KDE: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 00:28, 29 February 2024

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-desktop-meta package isn't available for the ppc64le, s390x, armhf, or riscv64 architectures due to the kdeplasma-addons dependency not being available there. However, the rest of Plasma may be installed separately to potentially 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
Install and configure D-Bus
Install and configure Elogind
Wayland users: Install package xf86-input-libinput

Installation

Using setup-desktop

You may use the alpine provided setup-desktop to install and configure KDE, by running the command:

# setup-desktop

on a shell and selecting KDE as your desktop.

Manual 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-desktop-meta

Setting up eudev on a desktop system is recommended:

# setup-devd udev

For more details and advanced instructions see Device Manager.

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:

Note: Most of these are not available on ppc64le or s390x.

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

Troubleshooting

HiDPI Scaling

When using high resolution screens, e.g. 4K, you might need to apply scaling so the fonts and windows are not too small.

In order to achieve this you can open Settings -> Display and Monitor and change the slider under Global Scale to an appropriate value.

You can also change the mouse cursor and icon size under Settings -> Appearance.

If your taskbar and window decorations are still too small, you might want to create the file ~/.xprofile to define the PLASMA_USE_QT_SCALING environment variable:

export PLASMA_USE_QT_SCALING=1

After creating this file, you may need to restart your session to apply this modification.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{TOC right}}
+[[File:KDEScreenshot.png |thumb |KDE Plasma screenshot.]]
 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 [https://userbase.kde.org/Welcome_to_KDE_UserBase UserBase wiki] has detailed information about most KDE Applications.
-Note that the {{Pkg|plasma}} package isn't available for the <code>ppc64le</code> and <code>s390x</code> architectures due to the {{Pkg|kdeplasma-addons}} dependency not being available there. The rest of Plasma can however be installed separately to get a functional desktop.
+{{Note|the {{Pkg|plasma-desktop-meta|arch=}} package isn't available for the <code>ppc64le</code>, <code>s390x</code>, <code>armhf</code>, or <code>riscv64</code> architectures due to the {{Pkg|kdeplasma-addons|arch=}} dependency not being available there. However, the rest of Plasma may be installed separately to potentially get a functional desktop.}}
+<br>
-= Installation =
-=== Prerequisites ===
+== Prerequisites ==
-* [[Installation|Alpine Installation]]
+* [[Installation|Install]] Alpine Linux
-* [[Alpine_setup_scripts#setup-xorg-base|Graphical base environment]]
+* Create a [[Setting_up_a_new_user#Creating_a_new_user|user account]]
-* [[Enable_Community_Repository#Using_community_repositories|Enabled "community" repository]]
+* Enable the <code>community</code> [[Repositories#Managing_repositories|repository]]
-* [[Setting_up_a_new_user#Creating_a_new_user|Create user accounts]]
+* For users interested in Xorg as opposed to Wayland, install the [[Alpine_setup_scripts#setup-xorg-base|Xorg base packages]]
+* [[D-Bus#Installation|Install and configure D-Bus]]
+* [[Elogind#Installation|Install and configure Elogind]]
+* Wayland users: Install package {{pkg|xf86-input-libinput|arch=}}
+<br>
-=== Plasma ===
+== Installation ==
-Install the {{Pkg|plasma}} meta-package. This will install the required Plasma packages and {{Pkg|sddm}} and pre-configure it to use the Breeze theme.
+=== Using setup-desktop ===
-Alternatively, a more minimal installation can be done by installing {{Pkg|plasma-desktop}}.
+You may use the alpine provided ''setup-desktop'' to install and configure KDE, by running the command:
-=== KDE Applications ===
+{{Cmd|# setup-desktop}}
-To install the full set of KDE Applications, install {{Pkg|kde-applications}}. You can also choose to install a more limited set of applications by installing any of the subpackages:
+on a shell and selecting KDE as your desktop.
-* {{Pkg|kde-applications-accessibility}}
+=== Manual Installation ===
-* {{Pkg|kde-applications-admin}}
-* {{Pkg|kde-applications-base}}
-* {{Pkg|kde-applications-edu}}, not available for <code>ppc64le</code> and <code>s390x</code>
-* {{Pkg|kde-applications-games}}
-* {{Pkg|kde-applications-graphics}}
-* {{Pkg|kde-applications-multimedia}}
-* {{Pkg|kde-applications-network}}, not available for <code>ppc64le</code> and <code>s390x</code>
-* {{Pkg|kde-applications-pim}}, not available for <code>ppc64le</code> and <code>s390x</code>
-* {{Pkg|kde-applications-sdk}}
-* {{Pkg|kde-applications-utils}}
-* {{Pkg|kde-applications-webdev}}
-= Starting Plasma =
+The following command will install the Plasma desktop as specified by the plasma metapackage, including the {{Pkg|sddm|arch=}} display manager and other assorted niceties.
+{{Cmd|# apk add {{pkg|plasma-desktop-meta|arch=}}}}
+{{:Include:Setup_Device_Manager}}
+{{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>
+== KDE Applications ==
+To install the full set of KDE Applications, install {{Pkg|kde-applications}}. You can also choose to install a smaller set of applications by installing any of the subpackages:
+{{Note|Most of these are not available on <code>ppc64le</code> or <code>s390x</code>.}}
+* {{Pkg|kde-applications-accessibility|arch=}}
+* {{Pkg|kde-applications-admin|arch=}}
+* {{Pkg|kde-applications-base|arch=}}
+* {{Pkg|kde-applications-edu|arch=}}
+* {{Pkg|kde-applications-games|arch=}}
+* {{Pkg|kde-applications-graphics|arch=}}
+* {{Pkg|kde-applications-multimedia|arch=}}
+* {{Pkg|kde-applications-network|arch=}}
+* {{Pkg|kde-applications-pim|arch=}}
+* {{Pkg|kde-applications-sdk|arch=}}
+* {{Pkg|kde-applications-utils|arch=}}
+* {{Pkg|kde-applications-webdev|arch=}}
+<br>
+== Starting Plasma ==
 Plasma can be started using a display manager or from the console.
@@ Line 44: / Line 68: @@
 === Using a display manager ===
-When Plasma is installed via the {{Pkg|plasma}} meta-package, this has already been setup using {{Pkg|sddm}}.
+When Plasma is installed via the plasma meta-package, the display manager is set up using sddm.
-* Select ''Plasma'' to launch a new session in Xorg
+Make sure you enable and start the SDDM service.
-* Select ''Plasma (Wayland)'' to launch a new session in Wayland
+{{Cmd|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 {{Pkg|xinit}} and appending <code>exec startplasma-x11</code> to your <code>.xinitrc</code> file. Then just start X.
+The Xorg session can be launched by installing {{Pkg|xinit|arch=}} and appending <code>exec startplasma-x11</code> to your <code>.xinitrc</code> file. To start X:
 {{Cmd|xinit}}
 For the Wayland session run
-<pre>
+{{Cmd|XDG_SESSION_TYPE{{=}}wayland dbus-run-session startplasma-wayland}}
-XDG_SESSION_TYPE=wayland dbus-run-session startplasma-wayland
-</pre>
+<br>
+== Troubleshooting ==
+=== HiDPI Scaling ===
+When using high resolution screens, e.g. 4K, you might need to apply scaling so the fonts and windows are not too small.
+In order to achieve this you can open <code>Settings -> Display and Monitor</code> and change the slider under ''Global Scale'' to an appropriate value.
+You can also change the mouse cursor and icon size under <code>Settings -> Appearance</code>.
+If your taskbar and window decorations are still too small, you might want to create the file {{path|~/.xprofile}} to define the ''PLASMA_USE_QT_SCALING'' environment variable:
+{{Cmd|export PLASMA_USE_QT_SCALING{{=}}1}}
+After creating this file, you may need to restart your session to apply this modification.
-=See also=
+== See also ==
+* [[Installation#Post-Installation|Post installation]]
 * [[Flatpak]]
+* [https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/KDE KDE - Archwiki]
-[[category:Desktop]]
+[[Category:Desktop]]
+[[Category:Desktop Environments]]
+[[Category:Wayland]]