KDE ships version 5.2 of plasma next workspace

[HawkMan]

:rolleyes:  some people.... kde offfers about? let me count 3 or 4 different start menus. 

 

 

And you think that's a good thing ?

[simonlang]

And you think that's a good thing ?

 

freedom of choice is a good think, yes i think so sir.

[Max Norris]

And you think that's a good thing ?

Yes please, same reason it's good in Windows.. not everybody gushes about what's out of the box.

[firey]

And you think that's a good thing ?

I guess it's better than no start menu?

[Joshie]

And you think that's a good thing ?

It's a safety net. It lets people shrug off criticism.

[HawkMan]

One working solution that's well designed seems better to me than 5 half assed solutions that each implements different solutions, under the guise that everyone can pick the one they want, you know unless they want number 2 with some of the features of number 5 and the sorting of number 3.

I guess it's better than no start menu?

Well it's a long time since Windows 3.11 was out of support.  but some people still like linux distros using tiled DE's with no start menu.  by a lot I mean in relation to linux userbase of course. 

[simonlang]

Jack -- just out of curiosity, which distro are you testing with.. think you were partial to Kubuntu yea? Is it Kubuntu with the neon/kf5 PPA or the 14.10 beta?  And how's the stability, good enough for general use yet or still keeping it to a VM? Last build I messed with was pretty wonky but it was a really early build too, tempted to check up on it again, curious if it's ready for a real desktop yet.

 

i am using the kubuntu nightly master packages, so i get the whole stuff updated daily. kinda bleeding edge, but not as stable as you would just use the project neon 5 iso.

however if you are really behind it, get the nightly stuff, and do bug reporting - there are still many out there, however more now so on the design level, for example missplaced icons like here:

 

 

or lately there is also a bug with k-launcher

 

generally i would avoid to use it daily, things like akonadi server are not yet implemented, so Kontact would not fully work, especially not the Kmail stuff.

 

give it a go in virtualbox i'd say, or do what i have done. run a default kubuntu 14.04.1 and then add the project neon ppas, that way you can chose from login what instance you wanna run (plasma or project neon). so when in the testing/bug-reporting mood, you login to project neon, when you need your daily work done, run plasma, which by now is amazingly stable and quite fast as well.

[simonlang]

[chrisj1968]

looks pretty. clean, nice and worthy.

[Lamp0]

more like Failsma...

[simonlang]

there is really nothing but huge respect you have to show for kde developers. i like the last talk of the super secret plan for kde in their forums, seems like there is at least a plan going on to give applications like mail next and gallery next and probably more a very unified look.

and they are doing all this for free, so impressive.

[simonlang]

concept of a new installer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Haggis Veteran]

they look good, but anyone can throw together a concept in gimp lol

[simonlang]

it's in the kde visual design group forum. many of the ideas debated there make it into the os sooner or later. seeing that the latest project neon 5 iso demo still uses the old installer i think it's time for a new one anyway and should not be too difficult to implement.

[HawkMan]

All the distros make their own installers, not KDE designed ones, so it seems like a waste of resources. 

[spy beef]

How stable is this compared to KDE 4.13?

[simonlang]

some update here: kubuntu 14.10 with the plasma next daily snapshot ppa

 

 

there is now a default switcher to make switch between the traditional window-list in taskbar and an icon-only window list.
 
running dark.mode (breeze-dark)

in some applications it looks nice like in dolphin, while in others (Kontact) i find it somewhat too boxy.

also this dark style needs some transparency i think.***

with a few tweaks i managed to get window transparency.

 

window inactive (darker) 

 

 

window active (more transparency)

 

there is still some work to be done on a proper integration of all that, for example the taskbar just looks way too transparent when using a custom wallpaper like i have done.

 

*** the transparency is not default! i have added this by myself!

[Max Norris]

That switcher is looking pretty spiffy -- not a fan of the transparency though, but *shrug* it's KDE, probably 500 different ways to turn it off.  Probably the first dark theme I'd consider using full time too.. most are fairly unusable.

[+Warwagon MVC]

Not bad, it's starting to look less and less like Linux.

[Kazama Levi]

Looks nice. Are there any current 64-bit isos of Plasma 5?
The isos here are only 32-bit, and no at least remotely sane person still uses 32-bit (especially not on the desktop).

[simonlang]

i have just finished another try with the daily plasma packages on kubuntu 14.10. not much new since my last try however i noticed that now the menu entrys, menu-bars and icons (folders and those in system-settings) feel very sticky, as if you mouse over them the speed of the mouse cursor decreases makes it easier to click on the items selected. don't know if it's that new but i noticed today for the first time and i like it very much. 

[Max Norris]

however i noticed that now the menu entrys, menu-bars and icons (folders and those in system-settings) feel very sticky, as if you mouse over them the speed of the mouse cursor decreases makes it easier to click on the items selected.

Happy to see that one -- my G602 is set to a rather fast speed, I find it comfortable in Windows (I have a couple presets depending on what I'm doing) but when I switch to my *Nix desktop the cursor will be somewhere over in the next county with the smallest touch, won't have to constantly fiddle with the DPS settings on the mouse anymore.

[simonlang]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

this again is kde plasma next in my own tweaked version. starting to appreciate the dark colors but it needs transparency that's why i don't see myself using the default breeze dark only if they add later options to tune transparency in kwin. 

[simonlang]

here are a few more impressions from kubuntu 15.04 with daily plasma next builds.

 

 

[patseguin Global Moderator]

I wish Microsoft could learn something from them about UI design.