Why are there plugins "missing" in the final release? Where can I get plugins still in development?

Some plugins are still in development. For NetBeans 6.1, these are for instance Prolog, Jalopy, and Groovy/Grails plug-ins. You will not find them in default Update Centers in the Plugin Manager.

You can add a development update center to your IDE to get additional plugins. Note that these plug-ins do not go through the same QA process as the plug-ins on the stable and beta update centers, so use this at your own risk.

Additional update centers

• To install the development update center

Select to Tools | Plug-ins from the menu and go to the Settings tab. click Add. Enter the following:

Name: dev (or any name of your choice)

URL: http://deadlock.netbeans.org/hudson/job/nbms-and-javadoc/lastSuccessfulBuild/artifact/nbbuild/nbms/updates.xml.gz

• To install the Community Plug-in Portal update center:

Go to http://plugins.netbeans.org/PluginPortal/faces/PluginDetailPage.jsp?pluginid=1616 and download the plugin.

Then select to Tools | Plug-ins from the menu and go to the Downloaded Tab, click Add Plugin to install the downloaded nbm file.

Reload

Click on "Reload catalog" to refresh the available plug-ins. From now on you get access to up to 200 more plug-ins in the Available Plugins Tab.

Of course these plug-ins also vary in quality so be cautious.