Download KaOS_Test
First, minimal test ISO is uploaded for the April stable ISO release.

This ISO marks the move to KDE Gear 23.04, 23.03.90 is included. Changes for the new KDE Gear that could use some more testing are the inclusion of kio-admin in Dolphin.

As always, early test ISOs are minimal, very few apps, just a web-browser, file manager, text editor, GUI package manager. The non-free Nvidia drivers are included since they are a big part of what needs testing.

Plan is to have Frameworks 5.105.0, KDE Applications 23.04, Plasma 5.26.4 and Linux 6.2.xx on the final ISO.

The ISO is using packages from the build repo, but that repo is not enabled, so if you decide to install, make sure to add the build repo to your pacman.conf.

Debug packages for Calamares are part of all ISOs, run Calamares with gdb if you encounter errors.
provide the installation log, if you encounter any issue at all

You can start Calamares from the Welcome app, or run it with:

sudo calamares -d

The install log will be created in the home directory of the Live user, see ~/installation.log. It is available after the install in the target system in /var/log/installation.log
If run from cli, make sure to pastebin the full output, since no installation.log will be copied then, though that log is more complete.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/kaos-test/files/iso/KaOS-2023.04.06-x86_64.iso
SHA256Sum:

f7ff0d041a4cfb1403fc9e11e9a75bad7bceca7851b9059ff26ede4c6ec0c84c  KaOS-2023.04.06-x86_64.iso

On this ISO you will find:
Linux 6.2.10
systemd 253.3
gcc 12.2.0
Qt 5.15.8+
Frameworks 5.104.0
Plasma 5.27.4
KDE Applications 23.03.90
Calamares 3.3 Beta
Octopi 0.14.0 with sysinfo & cachecleaner tool

Known issues:

  • The bottom progress-bar in Calamares reacts to mouse clicks & opens a virtualkeyboard (narrow)
  • e2fsprogs 1.47.0 had issues with ext4 & Grub in the February ISO, it is again included in this ISO to test if issue remains.

Second minimal ISO is up. So quick because Qt 5.15.9 was released yesterday & Frameworks 5.105.0 today, this meant a full Plasma rebuild too, so about a quarter of the previous ISO were outdated packages.
Issue with e2fsprogs 1.47.0/ext4/grub combination was also found & fixed by patching grub.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/kaos-test/files/iso/KaOS-2023.04.08-x86_64.iso
SHA256Sum:

abfe14408a5235300ba614040b94c49cbab97204ae9306d441112de94f88f6d2  KaOS-2023.04.08-x86_64.iso
6 days later

Two test ISO's are uploaded.
First is a Plasma 6 preview ISO, it is very minimal, installing is not possible, no webbrowser included.
This one also does not autologin, since it varies greatly, depending on hardware whether X or wayland is the better session. So, sddm will show you en empty username (and an odd theme, midna & breeze sddm are not ready for Qt6, so the maldives theme is in use). Login name & password are live/live.
For file manager, qtfm is available (dolphin is not ready for kf6). Systemsettings is not usable, but all individual components are, start each with kcmshell6, kcmshell6 kcm_kscreen for example, for a full list use kcmshell6 --list
https://sourceforge.net/projects/kaos-test/files/iso/KaOS_Plasma6-2023.04.14-x86_64.iso

    First full ISO is now up (regular Plasma 5 ISO).
    It took a few extra days to get this one out due to a couple of bugs found. Biggest was the breakage of SwipeView with Qt 5.15.9, that broke both Welcome & Croeso. qt5-quickcontrols2 was the issue, it is now patched, so all works as should again.
    Kernel has moved to 6.2.11 since last minimal ISO, among the 2 dozen or so other updates. If no new issues are found, expect this ISO to be released as the new stable in a few days.
    https://sourceforge.net/projects/kaos-test/files/iso/KaOS-2023.04.15-x86_64.iso
    SHA256SUM:

    fee141ace7dbd3e1de437de85b7f8f12bed7215af6bd671c905b2e739a5b6f7f  KaOS-2023.04.15-x86_64.iso

    Unfortunately, a nasty bug was introduced in the first full ISO, fix was simple, but new ISO needed (all installs would fail). Second full ISO is up, this time includes the final version of KDE Apps 23.04, instead of the RC. 23.04 won't be released until Thursday, so no stable ISO release until after that.
    https://sourceforge.net/projects/kaos-test/files/iso/KaOS-2023.04.17-x86_64.iso
    SHA256SUM:

    1126895cb8fa11c7acf37d10e82993c52363e1939ed1c53f1fb05a872b454556  KaOS-2023.04.17-x86_64.iso
    24 days later

    demm Thank you for this.
    I like many others, no doubt, am keen to follow the progress of Plasma 6.
    This and further, (hopefully), Plasma 6 previews will be an invaluable way to do this and become familiar with it before it is ready for day to day use.

    • demm replied to this.

      TaliesinEmrys If you want to follow along with how far Plasma 6 is, better follow this thread:
      https://forum.kaosx.us/d/2999-start-of-plasma-frameworks-qt6-based
      Converting a Plasma 5 install to Plasma 6 is quite simple and done many times already (by me).
      Once two more apps are fully functional in their Qt6/kf6 version, instructions will be posted there how to move to Plasma 6 (and back to 5 too).

      Closing this thread now, since it is no longer relevant to talk about an April test cycle.

      demm locked the discussion .