Tuesday, 9 October 2018. Today KDE launches the first release of Plasma 5.14.

Plasma is KDE's lightweight and full featured Linux desktop. For the last three months we have been adding features and fixing bugs and now invite you to install Plasma 5.14.

A lot of work has gone into improving Discover, Plasma's software manager, and, among other things, we have added a Firmware Update feature and many subtle user interface improvements to give it a smoother feel. We have also rewritten many effects in our window manager KWin and improved it for slicker animations in your work day. Other improvements we have made include a new Display Configuration widget which is useful when giving presentations.

Browse the full Plasma 5.14 changelog to find out about more tweaks and bug fixes featured in this release: Full Plasma 5.14 changelog

New Features

• There's a new Display Configuration widget for screen management which is useful for presentations.
• The Audio Volume widget now has a built in speaker test feature moved from Phonon settings.
• The Network widget now works for SSH VPN tunnels again.
• Switching primary monitor when plugging in or unplugging monitors is now smoother.
• The lock screen now handles user-switching for better usability and security.
• You can now import existing encrypted files from a Plasma Vault.
• The Task Manager implements better compatibility with LibreOffice.
• The System Monitor now has a 'Tools' menu full of launchers to handy utilities.
• The Kickoff application menu now switches tabs instantly on hover.
• Widget and panels get consistent icons and other user interface improvements.
• Plasma now warns on logout when other users are logged in.
• The Breeze widget theme has improved shadows.
• The Global menu now supports GTK applications. This was a 'tech preview' in 5.13, but it now works out of the box in 5.14.

... and much more: www.kde.org/announcements/plasma-5.14.0.php