Eater
This Is What’s New
The KDE project released today KDE Plasma 6.6 as the latest and greatest version of this modern and popular desktop environment for GNU/Linux operating systems.
Highlights of KDE Plasma 6.6 include a new “Plasma Login Manager” display manager that could replace existing login managers like SDDM in popular distributions shipping with a KDE Plasma edition, such as the upcoming Fedora Linux 44, but most probably also in CachyOS , EndeavourOS, and other distros. One thing to mention is that Plasma Login Manager is dependent on systemd, so it won’t work on systemd-free distros.
Other highlights include the ability to turn your current Plasma setup into a new global theme and adjust the visual “sharpness” of all content on the screen on distros running Linux kernel 6.19, OCR capabilities in the Spectacle screenshot tool, and a USB portal that allows sandboxed apps to request access to USB devices.
On top of that, KDE Plasma 6.6 makes it possible to selectively exclude windows from screen recordings, implements support for XRandr emulation in the KWin window and composite manager to better support some XWayland-using apps, and implements support for per-DRM-plane color pipelines.
It also adds the ability to store the passwords of Wi-Fi networks you connect to in a root-owned location for improved security and easier access, improves the way cross-app activation happens on Wayland, and implements a QR code in the Networks widget to make it easier to connect to Wi-Fi networks.
Moreover, KDE Plasma 6.6 lets you customize the Application Dashboard widget to follow the color scheme, though it remains dark by default, while you will also be able to resize the area between the Favorites and Applications areas in the Application Dashboard widget.
Among other noteworthy changes, Plasma 6.6 improves battery handling on laptops, improves support for colorblind users, improves screen mirroring, adds support for custom screen modes in the Wayland session, and implements support for automatic brightness adjustment on devices with ambient light sensors.
The Wayland session received some love in this release with a new “Slow Keys” accessibility feature. Also, KDE Plasma 6.6 improves support for the OpenBSD operating system, implements support for the oo7 Secret Service provider, and adds opacity window rules to picture-in-picture windows.
Last but not least, KDE Plasma 6.6 includes a workaround for Windows games with HDR support to ensure the colors still look good when running them in Wine or Proton, and introduces numerous small improvements to the System Settings app, as well as to the default widgets used on the Plasma Panel.
Check out the release announcement page for more details. You will be able to use KDE Plasma 6.6 in popular GNU/Linux distributions like KDE neon, Arch Linux, openSUSE Tumbleweed, Fedora Linux, and many others in the coming weeks.
