What I don't like about 6 is that none of the widgets written for 5.xx don't work, you are asked to contact the developer to update it. I'm sticking with 5.27 as long as possible. Might move to MATE, but I would prefer to stick with Plasma. I much prefer how easy it is to not only change cursor theme, but also resizing if the cursor theme supports it. I am particularly impressed with Q4OS implementation with lots of Windows themes for migrators to GNU/Linux. I'm currently using XP theme but with Windows 10 Menu. What is clever in both Q4OS and PCLinuxOS is that when you run Tiled Menu for first time you see a button in the Tiled area to load defaults. This puts LibreOffice Writer and Calc there together with a Gmail icon which launches in the Browser, plus default Web Browser.
Isn't FreeBSD is on 5.27 I reading this is the best version ever KDE from all versions KDE.
I don't know about FreeBSD, but GhostBSD default is MATE. They also do xfce but minimum RAM needed is 4 Gb.
I used Plasma 6 for a short while on Tuxedo OS. I dumped the OS from the extra SSD since I already have LMDE 6 and Zorin 17.1 on other machines. But I like Tuxedo OS - I just don't enjoy the many recurring updates for the KDE environment. It was a good experience regardless. KDE and QT applications have come a long way - they look good even on some GTK apps like GPARTED. Anyway, I agree - Plasma 5.27 has been solid - it looks good and it is very reliable. I think within a few months (big guess) Plasma 6 will be just as reliable.
Neon was just updated to 6.1 - interesting - some of the 6.0 apps have changed behaviors - apps already6.0 approved - sigh...Zorin17.1Pro running the 5.24.7 has been flawless, I'll await their integration of 6. Bet it's as solid by then.
That will be a while - a long while.
Zorin 17 is currently based on Ubuntu 22.04 from over 2 years ago when KDE 5.24 was incorporated into the repositories.
Zoin 18 will not come out probably for about 2 years based on Zorin's track record. KDE Plasma 6 did not make it to the Ubuntu 24.04 LTS repositories and instead got KDE 5.27 and will remain on that until the 26.04 LTS in two more years. So, most likely, unless something changes, Zorin 18 (24.04 LTS) will be on Plasma 5.27 which is what Kubuntu got in April 2024. You can manually upgrade via Kubuntu's PPA backport to a newer version of KDE whenever they release that. Kubuntu 22.04 LTS has a backport for the 5.27 version of KDE which might work on Zorin 17. How to Upgrade to KDE Plasma 5.27 on Kubuntu 22.04 - OMG! Ubuntu
Finally, you can use a rolling release like KaOS, Solus, Arch, or OpenSuse. Of course, there is Fedora and the many derivatives like Ultramarine or Nobara that will be on a newer version of KDE. Finally, Neon is an alternative or Tuxedo OS.
That worked perfectly on my dedicated Zorin Yoga7I 16oled lap top - thank you - am now running KDE 5.27.11 shell - nice! Can't thank you enough for that. Still working around my new Yoga's arm issue for linux - but this is great for all my other - 5 - pc's - even my old Del "Tank" 17"notebook. Really - thank you.
I decided to give this another try as everyone seemed to like KDE Plasma 6. I found it better than version 5 for sure, but I still only lasted about a week with it, up from a single day last time I tried a year ago. It's just not for me.
For now, I'm going to try XFCE, or maybe Openbox
I'm back on Plasma 6. It's more smoothy now on Nvidia, but it's not quite there yet. But waiting for nvidia driver 555 and Plasma 6.1 hits the stable repo of Solus OS and there will be much rejoice!!!
OpenSuse is forward with KDE 6.1 and NVIDIA 560
I can get it if I add unstable repo on Solus, but I won't as it's my working computer. So I patiently wait to hit the stable repo.
I am glad I saw this thread. I am now trying Solus in a VM. Lots of updates but it runs very slick. It runs well on a 2008 machine also but unfortunately no printer driver for my HP Deskjet 710c like Zorin has.
Could be because you run it VM. The HPlip in Solus is the latest so it should.
No I tried the Live USB and it didn't have the printer listed just an alternative but when I printed a test page nothing happened. Tried it on my Main Machine and it didn't detect my HP USB printer. Hmmm.
I'm no expert in printer as I don't own one, but you should take it to https://discuss.getsol.us/
Have asked the question on the Solus Forum. Suggestion was to install hplip but not sure what the command is.
Solus uses something called eopkg.
eg.
sudo eopkg install libreoffice
or to update and upgrade
sudo eopkg up
What you are looking for is
sudo eopkg install --reinstall hplip hplip-drivers
Tried that but the live session ran out of disk space while updating the packages. So thought I would install on spare partition but installer says no free disks to work with. Ho hum.
I like PCLinuxOS implementation of Plasma 5.27 because the menu alternatives readily include Tiled Menu (like Windows 10) whereas in other distros you have to install it under 'Add widgets'. It is much lighter than other OS Plasma editions, which I think is down to the fact there is no systemd and no Discover - all updates and applications obtained via Synaptic Package Manager.
How's your plasma experience so far, now a week is almost gone?