KDE Plasma 5.27 Beta Is Ready for Testing

KDE Plasma 5.27 beta was recently announced, which is aimed at testers, developers, and bug-hunters. And one of the more exciting additions is the new Bigscreen version, which makes the KDE Desktop available for use on televisions.

There also is a new addition to the Display Configuration widget, which now appears active in System Tray by default, when you have more than one monitor connected. The Big Multi-Monitor refactor makes working with multiple screens more reliable and gives you fine-grained controls when you have three or more monitors.

The KWin Tiling System is also ready for testing. Using the Meta-T keyboard combination, you can launch the quick tiling features to give you complete control of where your windows are placed.

Another very welcome addition is called Plasma Welcome, which helps you take care of initial setup tasks, such as connecting online accounts. Plasma Welcome is an elegant simple wizard that should make new users feel right at home on the desktop.

Flatpak gets some added attention in the new release by way of a new System Settings module, called Flatpak Permission Settings app.

This new feature gives you the ability to control the permissions for every installed Flatpak app, including basic permissions (such as internet connectivity, remote login access, and Bluetooth access), filesystem access, and more.

You can download one of the many live images to test KDE Plasma 5.27 beta now.