KDE Lands More Plasma Wayland Improvements & Fixes Ahead Of Plasma 5.25

[Slartifartblast]

You know what? not long ago I had a low opinion about Wayland in general. But when I've used Gnome 40 Wayland (on Fedora 34) a few months ago, it was one of the most rock solid Linux desktop experiences ever since I started using Linux. Not a single crash. And wayy more stable than KDE (yes, even on x11). KDE seems to be the only DE where you have these ridiculous bugs like when you customize your panel, plasma shell crashes if you move your cursor "in a certain way", or when you turn your monitor off and then on, Plasma desktop crashes. Issues like these make me think the whole KDE codebase needs some major code refactoring, otherwise bugs like these will keep creeping in again and again.

Warning, mileage may vary.

https://gitlab.gnome.org/groups/GNOME/-/issues?search=crash&sort=created_date&state=opened

[user1]

I'm still always really curious what it is people do with Plasma that makes it crash so easily

Um, something as simple as turning your monitor off and on? or customizing your panel a little bit? And it's not my first time impression, I used it a lot over the years. The last straw for me was when I tried Plasma 5.24 on OpenSuse Tumbleweed in mid February. Shortly after a clean install it started having various issues like showing the tiny X cursor if I hover it over the titlebar, or like I said, turning off and on the monitor crashes Plasma desktop and then the tiny X cursor is shown over the desktop as well (and rebooting didn't fix it). And I've only used Plasma on x11 (never tried the Wayland session). From now I will not take plasma seriously until all the random crashes are fixed (which as I said, probably will require some major code refactoring).

P.S: Even though I liked Gnome 40 on Wayland, I'm still more into traditional desktop paradigm, which is why I currently use Mate (a grossly underrated DE imo).

[user1]

Warning, mileage may vary.

https://gitlab.gnome.org/groups/GNOM...e&state=opened

I know, but it's still ahead of KDE Wayland session. For example, Firefox with MOZ_ENABLE_WAYLAND=1 on Gnome Wayland worked well for me, but some still say it's unusable on Plasma Wayland.

[Slartifartblast]

I tried Plasma 5.24 on OpenSuse Tumbleweed

Stop right there, Tumbleweed is rolling beta software. I've been an OpenSuse user since the times of the ancient Greeks but there is no way I'll use it (Tumbleweed) as a daily driver.

[Nth_man]

I'm writing this using KDE Plasma under X11. As usual, there are some external factors that may cause problems. But KDE Plasma works in a stable way in several computers that I manage, and in two Kubuntu virtual machines (one for VMware and another for VirtualBox). If Plasma wasn't stable it wouldn't work in those virtual machines, and it works very well.

Anyone can try a Kubuntu virtual machine downloading it from https://www.linuxvmimages.com/images/kubuntu-2204 , running it and seeing it for himself.

[user1]

Stop right there, Tumbleweed is rolling beta software. I've been an OpenSuse user since the times of the ancient Greeks but there is no way I'll use it as a daily driver.

Rolling beta software? I thought it's one of the most stable rolling release distro's out there (certainly more stable than Arch). I've used it a few times before (with KDE as well) and I don't remember having issues with the distro before. Btw, I can't think of any non rolling release KDE distros other than Kubuntu or Fedora KDE. Still that doesn't disprove my point. Kubuntu might have the more stable KDE experience since it usually ships the latest point release of a certain Plasma version (I've used it a lot as well), but even then, it wasn't as stable as other DE's because of the occasional crashes.
Btw, it's funny that on this forum I once wrote that I use Kubuntu, and then someone replied that it sucks and that I should use a rolling release KDE distro to get the latest KDE features and fixes.

[Slartifartblast]

I should use a rolling release KDE distro to get the latest features and fixes.

Not required, you can switch the KDE and Qt repos on Leap.

However being old and wise I've learned to let others be early adopters, I no longer have the energy for late nights and lots of fresh coffee.

[krzyzowiec]

You know what? not long ago I had a low opinion about Wayland in general. But when I've used Gnome 40 Wayland (on Fedora 34) a few months ago, it was one of the most rock solid Linux desktop experiences ever since I started using Linux. Not a single crash. And wayy more stable than KDE (yes, even on x11). KDE seems to be the only DE where you have these ridiculous bugs like when you customize your panel, plasma shell crashes if you move your cursor "in a certain way", or when you turn your monitor off and then on, Plasma desktop crashes. Issues like these make me think the whole KDE codebase needs some major code refactoring, otherwise bugs like these will keep creeping in again and again.

People complain about the simplicity of Gnome but that's exactly why they don't have crazy bugs like this. If they supported the same features as KDE, I don't think it would be any different. Personally I've moved on from the view that a desktop should be transformable into what each individual user likes. It makes a lot more sense to pick a desktop metaphor that you think works best for the user and optimize that experience. In the end, I believe having several great desktops with their own views and users works better than trying to please everyone by being configurable and introducing unnecessary complexity for the sake of flexibility. Making a good desktop seems hard enough as it is.

[krzyzowiec]

Rolling beta software? I thought it's one of the most stable rolling release distro's out there (certainly more stable than Arch). I've used it a few times before (with KDE as well) and I don't remember having issues with the distro before. Btw, I can't think of any non rolling release KDE distros other than Kubuntu or Fedora KDE. Still that doesn't disprove my point. Kubuntu might have the more stable KDE experience since it usually ships the latest point release of a certain Plasma version (I've used it a lot as well), but even then, it wasn't as stable as other DE's because of the occasional crashes.
Btw, it's funny that on this forum I once wrote that I use Kubuntu, and then someone replied that it sucks and that I should use a rolling release KDE distro to get the latest KDE features and fixes.

I always thought Kubuntu was a really good base for KDE. I don't know what the haters were on about, it seemed the most stable to me.

[user1]

People complain about the simplicity of Gnome but that's exactly why they don't have crazy bugs like this.

Yeah, it seems to me they really care a lot about their code quality (avoid hacks as much as possible) which lead to decisions like removing desktop icons and tray icons. Before I tried Gnome, I didn't really like these decisions, but then I understood that this approach is the reason Gnome is so stable, even on Wayland.