KDE

#KDETip: Upload images directly to the web by clicking "Share" (or "Export") ➡️ "Imgur" from inside KDE's image-managing programs (Spectacle screen capture, Dolphin file manager, Gwenview image viewer, digiKam image manager...).💡

#KDETip: Install gnuplot, then do:

1. Open KRunner with [Alt] + [Space]
2. Type "=plot( [some function] )", e.g.:

=plot(sin(x)^2*cos(x))

3. ???
4. Profit! 💡

A massive release, containing improvements to dozens of components, widgets, and the desktop behavior in general.

Everyday utilities and tools, such as the Panels, Task Manager, Notifications and System Settings, have all been overhauled to make them more usable, efficient, and friendlier.

Meanwhile, developers are hard at work adapting Plasma and all its bits and pieces to Wayland. Once done, Plasma will not only be readier for the future, but will also work better with touchscreens and multiple screens with different refresh rates and DPIs. Plasma will also offer better support for hardware-accelerated graphics, be more secure, and enjoy many more advantages. Although still work in progress, 5.20 already offers users many of the benefits of Plasma on Wayland.

Check out the full announcement here: https://kde.org/announcements/plasma-5.20.0

Plasma 5.19 is out! If we gave alliterative names to Plasma releases, this one could be "Polished Plasma". The effort developers have put into squashing bugs and removing annoying papercuts has been immense.

In this release, we have prioritized making Plasma more consistent, correcting and unifying designs of widgets and desktop elements; worked on giving you more control over your desktop by adding configuration options to the System Settings; and improved usability, making Plasma and its components easier to use and an overall more pleasurable experience.

Read the full announcement to discover all the new features and improvements of Plasma 5.19:

https://kde.org/announcements/plasma-5.19.0

Next week KDE will release Applications 19.04, overhauling most of the suite of programs usually packaged with KDE's Plasma desktop. This new version makes KDE's applications more user-friendly, consistent with each other and smoother across the board.

Okular gets, among other improvements, support to show and verify digital signatures on PDFs. This feature is essential to use KDE's document viewer for business or if you need to exchange documents in any official capacity... like when negotiating an international peace treaty. Digital signatures allow you to establish the authenticity of a document, whether it has been tampered with or not, and confirm where it has come from and who sent it.

Attributions:

Ye oldie public domain footage and French Reel Victor Military Band Burchenal music available from: https://archive.org

"Sun Lotion" by Steadman CC By-NC-ND available from: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Steadman/The_Bitter_End/08_sun_lotion (along with many more banging tunes)

Peace treaty footage available from: Clintonlibrary 42: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMkYd9teJEBlCOwDan6qPpg One News New Zealand: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRdbeElPWvSumxERqoR7ZUA European Commission: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMPaviJxybo1RTdzvYcU91A

Many thanks to the content creators that make their work available for free and under generous free licenses. Without your generosity, making videos like this one would not be possible.

Checkpoint restore allows you to safe the state of an application to disk at any given pooint during its execution, and then recover it at that exact point.

In the video we can see applications seamlessly move between Plasma, Gnome, Weston, Hyprland and Sway as part of the wayland robustness project.

What would advertisements for different KDE apps look like? KDE Gear ⚙️ 21.08, an update to many of KDE's applications, comes out on Thursday, and we decided to give it a go.

Today: Konsole Tomorrow: Dolphin Wednesday: Elisa

Want more apps?

NOTE: Developers have informed us that the availability of the SSH plugin has been temporarily rolled back and may not be available in the first release due to some stability issues. However, you can expect it shortly after.

Attributions

Background music is THINGAMAJIG by Jason Shaw, distributed under a CC By-SA 3.0 license.

Photo is of Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie, and was taken by Peter Hame. Uploaded by Magnus Manske and distributed under a CC BY-SA 2.0 license.

A new feature coming to Plasma 5.16 is that, when any application accesses the microphone, an icon will pop up in your system tray, showing that something is listening. It doesn't matter whether it is graphical application, a web app or a process started on the command line - the icon will show up alerting you to the fact. You can deactivate your mic with one click and continue plotting at ease.

Fair Use disclaimer: This is a homage to Stanley Kubrick's seminal work "2001, A Space Odyssey". KDE is using the above work to inform and educate users about Free and Open Source software functionalities. KDE does not sell or make any money directly or indirectly from the distribution of KDE software. KDE also does not monetise its videos.

All "2001..." footage belongs to Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

More new features coming to Plasma 5.16 are the changes made to improve the notification system. One in particular is going to help you increase your productivity or just give you some peace and quiet while sitting at you desk.

Fair Use disclaimer: This is a homage to Harold Ramis' hilarious and brilliant film"Groundhog Day". KDE is using the above footage to inform and educate users about Free and Open Source software functionalities. KDE does not sell or make any money directly or indirectly from the distribution of KDE software. KDE also does not monetise its videos.

All "Groundhog Day" footage belongs to Columbia Pictures.

#KDETip: Suspend your computer from your phone with KDE Connect:

1. Right click on KDE Connect on your computer. Pick "KDE Connect Settings".
2. Find "Run Command" in right panel. Click on "Settings" button.
3. Click "Sample Commands" ➡️ "Suspend", then "OK".
4. Do as in video.💡

#KDETip: Sync input to Konsole terminal panes:

1. Open terminal panes with [Ctrl] + [(] and/or [Ctrl] + [)]
2. Press [Ctrl] + [Shift] + [.]
3. Sync and share commands across panes
4. Stop sync with [Ctrl] + [Shift] + [/]💡

#KDETip: Change your Desktop Wallpaper the Easy Way

1. Open your web browser and find the image you like
2. Right click on the image and pick "View Image" from the pop up menu
3. Click on the image and, holding down the left button on your mouse, drag it to your desktop
4. Pick "Wallpaper" ➡️ "Set Image" from the pop up menu💡

#KDETip: Find things easily in a crowded folder with Dolphin's filter bar.

1. Hold down [Ctrl] and press [i] (also "Tools" ➡️ "Show Filter Bar" from the menus)
2. Type some letters of the name of the file
3. ...
4. Profit! 💡

#KDETip: Use Okular to annotate all the things💡! Works with PDFs, MDs, ePubs, etc.

Read more about Okular: https://apps.kde.org/en/okular

Hover your cursor over the volume indicator in Plasma's system tray (no clicking, no dragging) and just scroll that wheel! 💡

Music: Sneaky Snitch by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4384-sneaky-snitch) Distributed under CC-By 4.0 license.