KDE: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 19:26, 27 February 2023

KDE is a software project comprising a desktop environment known as Plasma, a collection of libraries and frameworks known as KDE Frameworks, and several applications known as KDE Applications. Their UserBase wiki has detailed information about most KDE Applications.

Note: the plasma package isn't available for the ppc64le and s390x architectures due to the kdeplasma-addons dependency not being available there. However, the rest of Plasma can be installed separately to get a functional desktop.

Prerequisites

Install Alpine Linux
Create a user account
Enable the community repository
For users interested in Xorg as opposed to Wayland, install the Xorg base packages

Installation

The following command will install the Plasma desktop as specified by the plasma metapackage, including the sddm display manager and other assorted niceties.

# apk add plasma elogind polkit-elogind polkit-openrc

After installation, users may wish to enable the following services:

# rc-update add dbus

# rc-update add elogind

# rc-update add polkit

# rc-update add udev

Note: polkit and udev are optional services for authentication and device management respectively. While KDE will function without these services enabled, some functionality may be missing or incomplete.

KDE Applications

To install the full set of KDE Applications, install kde-applications. You can also choose to install a smaller set of applications by installing any of the subpackages:

kde-applications-accessibility
kde-applications-admin
kde-applications-base
kde-applications-edu, not available for ppc64le and s390x
kde-applications-games
kde-applications-graphics
kde-applications-multimedia
kde-applications-network, not available for ppc64le and s390x
kde-applications-pim, not available for ppc64le and s390x
kde-applications-sdk
kde-applications-utils
kde-applications-webdev

Starting Plasma

Plasma can be started using a display manager or from the console.

Using a display manager

When Plasma is installed via the plasma meta-package, the display manager is set up using sddm.

Make sure you enable and start the SDDM service.

rc-update add sddm
rc-service sddm start

Select Plasma to launch a new session in Wayland
Select Plasma (X11) to launch a new session in Xorg

From the console

The Xorg session can be launched by installing xinit and appending exec startplasma-x11 to your .xinitrc file. To start X:

xinit

For the Wayland session run

XDG_SESSION_TYPE=wayland dbus-run-session startplasma-wayland

@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 == Prerequisites ==
-* [[Installation|Install]] AlpineLinux
+* [[Installation|Install]] Alpine Linux
-* [[Setting_up_a_new_user#Creating_a_new_user|Create a user account]] (optional but recommended)
+* Create a [[Setting_up_a_new_user#Creating_a_new_user|user account]]
-* [[Repositories#Managing_repositories|Enable the Community repository]]
+* Enable the <code>community</code> [[Repositories#Managing_repositories|repository]]
-* [[Alpine_setup_scripts#setup-xorg-base|Install Xorg]]
+* For users interested in Xorg as opposed to Wayland, install the [[Alpine_setup_scripts#setup-xorg-base|Xorg base packages]]
-{{Note|[[Wayland]] can be used but may be less stable and Plasma may still require Xorg}}
 <br>
@@ Line 20: / Line 18: @@
 == Installation ==
-==== Standard plasma installation ====
+The following command will install the Plasma desktop as specified by the {{Pkg|plasma}} metapackage, including the {{Pkg|sddm}} display manager and other assorted niceties.
-{{Cmd|# apk add plasma elogind polkit-elogind dbus}}
-This will install the required Plasma packages, {{Pkg|sddm}} and pre-configure it to use the Breeze theme.
-<br>
-==== Lightweight plasma installation ====
-Alternatively, a smaller installation can be done:
-{{Cmd|# apk add plasma-desktop systemsettings sddm breeze elogind polkit-elogind dbus}}
-{{Note|If you are missing something that is in a standard Plasma installation check out the dependencies of the {{Pkg|plasma}} package because it is likely you will find whatever your missing there.}}
+{{Cmd|# apk add plasma elogind polkit-elogind polkit-openrc}}
 <br>
-For both installation methods you need to enable the following services:
+After installation, users may wish to enable the following services:
 {{Cmd|# rc-update add dbus}}
@@ Line 47: / Line 33: @@
 <br>
-{{Note|'''polkit''' and '''udev''' are technically optional (or have other alternatives) but if they are not installed/started features (or the system) may not work properly, modify this at your own risk!}}
+{{Note|'''polkit''' and '''udev''' are optional services for authentication and device management respectively. While KDE will function without these services enabled, some functionality may be missing or incomplete.}}
 <br>
@@ Line 74: / Line 60: @@
 Plasma can be started using a display manager or from the console.
-==== Using a display manager ====
+=== Using a display manager ===
 When Plasma is installed via the {{Pkg|plasma}} meta-package, the display manager is set up using {{Pkg|sddm}}.
@@ Line 88: / Line 74: @@
 * Select ''Plasma (X11)'' to launch a new session in Xorg
-==== From the console ====
+=== From the console ===
 The Xorg session can be launched by installing {{Pkg|xinit}} and appending <code>exec startplasma-x11</code> to your <code>.xinitrc</code> file. To start X: