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PayPalThe KDE team have released KDE Plasma 6.6, the latest new feature update to the popular Linux desktop environment with lots of goodies.
With this release they've had a nice focus on accessibility, something that various Linux desktops have been a bit lacking in. There's a new and improved on-screen keyboard, the spectacle screenshot tool can now extract text, there's a new grayscale filter in the Color Blindness Correction settings, the Zoom and Magnifier feature gained the ability to keep the pointer in the centre of the screen, there's "Slow Keys" support on Wayland and the new standardized "Reduced Motion" setting is in too.
There's also the new Plasma Setup first-run tool giving user-facing steps like making an account separate from the technical steps like partitioning. A feature that's good for all kinds of uses like companies shipping hardware with Plasma.
Plus various other bits like:
- The ability to have virtual desktops only on the primary screen.
- An optional new login manager for Plasma.
- Optional automatic screen brightness on devices with ambient light sensors.
- Optional support for using game controllers as regular input devices.
- Font installation in the Discover software center, on supported operating systems.
- Choose process priority in System Monitor.
- Standalone Web Browser and Audio Volume widgets can be pinned open.
- Support for USB access prompts and a visual refresh of other permission prompts.
- Smoother animations on high-refresh-rate screens.
See the release announcement for more.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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8 comments
mr-victory 4 hours ago
The ability to have virtual desktops only on the primary screen.Whaaaaaaaa
An optional new login manager for Plasma.
Optional automatic screen brightness on devices with ambient light sensors.Interesting, I wonder if that works on my intel macbook. (it does on bootcamp)
1 Likes
Finally! We have an integrated onscreen keyboard under Wayland which has been a much needed accessibility feature for me. I have stayed on X11 because of this using the admittedly great application 'onboard' which has meant missing out on other gaming features & HDR. Now i will have to move from my older existing plasma install to a newer distro that supports 6.6
Not sure which one to choose , needs to be more upto date than mint/debian though but Not a 'YOLO Update' distro 🤔
Great work 👍
Last edited by Lofty on 17 Feb 2026 at 2:40 pm UTC
Not sure which one to choose , needs to be more upto date than mint/debian though but Not a 'YOLO Update' distro 🤔
Great work 👍
Last edited by Lofty on 17 Feb 2026 at 2:40 pm UTC
1 Likes
walther von stolzing 3 hours ago
There isn't anything on the changelog about the overview screen appearing blank on a duplicated display.
It's the issue in this 'resolved' bug: https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=481222
Though maybe the fix isn't yet merged for this release?
It's the issue in this 'resolved' bug: https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=481222
Though maybe the fix isn't yet merged for this release?
0 Likes
Quoting: LoftyFinally! We have an integrated onscreen keyboard under Wayland which has been a much needed accessibility feature for me. I have stayed on X11 because of this using the admittedly great application 'onboard' which has meant missing out on other gaming features & HDR. Now i will have to move from my older existing plasma install to a newer distro that supports 6.6Fedora 44 will get KDE 6.6. Worth noting that there are also immutable variants of Fedora like Kionite or Bazzite/Aurora from Universalblue. The advantage is integrated rollback functionality and the assurance of always having a working system, while staying relatively up to date
Not sure which one to choose , needs to be more upto date than mint/debian though but a 'YOLO Update' distro 🤔
Great work 👍
Last edited by Stella on 17 Feb 2026 at 2:39 pm UTC
1 Likes
Quoting: StellaI have considered Fedora, never really got into it so far and I've been using Linux for a good long while. I read there are some things missing OOTB that make it not as complete as a distro such as Mint, Ubuntu or even Manjaro.Quoting: LoftyFinally! We have an integrated onscreen keyboard under Wayland which has been a much needed accessibility feature for me. I have stayed on X11 because of this using the admittedly great application 'onboard' which has meant missing out on other gaming features & HDR. Now i will have to move from my older existing plasma install to a newer distro that supports 6.6Fedora 44 will get KDE 6.6. Worth noting that there are also immutable variants of Fedora like Kionite or Bazzite/Aurora from Universalblue. The advantage is integrated rollback functionality and the assurance of always having a working system, while staying relatively up to date
Not sure which one to choose , needs to be more upto date than mint/debian though but a 'YOLO Update' distro 🤔
Great work 👍
0 Likes
Galactic-Man 2 hours ago
I've been waiting for this one! Lots of great improvements!
Now awaiting the Arch repo updating...
Now awaiting the Arch repo updating...
1 Likes
Could say this about a lot of Linux projects, or just any open source project really, but Plasma is the gift that keeps on giving. No enshittification, just continuous improvements. We can't stop winning.
6 Likes
Linux_Rocks 29 minutes ago
It feels like KDE 6.1 just released recently. Where did all the time go? D:
0 Likes
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