Adding KDE Bianca to my current Gnome Bianca

[sandro]

Hi! Last time I tried on my Gnome Bianca to have an option of desktop environment sessions at log-in, I broke things installing kubuntu-desktop using synaptic. OpenOffice became totally unusable and was not recoverable or re-installable in any way. Finally I reinstalled Bianca from scratch.

Now that KDE Bianca is here, I tried the live CD I downloaded and I really like it. I'd really enjoy having it installed in my machine, but I still want to be able to use my Gnome Bianca on the same partition.

asking for trouble?
Is it possible or am I being complicated

Hope to hear from you soon,

Sandro

[Husse]

be able to use my Gnome Bianca on the same partition.(as KDE)

That is never possible regardless of operating system.
You could have features of the one in the other. As gnome and KDE are window managers, you should be able to have either on the same system, as far as I know (but I have not tested) But they are much more than just window handlers so it will be difficult.
If you follow the guide on how to move home to its own partition in the wiki and resize the "gnome partition" you should be able to install Bianca KDE, on a newly created partition unless your hdd is really small.
NOTE that it is not trivial to share /home between two different installations due to the presence of configuration files in /home (and this is an understatement!)

[sandro]

be able to use my Gnome Bianca on the same partition.(as KDE)

That is never possible regardless of operating system.

Sorry, but I have used linux distros that give you a choice of desktop environment on the login screen. When you press on a button usually called session you can choose between diferent desktops. Common options given when you press the session button are: KDE, Gnome, Failsafe, Default, and Last Session. This is the case of, for instance, Sabayon Linux.

Using Edubuntu I once used Synaptic to install the Kubuntu-desktop, and I did that the other way round as well. Having Kubuntu installed I went to Adept and I chose Edubuntu-desktop. In both cases I ended up with a choice at login between TWO different desktop environments in the same ONE partition!

Anyways... I guess I have to learn to be faithful and not so promiscuous with my desktops.

[scorp123]

Just install KDE on your (GNOME-based) Bianca system
http://www.linuxmint.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2874#2874

[scorp123]

be able to use my Gnome Bianca on the same partition.(as KDE)

That is never possible regardless of operating system.

Sorry, but you are mistaken

You could have features of the one in the other. As gnome and KDE are window managers, you should be able to have either on the same system, as far as I know (but I have not tested) But they are much more than just window handlers so it will be difficult.

You are again mistaken. "either" is wrong - you can have both on the same sytem (if you have enough space on your disks), and installing both is not difficult at all.

If you follow the guide on how to move home to its own partition in the wiki and resize the "gnome partition" you should be able to install Bianca KDE, on a newly created partition unless your hdd is really small.

Sorry, but this is total overkill ... He can just install one Linux of his choice (Ubuntu 7.04, Kubuntu 7.04, Mint KDE, ...) and then add any other desktop environment he wants afterwards via Synaptic. What you suggest here is total overkill ... sorry to say so

NOTE that it is not trivial to share /home between two different installations due to the presence of configuration files in /home (and this is an understatement!)

You are again mistaken. It's easier the more likeness the two installations have. What you really need to worry about are user and group permissions, but config files are really the smallest of all worries as e.g. KDE will usually ignore GNOME config files and vice versa; config files for Firefox and Thunderbird can always be the same (has the nice effect that bookmarks and mails are always the same between the two installations ...) ... But again, this is overkill and should only be done in special circumstances. I had to do it during some migrations ... long story. But it is not as difficult as you suggest.

[scorp123]

I broke things installing kubuntu-desktop using synaptic.

Yes, it tries to replace too many things. You can install all relevant KDE packages without "kubuntu-desktop" though, just follow the list I gave on the link above. kdebase, kde-core, kdesktop, kde-libs are the most important ones, the rest gets more or less auto-selected by synaptic (or apt-get) and/or can be added later (e.g. k3b, and many other apps). But you could just as well feed the entire list to "apt-get" and depending on your Internet connection you will have a full KDE desktop alongside your GNOME in a few minutes. From there onwards you should be able to pick what environment you want to work in before you login ...

[sandro]

I guess my motivation to post this question was two-fold:

It is not standard base default KDE I wanted. I wanted KDE BIANCA. I know everything is customizable, but a lazy newbie such as "moi" wanted something that looked really good already without much work involved.

Secondly, I feared that there'll be little difference between installing KDE-desktop or Kubuntu-desktop on my Gnome Bianca... in that if one of them had irredeemably broken my OpenOffice! the other one would do the same.

the good advice comes a bit late because I've already wiped clean Gnome Bianca, and I installed Bianca KDE Edition instead... to discover I cannot install OpenOffice this way either!,

I am now installing gnome-desktop-environment on my Bianca KDE. Will keep you posted.

[Husse]

Husse wrote:
Quote:
be able to use my Gnome Bianca on the same partition.(as KDE)

That is never possible regardless of operating system.

Sorry, but you are mistaken

My bad - expressed my self really bad in this post
I read the question as to have two complete separate installations becuse of what sandro said in his original post

Now that KDE Bianca is here, Cool I tried the live CD I downloaded and I really like it. I'd really enjoy having it installed in my machine, but I still want to be able to use my Gnome Bianca on the same partition.

Desktop yes - a complete installation -no

"either"(Gnome or KDE) is wrong - you can have both on the same sytem

Again - my bad should have been both - kind of typo Both installed and you use either.
I got out of hand here because I answered a question about installing two (or more) complete operating systems - not two desktop environments, and Bianca KDE is much more than Bianca Gnome - Gnome +KDE
Installing gnome when you have KDE or the other way round is no big deal - but I suppose the two versions could give some problems, like with Open office.
I did not read the post properly thus I gave a stupid answer - sorry
As for sharing home partition let's just say I was warned when I read lot's of posts in different forums before I moved my home - i.e. on my computer, not in the real world
//edited - we have had multiple power blackouts and my UPS don't last for ever so I looked over some posts

[scorp123]

My bad - expressed my self really bad in this post

No problem

I read the question as to have two complete separate installations becuse of what sandro said in his original post

Yes, ... and even this would be possible ... shocking but true I once shared my /boot across three separate Linux installations It was possible because each of the three distros would name the stuff differently and thus ignore the files the other distros created You probably could even share "/" across multiple installations hoping they don't overwrite each other's settings in /etc and other critical places ...

But of course that's more or less a totally dirty hack and absolutely not "stable". But if you're adventurous enough it can be done if you really really insist ... Good luck with getting support from anyone if you really do this

[Husse]

Damn - still to much Windows in me
Window$ would write over everything it could lay its hands on - or whatever it does

[telic]

asking for trouble?

I just tried installing KDE Bianca, only to learn that its HD partition utility is brain damaged.

KDE Bianca should have a different name than GNOME Bianca. The two aren't the same creature. So, I'll continue to say "Bianca" for the GNOME original, and "Bianka" for the evil twin KDE version. (Soon there'll be Cassandra and C'kassandra.)

The sad story...

I had four primary partitions. I wanted to delete one and create an extended partition with three logical partitions. The process meant killing Bianca's primary, but I had a separate /home partition, so I knew my configurations would remain.

Booting Bianka's LiveDVD, the GParted program was happy to delete the primary, but then was unable to do anything with the free space. All options on its menu were grayed out. I tried twice, with a reboot between tries.

So, I booted Bianca's LiveCD. I was able to create the extended partition and one logical partition. Bianca installed and was able to access all her old data on /home. But, when I called upon GParted again to create another logical partition, it just complained about how there can't be more than four primary partitions. It failed to understand that more logical partitions could be created.

I then booted PCLinuxOS 2007 TR3 LiveCD, which was able to create a second logical partition, installing without a hitch. And it could share the data in Bianca's /home.

Finally, I thought Bianka should be able to use the remaining free space to install. But, during the partition process, Bianka grumbled about a mount point, and advised me to go back to the previous step. When I clicked the BACK button, GParted closed and Bianka locked up.

Now the hard drive won't boot. GRUB Error.

Fortunately, as Foghorn Leghorn says, "I keep my feathers numbered for just such an occasion". Before trying to install Bianka, I had set up Feisty on a separate drive, complete with all my favourite programs. That's what I'm using at this moment.

I'll rethink what I want to put on the bummed-out drive, and I doubt that it'll include Evil Bianka.

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