Ade Malsasa Akbar contact
Senior author, Open Source enthusiast.
Saturday, October 16, 2021 at 15:48

Congratulations to KDE community, KDE Plasma 5.23 has been released at Wednesday, 14 October 2021 celebrating the 25th KDE Anniversary! This overview highlights several of its new features and informs you where to download and how to try Plasma quickly on your own computer. Let's try it together!


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See also GNOME 41 Overview

New Features

KDE Plasma is fast and looking beautiful on computer! It keeps user experience intact by at the same time introducing new things very smoothly. Here's several highlights of its latest features:

  • New start menu.
  • New calendar look.
  • New system monitor.
  • New, fresh look of Breeze theme.
  • New way to display About per individual apps.
  • New Backup, Boot Screen, Firewall sections under System Settings.
  • New terminal look and features.
  • File manager's new actions.
  • Screenshot tool's new edit, crop & annotation ability.
  • Better Wayland integration.
  • and many more!

Official video published by The KDE Community for Plasma 5.23 can be watched below. 


If you cannot watch YouTube directly, watch this video via Invidious.

Community Events

This release marks 25 years of KDE since its first inception by the founder Matthias Ettrich back in 1996. Visit the celebration at 25years.kde.org.


Where To Download

The recommended way to quickly try latest version of KDE is by using KDE Neon, the special free operating system that always brings the latest KDE technology. To download one:

1. Visit neon.kde.org.

2. Click Download KDE neon.

3. Under Live Images section, there are two choices, User Edition and Developer Edition. 

4. Under User Edition section, click User Edition Live/Install Image.

5. You downloaded KDE Neon.

Finally, using the ISO image file downloaded, you can make a bootable USB drive and run this KDE system on your computer to see KDE Plasma 5.23. Alternatively, you can also run the OS in a virtual machine like AQEMU, VirtManager or VirtualBox.


Alternative way to get KDE Plasma 5.23 running on your computer is by using alternative OSes, like Tumbleweed KDE, or (with some more works) install Plasma manually to existing operating system you have by first consulting Availability on Multiple Distros at the end of this article.

Where To Buy KDE Computers

People normally receive computing technology in form of one product and mostly by buying a new computer or a mobile device. Today, KDE Plasma as one full product is available in form of branded laptops end-users can purchase. Instead of manually downloading and configuring, you can order one, and at the same time automatically contribute back to The KDE Community. Fortunately, today there are three manufacturers (and will increase in the future!) from whom you can get a KDE laptop namely Pinebook, Slimbook, and KFocus.


How To Make a KDE Bootable Disk

Once downloaded, you should burn the ISO image file to a USB flash drive. To do so is easy using program like Startup Disk Creator, Disk Utility, Rufus or Unetbootin.

How To Run KDE System

Once you have a bootable USB of KDE neon:

1. Insert the USB stick to your computer.

2. Boot up so you can see KDE neon on screen.

3. KDE neon desktop will appear on your screen.

4. KDE Plasma 5.23 is ready to use.

However, if you have a KDE laptop already, these workarounds are unnecessary. 


Play With KDE System

Do not have idea what to do with KDE? Okay, here's several suggestions so you can play around with KDE Plasma 5.23:

👉 Try Start Menu modes: right-click start menu → Alternatives → three modes will be displayed → select one mode → Switch → open start menu to see the result.

👉 Try to explore files and folders: open start menu → click Dolphin → browse around here and there → try to open your disk drives (if any) too → try pressing F3 or F4.

👉 Try to change wallpaper: right-click desktop → configure Wallpaper → select one from the choices → OK.

👉 Try to take some screenshots: press Prinscreen → Spectacle will open → click Annotate → an image editor will appear within Spectacle window → play the screenshot picture by doodling, cropping or something → Save.

👉 Try desktop notifications: run Firefox → login to one use like Facebook or Mastodon → enable Desktop Notification when asked → do social chats like usually you do → when your friends mention or comment to you, you will see nice floating notifications.

👉 Fun with System Settings: change desktop theme, change resolution, change font size, etc.


Further Links

For more information, you can visit these resources:

Official Announcement

Release Notes

Availability on Multiple Distros

KDE User Guide

Happy exploring!


This article is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.