Discovering KDE - Part 1 - The Plasma Desktop - The KDE Experiment


In this new series, I'll take a look at KDE and how it works, comparing it to my experiences to other desktop environments. I'm starting this one with the Plasma Desktop, running on KDE Neon for the purest KDE experience !

1 - The experiment:
I'll be using KDE NEon, to try and get as close as "pure" KDE as possible. I won't be reviewing the distro in itself, purely the plasma desktop environment and the KDE applications. I'm using this on my Core i5 7300HQ, with 8gb of RAM, and a GTX 1050Ti. I updated everything to the latest version, and it's running fully installed on an SSD.

2 - First impressions
When you open the KDE desktop, it looks crisp and clean. It's reminiscent of Windows, with the use of a bottom bar with a menu on the left, and indicators on the right. The desktop itself is very clean, with no extra icons, panels, or junk floating around.
Everything appears soflty, smoothly, with nice animations, which are a bit slow to my taste, by default.
Apart from the bottom bar, you also get a button up top, which shows options to add panels and configure your desktop.
It generally feels nice and welcoming.

3 - The bottom bar
It is pretty simple, really, very similar to what you'd get on Windows: a main menu, a task manager and indicators, complete with a clock. At the end of the bar, you get a button, similar to the one up top, which allows you to customize the height, width and settings of the bottom bar.

4 - The menu
The KDE menu is a delight to use. It's divided into 5 main categories: favorites, which shows your favorite apps, applications, which opens an application list sorted by categories, and computer, which shows some system apps and your favorite places on your filesystem. The menu is completed by a history tab, and a "leave" tab, which offers options to lock the session, log out, shut down, reboot, or suspend the computer.
Obviously, it has search baked in right from the start, and it works perfectly.

You can configure that menu by right clicking on it, and this is where the power of KDE starts to show.
THis menu is, in my opinion, the best I've used on any system, very clear, simple, and powerful.

5 - The task manager
Nothing very special here by default: you see all your open windows, complete with a preview of the window on hover, which was not very legible on my system, the miniatures being very pixelated.

6 - The indicators
By default, there are a lot of indicators. Clipboard, plasma browser integration, bluetooth, internet connexion, battery if you're on a laptop, vaults, which seems to be an encryption feature, sound, and a little arrow, which displays even more: notifications, updates, printers, keyboard, kde connect, and a device notifier.

7 - Widgets
KDE's desktop, Plasma, uses widgets for everything. If you remember mac os X's widgets, or windows desktop gadgets, they are the same thing except you can place them wherever you want, and combine them. A panel, like the bottom bar, is a widget, and you can add widgets to it. To access the widgets, you click on the top button, and select add widgets, then simply drag the desired one onto the desktop. SOme are not very descriptive, but once you've added them and resized them to the desired size, you can pretty much do anything you want.

8 - Plasma Activities
These allow you to change the desktop behaviour and look based on wich activity you're using. For example, I can add certain widgets on a specific activity, which won't show up on the other activites. THis allows you to completely personalize the way your desktop behaves depending on what you're doing.
It's handily hidden by default, to not confuse users, but once you're familiar with KDE, I can see this becoming a very useful feature.

9 - Look and feel
THe default theme for the desktop looks very pretty, with smooth gradients on panels, and subtle transparency. Animations are smooth and fluid, and really give a sense of what is happening when you click on something.

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Also Watch my Experience with Manjaro Budgie on a Full AMD Linux Build:

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This entry was edited (1 week ago)

Trump Administration Knew Vast Majority of Venezuelans Sent to Salvadoran Prison Had Not Been Convicted of U.S. Crimes

propublica.org/article/trump-eโ€ฆ

#Immigration

In einem Pressebriefing der UN von gestern wird erklรคrt, dass zwar hunderte LKWs mit dringend gebrauchten Nahrungsmitteln รผber die Grenze nach #Gaza gelassen wurden sind, aber sich die israelische Armee weigert, die Nahrungsmittel von der Grenze weg zu lassen. Die Armee hindert die UN-Mitarbeiter die Nahrung von der Grenze zu den Menschen zu bringen die sie brauchen um nicht zu verhungern. Zwischen Montag und Mittwoch hat die Armee alles blockiert.
#Istrael #starvation
press.un.org/en/2025/db250529.โ€ฆ
in reply to stephie

Und das titelt dann @tagesschau darรผber:

ยป"Nahost-Liveblog: ++ 600 UN-Lastwagen in Gaza angekommen ++
Die UN haben 600 Lastwagen mit Hilfslieferungen in den Gazastreifen gebracht - und klagen รผber Behinderungen bei der Verteilung.ยซ

Dass von den รผber den Grenzรผbergรคngen gekommen LKWs in den letzten Tagen keine Hilfslieferungen weiter transportiert werden dรผrften schreibt die Tagesschau natรผrlich nicht. So bleibt die Info mit den 600 bestehen. PR-Auftrag fรผr Netanyahu erfรผllt.

lawns arenโ€™t just boring, theyโ€™re harmful. covering vast areas in grass that does nothing for pollinators or soil life is ecological nonsense. research shows that common lawn chemicals increase cancer risk, especially in dogs exposed to treated grass. we can still have grassy patches and parks, but this endless obsession with sterile, green perfection is costing us health, biodiversity and water. letโ€™s grow wilder.

#lawn #pollinators #cancer #biodiversity #water

This entry was edited (1 month ago)

Dezeen: Russia is losing patience with NATO provocations en.news-front.su/2025/05/29/deโ€ฆ

Agreed, but also (((Hoffman))).
Hmm. Sounds jewish.
I swear to God, there are so fucking many of them: jews and crypto jews. There is no fucking way they are only 2% of the population. That is just another big fat jewish lie. It's more like 20% of the population.

Calgary adding #fluoride into drinking water on June 30 ctvnews.ca/calgary/article/calโ€ฆ โ€œThe Alberta #Dental Association is applauding the announcement, saying since fluoride was removed from the water, the frequency of decay and cavities increased in patients.

โ€œItโ€™s been well shown due to the differences weโ€™ve seen with Calgary not having fluoride for a few years and Edmonton having fluoride, thereโ€™s a significant difference in how many patients in Calgary have started getting more #cavities,โ€

I don't get it. Trumps tariff policies couldn't be more straightforward and simple. Yet financial people are pretending like it's a complete mystery.

And you can't blame Trump hate. Because the same thing happened during covid. Doctors suddenly started pretending that humans don't have immune systems.

And I'm wondering now, did professionals/experts always randomly do things contrary to their conventional wisdom? Did shit like this go on when my parents were my age?

Eighth Enlarged Meeting of Eighth WPK Central Military Commission Held #DPRK kfauk.com/eighth-enlarged-meetโ€ฆ

Help Figuring Out Storage (Noob Question)


Hi, I've been thinking about switching from Win11 to Linux Mint due to Microsoft collecting lots of data. My current setup has been cobbled together over the past decade and consists of a C drive NvME, 1 old SATA SSD, and 2 HDDs. I have games installed across all of the non-C drives, some from steam some not.

Windows tells me each drive by letter. I installed Mint on a virtual machine to get a look, but it couldn't read any of my files. I don't want to wipe my C drive without knowing that at least the other drives will be readable if I make the switch.

How does Linux account multiple hard drives? I'm so used to how Windows does it that I'm worried about switching over and losing access to my other drives. Thanks!

in reply to sabertooth36

Linux doesn't do the drive letter thing. Instead, you have to identify the disks by their partition IDs.

When you install your OS, you'll be able to mount the disks to wherever you like. If you want, you can create directories in /mnt, like /mnt/e, /mnt/f etc.

The main issue you'll run into is disk format. NTFS will work, but its poorly supported.

To get a better idea of how it works, try passing a USB disk into the VM you've created.

in reply to BMI

ich wundere mich รผber den Begriff "illegale Migration". ...

Was legal ist, und was nicht, das hat doch der Gesetzgeber in der Hand. ๐Ÿค”

In einer Realitรคt der รœberalterung der Gesellschaft, des Fachkrรคftemangels und Pflegenotstands sollte es doch fรผr eine Bundesregierung ein Leichtes sein, legale Mรถglichkeiten zu erรถffnen sich herkunftsunabhรคngig in und fรผr Deutschland zu engagieren und fรผr alle Seiten gewinnbringend einzubringen. ๐Ÿค”

Vielleicht sollte man eine gelungene Integration und einen Arbeitswillen zu Grunde legen und auf medienwirksame Hetze und Diskriminierung verzichten?

Art. 1 GG: Die Wรผrde des Menschen(!) ist unantastbar. ๐Ÿค”
Deutschland sollte ein herzliches und freundliches Land sein. Und IIRC wollte die Bundesregierung ja auch einen Stimmungswechsel im Land herbeifรผhren. ๐Ÿค”

Und Flรผchtlinge sind ja nochmal eine ganz andere Sache, hier greift ja die Schadensabwehr und Humanitรคt und die Erinnerung an die deutsche Geschichte.

Respected Comrade Kim Jong Un Oversees Firing Contest of Artillery Sub-units of Large Combined Units of KPA #DPRK kfauk.com/respected-comrade-kiโ€ฆ

โ€˜Domestic Violent Extremistsโ€™: Biden Targeted COVID Vaccine Critics, New Documents Show

The Biden administration designated critics of COVID-19 vaccine and mask mandates โ€œDomestic Violent Extremists,โ€ according to documents declassified last week by Tulsi Gabbard, director of National Intelligence, following a Freedom of Information Act request.

childrenshealthdefense.org/defโ€ฆ

Passage III


Mon sundaygimp

Les rรจgles du jeu sont simples - Choisissez une photo (de prรฉfรฉrence la vรดtre), รฉditez avec Gimp et taguez #sundaygimp, un dimanche; puis suivez le tag #sundaygimp (et aussi #sunday-photo-edition)
Remarque: si vous nโ€™utilisez pas Gimp, mais que vous voulez quand mรชme jouer, utilisez simplement le tag #sunday-photo-edit et modifiez les images avec votre รฉditeur dโ€™image prรฉfรฉrรฉ.

The rules of the game are simple - choose a photo (preferably your own), edit with Gimp and tag #sundaygimp on a Sunday ๐Ÿ˜‰ โ€ฆ and follow the tag #sundaygimp (and also #sunday-photo-edit)
Note: if you do not use Gimp, but still want to play along, just use the tag #sunday-photo-edit and edit the images with your favorite image editor


#mywork, #myphoto, #photo, #photographie, #foto #amateur, #couleur, #Montreal, #photo-edit, #gimp, #gmic, #art, #creation

iam-elegance reshared this.

Who will quit the USA? taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/0โ€ฆ Trump is intent on Making America Very Small Again. Many will leave it as a result. It's not a happy prospect for the country.

Still using Gmail? You might want to start moving if it feels wrong that Google analyzes all your mails.

โ€žGmail now creates summaries automatically for complex threads, and theyโ€™ll appear above the emails themselves.
..
Google hasnโ€™t announced if or when the feature will expand to Gmail on desktop, or to Gmail users without paid Workspace accounts.โ€œ

Gmailโ€™s AI summaries now appear automatically | The Verge
theverge.com/news/676933/gmailโ€ฆ

Via @parismarx

Xi's speech at China-CELAC Forum ministerial meeting published en.qstheory.cn/2025-05/30/c_10โ€ฆ

Palestine Action target the London-based Landlords of Kentโ€™s Israeli weapons factory #Palestine palestineaction.org/landlord-dโ€ฆ
โ‡ง