Plasmate: Mini-IDE for Plasmoids
The KDE project has released a first alpha version of Plasmate. The small development environment is meant for writing Plasmoid applets for the KDE4 desktop.
Plasma uses Kate, a reliable KDE editor component. It also provides built-in integration with git version control, also a recent KDE addition. A documentation browser also shows the contents of KDE API documents.
The Plasmoid editor is limited to script languages like JavaScript, Ruby and Python that support Plasma applets. There are no immediate plans to grow Plasmate into an all-inclusive environment such as KDevelop or Qt Creator.
The alpha version is still functionally incomplete and "unpolished," as Aaron Seigo reports in his blog announcing the release. Nevertheless, he hopes it will be thoroughly tested based on source code downloads and bugs reported in the KDE bugtracker. Once the summer comes along, Plasmate should mature to a stabile 0.1 release. Development discussion can take place on plasma-develop@kde.org and in #plasma on irc.freenode.net.
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.

News
-
Go-Based Botnet Attacking IoT Devices
Using an SSH credential brute-force attack, the Go-based PumaBot is exploiting IoT devices everywhere.
-
Plasma 6.5 Promises Better Memory Optimization
With the stable Plasma 6.4 on the horizon, KDE has a few new tricks up its sleeve for Plasma 6.5.
-
KaOS 2025.05 Officially Qt5 Free
If you're a fan of independent Linux distributions, the team behind KaOS is proud to announce the latest iteration that includes kernel 6.14 and KDE's Plasma 6.3.5.
-
Linux Kernel 6.15 Now Available
The latest Linux kernel is now available with several new features/improvements and the usual bug fixes.
-
Microsoft Makes Surprising WSL Announcement
In a move that might surprise some users, Microsoft has made Windows Subsystem for Linux open source.
-
Red Hat Releases RHEL 10 Early
Red Hat quietly rolled out the official release of RHEL 10.0 a bit early.
-
openSUSE Joins End of 10
openSUSE has decided to not only join the End of 10 movement but it also will no longer support the Deepin Desktop Environment.
-
New Version of Flatpak Released
Flatpak 1.16.1 is now available as the latest, stable version with various improvements.
-
IBM Announces Powerhouse Linux Server
IBM has unleashed a seriously powerful Linux server with the LinuxONE Emperor 5.
-
Plasma Ends LTS Releases
The KDE Plasma development team is doing away with the LTS releases for a good reason.