Is KDE5 stable? I'm having an issue where, if I'm running Citrix 13.x in fullscreen, and use a window hotkey to switch between virtual desktops, something about the events gets confused, and kwin goes into a 100% CPU loop, and if lucky, I can do "kwin --replace" to reset it and not have to kill the entire X session.

With my previous 14.2, I couldn't hotkey when in fullscreen, so it's a HUGE improvement I would love to keep, but it's so flaky, I can't use it reliably.

Does k3b still run under KDE5? I still use it occasionally..

Yes (although I disable file search/Baloo).

Also yes, currently version 20.04.3.

Well, there is something to "what one is comfortable using," but as I've said before, I've installed kde5 and xfce-4.14 several times and just don't see anything to get excited about (read, worth making the so-called "upgrade"). Running Xfce-4.14 at the moment.
Really, when it is all said and done, if it can't make a decent martini, what good is it?
:D

There does seem to be some flakiness with Virtual Desktops but then I'm still using late June 2020 version of Current plus KTown. I can't open Virtual Desktops section of System Settings without System Settings crashing... lucky for me I rarely ever use them with a large monitor. K3b runs fine for me. I still use optical disks and don't really see a time when I completely abandon them.

I have 64-current up-to-date and the latest plasma5 from AlienBob and I can create and use virtual desktops.

I've been routinely using 4 virtual desktops for years in ktown. I've never seen any issues with them.

There used to be a problem with the virtual desktop settings pane (crashing), but as far as I can see it's been fixed as of the last couple of updates.

The most recent new features, bug fixes and performance improvements for kde5,

https://pointieststick.com/2020/08/2...dow-positions/

All the work that has gone into KDE / Plasma over the decades yet still the panel, one of the most important aspects of a desktop environment, is so crippled you're better off sticking with Xfce.

In what way is it crippled?

It's not i3wm

Lacks features compared to Kicker. It's become basic, not as configurable as the old one.

Dolphin user mount removable devices
 

I used to be able to click on "Windows" under "Devices" in Dolphin's left panel, in addition to "Removable Devices" such as usb sticks and memory cards. They would mount under /run/user/[uid] (I don't recall if they were fuse or gvfs). After a recent upgrade I am "not authorized to perform this operation" "polkit authority not available and caller is not uid 0". How can I restore the ability for a user to mount Windows (password prompt) and removable media (no password) in Dolphin?

Crippled because if your eyes can't adjust to either of the two themes provided you're completely out of luck. Unless you're lucky enough to find a third-party theme that is up to standard and that will still be around and maintained in five years. Crippled because in their tyrannical wisdom the devs have decided you should not be allowed to adjust a single aspect of the running task buttons on the panel, to make them "immediately" clearer and unambiguous. You can't put a one-pixel border around them; you can't change colours; you can't resize the panel without reading some freaking manual how to do so. And the idea that you need to change the theme of the entire desktop just to change the appearance of the panel is, quite frankly, in 2020, an insulting absurdity.

I wonder if you use the same KDE5/Plasma I use.