Installing KDE 4 on your Ubuntu 7.10 Gusty Gibbon(with lots of screenshots)

KDE 4 was released a few days back and well KDE 4.0.0 is one of the major releases of KDE . It has a number of new features that could revolutionize the entire Desktop Linux scenario . KDE4 has been in development for some time now , and well it is out now . It includes entirely new set of softwares and framework like

• Phonon - Multimedia API

• Solid - hardware API in KDE 4

• new desktop and panel user interface tool, called Plasma, which supports desktop widgets

• Oxygen - Rich Icon Set etc .

So here are the instructions to actually installing KDE 4 on your Ubuntu Gusty (7.10) Desktop : -

Adding KDE 4 Repositories : -

Type int he following command as an administrator/superuse(with root account logged in)

sudo echo "deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/kubuntu-members-kde4/ubuntu gutsy main" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list

After completing above step type :

sudo apt-get update

and after completing above step type in the following command to start the installation process of KDE 4 (on my system the entire download size of core kde packages was arnd 110 Megabytes )

sudo apt-get install kde4-core

After completing above step log out of your current running desktop environment and , on the log in screen you should find KDE 4 listed . Chose KDE 4 and log in to your new KDE 4 system .


Installing Additional applications

The command listed above installs just the basic core applications of KDE 4 . Even though one could install them together easily , but well to avoid having to install all kind of nuisance applications that you might like or not like to install , i have given separate instruction to install few selected good applications below .

This is how my KDE 4 desktop looks like

Dolphin - it is one of the new additions in KDE 4 and is a versatile file manager replacing complex komqueror

1. Installing Additional Plasmoids (Desktop Widgets)

KDE 4 comes with ver limited number of desktop widgets preinstalled. So to install some more plasmoids type in the following command in the terminal screen: -

sudo apt-get -y install extragear-plasma

you can get more widgets from : http://kde-look.org

2. Installing Okular - Advanced Document Viewer

One of the glaring new addition to KDE 4 is Okular document viewer which allows one to view different type of document file easily . It is one of the first applications to fully utilize KDE's new architecture . Besides normal ability to view document files , okular allows one to scribble , underline , highlight , add notes etc while browsing documents .

To install okular type in the following command in the terminal screen :

sudo apt-get -y install okular-kde4

and

sudo apt-get -y install okular-extra-backends-kde4

A Screen Shot of Okular showing highlighting , Underline , Scribble and notes adding feature

Installing Koffice - The alternative to Openoffice

Koffice is a light weight open source office suite , it is extremely user friendly and is a viable alternative to OpenOffice on the Linux platform .

To install KOffice type in the following command :

sudo apt-get -y install koffice-kde4

KWord and KSpread , Word Processor and Spread Sheet package of KOffice

Installing KPhotoAlbum ,
KPhotoAlbum is a photo management software that allows you to easily manage and catalog your photographs, videos etc.

To install KPhotoAlbum type in the following command :

sudo apt-get install kphotoalbum-kde4

KPhotoAlbum one of the new application added in KDE 4

Installing Administrative tool KDE4

To install a number of administrative tools type in the following command in the terminal window :

sudo apt-get install kdeadmin-kde4

Installing gwenview - The new image viewer for kde 4

gwenview is one of the new application added to KDE desktop environment , it is a simple image viewer that allows you to view different type of graphic file easily . It offers a really simple graphical user interface and has a number of interesting features owing to new KDE 4 architecture .

To install gwenview type in the following command in the terminal window :

sudo apt-get -y install gwenview-kde4

Gwenview

Installing KDE Multimedia , KDE Graphics , KDE Games and KDE Educational Softwares

KDE 4 comes with a number of simple games and these games are included in the KDE Games module which could be installed by typing in :

sudo apt-get install -y kdegames-kde4

To install KDE Graphics package type in the following command :

sudo apt-get -y install kdegraphics-kde4

To install KDE Multimedia package which includes among other applications the popular juk media player type in the following command :

sudo apt-get install kdemultimedia-kde4

Juk Media Player - Application is similar to iTunes

and finally KDE 4 adds a number of new educational applications (you can find more information about them here : - http://kde.org/announcements/4.0/education.php
To Install KDE 4 Educational Package type in the following command in the terminal window :

sudo apt-get -y install kdeedu-kde4

NOTE : The above list is in no sense a complete listing of applications that come with KDE 4 , it's just some of the application i liked which you might like to install too . To install other applications launch " Synapic package manager " and search for packages starting with kde4 or ending with it and install them .

Some tips on using KDE 4 : -

Well KDE 4 does not enable cool graphic effects to enable them click on (KDE Application Button -> Applications -> Settings -> System Settings for KDE 4 )

You will get a Window like this , just click on the Desktop icon : -


and enable the Desktop Effects , your config dialog box should look somewhat like this :

After completing above step , you should be able to see desktop effects on kde 4.

Some of the shortcuts to cool desktop effects after doing the above steps are :

Press Cntrl + F-10 to get a view of all your running application like this :
To get Grid View of all the workspaces , press : Cntrl + F8

KDE 4 Includes an advanced runner application that allows you to run applications easily , to show krunner dialog box press : Alt + F-2



Article Written by : Ambuj Varshney (blogambuj@gmail.com)
For Desktop on Linux Blog , http://linuxondesktop.blogspot.com
(C) 2007 , Ambuj Varshney