KDE Plasma 5.24 has been released as the latest version of this popular desktop environment which is also standard on Regata OS, allowing us to offer a more familiar desktop for new users, as well as beautiful and modern. Among the many changes in this new release, we can mention even more refinements to the "Breeze" theme and a variety of improvements to the system tray and widgets.
In addition, there are also ongoing changes to the system settings panel, various fixes for the most varied issues of the past and a new overview effect, which is still in beta testing, but you can enable it by going to System Settings ➞ Workspace Behavior ➞ Workspace Effects. Now activate the "Overview" effect.
To see the new effect in action, use the keyboard shortcut Meta (Windows key) + w . You will see all the application windows open and at the top of the screen you will notice that there is an option to create new virtual desktops.
Plus Cover Flip and Flip Switch effects are back! You can find them by going to System Settings ➞ Window Management ➞ Task Switching. Now, under "Preview", just below the "Show selected window" checkbox, you will find an option to choose the effect used to present windows when using the keyboard shortcut Alt + Tab . These effects allow you to visually scroll through open windows as if they were a deck of cards. Remembering that the default is "Breeze".
Among the more subtle changes are that Plasma now “remembers” which window was on which screen even when the screen in question is turned off, and performance has been improved for machines with NVIDIA graphics cards. Finally, new windows now open in the center of the screen by default.
Authentication with fingerprint
Support for fingerprint authentication arrives with KDE Plasma 5.24. You can also register up to 10 fingerprints and use them to unlock the screen, provide authentication when an application asks for your password, and also authenticate you when you need to run a sudo command in the terminal.
Speaking of the lock screen, you can now put your machine to sleep or hibernate from the lock screen without having to unlock it first.
KDE Plasma 5.24 is a very important release and it arrives packed with new features and improvements. For more details on all these changes, be sure to check out the official announcement.
