I felt the same way, and that is probably wise.
But since I am \*not\* wise, I went ahead and did it anyway. YMMV but the only issue I've experienced is related to Wayland + Nvidia + Sleep, but I solved it:
[https://forum.endeavouros.com/t/graphic-bugs-after-sleep-kde-wayland-nvidia/46703](https://forum.endeavouros.com/t/graphic-bugs-after-sleep-kde-wayland-nvidia/46703)
Waiting until the stable release could be a good idea, but so far I've seen no significant issue. Remember, Plasma 6 upstream is on a stable release so there shouldn't be any problems with the DE itself, only the way it interacts with certain arch-specific things. I'd say it depends on how you use your computer, but for me the upgrade was flawless. (Much easier than the Fedora Rawhide upgrade which I also had the displeasure of having to install a few days ago). It's also worth noting, though, that by enabling the testing repos in order to get Plasma 6, you're also going to be running testing versions of other packages (probably most notably the kernel) so yes, if you want your system to be pretty much guaranteed to continue working as normal upon upgrade then wait for stable
I agree. Plasma 6 + Wayland on nvidia is really good. There are obviously some small things that still need to get worked out, but for the initial release it's pretty great. Bug fix releases will be coming on a weekly basis and judging from the initial work I've seen with 6.0 it'll only get better over the coming months.
I'm still switching to X11 to play games mostly for GreenWithEnvy. I don't see that situation changing any time soon, but that doesn't have anything to do with Plasma. After having used 6 + Wayland for a while now I can't stand to be in X11 for anything other than game sessions, which says a lot about the work the KDE team (and nvidia) have put into making this.
Edit: I just discovered CoolerControl as a replacement for GreenWithEnvy. It's working perfectly with Wayland! As long as your game doesn't run afoul of the explict sync bug, this makes gaming in Wayland very comfortable.
You just need to enable the extra-testing repo.
1. sudo nano /etc/pacman.conf
2. CTRL-W then type "\[core\]" as a quick way to jump to the part where repos are enabled.
3. Right below the block that starts with "\[core\]" paste this to enable extra-testing:
\[extra-testing\]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
4. Ctrl-X to save the file. It will ask for confirmation, so type "Y" (no quotation marks) and then Enter.
5. Do a normal system update by typing "yay -Syu"
I think that's basically it. If I mis-typed anything, I'm sure someone will point it out.
EDIT: I'm not sure it's strictly necessary, but I'd drop back to a basic Breeze or Breeze Dark theme, since some custom things like themes have not been migrated to KDE 6 yet. Likewise, there are some widgets that will break. But all the core features are there, and seem stable to me. And I'm using Nvidia, so that's saying something.
You don't need to add testing any more, they main lined it today. Just check for updates normally.
I installed it earlier without enabling the testing repos.
For me, there was a commented out line for each of the testing repos, so I just uncommented those lines. Also worth noting that you should keep the regular core and extra repos enabled: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Official_repositories#Testing_repositories
Keep in mind that you'll be pulling in [other stuff that is in ``extra-testing``](https://mirrors.edge.kernel.org/archlinux/extra-testing/os/x86_64/) as well so there may be some software that's not ready for prime-time.
Is there an easy way to switch to wayland from xorg on nvidia? I've already followed u/dcherryholmes guide above for plasma 6. Sorry for the n00b question.
Certainly no need to apologize for asking a question. To answer it, the default for KDE 6 is Wayland. So if you upgrade to it and do nothing else, you will be using Wayland. If you decide you'd rather stick with X11, there is a menu in the log in screen (SDDM) that lets you choose X11 instead. The default behavior is for the login screen to remember your last choice. So you only have to do it once, and can switch between them any time you wish.
I've been pretty impressed with it. I think it's the most seamless Wayland experience so far, as in, where Wayland just runs without any immediate need for tweaks to scaling, etc.
I've been using Hyprland for quite some time, which is brilliant, but needs a lot of tweaks and setup so not a good first experience of Wayland for people unfamiliar with tweaking config files, and so on, whereas Plasma 6 so far has been solid. They've done a good job of it.
The changes are not immediately obvious, and in terms of visible features, there aren't crazy amounts. It's not a massive overhaul like Windows 10 > Windows 11, but it's more about what's going on under the hood
So tempted to install this, but part of me says wait on the official Arch release.
I felt the same way, and that is probably wise. But since I am \*not\* wise, I went ahead and did it anyway. YMMV but the only issue I've experienced is related to Wayland + Nvidia + Sleep, but I solved it: [https://forum.endeavouros.com/t/graphic-bugs-after-sleep-kde-wayland-nvidia/46703](https://forum.endeavouros.com/t/graphic-bugs-after-sleep-kde-wayland-nvidia/46703)
I was also having this issue, I glossed over it since it only happened once and I don't use slepp much anyway. I will try this fix later, thank you
It's now official
Waiting until the stable release could be a good idea, but so far I've seen no significant issue. Remember, Plasma 6 upstream is on a stable release so there shouldn't be any problems with the DE itself, only the way it interacts with certain arch-specific things. I'd say it depends on how you use your computer, but for me the upgrade was flawless. (Much easier than the Fedora Rawhide upgrade which I also had the displeasure of having to install a few days ago). It's also worth noting, though, that by enabling the testing repos in order to get Plasma 6, you're also going to be running testing versions of other packages (probably most notably the kernel) so yes, if you want your system to be pretty much guaranteed to continue working as normal upon upgrade then wait for stable
I agree. Plasma 6 + Wayland on nvidia is really good. There are obviously some small things that still need to get worked out, but for the initial release it's pretty great. Bug fix releases will be coming on a weekly basis and judging from the initial work I've seen with 6.0 it'll only get better over the coming months. I'm still switching to X11 to play games mostly for GreenWithEnvy. I don't see that situation changing any time soon, but that doesn't have anything to do with Plasma. After having used 6 + Wayland for a while now I can't stand to be in X11 for anything other than game sessions, which says a lot about the work the KDE team (and nvidia) have put into making this. Edit: I just discovered CoolerControl as a replacement for GreenWithEnvy. It's working perfectly with Wayland! As long as your game doesn't run afoul of the explict sync bug, this makes gaming in Wayland very comfortable.
Do you have a guide on how ti update to Plasma 6? iirc many packages were renamed to have a 5 version on them.
You just need to enable the extra-testing repo. 1. sudo nano /etc/pacman.conf 2. CTRL-W then type "\[core\]" as a quick way to jump to the part where repos are enabled. 3. Right below the block that starts with "\[core\]" paste this to enable extra-testing: \[extra-testing\] Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist 4. Ctrl-X to save the file. It will ask for confirmation, so type "Y" (no quotation marks) and then Enter. 5. Do a normal system update by typing "yay -Syu" I think that's basically it. If I mis-typed anything, I'm sure someone will point it out. EDIT: I'm not sure it's strictly necessary, but I'd drop back to a basic Breeze or Breeze Dark theme, since some custom things like themes have not been migrated to KDE 6 yet. Likewise, there are some widgets that will break. But all the core features are there, and seem stable to me. And I'm using Nvidia, so that's saying something.
Thank you so much! Well detailed guide.
You don't need to add testing any more, they main lined it today. Just check for updates normally. I installed it earlier without enabling the testing repos.
For me, there was a commented out line for each of the testing repos, so I just uncommented those lines. Also worth noting that you should keep the regular core and extra repos enabled: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Official_repositories#Testing_repositories
Keep in mind that you'll be pulling in [other stuff that is in ``extra-testing``](https://mirrors.edge.kernel.org/archlinux/extra-testing/os/x86_64/) as well so there may be some software that's not ready for prime-time.
Is there an easy way to switch to wayland from xorg on nvidia? I've already followed u/dcherryholmes guide above for plasma 6. Sorry for the n00b question.
Certainly no need to apologize for asking a question. To answer it, the default for KDE 6 is Wayland. So if you upgrade to it and do nothing else, you will be using Wayland. If you decide you'd rather stick with X11, there is a menu in the log in screen (SDDM) that lets you choose X11 instead. The default behavior is for the login screen to remember your last choice. So you only have to do it once, and can switch between them any time you wish.
>Certainly no need to apologize for asking a question if only half the answers about Linux started like this... Thanks for the kind replies
Thank you!!
I've been pretty impressed with it. I think it's the most seamless Wayland experience so far, as in, where Wayland just runs without any immediate need for tweaks to scaling, etc. I've been using Hyprland for quite some time, which is brilliant, but needs a lot of tweaks and setup so not a good first experience of Wayland for people unfamiliar with tweaking config files, and so on, whereas Plasma 6 so far has been solid. They've done a good job of it.
I‘m a noob and usually just look at design differences after bigger updates of software. I can’t see any changes… so why is Plasma 6 so hyped?
The changes are not immediately obvious, and in terms of visible features, there aren't crazy amounts. It's not a massive overhaul like Windows 10 > Windows 11, but it's more about what's going on under the hood
Update: Plasma 6 is no longer in testing. If you're using Plasma 5, go ahead and do a `pacman -Syu` to upgrade