Debian 13 Trixie is on the way with KDE Plasma 6.3.5

danielson · 2025-03-12 15:21

Debian 13 to Offer KDE Plasma 6.3.5 Desktop Environment

Debian 13 "Trixie" plans to feature KDE Plasma 6.3.5, Frameworks 6.12, and Gear 24.12.3, promising an improved Linux desktop experience.

https://linuxiac.com/debian-13-to-offer … vironment/

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Looking forward to hear Q4OS's take on this!

crosscourt · 2025-03-12 19:26

Initially there were issues with KDE 6 and they were hesitating about changing, but it appears they are heading in that direction. Im already running KDE 6 with my KDE Neon test install and honestly its not as big a change as you might expect.

danielson · 2025-03-13 01:03

True.

Nothing has changed much in appearance.

Have noticed greater stability over the last 6 months.

Also using more resources... ha!

Btw, is it just me?
When clicking for new wallpapers, recent is default in Q4OS while KDE Neon Plasma defaults to most downloaded.

crosscourt · 2025-03-13 01:58

Actually I find 5.27.5 is more stable overall, but that said, Ive only run KDE 6 on Neon so that may be a contributing factor. Resource usage for me with KDE 6 is only slightly higher, nothing major. In my case both Q4OS and Neon default to most recent with new wallpapers.

danielson · 2025-03-13 13:49

Interesting.

Have tested KDE Neon for quite some time, and requesting new wallpapers always defaults to most downloaded for me.

Another thing happened since last few updates: new wallpapers option only scrolls down to latest half dozen or so.
Doesn't scroll down any further, no matter how long i wait.

And Q4OS is remarkably less intense on using resources than KDE Neon.

Depends on computer i guess.

Last edited by danielson (2025-03-13 18:45)

crosscourt · 2025-03-13 19:59

I find Neon and Q4OS very close in resource usage so it may depend on what apps youre using and what services are running. Neon typically tends to be a bit less stable than Q4OS even though its Ubuntu based. Zorin is also Ubuntu based and far more stable than Neon. Neon for me is a test bed so I can see and try KDE apps before I run into them with other distros.

q4osteam · 2025-03-13 20:33

crosscourt wrote:

I find Neon and Q4OS very close in resource usage...

We don't. Q4OS is much more efficient even with the full profile installed. We recommend you to try Q4OS's Basic profile.

danielson · 2025-03-14 00:55

Just like MXLinux KDE also uses less resources than KDE Neon Plasma.

Not being based on Ubuntu must help quite a bit here.

crosscourt · 2025-03-14 01:39

I just reran my memory tests on all three and its still not a huge difference but it depends on what you regard as a large difference.
On my system both Q4OS and MX run around 800mb resource usage and Neon is running around 1gb. Its a difference of 200mb but on my system Im running 16gb of ram so that difference isnt a significant difference. Neon is running KDE 6 which Im sure is most of the increase in resource usage. Neon is based on Kubuntu and Kubuntu's resource usage is pretty good.

If youre running less ram on an older system then yes, maybe 200mb is a larger difference. Honestly though, whos going to run KDE 6 on less ram and older systems.

Im sure just as KDE 5 started out with higher resource usage and improved significantly over time, KDE 6 will also improve down the road.

Last edited by crosscourt (2025-03-14 02:54)

danielson · 2025-03-14 11:22

Not a longtime Linux user as you people here.

But have seen huge improvements with KDE Neon over the last year.

So, it will likely continue to improve as Crosscourt said.

Just happy now with Q4OS and hope it will be good enough to stop me from distro-hopping.

q4osteam · 2025-03-14 13:07

crosscourt wrote:

I just reran my memory tests ...

You say nothing about your testing scheme. We found the results curious at least. How to reproduce these results ?

Again, Q4OS is much more efficient then Neon. Moreover memory usage doesn't tell much about real performance as Linux kernels just buffer as much memory as they have available.

Nonetheless, we have performed simple and reproducible testing. Run the three OSes in the same VM machine:
- Virtualbox 7.1.6
- memory 6144 MB
- base Debian 64bit, Ubuntu for Neon
- boot the most recent live media
- let the OS settle up for a four minutes
- run htop to get memory usage, need to be installed via Apt on Neon

Results (Memory usage by htop):
Q4OS .. 678 MB (ver. 5.7)
MX .. 852 MB (ver. 23.5, standard kernel)
Neon . 1.726 MB (ver. 20250202-0745, user edition)

Anyone is welcome to reproduce and dispute the results.

Last edited by q4osteam (2025-03-14 13:54)

crosscourt · 2025-03-14 18:50

I just did a very simple on the spot testing using Htop at desktop right after boot. All my systems run on hardware not VM, on the same system that has 16gb of ram.
All my distro versions/kernels/KDE are the same as yours. My systems all tend to have the same apps and overall vanilla setup and I use the full desktop versions.
I never said that memory usage equates to real performance, I just stated what my memory usage was with these three distros. In terms of feel Q4OS by far is the quickest of the group.
Im not going to dispute your results, they are just different than my experience with my hardware. Most people who check resource usage, click on Htop and look to see what the numbers show. I only test on actual hardware, no VMs to get the best real world understanding of how its going to perform.
I keep numbers on my distros as I test them after boot and Neon on my hardware has never gone above 1.12gb at desktop with Htop and consistently remains around 1gb most of the time.
Im sure results with different hardware/amount of ram will vary among users from the results we have gotten.
Id also say that the fact that Im running 16gb may temper the memory usage numbers to a certain extent.

Last edited by crosscourt (2025-03-14 19:28)

crosscourt · 2025-03-16 20:27

Just wanted to add, I reported that Q4OS KDE memory usage above was 800mb, but those systems were not entirely up to date.
I have since updated those systems, rebooted and retested, memory usage is now around 1gb.

On a side note MX Linux also updated and its memory usage went from 800mb to 975mb.

Midas · 2025-03-17 14:51

So it the looks like the general trend is a more updated system is a heavier (resource-wise) one... And it's not only by a couple of tens MBs. Not something that makes me happy, generally.

Forgive me for sounding like a Luddite but I am now defaulting to delay -- or even renounce -- updating Windows until I'm absolutely sure I need or am at least able to withstand operational costs. I sure hope that isn't the scenario we're evolving to also in the Linux front.

q4osteam · 2025-03-17 15:07

Midas wrote:

So it the looks like the general trend is a more updated system is a heavier (resource-wise) one...

Why do you think so ? We wouldn't assume, that a common update may add significant resources exploitation on pure Debian system like Q4OS. Q4OS receives security updates for the core system.

Midas · 2025-03-17 15:10

Just reflecting the latest user reports here, without any first hand experience, really... I'll have to run my own tests to be sure.

q4osteam · 2025-03-17 15:19

Midas wrote:

Just reflecting the latest user reports here ...

Such reports are usually somewhat vague and lack important information to reproduce. This experience may not be caused by an update, but users like to blame the updates what is understandable. For example, what updates and from which version. We see no signs of Q4OS getting heavier due to updates and time of use. It remains fairly constant over time.

Midas · 2025-03-17 15:26

q4osteam wrote:

We see no signs of Q4OS getting heavier due to updates and time of use. It remains fairly constant over time.

That is great news, really. Thanks for enlightening me.

danielson · 2025-03-17 18:49

Presume Trixie will bring in Pipewire to the scene here at Q4OS.

crosscourt · 2025-03-17 20:11

Yes Pipewire will be included in Debian 13. Wayland is also very quickly starting to replace X11 on many distros.

crosscourt · 2025-03-17 20:13

@Midas I also run KDE Neon with KDE 6.3.2 and memory usage with it is 1.1gb on my system, so I dont see KDE 6 as making the system heavier. I suspect Q4OS will be very close to the 850mb-1gb range with KDE 6 depending on the hardware configuration.

q4osteam · 2025-03-17 21:42

danielson wrote:

Presume Trixie will bring in Pipewire to the scene here at Q4OS.

Yes, Pipewire will be the default sound system within the upcoming Q4OS-6.

Q4OS Forum

#1 2025-03-12 15:21

Debian 13 Trixie is on the way with KDE Plasma 6.3.5

#2 2025-03-12 19:26

Re: Debian 13 Trixie is on the way with KDE Plasma 6.3.5

#3 2025-03-13 01:03

Re: Debian 13 Trixie is on the way with KDE Plasma 6.3.5

#4 2025-03-13 01:58

Re: Debian 13 Trixie is on the way with KDE Plasma 6.3.5

#5 2025-03-13 13:49

Re: Debian 13 Trixie is on the way with KDE Plasma 6.3.5

#6 2025-03-13 19:59

Re: Debian 13 Trixie is on the way with KDE Plasma 6.3.5

#7 2025-03-13 20:33

Re: Debian 13 Trixie is on the way with KDE Plasma 6.3.5

#8 2025-03-14 00:55

Re: Debian 13 Trixie is on the way with KDE Plasma 6.3.5

#9 2025-03-14 01:39

Re: Debian 13 Trixie is on the way with KDE Plasma 6.3.5

#10 2025-03-14 11:22

Re: Debian 13 Trixie is on the way with KDE Plasma 6.3.5

#11 2025-03-14 13:07

Re: Debian 13 Trixie is on the way with KDE Plasma 6.3.5

#12 2025-03-14 18:50

Re: Debian 13 Trixie is on the way with KDE Plasma 6.3.5

#13 2025-03-16 20:27

Re: Debian 13 Trixie is on the way with KDE Plasma 6.3.5

#14 2025-03-17 14:51

Re: Debian 13 Trixie is on the way with KDE Plasma 6.3.5

#15 2025-03-17 15:07

Re: Debian 13 Trixie is on the way with KDE Plasma 6.3.5

#16 2025-03-17 15:10

Re: Debian 13 Trixie is on the way with KDE Plasma 6.3.5

#17 2025-03-17 15:19

Re: Debian 13 Trixie is on the way with KDE Plasma 6.3.5

#18 2025-03-17 15:26

Re: Debian 13 Trixie is on the way with KDE Plasma 6.3.5

#19 2025-03-17 18:49

Re: Debian 13 Trixie is on the way with KDE Plasma 6.3.5

#20 2025-03-17 20:11

Re: Debian 13 Trixie is on the way with KDE Plasma 6.3.5

#21 2025-03-17 20:13

Re: Debian 13 Trixie is on the way with KDE Plasma 6.3.5

#22 2025-03-17 21:42

Re: Debian 13 Trixie is on the way with KDE Plasma 6.3.5

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