Following last year's release of [1]FreeBSD 15.0 , FreeBSD 15.1 is working its way toward release release in June. For kicking off the release dance, FreeBSD 15.1 Beta 1 is available today for testing.

FreeBSD 15.1 pulls in a number of driver updates, including for better hardware support and the [2]various WiFi driver enhancements that have been pursued as of late along with working toward better power management. As of writing, the [3]15.1 release notes have yet to begin to be filled out for fully documenting the many changes being made for FreeBSD 15.1.

One of the changes I was excited to see with FreeBSD 15.1 was [4]the new KDE Plasma desktop install option from within their existing CLI installer. This has been part of the effort to enhance the laptop/desktop experience for FreeBSD. Surprisingly though when firing up the FreeBSD 15.1 Beta 1 AMD64 install media this morning, the KDE Plasma desktop option was not presented in any of the installer interfaces.

So unfortunately that KDE Plasma desktop option seems to have not made it unless it's otherwise being restricted to certain detected hardware/software state or other limitations. In any event those wanting to try out the FreeBSD 15.1 Beta 1 release can find the download information via the [5]mailing list announcement .

From here there are weekly betas expected until the end of May when the release candidate happens and then if all goes well FreeBSD 15.1-RELEASE will be out on 2 June.



[1] https://www.phoronix.com/search/FreeBSD+15.0

[2] https://www.phoronix.com/news/FreeBSD-15.1-Realtek-KDE-Wins

[3] https://www.freebsd.org/releases/15.1R/relnotes/

[4] https://www.phoronix.com/news/FreeBSD-15.1-KDE-Desktop-Option

[5] https://lists.freebsd.org/archives/freebsd-stable/2026-May/004035.html