KaOS 2021.06 comes with Plasma 5.22 and a new feature - Adaptive Transparency

KaOS 2021.06 includes Plasma 5.22 and a new feature: Adaptive Transparency: This means that the panel and panel widgets will usually be pleasantly translucent, but will become completely opaque if there is a maximized window, a transition to the plasma system monitor. to the old KSysguard as the default system and session monitoring application.

- Plasma Wayland now accepts Activities: a unique classic feature for the Plasma desktop that allows you to have completely different environments for different aspects of your computing life, other improvements to KWin Wayland include the current Windows effect.

- New in Plasma 5.22: The system settings open on a speed dial page that gives you direct access to the most frequently used settings, as well as the ones you have accessed the most.

- The Calamares installer has two new QML modules. KaOS ported Packagechooser to QML, resulting in a clearer and more consistent look and the option to completely translate this module to the normal Transifex location. The Local offline module is now ready for QML as well. The regular local module uses an interactive map, requiring a network connection, so it is good to have the QML offline option that works fully.

- Latest Plasma desktop packages: Frameworks 5.83.0, Plasma 5.22.2 and KDE 21.04.2 applications. All built on Qt 5.15.2+.

- The default mirror used for all KaOS installations is provided by Fosshost. An important change with Fosshost is that, with a single mirror, users will have access to a worldwide network of mirrors via Fastly CDN.

- KCM virtual keyboard

- New support for JPEG XL, a modern JPEG option. Integration into the system is provided by qt-jpegxl-image-plugin, it allows you to open and view .jxl files without problems in Gwenview.

- Updates based on this distribution have been numerous and include a new stack ICU 69.1 & Boost 1.76.0, Systemd 248.3, Glib2 2.68.3 with the entire glib / gobject group updated, Grub 2.06, Git 2.32.0, Hwids 20210613, Protobuf 3.17 , Dracut 055, Poppler 21.06.1, Mesa 21.1.3, NetworkManager 1.32.0, ZSTD 1.5.0, kmod 29.
- Qt 5.15 does not receive updates or maintenance from Qt (only closed source, paid support is available ). However, KDE stepped up and released a maintained 5.15 fork. KaOS now does a monthly patch update on this fork for all Qt 5.15, so it's basically now at 5.15.3.

- Locate the QML module in offline mode

- The Linux kernel has all the necessary code components for a fully automatic Early Microcode update.

- KaOS uses the Systemd boot from Systemd provided for UEFI installations.

- A specific KaOS tool is included to write ISO files to USB. Not only does IsoWriter write to USB, but it also offers the option to recover your USB stick after using it for an ISO, which the normal dd copy or the previously used Imagewriter could not do. New in this version is the ability to check the integrity of the written USB flash drive compared to the downloaded ISO file. This can also be done in Dolphin, right-click the ISO file, select Actions, then select ISO Write Verification.

- From LibreOffice 6.2, it is now possible to provide it as a pure Qt5 / kf5 application. LibreOffice has thus replaced Calligra as the default Office application for KaOS.

- The creation of KaOS Croeso (Welsh for welcome) is included to help set up a new installation. It will run on the newly installed system and offers the adjustment of about 15 commonly used settings, includes a custom wallpaper selector, distribution information and the option to select packages to install from six different groups. It is written in QML and fits well with the Welcome application used in the Live system. The latter includes an Installation Guide.

- Plasma 5.21 System monitor

- This ISO uses CRC and finobt enabled XFS file system by default. CRCs allow for improved error detection due to hardware issues, while format changes also improve lock recovery algorithms and the ability of various tools to validate and repair metadata corruptions when they are found. The free btree node does not index the nodes used, allowing faster and more consistent node allocation performance as file systems age.

- includes custom icon themes for light and dark themes. Midna and Midna Dark both create a completely unified look from start to disconnect.