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Adventures in Linux and KDE
Personal blog · pointieststick.comprogrammingsystems
Adventures in Linux and KDE is a personal blog at pointieststick.com about programming and systems. Since 2018, 92 different Hacker News readers have linked it 388 times, most often “KDE Plasma 6: “Better defaults””. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-30, and you can follow it by feed.
Rarely recommended · 5 of 40 sampled comments recommend it?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Nate Graham's weekly KDE and Plasma posts, cited for usability fixes and as a way to follow KDE's ongoing progress.
- Recommended for · 5 comments
- Called a fantastic job and well worth a read; commenters enjoy the weekly progress posts and their bug-fix details.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 40 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Below is a brief look at recent changes in the KDE projects I work on and follow!
Most-linked posts?
- /6 people · 12 mentions · first linked 2019-05-10
- KDE Plasma 6: “Better defaults”4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2023-05-11
- This week in KDE: KCommandBar delivers ludicrous-mode productivity4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2021-05-22
- So let’s talk about this Wayland thing4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2023-09-18
- This week in KDE: Wayland fractional scaling4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2022-12-17
- Techpaladin Software4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2025-03-13
- About Plasma's X11 Session4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2025-06-21
- The structure of KDE, or how anarchy sometimes works4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2020-08-04
- This week in KDE: Plasma 5.20 is nigh4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2020-10-15
- Past 2 weeks in KDE: Wayland color management, the desktop cube returns4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2023-10-28
What Hacker News says?
"This page assumes the status quo as of Plasma 5.7". Plasma is now on version 5.20 so the page you linked has some pretty old examples. The KDE folks are working pretty diligently to clean stuff like this up as they find it. Nate Graham's weekly blog documents this and other updates to the project. https://pointieststick.com/ I personally like KDE and it's Breeze Dark theme a lot.
Comment linking /
on “GNOME has no thumbnails in the file picker and my toilets are blocked”Submitted KDE Asking for Donations as a story · 131 points
HN discussionThere is a lot going on each week in KDE trying to improve the situation. Nate Graham is making a summary of the parts, he monitors: https://pointieststick.com/ There is definitely still quite a bit to improve but compared to 3 years ago, Plasma and KDE software has improved by a lot.
Comment linking /
on “GNOME has no thumbnails in the file picker and my toilets are blocked”Submitted This week in KDE: Converging towards something special as a story · 88 points
HN discussionGlad it works for you. It does not for most of us. Including multi-monitor setups or various glitches in rendering. Google Kubuntu Fractional scaling to have a glimpse. A few examples: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1253744/inconsistent-resolut... https://forum.kde.org/viewtopic.php?f=309&t=164736 https://pointieststick.com/category/high-dpi/ Probably there are workarounds, kernel patches, magic scripts that might…
Comment linking /category/high-dpi/
on “GNOME has no thumbnails in the file picker and my toilets are blocked”Submitted This week in KDE: Tons of UI improvements and bugfixes as a story · 87 points
HN discussionWell put! I use KDE nowadays exclusively and all the tremendous progress they showcase here - https://pointieststick.com/ - is very real and exciting. They have made the development process easy and friendly and it really shows in terms of contributions they are getting. I enjoy reading the progress every week and digging into the bug fixes and review comments! One day I will have some free time to contribute.
Comment linking /
on “Broken”Submitted A Mac-like experience on Linux as a story · 61 points
HN discussionKDE Plasma is as good as it gets if you'd like to transition from MacOS: https://pointieststick.com/2025/10/04/a-mac-like-experience-...
Comment linking /2025/10/04/a-mac-like-experience-on-linux/
on “Apple introduces M6 and M5 Ultra”Submitted This week in KDE: polishing the System Tray and more as a story · 58 points
HN discussionI think I got confused by your "release channels" bit in the original comment, because I thought you were asking for distros which ship and support the Plasma LTS release, but I guess you're asking more whether we have an LTS release? We did in fact have versions marked as LTS in the Plasma 5.x generation, but the concept never quite worked that well practice (e.g. because distros generally shipped newer versions ba…
Comment linking /2025/05/01/notes-from-the-graz-plasma-sprint/
on “KDE is now my favorite desktop”Submitted A few corrections about the transition from Blue Systems to Techpaladin as a story · 52 points
HN discussionIt seems like KDE and Plasma is the place where look and feel is constantly but incrementally refined; we've been saved from this flat design trend so far and things keep looking pleasant and modern and being usable. We know they care, and have great attention to details because that's documented weekly [1]. I find the Breeze theme really well done and its GTK port, Brise, is also very nice, to the point Gnome looks…
Comment linking /
on “The end of the nice GTK button”Submitted This week in KDE: KDE-powered SteamDeck revealed as a story · 44 points
HN discussionDolphin has "selection mode" for a while now. I like that in combination with single click open. https://pointieststick.com/2022/08/19/this-week-in-kde-dolph...
Comment linking /2022/08/19/this-week-in-kde-dolphin-selection-mode/
on “The KDE desktop gets an overhaul with Plasma 6”Submitted Does Wayland really break everything? as a story · 37 points
HN discussionFunnily enough, Plasma 6 brings back the cube effect[1]. [1] https://pointieststick.com/2023/10/27/these-past-2-weeks-in-...
Comment linking /2023/10/27/these-past-2-weeks-in-kde-wayland-color-management-the-desktop-cube-returns-and-optional-shadows-in-spectacle/
on “The KDE desktop gets an overhaul with Plasma 6”Submitted The hunt for a perfect laptop continues as a story · 33 points
HN discussionI don't miss desktop progress the way it was done on Linux between 2000 and 2015 (ish). It was exciting but now, I'm happy with what I have with Plasma 5. It is a fast, stable, solid desktop environment. Plasma 5 is great and ages like good wine. The interface does not change much, but receives big improvements each version that don't break habits. Focus is on fixing usability bugs. See the weekly posts at [1] for i…
Comment linking /
on “Burn My Windows”Submitted KDE Usability and Productivity: Week 63 as a story · 33 points
HN discussionthis bit is a no-go for me. they've decided what goes in the immutable base os and allowed a set of kde apps citing subpar experience flatpak versions. I'm guessing they haven't tested all flatpak apps as they tested their apps. "Well, we’re kind of cheating a bit here. A couple KDE apps are shipped as Flatpaks, and the rest you download using Discover will be Flatpack’d as well, but we do ship Dolphin, Konsole, Ark…
Comment linking /2025/09/06/announcing-the-alpha-release-of-kde-linux/
on “KDE launches its own distribution”Submitted KDE: Who Is the Target User? as a story · 28 points
HN discussion> There were too many projects with none focusing on really making a better gui than mac/windows. I don't think the target is "better than mac/windows", but I'd argue KDE focuses a lot on making a good UI. Read [1] a bit, you'll see that a lot of work is done on fixing usability bugs and bringing small improvements to an already great desktop environment. By the way, I've entered in a store that sells computers and…
Comment linking /
on “I switched from macOS to Linux after 15 years of Apple”Submitted The structure of KDE, or how anarchy sometimes works as a story · 23 points
HN discussionIf KDE and GNOME are stuck, it's not because they can't innovate with their UIs enough with traditional ways of interacting with a computer. In fact, I don't think innovating in a way that doesn't involve new ways to interact (such as VR/AR) is very desirable to most users. The truth is, most people don't want to install operating systems, even if they're free and easier to install than Windows. The only way to go f…
Comment linking /2021/12/09/what-desktop-linux-needs-to-succeed-in-the-mainstream/
on “Exploring System76's New Rust Based Desktop Environment”Submitted This week in KDE: polishing up Plasma 5.19 as a story · 23 points
HN discussionI think it's caused by the stock WordPress image gallery widget. I've noticed the same issue in a KDE blog[1] also built with WordPress. [1]: https://pointieststick.com/2021/06/11/this-week-in-kde-plasm...
Comment linking /2021/06/11/this-week-in-kde-plasma-5-22-arrives-but-i-bet-youll-want-5-23-once-i-show-you-this/
on “State of the Windows: How many layers of UI inconsistencies are in Windows 10?”Submitted This Week in KDE: Better HiDPI on X11 as a story · 22 points
HN discussionNate Graham, coordinator of the KDE Usability & Productivity initiative, wrote a full review: https://pointieststick.com/2020/07/23/the-superfast-ryzen-po...
Comment linking /2020/07/23/the-superfast-ryzen-powered-kde-slimbook/
on “KDE Slimbook: Linux Laptop with Ryzen 4000”Submitted This Week in KDE: Plasma 5.21 Approaches – Adventures in Linux and KDE as a story · 21 points
HN discussion
