat deze wijzigingen zo gladjes en onopgemerkt zijn voor de gebruikers als mogelijk, dus wanneer u deze opwaardering installeert, u dezelfde familiaire bureaubladomgeving zult zien die u kent en waar u van houdt. Maar deze onder-de-motorkap opwaardering profiteer van de beveiliging, efficiency en prestaties van Plasma, ondersteuning voor moderne hardware. Dus Plasma levert een over het geheel een betrouwbaarder gebruikerservaring, terwijl het pad geplaveid worden voor veel meer verbeteringen in de toekomst.
We zullen doorgaan met het leveren van ondersteuning voor de erfenis van X11 sessies voor gebruikers die de voorkeur geven daar te blijven.
KDE Plasma 5.24 is out and (as we’ve come to expect) it is chock full of performance improvements, user interface refinements, and even a few handy new features.
In this post I run through the most notable and noticeable changes shipping in KDE Plasma 5.24, plus tell you how you can try the release out first hand.
While we’re on the subject: if you’re a fan of KDE Plasma and you want to see more coverage of the DE on omg! do let me know in the comments. While Plasma is not a desktop environment I’m super familiar with (thus I don’t know my way around it very well) its ballooning popularity —even the Steam Deck uses it, well kinda— has me intrigued!
The third point release of Ubuntu 20.04 LTS is available to download, albeit a few weeks later than was originally intended.
This newly spun install images contains all of the security patches, bug fixes, and app updates released to Ubuntu 21.04 since the Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS released was issued back in February. New installer media is a necessary task for a long-term support release as it cuts down considerably on the number of post-install updates required.
Or to put it another way: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS is supported until 2025. If the install media was not periodically refreshed it would mean anyone installing the distro in 2024 would have to download 4 years worth of updates after their ‘new’ install — which is ridiculous.
Hence, point releases.
If you currently run Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and you attentively administer updates as and when they arrive you already have everything that’s included in these new images. You do not need to reinstall. You’re not missing out on anything.
When Microsoft announced plans to rebase its Edge browser on Chromium the chance of a dedicated Linux build went from pipe-dream to inevitability.
Chromium’s cross-platform codebase makes it the ideal foundation on which to build out a modern web browser. Three years since rumours first began swirling, Microsoft Edge for Linux is not only confirmed but it’s almost ready for testing.
Being the impatient sort we installed the Microsoft Edge Developer build on Ubuntu 20.10. This post will stop short of being a “review” per se (you’ll hear throughout this post: this is not a stable build) but I’ve included lots of screenshots and some general thoughts about how well the browser integrates with the default Ubuntu desktops.
You won’t have to wait too much longer to try Microsoft Edge on Linux — a preview version of the browser will be available to download next month.
Microsoft only confirmed its plan to bring Edge to Linux desktops late last year and had thus-far remain tight-lipped about precisely when and how the browser would be made available to users of Linux distros like Ubuntu.
In blog post Microsoft reveal Linux users will be able to download a preview version of Edge for Linux from October. This is in keeping with their stated plan to release it ‘sometime in 2020.’
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella reiterated the plan. Speaking at Microsoft Ignite Live he said: “We’re bringing Edge to Linux next month so we can now use it across every major platform, including Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and Linux.”
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