Thursday, January 29, 2009

How to switch to KDE graphical interface in Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex

The main difference between Ubuntu and Kubuntu is the graphical environment (Ubuntu uses Gnome as default, while Kubuntu uses KDE). Having two operating systems installed will ruin the fun because you will need to restart and so on, but the good part about those graphical environments is that you can have both of them installed and choose which one to use, while running only one operating system.

If you are using Ubuntu and wonder how to KDE looks like you can easily install it (using the tutorial at the bottom of the page).

NOTE: This method will install some open-source software which automatically comes with KDE/Gnome, this means you might end having two applications for the same task. (Example: 2 browsers, 2 instant messenger applications). But no problem! You can always use your Gnome applications in KDE and vice-versa and you can always remove applications from your system if you don't like them.

Screenshots:
Gnome interfaceKDE interface

With all those being said, let's begin our installation:
Enter the Terminal (Applications > Accessories > Terminal) and type the following command:
sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop
After running the command, you will be asked for a password (the sudo password, enter it!) and after this, a yes or no question, type Y and press enter to continue.
Ubuntu will download your files, it will take a couple of minutes:



After installation finishes, log out of your Ubuntu session. On the login screen you will see the options button, press it and chose Select session:



Select KDE and press Change session:



Ubuntu will now use the KDE graphical interface:


After everything is loaded you will be done:


To uninstall kubuntu-desktop package go to Synaptic Package Manager and remove the package called kubuntu-desktop.

3 comments:

  1. These days I've been having problems with co-existence of Gnome and KDE. For example, I couldn't fix the startup scripts so that Emerald and Screenlets don't start in KDE etc. The last time I reinstalled on a fresh partition was a spring of 2008 AD, so after much installing and uninstalling, I just couldn't get my head around all the hidden config files and folders, so I just installed fresh Ubuntu and NO emerald this time. Ubuntu Studio theme looks really nice, and if I get an urge to play with widgets, I'll just use plasmoids in KDE :)

    Anyway, nice article :p
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  2. I like this article nice im bookmarking this for the future so i can show my friends how cool Linux really is.
    Also i wonder if you can do this with the other varients of Ubuntu like xubuntu and i forgot one gubuntu.

    Love and equality for all.
    ReplyDelete
  3. das it stil works with Lucid Lynx? (10.4)
    ReplyDelete