Plasma Bigscreen Returns

Jul 17, 2025

A developer discovered that the Plasma Bigscreen feature had been sitting untouched, so he decided to do something about it.

Plasma Bigscreen was a great idea when it was in active development, and it's still a great idea today. This project aims to create a Plasma shell suitable for large-screen devices (TVs) that is navigated via remote (instead of keyboard and mouse). Bigscreen included a TV-friendly launcher for apps and even included mini apps, known as Mycroft Skills.

The project showed considerable potential, but for whatever reason, activity and interest fizzled. Recently, Canadian developer Espi decided it was time to pick up the project’s mantle and give it new life. In short shrift, Espi went to work, making some necessary changes to the user interface, home screen, the Settings app, and more.

In a recent blog post, Espi said, "I started with some housekeeping work with the repository. I added a README and a REUSE license checker to the CI. I then ported the QML library to be a declarative plugin and removed a bunch of abandoned code folders that were not used anywhere in the codebase."

Clearly, Espi is serious about the Bigscreen project, but he has since returned to his main project, Plasma Mobile. In the same blog, he states, "I have since returned to working on Plasma Mobile (due to having limited time as a volunteer contributor), but I can still step in and help review merge requests and guide new contributors to the project."
 
 

 
 
 

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