Mint Cinnamon and KDE on same partition ?

[DrMcKay]

I will be buying a Lenovo E530 laptop to run linux on it. It comes with Windows 8 which I will be erasing.

Two questions :
- As far as I know, secure boot doesn't pose a problem anymore for linux. Or will I have trouble installing Linux ?
- I would like to install Mint 14 Cinnamon, but would also like to install KDE. Can I do that from within Mint and then just logout and choose the desktop environment (like you can switch between Ubuntu and Kubuntu) or will I have to make separate partitions (because I've read there were some problems installing another desktop in Mint Cinnamon).

I'm a linux noob so forgive me if these questions seem a little stupid. Any help is much appreciated !

[kc1di]

Hello DrMcKay and welcome to Mint,

yes it is possible to install KDE after installing Cinnamon or vise versa It you want to install KDE after Cinnamon go to synaptic package manager and search for kde-plasma
install it and you will be able to select either desktop at the login screen. It will not be the full mint KDE though.
If you want the full mint KDE then you'll need to partition your HD with at least two separate partitions and install each to it's own partition and you'll be able to select which one you want at boot time.

good luck

[DrMcKay]

Ok thx.
If it means partitioning, I might go the linux mint cinnamon and open suse kde way...

[kc1di]

Ok thx.
If it means partitioning, I might go the linux mint cinnamon and open suse kde way...

Good luck what ever you decide

[DrMcKay]

Thx for the feedback !

I have another question (started another thread about it but no answer) : I will be buying a laptop for Linux and will not be installing Windows as part of a dual boot. The laptop I have in mind is a Lenovo Thinkpad E530 which sports a hybrid SSD/HDD drive (16Gb SSD, 1Tb HDD).
So, suppose I would be running ONLY Mint 14 Cinnamon, will Mint support the SSD part as cache or will I see two drives ? Some of these drives have the SSD cache controlled by the drive itself, others have cache controlled by the OS (which is Windows by default). If the cache is supported by Mint, no problem, if not, what's the best way to make use of that hybrid drive in Mint ?
Or should I go for a laptop that has separate SSD/HDD drives ? That way, I can install /root on the SSD (preferably get a 128SSD then) and /home on the HDD...

[kc1di]

I'm not sure if I can answer that never having used an ssd or hybrid drive.

here are a couple pages that may be of help.
http://www.linlap.com/lenovo_thinkpad_edge_e530
http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2012/10/lenovo-thinkpad-e530-the-ideal-ubuntu-laptop-review

good luck