KDE Plasma
Your KDE Plasma desktop is a very advanced dashboard for improving your home office productivity. It is an aesthetically pleasant, high performance framework to work with and includes a powerful set of tools, which are all integrated into the plasma desktop.
Many Linux users prefer to use a terminal and shell to program Linux. I like the graphical desktop because, I do not have a lot of academic education about computer programming and the graphical tools enable me to find my way around Linux.
Desktop
KDE Plasma, the Kool Desktop Environment, is an advanced, graphical desktop technology for increasing your home office productivity. It has a ton of features that make Linux very powerful, visually attractive and much easier to learn and fun to use.
The Plasma desktop starts with a highly customizable canvas where you can place widgets (Plasmoids), manage virtual desktops (Activities) and interact with the system via icons or folders. KWin (Windows Manager) manages window decorations, animations and effects. It supports advanced compositing with features like window snapping, desktop effects (like wobbly windows, desktop cube) and sophisticated window tiling.
You can add tiling windows and window gaps to KDE if you want to. Use the tiling window manager extension and tile gaps. I don’t really like my windows to be tiled like that. I’ve tried it a couple of times and now, I’m back to having the windows open with the same configuration they were in when I last closed them. I don’t like it when I open an application that normally has a relatively small form, like SimpleScreenRecorder, and it takes up the whole desktop. Plus, I like to be able to click back and forth between applications that are optimally sized for each one.
The panel hosts the application launcher, task manager, system tray and can include other widgets. It’s akin to the taskbar in Windows but with far more customization options. You can move the panel to any edge of your screen. Right click on an application in your application launcher and drag and drop the icon onto the panel to have the icon show up on the panel permanently, so you can have immediate access to frequently used applications.
Plasmoids (Widgets) are mini-applications or data viewers that you can place anywhere on the desktop or panel. From simple clocks to complex system monitors, Plasmoids enhance both functionality and user interaction.
Activities are KDE’s take on virtual desktops, but with steroids. Each activity can have its own set of widgets, wallpapers and even specific applications pinned to the panel, allowing for highly focused workspaces. I usually set up four virtual desktops and can switch desktops by clicking on the workspace on the panel or by selecting ctrl+F1, F2, F3 or F4. I have my browser open in one virtual desktop, Dolphin in another, Kile in another. When I click on a .tex file in Dolphin, it opens the file in Kile in the workspace Kile is running in.
Dolphin file manager, while not part of Plasma per se, is KDE’s default file manager, integrated with Plasma to provide a seamless file navigation experience with features like dual-pane views, tabbed browsing and extensive file operation capabilities. Kile is KDE’s Latex editor.
How KDE Plasma Works
Plasma is built on a modular system where each component can be individually updated or replaced. This modularity extends to themes, allowing you to change the entire look and feel of your desktop with a few clicks.
Plasma leverages the Qt application framework, which provides a robust toolkit for GUI development. This ensures that Plasma applications look consistent and perform well across different hardware.
Upon login, Plasma loads your saved session, including open applications, window positions and desktop layout. If Activities are used, it recalls the state of each one, offering continuity in your work environment. Activities are the workspaces or virtual desktops that you can set up and can easily switch from any one to any other.
Dynamic configuration enables Plasma to allow real-time changes to your desktop. You can add, remove or resize widgets, change panel layouts or switch themes without needing to log out or restart.
While Plasma can run any Linux application, it’s designed to work seamlessly with other KDE software, providing features like drag-and-drop between apps, shared settings and a consistent look.
Plasma has been progressively adopting Wayland, a modern display server protocol intended to replace the decades-old X11. This offers better security, performance and multi-monitor support, although X11 remains available for compatibility. Plasma 6 has adopted systemd and Wayland, but you can use other options if you want to.
You can choose from numerous themes that select the appearance of windows, icons, cursors and more. Beyond the default set, you can download or create new Plasmoids from the KDE Store, adding functionality tailored to your needs. For advanced users, Plasma can be scripted with JavaScript or QML, allowing for custom behaviors or integration with other services. In other words, if you are smart enough, you can program KDE Plasma from your terminal.
KDE Plasma has made significant strides in performance, particularly with Plasma 6.x releases. Memory usage has been optimized, startup times have decreased and overall responsiveness has improved. Stability has also been a focus, with less frequent crashes and better handling of hardware diversity.
KDE Plasma isn’t just a desktop environment; it’s a community-driven ecosystem that empowers you to program your digital workspace. Its blend of beauty, productivity and flexibility makes it a standout choice in the Linux world, appealing to those who appreciate the control and customization of their computing experience. Whether for daily computing, development or artistic endeavors, Plasma offers tools and features that cater to a broad spectrum of needs, all while maintaining a commitment to open-source innovation.
Some History
Designers and programmers started developing Qt in 1992. Trolltech is an international company, founded in 1994, in Oslo Norway, with offices in Australia and California. It produces Qt, a cross platform, C++ GUI toolkit. The first commercial version of Qt was released in 1995.
In 1996, Matthias Ettrich used C++ and Qt to develop the Kool Desktop Environment (KDE). KDE is designed to be friendly for all users, rather than just professional computer programmers. The KDE Free Qt Foundation was founded in 1998, to insure that Qt and KDE remain available as free and open source software.
In 2006, Trolltech issued an IPO. In 2008, Trolltech was acquired by Nokia. Qt Creator was launched in 2009. Digia acquired the Qt commercial licensing business in 2010. By 2012 Digia had acquired all rights to Qt. Qt 5.0 was a major redesign of Qt technology. In 2014, the Qt company became a distinct subsidiary of Digia. In 2016, Qt Group plc became an independent company listed on the NASDAQ in Helsinki.
A lot of work on KDE was accomplished during the first decade of the 21st century and KDE progressed through KDE 4.0. Around 2010, the KDE Software Compilation was being developed and marketed as a compilation, a set of tools, rather than individually developed tools.
In 2010 the team brought the KDE Software Compilation together and in 2013, separated it into three separate releases. Workspaces, Applications and Platform updates are released separately.
The KDE Manifesto was published in 2012. It introduces core values guiding the KDE community: open governance, free software, inclusivity, innovation, common ownership and end-user focus.
The first stable version of Plasma 5 was released in 2014. KDE Plasma 5 uses Qt 5, Frameworks 5 and the QtOpenGL graphics stack as a foundation. The Plasma Mobile interface for smartphones also uses Qt, Frameworks 5 and Plasma Shell technologies.
KDE v5.5 was released with support for OpenGL ES in KWin, and progress towards supporting Wayland. The KDE Neon operating system, based on Ubuntu, was released in 2016. In 2017, KDE announced the KDE Slimbook laptops, with KDE Neon installed natively. Now, KDE is working with Purism to deliver the Librem 5 smartphone, using KDE Plasma Mobile technology.
In 2024, KDE was in the process of slowly rolling out KDE 6.0. It looks like it will primarily be the completion of the switch from X11 desktop environment to the Wayland desktop environment. In 2025, we have version 6.x and it uses Wayland. I’m editing this story on my GhostBSD with KDE installed. BSD is not using or planning to use Wayland. Apparently, installing KDE installs Wayland on BSD. In 2026, on this KDE Neon User Edition, the transition to systemd, Wayland and KDE 6.x are complete and it’s working great.
Source: https://timeline.kde.org/
System Settings
To get started customizing your KDE Plasma desktop and Linux operating system, right click on your desktop and find a beautiful picture to use as your desktop background. You can use one of KDE’s examples or you can search the web from the selection menu. You can also select one of your own pictures from your files and use that as your desktop background. Put a beautiful picture on your desktop and do not ruin it with a bunch of application icons.
Put icons for the applications you use most often on the panel. The panel is the strip along the bottom of the KDE Plasma desktop. I like leaving it on the bottom of the screen, near the keyboard and leaving the rest of the computer’s screen open.
Customize your panel by right clicking on it and using the list to make adjustments. Customize your KDE Plasma start menu, the little KDE icon on the far left end of your panel, by right clicking on it and then, selecting Alternatives. Try them all and select the one you like.
I like to make my KDE panel narrower than the default size, by right clicking on it and selecting Show Panel Configuration and then, adjusting the Panel Height setting. You can also lock and unlock widgets and move them around, by right clicking on the panel and selecting Edit Panel. You can also move the panel to any edge of your computer’s screen.
Getting the look and feel of your KDE Plasma and the applications you run on it configured, is another adventure. System Settings>Appearance is a good place to start. There are many options you can choose, to configure Linux any way you want to.
Navigate to System Settings > Workspace Behavior > Virtual Desktops to set up your four virtual desktops. You can set as many up as you want to. I like to set mine up with four virtual desktops that I can switch back and forth between.
Kcolorchooser is always one of the first applications I install on Linux. You can use the color selector on the app or you can use the color picker, to find out exactly what a color on your screen is. Use your left mouse button to select the color and then copy the html color code, to use that color in your settings.
You can select and use one of the color schemes that KDE has installed in the settings dialog. You can also download more options. You can also customize the option you choose, by selecting edit and editing the colors and then saving it as a custom color scheme.
Browse around the Appearance and Workspace sections and create a beautiful, intricate work of art on your desktop. Make your KDE Plasma Desktop a high performance workstation that you enjoy working with and can play like a piano.
- Set the time your screen turns off during inactivity in your Power Management settings.
- Set your keyboard, mouse or touch-pad behavior in Input Devices.
- Set NumLock on Plasma Startup at: System Settings > Input Devices > Keyboard.
- Set single click to open files in Workspace Behavior > General Behavior.
KDE already has a pretty good set of default settings and shortcuts. You can add shortcuts to start Kitty or Dolphin or Brave or any other application, by going to system settings > shortcuts.
In the shortcuts window, click on Global Shortcuts and then click on the Add button below the list of components. It’s a plus sign on my computer. If a shortcut is already assigned, KDE will warn you and ask you if you really want to reassign it.
Select the application you want to start up and then, click on Kate or Dolphin or whatever the application you want to create a shortcut for is. Many applications already have a shortcut and they will show up in the shortcut form. You can keep the default shortcut or replace it with one you prefer.
Click on the button and then, press the key combination that you want to be the shortcut to launch that application, usually Meta-K or Meta-D or something like that. Then, click apply. Most of the Ctrl combinations are already being used by the system, so most of my custom shortcuts use the Meta key, which is the key with the Microsoft symbol on this HP Envy. You may have to restart the computer for the shortcuts to become active.
You can easily exchange your ESC and Caps Lock keys in KDE, to improve your work flow. Navigate to System Settings > Input Devices > Keyboard > Advanced. Click on Configure Keyboard Options. Expand Caps Lock Behavior and the bottom option is Swap ESC and Caps Lock. Select that and click apply.
Now, instead of having to find the ESC key, all the way up in that far top left corner of your keyboard, especially while you are using Neovim, you have easy access to it right next to your ASDF keys; and you can use the original ESC key when you do need the caps lock function.
You can add XKBOPTIONS=”caps:swapescape” to your /etc/default/keyboard file if you can’t find the graphical method. You can also add the command setxkbmap -option caps:swapescape to your .zshrc file.
KDE Plasma Video
Photo by Bob Mccoy using KDE Spectacle screen capture Photo by Bob Mccoy using KDE Spectacle screen capture Video by Bob Mccoy using Note9, SimpleScreenRecorder and Kdenlive Photo by fauxels from Pexels Photo by Bob Mccoy using KDE Spectacle screen capture Photo by Bob Mccoy using KDE Spectacle screen capture Photo by ThisIsEngineering from Pexels