FreeBSD 15.0 had been aiming to offer a KDE desktop installation option as part of the FreeBSD OS installer. This initiative as part of the FreeBSD laptop support enhancements project didn’t pan out in time for FreeBSD 15.0 but now they are working on getting the installer option ready for FreeBSD 15.1. Adding a NVIDIA GPU driver option to the FreeBSD installer was also recently carried out.
Rather than just always installing a command-line/text only FreeBSD installation and then manually installing the FreeBSD desktop post-install, KDE developers working on enhancing the laptop experience have been working to offer a KDE desktop option in the FreeBSD installer. The FreeBSD Foundation provided a December 2025 status update for their laptop initiative where they shared it’s still a work-in-progress but they aim to have it ready for FreeBSD 15.1.
The FreeBSD + KDE Plasma desktop testing has been going on with Intel and AMD graphics as well as the generic VESA driver support. In December they refactored the installer code as well as added a NVIDIA GPU selection menu to the installer to allow for NVIDIA FreeBSD desktop testing moving forward. VirtualBox and VMware compatibility support is also going to be worked on.
The FreeBSD laptop effort has also led to more work around s0ix power management, S4 hibernation, still working on support for Realtek and Mediatek WiFi adapters, porting over of newer Linux graphics driver code, and additional testing.
More details on these FreeBSD laptop improvements can be found via the December 2025 monthly update.
