Installing and Setting up KDE 4
KDE 4 is the most recent KDE 4 release, but the arch devs have decided not to replace KDE 3 with KDE 4 in the official repos until KDE 4.1, which is scheduled to release on the 29th July 2008. Many people favour it (including me) because of it's fresh, new beautiful look and updated applications. It can be unstable though. If you don't want that, try my guide here. If you want to be on the absolute bleeding edge, a SVN repo is available. If you want to be able to install KDE 3 alongside KDE 4, you can either use the KDEmod repo or tanis' repo.
Adding the repo
Out of date!
The repo below is currently out of date. We recommend you try the KDEmod, SVN, or tanis' repo.
First of all, you will need to add a non-official repo to your pacman.conf. Open /etc/pacman.conf with your favourite text editor as root and add the following lines above the core repo if you are using i686 (32bit):
[tardo]
Server = http://nagi-fanboi.net/arch/i686
Unfortunately, a 64bit repo isn't available. You may want to try the SVN repo or the KDEmod repo.
Installing KDE 4
Installing couldn't be easier. Just run:
pacman -S kde4
and you will get a selection of packages. You can fine tune what to install by pressing "n". Here's a short explanation of each:
- kdeaccessibility4 - Accessibility programs
- kdeadmin4 - Programs to add users, set up cron and advanced networking
- kdeartwork4 - Wallpaper and icon sets
- kdebase4 - Base applications for KDE such as Plasma (desktop), Konqueror and Dolphin (file manager)
- kdeedu4 - Educational programs. These have taken a major overhaul because they now use SVG instead of pixmaps
- kdegames4 - Games. These have also taken a major overhaul because they use SVG instead of pixmaps
- kdegraphics4 - Painting and graphical programs. Some of these include Kolourpaint, Okular (document viewer), KSnapshot and Gwenview
- kdelibs4 - Absolutely necessary for KDE 4 to run
- kdemultimedia4 - Multimedia apps. Including KMix, Juk and KSCD
- kdenetwork4 - Network and internet apps such as Kopete, Krfb and Krdc
- kdepim4 - PIM apps. Kontact, KMail etc.
- kdepimlibs4 - This will be dragged in by other packages
- kdesdk4 - KDE 4 software development kit
- kdetoys4 - Toys such as AMOR, KWorldClock and KTeaTime
- kdeutils4 - Utilities such as KCalc, Kate, KWrite and Ark
- kdewebdev4 - Web development programs. Does not include Quanta+ at the moment
When pacman finishes installing the packages you chose, you can add more apps if you want. For extra plasmoids (desktop widgets) type:
pacman -S extragear-plasma
Information regarding 64bit repo
Amarok2 and KOffice2 are currently unavailable for 64bit. Hopefully these will be added in the future.
For installing KOffice, execute:
pacman -S koffice2
and for Amarok
pacman -S amarok2-svn
Setting up KDE 4
Now we will get KDE 4 to start it's desktop manager every time you boot Arch Linux, and get the right daemons for KDE 4. To get KDM to start every time you boot, open up your /etc/inittab as root and change:
## Only one of the following two lines can be uncommented!
# Boot to console
id:3:initdefault:
# Boot to X11
#id:5:initdefault:
to
## Only one of the following two lines can be uncommented!
# Boot to console
#id:3:initdefault:
# Boot to X11
id:5:initdefault:
now go down to the bottom, and add this:
x:5:respawn:/usr/bin/kdm -nodaemon
Now we will add the daemons to your rc.conf. Open up /etc/rc.conf as root and change your daemons line to this:
DAEMONS=(... hal ...)
This will start up HAL (for automounting disks, flash drives etc.).
Now you can reboot and enjoy using KDE 4!
KDEmod is a modular and tweaked package set of the K Desktop Environment that has been optimized for Arch Linux.
The team have a KDEmod4 (unstable) repo available. See the following thread on their forums for more information:
http://kdemod.ath.cx/bbs/viewtopic.php?id=406
This repo can be very unstable! Don't be surprised if you find lots of bugs!
This SVN repo is for people who like to be on the absolute bleeding edge. You will get daily updates, so if you are on a slow internet connection, I don't recommend installing from this repo.
For i686 users, open /etc/pacman.conf as root and add the following above the core repo otherwise it won't work properly.
[kde]
Server = http://pkg.eth-os.org/kde/i686
and for 64bit users
[kde]
Server = http://pkg.eth-os.org/kde/x86_64
Now run
pacman -S kde-svn
If you want to install all of the packages, type "y" and press enter. If you don't, type "n" and press enter to fine tune the packages to install. See the list above for an explanation for each package.
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Extra packages
Some other packages are available in the SVN repo. These include
- plasma - Extra plasma applets
- amarok - Music player
- ktorrent - Torrent manager
- koffice - KDE office suite
Run
pacman -Sl kde-svn
Configuration
You will need to add the following to your /etc/rc.conf. As root, open /etc/rc.conf and add this to your DAEMONS line.
DAEMONS=(...alsa hal...)
If you want KDM, KDE's login manager to start up every time you boot Arch Linux, open your /etc/inittab as root and change
## Only one of the following two lines can be uncommented!
# Boot to console
id:3:initdefault:
# Boot to X11
#id:5:initdefault:
to
## Only one of the following two lines can be uncommented!
# Boot to console
#id:3:initdefault:
# Boot to X11
id:5:initdefault:
then go down to the bottom, and add this:
x:5:respawn:/usr/bin/kdm -nodaemon
Now you can go onto your SVN KDE4!
tanis has kindly stepped up and built KDE 4.1 beta for us, compiled to install in /opt instead of /usr. This means that you can install KDE 3 alongside it and they won't conflict. See the following thread on the Arch forums for more details: