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

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

Post by Hugh Neutron »

tonyric wrote: Wed Jul 04, 2018 6:20 am 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.
I've been using Linux for about two years, you've been using Linux since I was in preschool. As a longterm power use, don't you know this is literal bootleg Kubuntu LTS? Outside of learning the system, they are better off installing Kubuntu LTS. The mint team does not support KDE/qt. The xApps are written in GTK. I don't get the point of doing this outside of a linux learning exercise.

18.3 users should be redirected to a clean install of Kubuntu LTS. They will not miss anything. You are basically transforming Mint into Kubuntu.
always wanting to learn more about Linux. It saved me from the Windows 10 telemetry and SAAS nightmare.
Moonstone Man
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Re: Want Mint 19 but still want KDE? Have 18.3 KDE installed? Read on!

Post by Moonstone Man »

Hugh Neutron wrote: Mon Jul 20, 2020 8:23 pm you've been using Linux since I was in preschool ... I don't get the point of doing this...
Getting the point and learning not to quote the entire message just to make a statement, all come with age and experience.
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rossdv8
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Re: Want Mint 19 but still want KDE? Have 18.3 KDE installed? Read on!

Post by rossdv8 »

Hugh Neutron wrote: Mon Jul 20, 2020 8:23 pm
tonyric wrote: Wed Jul 04, 2018 6:20 am
I've been using Linux for about two years, you've been using Linux since I was in preschool. As a longterm power use, don't you know this is literal bootleg Kubuntu LTS? Outside of learning the system, they are better off installing Kubuntu LTS. The mint team does not support KDE/qt. The xApps are written in GTK. I don't get the point of doing this outside of a linux learning exercise.

For some of us who have been using, and contributing to Linux for over 20 years, the point goes far beyond simply 'what the Mint Team supports'. In my case, I prefer certain things about and in the KDE/Plasma desktop. However I also prefer Mint to the many other distributions I have been involved with over those years. Added to that, I along with many others contribute to Mint when I remember to do it (thanks Clem) and it feels weird to use some other distro.
So when Mint decided not to continue with KDE, I went on an install spree, and decided it made more sense to build a hybrid Mint Xfce / KDE/Plasma system for myself.

I still have all the advantages of Mint, plus the flexibility to run the 'cutesie' stuff like a fully Transparent Dolphin file manager (and NO, you can't achieve the same thing with ALT + Mouse Wheel Scroll), and all the other KDE Apps I like to run with transparent bits.

It's not a learning exercise, although even after 20+ years of Linux I am no expert. I am always learning.
But being elderly, I found Linux so much easier to live with than MS Windows, and Mint so much more flexible and easier to live with than the various other Linux distros.

In other words - 'the point of doing this' for some of us is simply:
F U N
Current main OS: MInt 21.3 with KDE Plasma 5.27 (using Compiz as WM) - Kernel: 6.5.0-15 on Lenovo m900 Tiny, i5-6400T (intel HD 530 graphics) 16GB RAM.
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