The KDE community has officially announced the release of KDE 4.1. This second feature release of the KDE4 contains many bug fixes, added more applications and also polished up the Plasma desktop to make it even more stunning. On the same day, the Ubuntu team has also released a package for its users to upgrade to the new KDE 4.1. Ubuntu GNOME users can also install KDE4.1 and run alongside their GNOME desktop.
Screenshot from KDE
Installing KDE 4.1 in Ubuntu Hardy Heron
In your terminal,
gksu gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
Add the following line to the end of the file
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/kubuntu-members-kde4/ubuntu hardy main
Save and close the file
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install kubuntu-kde4-desktop
This will download a whole bunch of KDE files.
Once it is done, reboot your computer. You will now see a change in the boot screen. The usual Ubuntu usplash screen is now changed to Kubuntu usplash.
You will also see a new login window.
Click on the Session Type and select KDE 4
You should now see the KDE desktop with the Oxygen theme.
Move your mouse to the top right corner to add widgets to the desktop.
And the bottom right corner to add icon to the bottom panel
Overall, I like KDE 4.1 very much. The Plasma desktop is much more polished now and the new applications such as KDE-PIM integrates well with it. While GNOME gives you the flexibility to customize your desktop, KDE 4.1 gives you the stunning interface right from the start. Good work! KDE.
[ Reference: Tombuntu ]
Damien Oh started writing tech articles since 2007 and has over 10 years of experience in the tech industry. He is proficient in Windows, Linux, Mac, Android and iOS, and worked as a part time WordPress Developer. He is currently the owner and Editor-in-Chief of Make Tech Easier.
7 comments
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Shouldn’t that be:
sudo apt-get install kubuntu-kde4-desktop
instead of:
sudo apt-get kubuntu-kde4-desktop
Also — why don’t you have people just create a new list file in the /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ directory instead of mucking up the “default” sources.list?
I typically create different .list files for each site that provides packages… like one for the ubuntu mozilla firefox dev team, one for kubuntu, one for mediabuntu and one for winehq…
Just a thought…
@Ryan: Oops…that a typo error. thanks for pointing it out. Creating a new sources.list will do as well, but it really depend on individual preferences.
Looks like you might also run into this error message when attempting the apt-get install explained in the article:
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
kubuntu-kde4-desktop: Depends: kde-window-manager but it is not going to be installed
Depends: kdebase-bin-kde4 but it is not going to be installed
Recommends: konqueror-kde4 but it is not going to be installed
E: Unmet dependencies. Try ‘apt-get -f install’ with no packages (or specify a solution).
…
apt-get -f install fails as well if you already have KDE4 installed from the official packages due to files being moved from one package to another… so before attempting to install KDE4.1 from the source listed in the article you should –purge any official KDE4 packages or you’ll need to know how to force overwrites of packages using dpkg…
otherwise you’ll see things like this…
The following extra packages will be installed:
kde-window-manager kdebase-bin-kde4 kdebase-data-kde4
The following NEW packages will be installed:
kde-window-manager kdebase-bin-kde4
The following packages will be upgraded:
kdebase-data-kde4
1 upgraded, 2 newly installed, 0 to remove and 174 not upgraded.
98 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 0B/3378kB of archives.
After this operation, 8577kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]?
WARNING: The following packages cannot be authenticated!
kde-window-manager kdebase-data-kde4 kdebase-bin-kde4
Install these packages without verification [y/N]? y
(Reading database … 389879 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking kde-window-manager (from …/kde-window-manager_4%3a4.1.0-0ubuntu1~hardy1~ppa2_amd64.deb) …
Replacing files in old package kdebase-workspace-data …
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/kde-window-manager_4%3a4.1.0-0ubuntu1~hardy1~ppa2_amd64.deb (–unpack):
trying to overwrite `/usr/lib/kde4/share/doc/kde4/HTML/en/kcontrol/kwindecoration/index.cache.bz2′, which is also in package kdebase-runtime-data
Preparing to replace kdebase-data-kde4 4:4.0.5-0ubuntu1~hardy1 (using …/kdebase-data-kde4_4%3a4.1.0-0ubuntu1~hardy1~ppa2_all.deb) …
Unpacking replacement kdebase-data-kde4 …
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/kdebase-data-kde4_4%3a4.1.0-0ubuntu1~hardy1~ppa2_all.deb (–unpack):
trying to overwrite `/usr/lib/kde4/share/kde4/apps/kcmusb/usb.ids’, which is also in package kinfocenter-kde4
dpkg-deb: subprocess paste killed by signal (Broken pipe)
Unpacking kdebase-bin-kde4 (from …/kdebase-bin-kde4_4%3a4.1.0-0ubuntu1~hardy1~ppa2_amd64.deb) …
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/kdebase-bin-kde4_4%3a4.1.0-0ubuntu1~hardy1~ppa2_amd64.deb (–unpack):
trying to overwrite `/usr/lib/kde4/lib/kde4/kcm_usb.so’, which is also in package kinfocenter-kde4
dpkg-deb: subprocess paste killed by signal (Broken pipe)
Errors were encountered while processing:
/var/cache/apt/archives/kde-window-manager_4%3a4.1.0-0ubuntu1~hardy1~ppa2_amd64.deb
/var/cache/apt/archives/kdebase-data-kde4_4%3a4.1.0-0ubuntu1~hardy1~ppa2_all.deb
/var/cache/apt/archives/kdebase-bin-kde4_4%3a4.1.0-0ubuntu1~hardy1~ppa2_amd64.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
Looks like you might also run into this error message when attempting the apt-get install explained in the article:
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
kubuntu-kde4-desktop: Depends: kde-window-manager but it is not going to be installed
Depends: kdebase-bin-kde4 but it is not going to be installed
Recommends: konqueror-kde4 but it is not going to be installed
E: Unmet dependencies. Try ‘apt-get -f install’ with no packages (or specify a solution).
…
apt-get -f install fails as well if you already have KDE4 installed from the official packages due to files being moved from one package to another… so before attempting to install KDE4.1 from the source listed in the article you should –purge any official KDE4 packages or you’ll need to know how to force overwrites of packages using dpkg…
otherwise you’ll see things like this…
The following extra packages will be installed:
kde-window-manager kdebase-bin-kde4 kdebase-data-kde4
The following NEW packages will be installed:
kde-window-manager kdebase-bin-kde4
The following packages will be upgraded:
kdebase-data-kde4
1 upgraded, 2 newly installed, 0 to remove and 174 not upgraded.
98 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 0B/3378kB of archives.
After this operation, 8577kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]?
WARNING: The following packages cannot be authenticated!
kde-window-manager kdebase-data-kde4 kdebase-bin-kde4
Install these packages without verification [y/N]? y
(Reading database … 389879 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking kde-window-manager (from …/kde-window-manager_4%3a4.1.0-0ubuntu1~hardy1~ppa2_amd64.deb) …
Replacing files in old package kdebase-workspace-data …
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/kde-window-manager_4%3a4.1.0-0ubuntu1~hardy1~ppa2_amd64.deb (–unpack):
trying to overwrite `/usr/lib/kde4/share/doc/kde4/HTML/en/kcontrol/kwindecoration/index.cache.bz2′, which is also in package kdebase-runtime-data
Preparing to replace kdebase-data-kde4 4:4.0.5-0ubuntu1~hardy1 (using …/kdebase-data-kde4_4%3a4.1.0-0ubuntu1~hardy1~ppa2_all.deb) …
Unpacking replacement kdebase-data-kde4 …
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/kdebase-data-kde4_4%3a4.1.0-0ubuntu1~hardy1~ppa2_all.deb (–unpack):
trying to overwrite `/usr/lib/kde4/share/kde4/apps/kcmusb/usb.ids’, which is also in package kinfocenter-kde4
dpkg-deb: subprocess paste killed by signal (Broken pipe)
Unpacking kdebase-bin-kde4 (from …/kdebase-bin-kde4_4%3a4.1.0-0ubuntu1~hardy1~ppa2_amd64.deb) …
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/kdebase-bin-kde4_4%3a4.1.0-0ubuntu1~hardy1~ppa2_amd64.deb (–unpack):
trying to overwrite `/usr/lib/kde4/lib/kde4/kcm_usb.so’, which is also in package kinfocenter-kde4
dpkg-deb: subprocess paste killed by signal (Broken pipe)
Errors were encountered while processing:
/var/cache/apt/archives/kde-window-manager_4%3a4.1.0-0ubuntu1~hardy1~ppa2_amd64.deb
/var/cache/apt/archives/kdebase-data-kde4_4%3a4.1.0-0ubuntu1~hardy1~ppa2_all.deb
/var/cache/apt/archives/kdebase-bin-kde4_4%3a4.1.0-0ubuntu1~hardy1~ppa2_amd64.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
I attempted to remove the kinfocenter-kde4 package:
dpkg –remove kinfocenter-kde4
That worked fine, but when attempting to rerun:
apt-get -f install
I received an error regarding files that were trying to be installed that already existed in the kdebase-runtime-data package… that /var/cache/apt/archives/kde-window-manager_4%3a4.1.0-0ubuntu1~hardy1~ppa2_amd64.deb was trying to install…namely the file:
/usr/lib/kde4/share/doc/kde4/HTML/en/kcontrol/kwindecoration/index.cache.bz2
Unfortunately that package is a critical package to KDE4 and uninstalling it would basically purge all KDE4 packages off my system.
Since I kinda know what I’m doing and I’m too lazy to remove KDE4 packages already installed… I did a –force-all replacement of the following package:
sudo dpkg –force-all -i /var/cache/apt/archives/kde-window-manager_4%3a4.1.0-0ubuntu1~hardy1~ppa2_amd64.deb
Then I re-ran:
sudo apt-get -f install
and let all the other packages install that were held up by the overwrite conflict.
Now to restart X and see if that worked…
how could i change back the login screen to the original ubuntu version, and the loading splash screen
@knownasilya: you can change back the original login screen easy via the application startupmanager. It is not included in Ubuntu, you have to install it manually