The KDE community has come out with the new release of the open-source KDE Plasma Desktop environment, which is also the LTS (Long Term Support) version designed to run on GNU/Linux distributions.

Offering a host of new features, Plasma 5.18 succeeds the aging Plasma 5.12 LTS.

With the latest version, users can look forward to much better integration with GTK/GNOME applications. It also includes a varied change-log with tweaks affecting almost every part of the desktop experience.

The developers behind Plasma 5.18 said that this new version of their favorite desktop environment is “easier and more fun” and also allows you to do more tasks faster.

KDE Plasma 5.18 LTS allows Emoji Selector to be opened through the application launcher or with the Meta + . keyboard shortcut; features new global edit mode which replaces the desktop toolbox button and lets you easily customize your desktop layout; and also offers improved touch-friendliness for the Kickoff application launcher and widget editing.

Other features include more compact design to choose the default audio device in the Audio Volume System Tray widget, Clickable volume indicator and tooltip item highlight indicators in the Task Manager and Circular Application Launcher menu user icon.

Users can now download KDE Plasma 5.18 LTS source code from the KDE website.