Want Mint 19 but still want KDE? Have 18.3 KDE installed? Read on!

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tonyric

Want Mint 19 but still want KDE? Have 18.3 KDE installed? Read on!

Post by tonyric »

I have hopped around distros a little, Manjaro (hated AUR), Fedora KDE Spin (not my cup of tea, it was fine but eh!), Kubuntu (this was my happiest place, but still wanted Mint), even Mint Cinnamon 19 (Hate hate hate cinnamon). I wanted Mint 19 and I wanted KDE, it's my happy place. As a Linux user since 1994 (OS/2 prior to that) I am no stranger to hacking things together, but am at a point where I want things to "just work" and none of the above has except for Mint KDE (I love KDE and have used it since 1999).

Another post here got me thinking and I tried it and I ran into a perl configuration issue during -dist-upgrade but that was an easy work around and now I am now running on Mint 19 KDE!

Below are the steps that I went through to make it work:

Pre-requisite is having a fully updated 18.3 KDE install on your system:

1: Open Konsole
2: Update Repositories: Change Xenial to Bionic and Sylvia to Tara
sudo vi /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list
sudo vi /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ubuntu-defaults.list

3: sudo apt-get update
4: sudo apt-get install apt
5: sudo apt-get install mintupdate libgtk-3-0 libgtk-3-bin

6: Log out then log in again.

7: Open Konsole:

8: sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

If/when dist-upgrade fails:

9: sudo dpkg --configure -a
10: sudo apt-get update
11: sudo apt-get upgrade
12: sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
13: sudo apt-get install -f

14: reboot

You will lose the Mint background, but other than that you will now be running Linux Mint 19 with a completely updated KDE from the Kubuntu backport repositories.
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
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catweazel
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Re: Want Mint 19 but still want KDE? Have 18.3 KDE installed? Read on!

Post by catweazel »

tonyric wrote: Wed Jul 04, 2018 6:20 am 1: Open Konsole
Or do it the easy way...

viewtopic.php?f=42&t=267121

Works on Mint 19.
"There is, ultimately, only one truth -- cogito, ergo sum -- everything else is an assumption." - Me, my swansong.
tonyric

Re: Want Mint 19 but still want KDE? Have 18.3 KDE installed? Read on!

Post by tonyric »

That post will give you Mint KDE 18.3 using Cinnamon/XFCE/MATE, it does not give you an upgrade path to 19 with Mint KDE. The way I did it does not require you to scrub your system for a clean install.
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Re: Want Mint 19 but still want KDE? Have 18.3 KDE installed? Read on!

Post by catweazel »

tonyric wrote: Thu Jul 05, 2018 12:02 am That post will give you Mint KDE 18.3 using Cinnamon/XFCE/MATE
Only if you start from an 18.3 base. I already told you, it works on Mint 19.

The link I gave is the official guide to getting KDE installed on Xfce, not Cinnamon, nor MATE.
"There is, ultimately, only one truth -- cogito, ergo sum -- everything else is an assumption." - Me, my swansong.
tonyric

Re: Want Mint 19 but still want KDE? Have 18.3 KDE installed? Read on!

Post by tonyric »

mint-meta-kde doesn't exist on 19 unless it showed up in the last 48 hours.
Sir Charles

Re: Want Mint 19 but still want KDE? Have 18.3 KDE installed? Read on!

Post by Sir Charles »

Click on the arrow below to see a post on how a fellow forum member @phd21 has installed KDE on top of LM 19 Xfce:
phd21 wrote: Fri Jun 29, 2018 5:07 pm
galaxy0815

Re: Want Mint 19 but still want KDE? Have 18.3 KDE installed? Read on!

Post by galaxy0815 »

tonyric wrote: Thu Jul 05, 2018 8:23 am mint-meta-kde doesn't exist on 19 unless it showed up in the last 48 hours.
That's right. See here:
https://community.linuxmint.com/softwar ... t-meta-kde
A KDE edition of Linux Mint no longer exists. Maybe in upgraded KDE editions you can find it.

Code: Select all

$ apt-cache search mint-meta\|kde-full
mint-meta-cinnamon - Set of packages installed by default in the Cinnamon edition of Linux Mint
mint-meta-codecs - All the packages required for multimedia support in Linux Mint.
mint-meta-core - Core Linux Mint packages
mint-meta-mate - Set of packages installed by default in the MATE edition of Linux Mint
mint-meta-xfce - Set of packages installed by default in the Xfce edition of Linux Mint
kde-full - complete KDE Software Compilation for end users
$ apt-cache policy kde-full
kde-full:
  Installiert:           (keine)
  Installationskandidat: 5:100ubuntu2
  Versionstabelle:
     5:100ubuntu2 500
        500 http://ftp.rz.tu-bs.de/pub/mirror/ubuntu-packages bionic/universe amd64 Packages
kde-full belongs to Ubuntu. Nothing to do with Linux Mint.

I have never installed kde-full. I think this is the FULL list of packages including all KF5 applications.


If you like do build your own desktop this ist a good solution. Because this is a PURE desktop without applications.

Code: Select all

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/backports
and

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop kde-config-gtk-style kde-config-gtk-style-preview
works great.

There are no applications from the KF5 installed. All this you can do as you like.

If you like to config your own Login (display manager), it's better to install SDDM from the Ubuntu Universe repository.

Code: Select all

apt-get install sddm kde-config-sddm sddm-theme-breeze
https://www.systutorials.com/docs/linux ... sddm.conf/
http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/bio ... onf.5.html

Have a look.

Code: Select all

$ apt-cache search theme | grep ^sddm
Inside systemsettings by download option there are more themes.

Have a look - there are some more plugins for systemsettings.

Code: Select all

$ apt-cache search kde-config
(I love KDE and have used it since 1999)
Me too. :-) First stable desktop with KDE 2.1.2. My way was Debian Potato, Suse 6.3 to 10 until KDE 3.5, Slackware, Fedora, CentOS, Kubuntu since KDE 4.7, Linux Mint since LM13 Maya. I'm glad to be back to apt package management. Less stress and more fun by using a good desktop.
Last edited by galaxy0815 on Fri Jul 06, 2018 7:00 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Want Mint 19 but still want KDE? Have 18.3 KDE installed? Read on!

Post by MtnDewManiac »

galaxy0815 wrote: Fri Jul 06, 2018 5:03 amI have never installed kde-full. I think this is the FULL list of packages including all KF5 applications.
I don't know about all applications, but it does seem to be an extensive package. I'm not sure if this is the best way to go about it, but you can run Synaptic Package Manager, type kde-full into its search box, find the package in the list, then right-click on it, select Properties, and then view the Dependencies tab to get an idea of what it does end up installing.

Of course, some of those things will end up being meta-packages in their own right (for example, kdegames), so I suppose you'd need to do the same thing with each of them to get the full list figured out.

It wouldn't surprise me if there's some kind of simple terminal command that a person can type in to just get a list in one step.

Regards,
MDM
Mint 18 Xfce 4.12.

If guns kill people, then pencils misspell words, cars make people drive drunk, and spoons made Rosie O'Donnell fat.
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Re: Want Mint 19 but still want KDE? Have 18.3 KDE installed? Read on!

Post by BG405 »

MtnDewManiac wrote: Fri Jul 06, 2018 6:44 am It wouldn't surprise me if there's some kind of simple terminal command that a person can type in to just get a list in one step.
Something like sudo apt-get -s install <packagename> should be quite useful; -s does a simulated run without installing anything.
Dell Inspiron 1525 - LM17.3 CE 64-------------------Lenovo T440 - Manjaro KDE with Mint VMs
Toshiba NB250 - Manjaro KDE------------------------Acer Aspire One D255E - LM21.3 Xfce
Acer Aspire E11 ES1-111M - LM18.2 KDE 64 ----Two ROMS don't make a WRITE
ssspace

Re: Want Mint 19 but still want KDE? Have 18.3 KDE installed? Read on!

Post by ssspace »

WARNING: If you are a BEGINNER DON'T DO what any of these guides suggest.

Mixing Desktop Environments is always a gigantic mess, trust me I've been there, you will waste more time trying to do this and fix things and remove packages than if you just installed Kubuntu or KDE neon distros.

Only follow these instructions if you are familiar with Linux and terminal commands and have hours available to do that and customize. Vanilla Desktop Environments are usually bad and need some tweaking to look like a final and polished product like a fresh install of a distro offers, in this case Kubuntu or KDE neon.

If you start mixing Desktop Environments sooner or later something will break like the login/display manager and you will have to use the tty to make the switch, you won't be able to login.

Backup your files before doing these things
galaxy0815

Re: Want Mint 19 but still want KDE? Have 18.3 KDE installed? Read on!

Post by galaxy0815 »

In my post above are arguments.
Follow your mind.
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Re: Want Mint 19 but still want KDE? Have 18.3 KDE installed? Read on!

Post by phd21 »

Hi Everyone,

FYI-1: In case it was not obvious, but these instructions are only for people who already have KDE 18.3 installed and want to upgrade to Linux Mint version 19.

I have tried various methods for installing Linux Mint 19 Xfce and then adding the KDE Desktop which works, but requires a fair amount of "clean up" to get all the KDE apps working correctly, and if you want to remove the Xfce apps (not hard to do), whereas installing KDE 18.3 and then upgrading that would provide an easier option, IMHO.

Always backup first before doing any major update or upgrade.

FYI-2: A fair amount of software has not been upgraded to install with Linux Mint 19 based on Ubuntu 18.04 Bionic, including PPA's, but I have found that if you locate the "deb" files for "Xenial" (Ubuntu 16.04) or "Zesty" (Ubuntu 17.04) even from their PPA's, they will install and work well with Linux Mint 19 (Ubuntu 18.04 Bionic). There is also a fair amount of software that was not in the Mint repositories before, but they are now in Linux Mint 19.x.

FYI-3: There are some changes and new applications and utilities with the new KDE and Plasma 5 that might not be installed unless the user installs them manually like "plasma-vault" the new encryption option. I don't know what all of these might be yet without carefully going over the release notes for KDE Ubuntu 18.04 and the new Plasma 5, perhaps installing "kde-full" afterward might do this, perhaps not.

Overall Linux Mint 19 with KDE has been working well in my tests so far.

Hope this helps ...
Phd21: Mint 20 Cinnamon & xKDE (Mint Xfce + Kubuntu KDE) & KDE Neon 64-bit (new based on Ubuntu 20.04) Awesome OS's, Dell Inspiron I5 7000 (7573) 2 in 1 touch screen, Dell OptiPlex 780 Core2Duo E8400 3GHz,4gb Ram, Intel 4 Graphics.
Gaugamela

Re: Want Mint 19 but still want KDE? Have 18.3 KDE installed? Read on!

Post by Gaugamela »

It's a pity that Mint devs decided to drop Plasma 5. :(
Currently, it is the best DE in the Linux world.

I am happy with Cinnamon in Mint 19, but there are few applets that work perfectly with Mint. Quite frankly, Cinnamon needs to adopt some applets and give them official support. In Plasma there are three options for Windows list (windows list, icon list and another one), three options for menus, etc.
Sometimes the community members developing those applets lose interest and just move on, and those applets stop being worked on.

The collapsible systray is another stellar applet. But how long will they be supported?
Plus, there's no pre-installed alternative for Krunner. :(

I already sorted my Samba problems with Mint 19 and everything else works smoothly.
newtonmunene

Re: Want Mint 19 but still want KDE? Have 18.3 KDE installed? Read on!

Post by newtonmunene »

To be honest, I wouldnt advice anyone to follow this method. It's gone drastically wrong for me and I honestly just want to do a clean install. A lot of packages are broken and they are really affecting the system generally.
richf

Re: Want Mint 19 but still want KDE? Have 18.3 KDE installed? Read on!

Post by richf »

Gaugamela wrote: Mon Jul 16, 2018 5:43 am It's a pity that Mint devs decided to drop Plasma 5. :(
Currently, it is the best DE in the Linux world.
Now that I've had some time to settle into Cinnamon I have to agree. I already miss KDE's flow and features. Plasma is just gorgeous.

After reading a lot of threads about going to KDE I've decided my knowledge of Linux does not afford me the chance to try installing it and cleaning up the mess afterwards. After a week of setting up, tweaking and tuning Mint I have little interest in starting all over so I guess I'll live with Cinnamon for now.
Retic1959

Re: Want Mint 19 but still want KDE? Have 18.3 KDE installed? Read on!

Post by Retic1959 »

richf wrote: Wed Nov 21, 2018 4:10 am
Gaugamela wrote: Mon Jul 16, 2018 5:43 am It's a pity that Mint devs decided to drop Plasma 5. :(
Currently, it is the best DE in the Linux world.
Now that I've had some time to settle into Cinnamon I have to agree. I already miss KDE's flow and features. Plasma is just gorgeous.

After reading a lot of threads about going to KDE I've decided my knowledge of Linux does not afford me the chance to try installing it and cleaning up the mess afterwards. After a week of setting up, tweaking and tuning Mint I have little interest in starting all over so I guess I'll live with Cinnamon for now.
Why settle ? Too many other distro's that have excellent KDE spins . If you're not totally happy with Cinnamon chances are you aren't gonna stick with it anyway .
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Re: Want Mint 19 but still want KDE? Have 18.3 KDE installed? Read on!

Post by 52ROSt »

Experience report

I was VERY disappointed when I saw that LM 19 does not come with KDE anymore. So I started as a Cinnamon newbie to play around a bit. Was not happy and found following: https://linuxhint.com/install_kde_linux_mint_19/

I used this information immediately and was very happy. Back to KDE and I got the Japanese support with IBUS-anthy up and running very quickly.
Dissapointments on KDE:
- The desktop folders are not transparent anymore but grey. I loved the transparent ones because they kept the desktop/activiy background still nicely visible
- The desktop sticky notes where not in the widgets and could not be downloaded when I used "Add widgets"
I use about almost 10 activites on each I use a transparent folder widget and the sticky desktop notes.

Thus I installed from the Mint Repository Plasma-widgets-addons. This locked me out. But due to a lack of knowlegde on terminal commands I could not go back into my system.

As I was just at the beginning of an installation, I stopped and installed Xfce because this is supposed to lighter than Cinnamon. I played around for an hour and then installed again KDE as explained in https://linuxhint.com/install_kde_linux_mint_19/
Back to KDE, now on Xfce, I could not get Japanese language support running - essential for me.

Installed again Cinnamon and added KDE like described above already. Now I could not get the Japanese support running at all. Tried 1-2 h and gave up on KDE on top of Xfce and Cinnamon and decided to learn about Cinnamon.

Positive:
-Japanese languge support was easily to be set up. I could choose IBUS-mozc and found at a few examples it is better then IBUS-anthy (still run IBUS-anthy on my work-horse LM17.3 KDE machine)
- I could get links to programs and files into a Cinnamon panel
- Dolpin is available in the LM 19 Cinnamon repository - it is for me the best file browser I ever used.

Negative:
- No transparent desktop folders
- No desktop sticky notes which I like in KDE (Cinnamon notes are for me not usefull the way they are)
- No shutdown, logout etc. possible by right clicking on a desktop or activity
- Too simple settings on input devices especially for AKA clickboards which are in Lenovo X240 and I don't want to use. Want to use only the trackpointer and the button function of the AKA clickboard. I made a quick test on my X240 using a live system of LM 19 Cinnamon. Solving this problem will cause me headaches when I install LM 19 Cinnamon on my X240.

Two screen support is excellent in KDE but I have not yet tested with Cinnamon.

Right now I don't "hate, hate, hate" Cinnamon but I do like KDE much better. kubuntu as an alternative went though my mind but I like the Mint forum and community...

The main questions in my head is: "Why is there no LM 19 with KDE? Will KDE return?"
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Re: Want Mint 19 but still want KDE? Have 18.3 KDE installed? Read on!

Post by Dngrsone »

So, what does pushing 18.3 up to 19 (KDE) effect?
Try politeness; people will like you for it.
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Re: Want Mint 19 but still want KDE? Have 18.3 KDE installed? Read on!

Post by 52ROSt »

As this is kind of experience and wish thread I will share experience I made in the meantime.

Having once installed KDE on top of 19.3 Cinnamon, I got Japanese writing up an running in 5 Minutes but then my installation blocked and I could not repair it due to a lack of knowledge on commands I needed a new installation. See my post 25 Nov 2018 13:37. Thus I gave up on installing KDE on top of Cinnamon, Xfce, or MATE.

I looked at kubuntu 18.??? LTS but could not get Japanese up and running. As this kubuntu has the same life time as LM18.3 KDE I decided wait 2 years more and use LM 18.3 KDE. As I could not get Japanese running at all, I even looked at openSuse with the KDE DE. Again, I could not get Japanese up and running.

Next, I tried LM19.1 MATE. Getting Japanese (Ibus-Anthy) up and running was a 5 min task. On the minus-side of MATE, the desktops cannot be customized one by one in a different way. A folder placed on one desktop appears on all others and the background is the same for all desktops, thus desktops are difficult to be recognized. Additionally the panels are a bit difficult to understand how they work.

But, as I am a bit of a never-give-up person, I installed again LM18.3 KDE tried IBUS-Anthy, IBUS-Mozc, Fcitx-Mozc but could not get Japanese running at all. I placed a post in the KDE forum on the problem with KDE but no reply. As in LM17.3 KDE getting Japanese writing up an running was only a 5 min task, I conclude that there is a problem with the KDE DE and Japanese writing for KDE of 18.3 and higher.

Therefore, I will now go with LM 19.3 MATE because Japanese is set up in 5 minutes and it has a lot (I hope all) KDE programs I use in LM17.3 KDE in the depository.

When the next LM version with KDE comes up I will look again at it and decided based on what I experience. I even willing to make a test and report steps and results.

In the meantime I hope that MATE improves the desktops in the way that they all can be set up separately like the Activities in KDE. Additionally I like especially the transparent folders I can put on the desktop of an Activity. And I would love to find a manual which explains how the MATE panels can be customized.
rmsci

Re: Want Mint 19 but still want KDE? Have 18.3 KDE installed? Read on!

Post by rmsci »

I can attest that this method does in fact work, having done it recently.

One main issue popped up though. After upgrade, update-notifier-common was not installed, having been forcefully deleted. This caused my system to never show package updates and repeatedly download the full repository lists each day.

I suggest this package being installed at the same time as apt being upgraded, if possible, or right after finishing the upgrade.

Also note that when you install kubuntu desktop this way you will see the KDE logo/images when you boot. A reinstall of cinnamon- desktop (or whatever version you are using) should change it back.

Another possible issue can occur if you go to Tessa or Tina, instead of Tara first. kubuntu-desktop will not install unless you force it because there is a missing version of a file which makes the install fall back on an old incompatible version that conflicts with packages.

I have posted a solution here:
viewtopic.php?f=90&t=303355&p=1716724&h ... u#p1716724
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