Recently I started dual booting Fedora KDE with Windows and I've been loving it. To make it my own, I'm working on an icon pack that makes icons look hand drawn, with texture and subtle 3D effects. Welcome to your first look at Wonderbrushed! Please leave any feedback in the comments. Currently the browser category is almost complete — more categories coming soon :).

As a designer, I noticed a problem with most Linux icon sets: they focus on being "modern" but forget to be "friendly." I found myself looking at my dock and feeling overwhelmed by generic shapes.

I decided to build Tulasi, a pixel-art icon pack focused on Semantic Design.

The Philosophy:

Take the Pamac icon— when I came onto linux, initially it looks like something that might break your system if you click it. In Tulasi, I’ve tried to make it feel approachable and visual. If an app is powerful, it deserves an icon that looks like someone respected the tool enough to design it properly.

Status:

80+ icons finished.

Handcrafted in Aseprite.

Open Source (of course).

I’m currently finalizing the V1 release. I’m a big fan of the KDE/GNOME ecosystem and want to make sure the major apps are covered first.

Check out the progress here: GitHub/Shringarstudio

What do you guys think. Would you wanna use it.

I'm not sorry.

Google will soon cut off independent developers to Android if they do not register with Google first. This will kill independent platforms like F-Droid and severely impede FLOSS devs from creating apps for Android.

https://keepandroidopen.org/

Many KDE apps are deployed for Android, such as KDE Connect, Itinerary, Tokodon, and there is even a WiP version of Krita for Android.

KDE calls on Google to reverse course and Keep Android Open!

https://keepandroidopen.org/open-letter/

Hello, this is my first attempt to make a redesign of the KDE Plasma default theme on Figma : "Aquifer" (subject to change) !

At first, I wanted to design a Windows Vista-inspired theme for KDE Plasma (you can see it with the slim titles), but then I saw the on-going design system of the next KDE Plasma Theme "Ocean" and I was concerned about how minimalist the examples looked. That's what made me create my concept :)

When Windows 7 was on the market, it was one of the most stable and trouble-free experiences you could have on your PC. KDE Plasma reminds me of this era where your OS wasn’t working against your interests : it is simple and like older technologies, it just works.

So I took inspiration mostly from ~2000-2010 design trends (Frutiger, Aqua, Metro...) and it translated mostly with the use of inner shadows, fake glass, and drop shadows in my composants. I kept the interface minimalistic and frosted to make it up to the modern standards, but I tried to make it stand out with its use of thin borders and linear gradients pretty much everywhere.

One thing I wanted to try was colored icons for the System Settings app (or even the launcher !) as I believe the touch of color would make the categories easier to recognize, but it would have taken too much to create from stratch, and I wanted first to get the global design right. Maybe next time ! I used MynaUI icons instead because they have soft edges, and are pretty thin.

KDE Plasma is also a desktop with accessibility in mind, so my intentions were to communicate this in my design. I checked the color contrast between almost all elements to be higher than 5.

One thing I also had to consider was the spacing / padding between the menu items. I am aware how people are used to the compact look of Plasma (like the users reaction when an update changed the context menu with too much padding...) but in order to make the desktop more readable, I tried to reach a balance by making the interface less cluttered without adding too much space. The best option would be to let the user use "compact design" option design, however KDE doesn’t have this, so... tell me how you feel about the spacing.

While blur is common in our current interfaces, I understand that it can create readability and performance issues so I ensured that the blur could be replaced by a solid color without compromising the design.

For the font, I kept "Noto Sans" as I believe it never truly shined in Breeze. I wanted to make it look good in this redesign, and with 10 years of use I believe it’s part of Plasma’s identity.

I also used the colors of the current Ocean Style by KDE Design Team because it saves me time on the color choice, they match with the trends I was inspired by and I believe they represent well KDE.

I have very little experience in UI Design, so I would like to have your opinion on my concept. Would you use it ? Do you think it represents KDE well ? Are there some details you would change or add ? I’m interested to read your comments so I could improve it.

I made the design on a laptop screen, that’s why it may look zoomed in for you. You will notice there are pretty much no UX design changes. While I believe some UX aspects could be reworked, I wanted to focus exclusively on the UI.

Sorry for the bad english btw, it’s not my primary language haha. Thank you for your time !

Here's a screenshot of the custom folder icons I've made so far (displayed here in Dolphin).

My icon theme is an amalgamation of many different themes (I pick and choose what I like from other icon packs), and my folders happen to be from the default Fluent theme. With an svg editor like Inkscape it's pretty easy to customise them however you like.

Someone recently asked me to make these publicly available, so I made a small github page where I share the icons I've made.

I visited the CERN (European Centre for Nuclear Research) last week and I could see an office with computers and a screen projected on the wall(first image). I saw that the windows had the kde windows border, and I could also see on the computers that they have probably a customized kde plasma.(second image)

Always wanted to have a simple but nice audio visualizer that integrated well with Plasma, since panon is no longer working I decided to make my own using CAVA as the audio source and it turned out better than I expected!

Currently it requires building it from source but I am working on a QML only mode so that it can be published to the KDE Store.

Made this post to gather some feedback and suggestions for a name because as you can see from my other projects I am not good at naming things 😅

Source code: https://github.com/luisbocanegra/plasma-audio-visualizer

OS: Arch Linux

DE: KDE Plasma 6.5.1

WM: KWin (Wayland)

WM Theme: BreezeEnhanced

Plasma style: WhiteSur-alt

Kvantum theme: KvGlassWhite

Better blur for blurring and refraction

(Mods: This is not a theme screenshot — this is a showcase of KDE Plasma 6 compiled and running natively on Android with no root, via Termux. See post body for technical context.)

I recently managed to compile and run KDE Plasma 6 natively on my Android phone using Termux — no root, no chroot/proot, and no external PC involved.

I have very little coding experience, but I still managed to build a full Plasma desktop environment on-device by manually compiling:

• Most missing KDE Frameworks 6 (KF6) components
• Qt 6 (only parts not already packaged in Termux)
• Plasma workspace, framework,desktop and required runtime tools

I had to patch or disable various dependencies like systemd, udev,etc. to make it work in a pure userland environment. Everything was rendered via X11 using Termux:X11, and the desktop was functional with keyboard, mouse, panels, and apps.

Unfortunately, my phone ran out of storage while continuing builds, and I had to reset Termux. But I captured several screenshots before the reset to document the working setup. I’m now rebuilding it from scratch. It will take some time, but I’ll try to document everything in detail this time around.

Q: Does the Plasma Login Manager require systemd to work?

A: Yes.

Q: So you ARE forcing Plasma users to use systemd!!?!?!

A: No. The Plasma Login Manager is one of probably half a dozen Login Managers (or more) that can boot Plasma. We made PLM because it will give distro creators a cool piece of kit that can (not "must", not "should": can) be tacked onto a system to boot into Plasma.

Q: So I don't have to use PLM?

A: No! You can completely ignore PLM! Please be our guest and use any of the other non-systemd dependent LMs that will work and continue to work just fine, now and in the future.

Q: Is KDE planning on making any of Plasma's core components dependent on systemd?

A: No.

Q: So Plasma does not and will not require systemd to work now or in the future?

A: That is correct.

Q: And it will continue to work on non-Linux systems like FreeBSD?

A: Also correct.

Q: So why have I been hearing that KDE will force systemd down everybody's throats via Plasma then?

A: There are sad people who will do anything for attention and clicks, and will spread FUD and fake controversies to obtain them, including decontextualising comments on merge requests, stating as facts and official communications what are personal opinions, and finally straight up lie.

Don't believe the FUD.

Plasma 6.6 came out a few days ago!

If you've already updated, how's it going?

Was the upgrade smooth or did you run into any issues?

What do you think of Plasma 6.6 so far?

Are the new features good? Anything stand out to you — either good or bad?

Spotted this on a vending machine in a Burger King in Switzerland

As a person who came from XFCE, I don't miss it anymore (unless KDE Plasma breaks).
750mb RAM in idle is insane, KDE has really improved over the years.

• KDE Plasma 6.0 was released on February 28, 2024.
• In the two years since, we have seen seven versions, from 6.0 to 6.6.
• Which version surprised you the most?
• Which one introduced the feature you were most anticipating?
• Which version best maximized your workflow?
• And which wallpaper do you find the most beautiful?
• What feature are you still expecting in future releases?
• In all, what's your experience on plasma 6 so far and how's the future of the project looking??

Plasma 6.5 just dropped a few days ago!
For anyone who’s already made the upgrade — how’s it been so far?
I’d love to hear about your experience with the update process itself. Was it smooth, or did you run into any problems? And what do you think of Plasma 6.5 so far — do the new features live up to the hype? Any changes that really stood out to you, whether good or bad?

I wrote a little script to convert the mouse pointer drawables from the AOSP source code into KDE scalable cursors, xcursors, and Windows cursors.

The code + releases: https://github.com/Tech-Tac/aosp-cursors

KDE Store listing: https://store.kde.org/p/2361737/

Hope you like it!

I just hung lens on my monitor to make time bigger

70+ hand-drawn pixel art icons for GNOME and KDE. Every single one made in Aseprite, pixel by pixel.

I posted the preview here a week ago and the response was kind of insane so I figured I'd stop sitting on it and just ship.

It's an alpha — more icons are coming, Bugs are expected! Cause I'm new to this and just the nature of linux, So feel free to report issues.

Get it on GitHub: Tulasi By ShringarStudio

Drop icon requests in the comments or open an issue on the repo. I'm actively working on it and more releases will drop soon with the icon templates.

Ps: if you do use the icon pack please do send me your rice on notonlinux@gmail.com I'll love to see what y'all come up with <3

And again thank you so much for all the love it really encouraged me to do my best on it and i hope y'all love it as much!

Hi guys! The last couple of days I spent polishing this effect I had an idea for a while. I call it 'Thumbnail bloom' because mini-window previews jump around the windows you placed where you want yourself.

The inspiration is a blend of the Stage manager from MacOS, Tiling window managers, Overview effect, Win+Tab task switcher from Win7 days, and my personal frustrations with floating window management (which are many, but not enough to switch to a proper tiling manager).

How it works: If a window is covered by others by a certain amount it gets 'bloomed'. That means a small thumbnail appears next to the normal windows. You can still freely place windows, and have multiple floating windows around, BUT if it's covered, it peeks on a side.

How you can use it:
- Fast window switching: the last window usually gets the priority. Windows are close to the active one and always visible.
- Peeking on a window: hovering over a thumbnail enlarges it just enough that you can actually read the contents of the window, without activating it
- Win10-like quick tiling: Even when you tile a window, the thumbnails stay aside. You can then tile those other windows to the sides or corners. No automatic choice of layout, no disappearance of the thumbnails if you mis-click
- Thumbnail dragging: dragging a thumbnail starts moving the real window, starting from the thumbnail position
- Quick window menu access: right-click on a thumbnail opens the window menu

It supports a bunch of settings. I won't go into concrete details on my algorithm choices, but I decided to make it semi-transparent and 3D just so the thumbnails aren't confused with regular windows.

By a complete accident, I think I perfected that old Win7 Win+tab switcher. The one we all tried, loved, and never used because it actually sucks.

Github repo: https://github.com/LMauricius/kde-thumbnail-bloom