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Title: KDE Is Getting a Native Virtual Machine Manager Called 'Karton'

Link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/05/20/2223...

A new virtual machine manager called Karton is being developed specifically
for the KDE Plasma desktop, aiming to offer a seamless, Qt-native alternative
to GNOME-centric tools like GNOME Boxes. Spearheaded by University of
Waterloo student Derek Lin as part of Google Summer of Code 2025, Karton uses
libvirt and Qt Quick to build a user-friendly, fully integrated VM
experience, with features like a custom SPICE viewer, snapshot support, and a
mobile-friendly UI expected by September 2025. Neowin reports: To feel right
at home in KDE, Karton is being built with Qt Quick and Kirigami. It uses the
libvirt API to handle virtual machines and could eventually work across
different platforms. Right now, development is focused on getting the core
parts in place. Lin is working on a new domain installer that ditches direct
virt-install calls in favor of libosinfo, which helps detect OS images and
generate the right libvirt XML for setting up virtual machines more
precisely. He's still refining device configuration and working on broader
hypervisor support. Another key part of the work is building a custom SPICE
viewer using Qt Quick from scratch: If you're curious, here's the list of
specific deliverables Lin included in his GSoC proposal, though he notes the
proposal itself is a bit outdated [...]. For those interested in the
timeline, Lin's GSoC proposal says the official GSoC coding starts June 2,
2025. The goal is to have a working app ready by the midterm evaluation
around July 14, 2025, with the final submission due September 1, 2025. You
can learn more via KDE.org.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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