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Title: KDE Plasma in Linux Mint
Caldathras a day ago
This is specifically directed at @on_en_a_gros but, please, if you have any relevant knowledge, feel free to chime in.

Quoting: on_en_a_grosAs for distribution recommendations, Linux Mint is a great starting point, I'm currently using it with plasma on my desktop.

So, I immediately jumped onto DDG after I read this comment. There are lots of resources online describing the process but none of them answered the key question in my mind:

How does the Update Manager function with two desktops? Do you have to switch back to Cinnamon whenever you need to update or can you do the updates with Discovery?

(Of course, I am assuming your base was Cinnamon Edition and that you decided not to delete the Cinnamon desktop after installing Plasma. I also assume that you used the default version from the repository.)

Have you tried a point release upgrade (i.e., 22.2 to 22.3) yet? Does that have to be done using Update Manager in Cinnamon?

How stable do you find it? Kubuntu was constantly black-screening on the next reboot after every setting change, including an app install or uninstall.

Thanks.

P.S. -- I might try it in a VM first before trying it for real. Don't get me wrong, I am happy with XFCE for my gaming laptop but on my daily driver laptop, I think I might prefer Plasma to Cinnamon as my desktop.

Last edited by Caldathras on 17 Feb 2026 at 8:31 pm UTC
on_en_a_gros 7 hours ago
How does the Update Manager function with two desktops
A mint updater icon and a discover icon are present and their update notifications seem to be synced. I would just assume that you could use either of the two. I had no pb with the release upgrade, had to do it with the mint updater. The KDE themes and applets are updated with discover. The update managers are present in plasma and cinnamon you don't need to switch DE.

For stability, I had no problem whatsoever, I wanted an Ubuntu base plasma desktop experience, KDE neon had some pb immediately after installation, so i tried a fresh mint install with the KDE ppa and never had any issues with it.

I just hope that the upgrade to mint 23 will be hassle free.

Last edited by on_en_a_gros on 18 Feb 2026 at 1:23 pm UTC
Caldathras 2 hours ago
Quoting: on_en_a_grosA mint updater icon and a discover icon are present and their update notifications seem to be synced. I would just assume that you could use either of the two. I had no pb with the release upgrade, had to do it with the mint updater. The KDE themes and applets are updated with discover. The update managers are present in plasma and cinnamon you don't need to switch DE.

Thank you. That's good to know.

Quoting: on_en_a_grosi tried a fresh mint install with the KDE ppa and never had any issues with it.

So, you didn't install the default version of Plasma from the repository? What PPA did you use?

Quoting: on_en_a_grosI just hope that the upgrade to mint 23 will be hassle free.

Based on my very recent experience of moving from Mint 21 to 22, if you used a PPA to get Plasma, the most likely thing will be that the upgrade tool will rollback your installation to the 24.04 repository version then upgrade it to the 26.04 repository version. You will need to update the PPA connection to 26.04 before installing whatever's on offer there. I had to do that with both the Graphics Driver PPA and the TLP PPA.

If you didn't use a PPA, it should be smooth sailing. Although, the upgrade tool did remove items it considered non-standard. I had to reinstall VLC Media Player and my newer-than-the-repository version of Lutris, for example. On my daily driver, the update from 22.1 to 22.2 uninstalled Synaptic Package Manager and TLP. So, it's hard to say how it might treat Plasma.
on_en_a_gros 32 minutes ago
So, you didn't install the default version of Plasma from the repository?

My bad, I genuinely thought that the KDE-full was added by a ppa, but it was indeed available in the app center.
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