KDE Plasma 5.27 Beta Desktop Environment release: brings Plasma Welcome, Flatpak permission settings and tiling support for large screen displays

CTOnews.com January 21, the KDE project has released the Beta beta of the upcoming KDE Plasma 5.27 desktop environment series.

The biggest new feature of the KDE Plasma 5.27 desktop environment is the introduction of new Plasma Welcome applications that help users configure Plasma desktops more thoroughly. There is also a new Flatpak permission setting module that allows users to more easily control the permissions of Flatpak applications in system settings, as well as tiling support for large screen displays.

"for users with large monitors, KWin has long been able to place windows on the left and right. With Meta-T, you can now start quick tiling, allowing complete control over where the windows are placed. Drag the window while holding down the Shift key, and it will maintain the tiling layout," the announcement said.

KDE Plasma 5.27 also promises support for Hebrew calendars in digital clock pop-up calendars, improved multi-display support, and support for display configuration widgets that are displayed by default in the system tray area to make it easier to change screen settings.

The final version will be released on February 14, and users who want to try KDE Plasma 5.27 can download unstable versions of KDE neon or openSUSE Tumbleweed distributions, including Beta beta (click here to view and download). But it's best not to use it in a production work environment.

CTOnews.com learned that KDE Plasma 5.27 will be the last update to the KDE Plasma 5 series, as the KDE project will focus on the KDE Plasma 6 branch, which is expected to be launched later this year, which is built on the latest and best Qt 6 open source application framework.

As a result, KDE Plasma 5.27 will be a LTS (long-term support) series that will support updates within a few years until the end of the lifecycle.