How to Upgrade to KDE 5.6 on LM 17.3?

yro · Post by **yro** » Fri Jun 10, 2016 4:23 pm

Is it possible? Is fo, how?

Please, somebody help?

Atleas upgrade for kde 5.xx.something else..

Hoser Rob · Post by **Hoser Rob** » Sat Jun 11, 2016 8:53 am

You may be able to do this but for me it'd be strictly something to do on a spare computer.

If you're using ubuntu 16.04 you have to use a backport ppa source to get Plasma 5.6. Probably Mint 18 too but that's still in beta so really not recommended. Personally I think using a desktop environment that did not come from the tested repos kind of defeats the purpose of using a long term support release.

I always use LTS releases unless I'm having a hardware support issue because then there isn't as much point to it. You don't get the newest software releases but most of the apps I use are pretty mature anyway. And I like Xfce, which doesn't actually change that much. The only ppas I use are for HEVC playback in VLC and SMplayer. I wouldn't install a desktop that way.

I've had Kubuntu installed before and I like KDE but what does KDE 5 do all that differently? KDE 4 had a ton of bugs when it came out but it's OK now, but KDE 5 seems pretty buggy again. I wouldn't rush into that myself.

If I wanted the newest KDE and everything else I'd probably ditch LTS release distros altogether and go with a rolling release like Arch. But they're more likely to break after updates and you'll need some recovery skills at command line level. LTS releases are just a lot easier, especially for newcomers to linux.

yro · Post by **yro** » Sat Jun 11, 2016 11:37 am

you talk, talk, talk, but didnt answer my question.

does anybody else knows if its possible to upgrade kde to kde 5.6 or 5.xx on linux mint 17.3? I dont intend to upgrade the entire system to lm 18 as i need to stick with older kernel and x.org libs.

If possible, please, somebody else post how to do it?

all41 · Post by **all41** » Sat Jun 11, 2016 11:44 am

Personally I think using a desktop environment that did not come from the tested repos kind of defeats the purpose of using a long term support release.

Amen

Hoser Rob · Post by **Hoser Rob** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 8:31 am

yro wrote:you talk, talk, talk, but didnt answer my question. ...

OK I'll answer your question.

You'd be a complete tech ignoramus to want to do this unless you have a spare computer that you can afford to break the OS on because with your obviously minimal noob skills that's what you're going to do, and then if you do it you'll whine because no one here will bother telling you how to fix it.

yro · Post by **yro** » Tue Jun 14, 2016 5:32 pm

Hoser Rob wrote:
yro wrote:you talk, talk, talk, but didnt answer my question. ...
OK I'll answer your question.

You'd be a complete tech ignoramus to want to do this unless you have a spare computer that you can afford to break the OS on because with your obviously minimal noob skills that's what you're going to do, and then if you do it you'll whine because no one here will bother telling you how to fix it.

And again, you seems to just want attention.. if youre not going to answer the question or help in any way, please consider shutting up..

I quote myself:

Re: How to Upgrade to KDE 5.6 on LM 17.3?

"Is it possible? Is fo, how?

Please, somebody help?

Atleas upgrade for kde 5.xx.something else.."

caf4926 · Post by **caf4926** » Wed Jun 15, 2016 1:31 am

I suggest you do a clean install
Backup first though

Your experience will be much better this way

Dngrsone · Post by **Dngrsone** » Wed Jun 15, 2016 1:15 pm

There are significant differences between KDE 4.x and KDE 5.x and upgrading, while theoretically possible, is going to bork your system. If you want to play with the new KDE now, then you could try downloading and installing Mint 18 KDE (beta) or maybe Kubuntu 16.04.

Seriously, my five-minute search through the intarwebs indicates that nothing but grief has come to anyone trying to upgrade manually.

lmuserx4849 · Post by **lmuserx4849** » Wed Jun 15, 2016 11:48 pm

yro wrote:Is it possible? Is fo, how?

Please, somebody help?

Atleas upgrade for kde 5.xx.something else..

5.6, 5 - No.

Everything I saw talked about adding the kubuntu backport. There is nothing in there for 5 and Trusty --- which is what Linux Mint 17.3 is based on. There was also talk about a neon ppa, but that seems to be dead for kde. I could be totally wrong, the PPA system is a little baffling to me; Lots of old, unmaintained stuff which makes it hard and dangerous for folks not in the thick of it to find quality stuff. I searched this forum --- and my observations seem to be confirmed in How to install KDE Plasma 5 on Mint 17.1 Cinnamon?.

As Clem mentions below, he said it's not really an update, more of a new DE. That tells me there is too much of a difference to "just" update. 18 is around the corner.

Note: These quotes below are from The Linux Mint Blog.

Edit by Clem: With every release we keep a keen eye on the development of Plasma 5, but I think our role more and more is to bank on mature technology for now so we’re very likely to switch to it for Mint 18 and to keep using KDE 4 until then. With that said you can enable Plasma 5 on top of Mint 17.x via PPA.

Edit by Clem: I can’t say for sure for Z170, it looks like support is improving in 4.3/4.4, so there’s hope (there’s also talks about binary blobs and potential licensing issues from Intel though). Plasma 5 yes, but it’s not really an update, it’s more like a new DE.

BS86 says:

Any news if the KDE version will already use Plasma 5?

I saw that a lot of other distributions already use it as stable, and the method to install it by adding a repository fails because project neon has broken dependencies (framework, runtime and workspace not available) and I could not find other repositories that offer Plasma 5 for Ubuntu 14.04/Mint 17.x

Jedinovice · Post by **Jedinovice** » Thu Jun 16, 2016 9:48 am

From what I understand this is not going to be possible.

Not directly anyway.

There is no PPA for now for Plasma 5.6 - not for Ubuntu 'Trusty' anyway. So Mint 17.x cannot be upgraded.

But also, as has been pointed out, Plasma 5 is a massive jump. Although it provides little new functionality there is a shift in the role of Plasma - convergence; use on mobile devices - though not the approach taken by Gnome which was "make it ONLY a mobile DE!" Ow! That hurt!

So you will have to install from scratch. King 18 KDE will be out in the next couple of months and you probably want to test the Beta. Please note that it is likely with Mint 18 will be going with Plasma 5.5 and NOT 5.6 - though nothing is in stone.

So, there is no way to put Plasma 5.x on Mint 17.x.

But….!! You may be able to work in reverse. If you really need the older kernel then you could try installing Mint 18 KDE and then...install the older kernel used in 17.3! It's not difficult. I had to manually install the 4.1 kernel so that Mint 17.0 could recognise my touchpad. Took me ages to work that out. I hadn't registered the nature of Linux's monolithic kernel!

Of course, the above is best tested in a VM before you do anything on the hardware.

Don't know about x.org libs though. That could be nasty matching a new DE with older X.org libs is cruising for a bruising.

To help with the solution, though, what are you trying to do? Why do you need the older kernel and libraries? Why do you want Plasma 5.6? Mint 17.x is supported until 2019. I need Plasma 5 to access some software updates but that's the only reason for Mint 18 for me. If it wasn't for Kdenlive I would stick to 17.0!

So what are you trying to achieve? There may be another way.

marxmint · Post by **marxmint** » Sat Jun 18, 2016 3:31 pm

Anyone can do whatever one wants with free software, including install kde 5 and break all one's system. What is unbearable is the way yro first answered to Hoser Rob about kde upgrade. So impolite and rude!!!! This should not be the spirit of free software. Moreover, this is not the spirit of Brazilians fans of linux Mint. I'm ashamed and angry with yro's attitude.

Pepi · Post by **Pepi** » Sun Jul 10, 2016 12:07 pm

It's easy to do but I'm not going to tell you because your being a meanie

mr_raider · Post by **mr_raider** » Sat Aug 20, 2016 7:51 pm

It is doable. I upgraded my desktop from kubuntu 14.04 to 16.04.1 directly, using the upgrader tool from ubuntu. The process was mildly to moderately painful.

It may be possible to do it in Linux Mint, but it will require you figuring out how to upgrade from the 17.x base to the 18.x base. Since the XFCE and cinammon edition do support this transition, you may be able to do it by manually repointing to the new repositories.

Start here and good luck:

https://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/2316