The developers have released another testing version

Feb 27, 2015 12:04 GMT  ·  By

Kubuntu 15.04 Beta 1 (Vivid Vervet), a Linux distribution based on Ubuntu and the KDE desktop environment, has been released and is now ready for testing. It's the first Kubuntu with the new KDE Plasma 5 desktop and it's one of the biggest enhancements in a long time.

We noticed right from the start of the development cycle that Kubuntu 15.04 is going to be a great release. It feels like the KDE project has awaken from a long slumber and it's finally ready to show us all the improvements that have been proposed and implemented in the last couple of months. And that means that it goes far beyond the Plasma desktop components.

It's important to remember that even if the packages implemented in this distro are stable, that doesn't mean that you can consider this release a stable one. It still carries the Beta tag and there are plenty of problems that still need to be solved. In any case, it will give users a very good idea of what to expect.

Kubuntu 15.04 will be the surprise of the Vivid Vervet family

Most, if not all, of the distributions in the greater Ubuntu family have received improvements. Some more than others, but Kubuntu is definitely the one that will stand out. It really stands out because of the superb new Plasma desktop and pretty much everything related to the KDE experience has been upgrade and improved. And you can't really ask any more than that.

"Plasma 5, the next generation of KDE's desktop has been rewritten to make it smoother to use while retaining the familiar setup. The second set of updates to Plasma 5 is now stable enough for everyday use and is the default in this version of Kubuntu," reads the official website.

The devs also said that KDE Applications has been upgraded to version 14.12.2, LibreOffice is now at version 4.4, and Firefox 34 has been added as default (a newer version is already available in the repos).

You can find more details about Kubuntu 15.04 Beta 1 (Vivid Vervet) in the official announcement and you can download the latest image from Softpedia. The distribution is under development and it still has some bugs and other issues. It's possible to run it as a Live CD.

Kubuntu 15.04 Beta 1 (9 Images)

Kubuntu 15.04 Beta 1
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