Complete guide to configuring the touchscreen in KDE Plasma

If you've been struggling with your laptop or tablet obtaining an seamless touchscreen experience in KDE PlasmaYou're not the only one. Between distributions, Plasma versions, X11, Wayland, drivers With so many gesture tools, it's normal to feel a bit lost. The good news is that nowadays, with Plasma 5 mature and Plasma 6 in full swing, you can achieve something very close to what Windows or GNOME offer if you know where to start.

In the following lines I'm going to tell you, calmly and step by step, how to get your Plasma computer ready to use Just with your fingers: gestures, on-screen keyboard, scaling, auto-touch modeAdvanced configuration with libinput and KWin, Plasma 6.3-specific improvements, and even how to deal with typical touchpad and touchscreen bugs. All explained in Spanish (Spain) and in the most practical and natural tone possible.

Plasma as a touch desktop: context and differences compared to GNOME and Windows

KDE Plasma has gone from being "the mouse and keyboard desktop" to having a Pretty solid touch support, especially since Plasma 5.24, 5.25 and the entire 6.x branchAlthough GNOME remains the benchmark in Linux When we think about tablets and convertibles, Plasma has caught up with a combination of touch mode, gestures, adapted panels, and improvements in KWin.

Many users who came from GNOME point out that it works quite well there from the very first minute: Automatic screen rotation, long press for right click, multi-touch gestures, very usable overview with fingers…and that Windows, even so, still has a more polished touch integration, especially on devices like Surface.

In Plasma 5, the touch experience was already acceptable if you invested time in configuring it: Add tools like Touchegg, Touché, Onboard, and enable custom gesturesWith Plasma 6, and in particular Plasma 6.3, the desktop takes another leap forward: scaling, rendering, input device management, and touch mode are all improved, reducing the need for external workarounds.

However, one must take into account the hardwareDevices such as some tablets Lenovo Yoga convertibles generally work very well with Linux, while certain Surface models remain a pain: immature drivers, patched kernels, and unpredictable behavior (touch screen not workingBefore diving into the configuration, it's worth noting that the result may vary greatly depending on the device.

Activate and take advantage of KDE Plasma's native touch mode

One of the keys to Plasma being comfortable to use with your fingers is its touch mode integrated into the desktop environment itselfIt's not an odd addition, but a way to adapt size, spacing, and some behaviors when it detects that you're using the touchscreen as your primary input method.

In many convertibles, Plasma is capable of activate touch mode automaticallyFor example, when you rotate the screen 360°, when you detach a keyboard, or when you switch from laptop to tablet mode. You can also enable it manually from system preferences if you want to force this mode even with the keyboard connected.

When entering touch mode, the interface becomes more "touchable": the Task Manager and system tray increase in size To make tapping icons easier, KDE application title bars become taller, with more touch area to move, maximize, or close windows with your finger without frustration.

In addition, Context menus are resized to provide more height for each elementThis greatly improves the accuracy of selecting a specific option with your fingertip. This adjustment, which seems like a minor detail, makes a big difference when you're working without a mouse.

Furthermore, Plasma allows you to adjust icon size even when touch mode is disabled. This way you can find a a middle ground between mouse use and tactile comfort, especially useful if you're someone who constantly switches between keyboard, touchpad, and screen.

Touchscreen and touchpad gestures in KDE Plasma

One of the aspects that is being most refined in Plasma is the desktop navigation using gesturesboth on the touch panel and on the screen itself. Starting with Plasma 5.25, a very visual "Overview" and edge gestures are introduced that are quite reminiscent of GNOME or what we see on modern tablets.

The Plasma Overview shows all open windows along with virtual desktops on a single screen. From there you can switch between apps, search with KRunner or the application launcher, and even quickly add, rename and delete virtual desktops.

You can configure the touchscreen. landslides from the edgesFor example, dragging from the top to open Overview, using other edges to Show Desktop, activating the desktop grid, or the Present Windows effect. These gestures follow the finger quite naturally, offering a fluid feel very similar to that of iPadOS or GNOME.

The touchpad also supports gestures, especially under Wayland. This is where both the KWin's native capabilities as external toolsThis depends on the Plasma version and whether you're using X11 or Wayland. For X11, touchegg has long been the standard, while solutions like kwin-gestures are emerging for Wayland.

Users who have tried Plasma with touchscreens highlight that, in the latest versions, the experience with the gesture-activated Overview “It has little to envy in iPadOS”, always with the caveat that the result depends on the hardware and the state of the drivers in each distro.

Configure Gestures: touchegg, Touché and kwin-gestures

In X11, one of the easiest ways to get advanced gestures for both touchscreen and touchpad is to install touchegg, a multi-touch gesture recognizer Very comprehensive. It is usually distributed in .deb packages (for example, AMD64.deb on Debian/Ubuntu based systems), and allows the detection of swipes, pinches, and other multi-finger gestures.

Touché relies on that engine, a graphical interface for visually managing TouchEgg gesturesThe easiest way is to install it from Flathub: there you'll find a ready-to-use Flatpak and a quick start guide. On distributions like Kubuntu 20.04, it's also a good idea to add the recommended repository to ensure you have the latest version of Flatpak before installing Touché.

Once touchegg and Touché are installed, you can create gesture profiles: three- or four-finger swipes, zoom pinchesetc., and assign them key combinations, commands or window actions. It's a very flexible way to adapt the desktop to your workflow.

In Wayland, things are different because TouchEgg is heavily geared towards X11. Users who have migrated to Wayland from X11 (due to problems with sleep, lid shutdown, black screens upon resuming from sleep, etc.) have found themselves without this tool and have had to look for specific alternatives to KWin.

That's where kwin-gestures shines, a solution designed specifically for Wayland and Plasma that integrates very cleanly with the window manager. It's very well documented and allows you to define Three- or four-finger gestures on the touchpad, with custom actions for volume, window management, and much more.

Real-world example of advanced configuration with kwin-gestures

A practical example: a user with Wayland, Plasma and kwin-gestures configured their touchpad so that swipes and pinches with different numbers of fingers controlled volume, maximize, minimize and close windowsAll this thanks to a simple configuration syntax.

For example, a three-finger swipe gesture to the left was defined to send Alt+Left (global back navigation) And to the right, Alt+Right (forward). This allowed you to move forward and backward in the browser or file managers simply by swiping.

The same user defined a three-finger vertical swipe gesture with continuous behavior: when swiping upwards, it was launched periodically Shift+Volume Upand downwards Shift+Volume DownThe video result showed a very smooth and responsive volume adjustment, ideal for multimedia.

With four fingers, swiping up assigned KWin's "Maximize Window" shortcut, while a three-finger pinch inward minimized the window, and a four-finger pinch closed it. Thanks to KWin's shortcuts and the integration of kwin-gestures, everything felt natural and highly customizable.

This combination of low-level defined gestures and Plasma window actions It allows you to get very close to the fluidity of GNOME or even some macOS gestures, but adapted to each user's preference. It's ideal for those who want to get the most out of the touchpad on a laptop without relying so heavily on the mouse.

On-screen keyboard and touch input: Onboard and practical settings

If you want to use Plasma with just your fingers, you need a Reliable and flexible on-screen keyboardA long-standing and widely used option is Onboard, which integrates well with most Linux desktop environments, including KDE.

In Debian/Ubuntu-based distributions, it's enough to run something as simple as sudo apt install onboardOnce installed, Onboard usually creates a shortcut to its settings, but ideally you should access it from its icon in the system tray, not from there.

The practical recommendation is to start Onboard and, from its icon in the bar (right click), access the Advanced preferences for adjusting size, layout, and behaviorMany users find it very useful to enable a small floating icon that appears when they close the keyboard, usually in the bottom right corner of the screen.

That floating button allows Retrieve the on-screen keyboard at any time without having to go to menus or panelsThis fits perfectly with a 100% touch-based workflow. Furthermore, you can experiment with themes and transparency levels so the keyboard doesn't overly obstruct the content.

If you combine Onboard with Plasma's touch mode and good screen scaling, you'll get a feeling quite close to that of a tablet. Android or iPad in terms of writing, although those systems have a different level of integration.

Make the interface more touch-sensitive: panel, scaling, and application menu

Another important trick for a good touch experience in KDE Plasma is to spend a few minutes on adapt the panel, screen scale, and application menu Your resolution and your fingers. There's no point in having gestures if the buttons are tiny.

On computers with high resolutions and small screens, many people end up using a scaling of around 150% in the system display settingsThis setting makes text, icons, and controls larger and easier to tap, without making the image look ridiculously large.

Additionally, in Plasma you can right-click on the bottom panel and go to “Edit Panel” to change the panel height to your likingRaising the height slightly makes the task manager's icons and buttons area much easier to tap accurately.

Regarding the menu, if you right-click on the application launcher button (the classic "K" or equivalent icon, bottom left) you'll have the option to "Show alternatives". There you can choose a more touch-friendly application panelwith large icons and grids that are better suited to finger use than the classic mouse-oriented menu.

By combining these small changes, you get a desktop where the key elements are larger, better spaced, and much more comfortable to use in tablet or hybrid mode, without sacrificing the usual productivity of a full desktop.

Firefox, touch scrolling, and XInput2

One detail that often goes unnoticed is that some browsers, like Firefox, need a small adjustment to take full advantage of the Touch input and smooth scrolling in Linux environments, especially in X11 configurations.

To improve touch behavior in Firefox, you can edit the file /etc/security/pam_env.conf with administrator privileges (for example, with sudo nano) and add a line at the end like this:

MOZ_USE_XINPUT2 DEFAULT=1

After saving the changes and restarting the session, Firefox will use XInput2, which translates to a Improved integration with touch events, scrolling, and basic gesturesIf you prefer, you can also opt for Chrome or Chromium-based browsers, which in some distributions behave more predictably with touchscreens.

Regardless of your preferred browser, it's worth checking its preferences or flags for any related options. Tactile input, smooth scrolling or experimental supportbecause some settings make a difference when navigating using only your fingers.

Plasma 5.25: Overview, edge gestures, and visual improvements

The arrival of KDE Plasma 5.25 marked a turning point in navigating workspaces. advanced visual effects and integrated gesturesMany of the improvements we take for granted today were introduced or refined in that version.

The new Overview effect not only displayed open windows and virtual desktops, but also allowed directly search for applications, documents, and browser tabs. Taking advantage of KRunner and the application launcher. All of this is also accessible with touchscreen gestures.

With 5.25, the option was also consolidated. Configure swipes from the edges of the touchscreen to invoke Overview, the desktop grid, the Show Windows effect or Show Desktop, with animations that accompanied the finger movement.

Visually, color management was significantly improved: the following was introduced: A presentation of wallpapers that dynamically updates the accent colorAnd it was permitted to tint all the colors in the scheme using that accent color, with control over the intensity of the tint so that it would not be overdone.

The ability to use accent color was also added to the title bar or header area of ​​windowsas well as blending effects that gently animate the changing color schemes. All of this contributes to a more cohesive and modern desktop experience, even when used in touch mode.

Performance, corrections, and continuous polishing in Plasma 5.x

While working on gestures and the touch experience, the KDE developers have also been closing Lots of errors and minor usability flaws which, in everyday life, end up making the difference between something "usable" and something truly enjoyable.

Among the notable fixes are improvements to ensure that The Plasma session doesn't get slower the more wallpapers you add., or to prevent a panel from getting stuck in the center of the screen when dragging it from one edge to the other.

Problems such as misaligned clicks when using Wayland sessions in virtual machines have been fixed, and the performance of the screens of Boot multiple in System Preferencesand the "Get a new one" dialogues worked correctly again even in languages ​​other than English.

Small interface details, such as displaying icons in Dolphin's Back/Forward menus, keeping the disk usage bar always visible, or prevent text from being cut off in the power profile slider When languages ​​with very long words are used, they have been polished version after version.

This constant work in the "background" sustains the tactile experience: Fewer bugs, smoother effects, and more consistent tools This translates into an environment that responds better when you interact with it from a touch screen or touchpad using complex gestures.

Jump to Plasma 6 and 6.3: fractional scaling, color, and better hardware

With Plasma 6 and especially with KDE Plasma 6.3, the desktop enters a new stage designed for high-resolution monitors, fractional scaling, and more mature integration with Waylandall of which directly benefits modern touch devices.

In KWin, fractional scaling support has been redesigned: it is now possible to enjoy sharper visuals by adjusting scales that are not exact multiples of 100%, while maintaining a finer alignment with the pixel gridThis greatly helps to make text and UI elements appear clear on dense screens.

Night Light mode has gained color accuracy, often eliminating the need for ICC profiles. A new setting in KWin allows for more precise adjustment of color reproduction and adds subtle transparencies to widgets and pop-ups, giving a modern touch without breaking readability.

In the interface, the widget of Task Manager can now show additional text information when thumbnails are disabledThis way, you still have context about the open applications. This kind of detail is useful when working on small touchscreens, where there isn't always room for large previews.

Another very practical improvement for portable is the function that The touchpad is automatically disabled when a mouse is connected.Although it's not strictly a touchscreen, it greatly improves the input experience, especially if you switch between using the device in desktop mode and laptop/tablet mode.

Graphics tablets, input devices and fine-tuning

Plasma 6.3 also brings important changes to device configuration such as graphics tablets and styluseswhich share many needs with advanced touchscreens: accuracy, pressure, tilt, active zones, etc.

The tablet settings page is reorganized into three separate tabs, making it easier to manage different aspects of each device. During the stylus test, the following is displayed: real-time information on tilt and pressurewhich helps to precisely adjust the sensitivity range you want to use.

It also adds the ability to map the entire surface of the tablet to the screen, as well as define pressure ranges that ignore touches that are too soft or too hardThis level of control is key for anyone who wants to work with drawing or editing in a Plasma environment with combined touch input.

In terms of connectivity, the Wi-Fi access point settings now include the option to generate random passwordsincreasing security in a simple way. And the main preferences menu has been reorganized, creating a new "Help" category and merging "Settings" with "System" for easier navigation.

In the file manager, when dragging a file from a partially covered window, an annoying behavior has been corrected: The source window no longer automatically jumps to the front.preventing you from obscuring the destination. Additionally, a button has been added to the context menu to go directly to the target file of a symbolic link.

Kickoff, notifications, and smarter widgets

The Kickoff app launcher has also received an overhaul: changing categories now requires a explicit click, improving accuracy on touchscreensHowever, you can revert to the previous behavior if you prefer. Using KMenuEdit, you can disable symbolic icons and edit .desktop files directly from "Edit Application...".

The clock widget has become more useful by showing all scheduled events of the day instead of just the first fiveThis is very practical when you use the device as a productivity hub or mobile calendar.

The notification system has been refined so that, when you exit "Do Not Disturb" mode, you won't be met with a flood of old notifications, but rather with a summary in the form of a missed notification counterThis way you can regain visual control without being overwhelmed by the system.

The Explorer Widget now allows bulk deletion all instances of a widgetThis includes even orphaned configurations or those linked to disabled displays. This makes it much easier to clean up old settings when you switch monitors, a common occurrence in laptop/tablet scenarios.

Furthermore, when you launch applications that have permission to capture input devices and screens, Plasma displays a notification with tips about How to disable that capture and regain full control, a very important function in terms of security and privacy.

Energy, system monitor and Discover in touch environments

The "Energy and battery" widget has also become smarter: now It provides more accurate warnings about low battery levels in wireless headphones. and better represents the battery's condition. In daily use with mobile devices And for convertibles, these notices help a lot.

The System Monitor application improves the accuracy of CPU load measurements, while also reduce your own resource consumptionThis is critical if you use it on laptops that frequently run on battery power. Furthermore, FreeBSD adds support for collecting GPU statistics, and the Information Center displays additional data on all GPUs and battery charge cycles.

KWin introduces an option for temporarily disable window attribute redefinition rulesUseful for debugging unusual behavior with certain applications or configurations multi-monitor complex.

The management of clipboard It has been fine-tuned to consume less memory when storing long histories, and a service has been added that detects when the kernel kills an application due to lack of memoryinforming you of what happened instead of it seeming like a simple mysterious hang-up.

Discover, KDE's software center, is best suited to large screens by limiting the layout to two columns, which It improves readability and visual organization.This is also appreciated when using it in touch mode, where app listings and cards need to be easy to tap without constantly zooming in.

Typical problems with touchpad and libinput in Plasma and Wayland

Despite all these improvements, it's normal to encounter specific touchpad or touchscreen problems depending on the hardware. A real-world example: on Arch Linux with Plasma and a Wayland session, a user found that the touchpad settings page in System Preferences appeared completely blank.

The device, an HTIX5288 touchpad, appeared correctly in libinput list-devices, with information about size, capabilities (pointer, gesture), options such as tap-to-click, drag, two-finger scrolling, clickfinger, disable while typing, etc. In addition, libinput warned of a “kernel bug: clickpad advertising right button”, linking to documentation that was unavailable in that version.

In this specific case, KDE developers indicated that it was a Known error in the touch panel configuration moduleWhile the fix was being prepared, a temporary solution was to access the module directly by running it in a terminal:

kcmshell6 kcm_touchpad

This opened the specific touchpad settings even if the usual path (Preferences > Mouse & Touchpad > Touchpad) displayed a blank page. In other scenarios, this may be necessary. adjust parameters in libinput or in the kernel configuration if the hardware has a peculiar behavior.

In general, if you can't adjust your touchpad through the KDE interface, the technical route involves reviewing the entire libinput output, consulting documentation for the specific model, and guides on... touch screen not workingand, ultimately, playing with kernel boot options, quirks, or udev rules to correct device behavior.

Given all this, KDE Plasma has become a very serious option for those who want a powerful and flexible desktop that is also responsive to touch: Native touch mode, edge gestures, kwin-gestures in Wayland, Onboard integration, fractional scaling in 6.3, numerous bug fixes, and an active ecosystem They make it possible to work on convertible laptops and Linux tablets quite comfortably, provided the hardware is up to par and you spend some time fine-tuning the initial configuration.