KDE Plasma 5.8 is designated an LTS edition with bugfixes and new releases being made for 18 months (rather than the normal four months). This will please a category of user who don’t want new features on their desktop but do want it to keep working and bugs to be removed. Because Neon aims to service Plasma and its users in every way we have now created the KDE neon User LTS Edition.
This comes with Plasma 5.8 LTS, updated for new bug fix releases (e.g. 5.8.5 is out at the end of this month) and will not change to Plasma 5.9 when they becomes available. A common critisism of LTS editions is that it just means users get old versions with known bugs. KDE neon User LTS Edition comes with the latest KDE Applications and it comes with the latest KDE Frameworks release and Qt 5.7, so all the KDE software we ship is the latest stable version. Along with other KDE neon editions we’ll also ship the HWE updates for Linux and Mesa when they become available.
For those interested in archive details it’s
deb http://archive.neon.kde.org/user/lts xenial main
Switching from User Edition to User LTS Edition archive is unsupported but will likely work.
KDE Neon is so stable I completely forgot I was using it.
A recent Reddit post gave some pleasing feedback about KDE neon, allow me the indulgence of picking some pleasing quotes from it:
I feel like the KDE neon team has done such a great job with an out-of-the-box experience with this distro that it feels insanely polished.
Jep, I’m even using KDE neon at work. I’ve been able to simply focus on my tasks, and not worry about troubleshooting the OS.
KDE neon cured my distro hopping as well.
KDE neon is the bee’s knees.
Anyone else feel this last should become an official marketing slogan?
It is strange that the KDE Neon is not based on the latest development version of Ubuntu 17.04… What the fuck it pays to do things properly?
We’re not a rolling release distro, try Chakra maybe if you want one. Sorry can’t please everybody. You don’t pay for KDE neon.
Following the development Ubuntu branch is a little out there, I’ll give you that. But now that you have User LTS, is there a chance to make the non-LTS User edition follow the latest _released_ Ubuntu?
Please? Pretty please? With sugar on top.
Yes, totally agree with this. Neon LTS should stick with the latest xenial LTS base for sure but Neon user/dev should be based on the latest stable *buntu release. In fact it wouldn’t (hopefully) hurt if dev was based on the upcoming release as soon as it hits beta. That would cover all bases, ultra stable, current and quite stable, and totally bleeding edge for the foolhardy/brave amongst us.
I’ve been using neon:dev/unstable on top of zesty for a few months now and I have no complaints.
I wouldn’t say Neon _should_ do anything beyond what it already does. I would like it to do more, but it’s a question of resources in the end.
But if they decide following every Kubuntu release is feasible, I can see the developer edition tracking an upcoming release since it hits beta as a plus.
Why don’t you just use Kubuntu, which is updated every 6 months, instead of demanding that Neon follows non-LTS Ubuntu?
I came to neon exactly because I don’t want the base system to be changing every 6 months, but want the most recent Plasma (which was previously provided by Kubuntu backports, but that seems to have died down). I certainly don’t want to deal with ABI breakage every 6 months because suddenly the compiler version changes just to keep Plasma updated.
I think neon is great just the way it is right now.
I do use Kubuntu at work (as I have written a few posts down). It’s still stuck with Plasma 5.7 unfortunately.
For better or worse, Linux freedom translates into freedom to pick your poison.
Honestly, Plasma stability hasn’t been an issue for since I can’t remember.
The two things that still stick out like sore thumbs are session restore (some apps are not restored at all) and multi-screen (the primary display seems to be forgotten sometimes and the panel sometimes ends up on the wrong screen on reboot). But this i at work where I’m on Kubuntu (and thus Plasma 5.7). I need to test these two scenarios more at home.
Second scenario is still an issue on kde neon 5.8.4
I use it on my laptop at work with 2 monitors attached + laptop monitor. Plasma often ignores that primary screen have changed after suspend/resume. (e.g. suspend when monitors are attached and resume when they not). Have to run killall plasmashell && kstart5 plasmashell after almost each suspend/resume.
The thing is, I have a HDMI + DP combo at home, whereas at work I have a laptop with an external monitor connected over D-SUB (yeah, I know).
When something works at home, I’m not even sure whether it’s because of the newer Plasma or the not ancient setup I have.
As an added bonus, Kubuntu at work is also stuck with an older Qt. Kubuntu just announced they’re testing Plasma 5.8, but guess what? It’s still built on top of Qt 5.6. Keeping track of all these gives me a headache and I’m a fan of KDE.
Qt 5.6 is the lts version so ut makes since to use it along side KDE 5.8 lts
Seeing how many problems seen in KDE are actually cause by Qt, having an old Qt version installed doesn’t make me feel any better. LTS or not. But hey, maybe they’ll surprise me and backport all the fixes.
Plasma 5.8 has a ton of multiscreen fixes. Your problems will likely melt like ice in the sunshine once you upgrade.
Starting with Plasma 5.0, you can’t find a release that _doesn’t_ have a ton of multiscreen fixes. Yet problems haven’t melted like ice 🙁
Going by some reports, some problems were even fixed only to be broken again after a few releases.
An no, not even at home, running updated Neon on a HDMI+DP combo the panel won’t stick to the primary monitor. Though KDE itself knows DP is the primary monitor, that setting is not lost.
Thanks for that, Jonathan – you better developer!!!
KDE Neon my favorite OS
Are you the same one who make themes? I like your themes! ??
At work we’re only allowed to use Ubuntu 16.04 LTS-based distros so KDE Neon has been an excellent solution for me (LTS or not). Thanks a lot!
> KDE neon is the bee’s knees.
> Anyone else feel this last should become an official marketing slogan?
That looks like my statement, so yes! 🙂
It would be nice to add info in about what version of kde neon distribution is used (Developer Edition/User Edition/User LTS Edition)
Just switched repos from the user edition repo to the LTS repo and updated. System information now shows 5.8 LTS and no problems so far…
I have a question: what will happen at the end of life of KDE 5.8 LTS? Will Neon LTS jump to another KDE LTS version?
yes that’s the plan
I’m an openSUSE user and a big part of the reason for that is their first class treatment of KDE, my desktop of choice. I tried Neon via the Live USB image and I really liked it, but I have a couple of questions that prevent me from taking it on as my daily driver.
First and Foremost: Ubuntu, Why? It seems that Canonical is fairly hostile to any tech outside of their own pet projects. Isn’t there a concern that they will ship code that only works with Mir and strip Wayland support from their codebase? Wouldn’t that be a major problem for KDE support on their distribution? Wouldn’t it make more sense to base it on Debian? Or better yet, openSUSE, seeing as oS has been a big KDE supporter over the years?
Also, how does this affect the Kubuntu project? Aren’t there some toes being stepped on?
That question aside, is Neon meant to be a daily driver? Is it meant to be used for production, or is it a show pony for the latest and greatest coming down the pipe once it has been vetted?
Thanks to the people at KDE for all that you do!
see faq on neon.kde.org
i’ve been thinking the same thing, why not use debian as a base instead. would have same rock solid reliability and longevity, but not have to deal with Ubuntu’s policies/conflicts. all the same as debian is the base for Ubuntu, seems logical to use for developing a platform(starting at the bottom).
that aside, great work so far and best wishes towards the future
https://neon.kde.org/faq#why-Ubuntu
Hey guys, thx for good job. One point, from KDE4.8 to 5.8 the Google calendar in korganizer fetch tasks only one time. Because of that it is unusable for companies that use google services for work. Just to know… )
Installed in a VM. Discover works not with proxy.
Unfortunately I find neon with multiple monitors to still be a basketcase. Detachment of displays causes just about everything to freak out just a little bit, moving the task bar to random display, changing wallpapers on each, and eventually crashing kwin in weird ways. Neon with a clean install continually got worse to the point I migrated to Arch to find all the same bugs in 5.8.4. If you use more than one display, you probably want to NOT use KDE still.
Hi,
– planning to test at work a “USER” or “USER LTE” edition with multiple monitors. I read here about issues in this configuration. Is it still so?
– Concerning “User LTE”, how is it supposed to update KDE after the supported 18 months?
– How would behave the KDE Update after the 5-years ubuntu “in place” upgrade?
Thanks
dual monitor works for me
plasma 5.8 is supported for three years
we will upgrade to the next ubuntu lts