This is the Beta release of Plasma - 25th Anniversary Edition. To make sure that end-users have the best possible experience with the next version of Plasma, KDE is releasing today this test version of the software. We encourage the more adventurous to test-run it and report problems so that developers may iron out the wrinkles before the final release scheduled for the 12th of October.

Plasma 25th Anniversary Edition is a leap forward in the quest for a more performant and usable desktop. We have improved the speed and stability of Plasma, while including changes that make it easier to use both on desktop and touch-enabled devices.

DISCLAIMER: This is beta software and is released for testing purposes. You are advised to NOT use Plasma 25th Anniversary Edition Beta in a production environment or as your daily desktop. If you do install Plasma 25th Anniversary Edition Beta, you must be prepared to encounter (and report to the creators) bugs that may interfere with your day-to-day use of your computer.

These are the most noteworthy changes coming in Plasma 25th Anniversary Edition Beta:

Breeze

We made several improvements to the Breeze theme to make Plasma even more pleasant to use:

• Breeze now has redesigned buttons, menu items, checkboxes, radio buttons, sliders, scrollbar and spinboxes
• Scrollbars and spinboxes are bigger and easier to use with touch
• We added a gear loading spinner throughout Plasma and KDE apps
• There is a highlight effect for when opened widgets touch the panel edge
• Widgets on the desktop now have a blurred background

Other Widgets

• Entering tablet mode makes System Tray icons bigger, making it easier to use Plasma on touch screens
• You are now able to easily copy text on notifications with the Ctrl+C keyboard shortcut
• The Global Menu applet got a more "menu-like" appearance
• We added an easy way to switch power profiles. You can choose between "power-saver", "balanced" and "performance"
• It is now possible to fine-tune the manual speed setting for wired Ethernet connections and to disable IPv6
• Plasma now shows more details about the currently-connected network
• System Monitor and sensor widgets can now display load averages
• By default, the clipboard now remembers 20 items and ignores selections that you did not explicitly copy
• The Audio Volume applet now distinguishes between applications that are currently playing or recording audio
• It is now possible to delete selected items in the Clipboard applet’s popup by pressing the Delete key on the keyboard

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System Settings also received many new additions and improvements:

• Now you can override a color scheme's accent color in the Colors page
• The Feedback page now shows you a history of data that you chose to send to KDE
• You can set the status of your Bluetooth adapter on login. The options available are "on", "off" and "remember"
• Login Screen page’s synchronization feature now syncs your screen arrangement
• Display settings now shows a timer to revert possibly undesired changes
• We sorted the screen refresh rates list
• Night Color page now tells you when you’re about to undertake an action that will perform geolocation using a 3rd-party service
• Now it is easier to find options in System Settings. We added many keywords to improve search.

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• Discover will now load faster
• The app install button now tells you the name of the source

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• The "Present Windows" effect was rewritten
• Multi-screen layouts are now retained across X11 and Wayland sessions
• Numerous crash/hangs have been fixed
• DrKonqi, our bug reporting application, warns you when an app is unmaintained
• The question mark button in the titlebar is hidden by default for dialogs and System Settings
• Windows no longer become transparent when moving or resizing them
• Passwordless accounts without autologin now show a simple login button
• The Media Player widget now always displays the album art and its blurred background at the same time
• The Networks applet now supports additional authentication settings/protocols/requirements for OpenVPN connections

If you would like to learn more, check out the full changelog for Plasma 5.23 Beta.