Coverage on SonicDE which will keep KDE alive for people that want to stay on X.Org and XLibre, and not take up IBM/Red Hat’s Wayland for AI hooks. Keep in mind they’re working towards age verification and scanning on your computer, eventually leading to an agentic AI digital ID system. And this is why IBM/Red Hat has captured X.Org and is trying to kill the project for their Wayland implementation.
https://linuxiac.com/sonicde-launches-as-a-kde-based-desktop-for-x11-holdouts/
SonicDE is a new community project focused on preserving KDE’s X11 desktop components as upstream Plasma moves fully to Wayland.
By Bobby Borisov
If you’re a KDE user who still depends heavily on X11 and is concerned about what happens after Plasma 6.8 drops the X11 session, there is some good news. SonicDE is an emerging X11-focused desktop project based on forked KDE Plasma components with a simple goal: to preserve and enhance KDE’s X11-specific components.
Currently, SonicDE includes a customized KWin/X11 fork called sonic-win, Plasma Workspace components, the Silver theme, an SDDM theme, and supporting libraries.
As I already said, Plasma 6.7 is the final release to include an X11 session. Beginning with Plasma 6.8, only Wayland sessions will be available, and X11-specific code in Plasma Shell, System Settings, and device configuration will be removed.
X11 applications will continue to function under KDE Plasma through XWayland, allowing legacy applications to run within the Wayland session. KDE applications will also remain compatible with other X11 desktop environments. In other words, the change affects only the full Plasma X11 session, which KDE will no longer support.
SonicDE addresses this gap by building on KDE’s existing X11 components, forking only what is necessary to maintain a KDE-like X11 desktop. Its main window manager and compositor, sonic-win, is derived from KWin/X11, while the desktop shell uses Plasma Workspace components.
Current development centers on forking necessary KDE components and removing remaining Wayland-related elements to focus on X11 support. Developers are also exploring a Vulkan backend, though this remains an experimental direction rather than a user-ready feature.
The project’s main goal is to maintain compatibility with X.Org Server for as long as possible and to adopt new XLibre features when feasible. Plus, to serve those who still rely on a full X11 session and wish to retain that experience in a KDE-based environment.
The desktop environment is intended to support both Linux and BSD systems on which KDE/X11 is currently available, while remaining init-system-agnostic.
Packaging efforts are underway for several platforms. The SonicDE site lists available or in-progress packages for Arch-based distributions, Artix Linux, Debian, Devuan, Vendefoul Wolf, FreeBSD, Gentoo, NixOS, and OpenMandriva.
Keep in mind, however, that SonicDE remains an early-stage, niche project. Currently, it is not a replacement for upstream KDE Plasma or an official continuation by the KDE project. Instead, it is a community initiative for users who require a KDE-like X11 desktop after Plasma transitions fully to Wayland.