KDE into Ubuntu and saving downloaded repositories

Jonny69

Jonny69

Jonny69

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Hello kchaps

A while back I wanted to mod my Ubuntu installation to use KDE instead of gnome so I installed the kubuntu desktop onto my existing Ubuntu. It didn't quite do what I wanted to as it logged me in with kdm but then went to my normal gnome desktop. I wanted it to look like Knoppix does as I prefer the look of the KDE desktop.

So I tried again today, with a sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop, this time choosing it to log in with gdm as Ubuntu normally does as I prefer this, expecting it to then go over to the KDE desktop. Well it hasn't and everything appears to be the same. How do I get it to switch to using KDE then? Do I have to use KDE throughout as it appeared to use a mix of the two before? I'd rather use gdm to login and KDE as my desktop if possible.

Which leads me to my next question. I downloaded 142Mb of repositories for KDE which is quite a lot by my standards, where did it put them and can I back them up? I have my Linux partitions mounted in Windows so I can copy them over to my big NTFS partition for next time. Basically I have my Linux partition imaged so when I screw it up I just image it back on fresh, but I lose my downloaded repositories. It would be nice to keep a copy to save downloading those bits again.

Edit: also is there a Linux equivalent of ctrl+alt+delete as it crashes out on me quite a lot which can be frustrating!
 
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You'll need to remove Gnome so it doesn't goof between them.

I don't know a lot about Ubuntu, I dislike that it does far too much for the user :p

But if you were to look manually, there will be a file in your /etc/init.d or similar directory that will be what kicks off kdm/gdm at boot.

run:
Code: 
# sudo grep -R gdm /etc/*
to find which file currently runs it.
 
On the login screen there should be a menu called "session" or similar. This will give you the choice of running kde or gnome.
 
What ever display manager you use will give you choice of what session to use. If you wish to switch between say KDM and GDM, easiest way is to just do sudo dpkg-reconnfigure gdm or kdm and it will let you choose the default.

ctrl-alt-backspace will kill your xwindows session and start a new one. If its just a process that has stopped responding just find its pid and kill it.

If you want a task manager sort of thing (like in windows), there is a package you can install using automatix which will intercept ctrl-alt-del commands and run that (not sure the name).

Cached packages go in /var/cache/apt/archives/
 
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freebooter said:
On the login screen there should be a menu called "session" or similar. This will give you the choice of running kde or gnome.
Click to expand...
Aaaaagh how the hell did I miss that? That is so frustrating!!!

Una said:
What ever display manager you use will give you choice of what session to use. If you wish to switch between say KDM and GDM, easiest way is to just do sudo dpkg-reconnfigure gdm or kdm and it will let you choose the default.

ctrl-alt-backspace will kill your xwindows session and start a new one. If its just a process that has stopped responding just find its pid and kill it.

If you want a task manager sort of thing (like in windows), there is a package you can install using automatix which will intercept ctrl-alt-del commands and run that (not sure the name).

Cached packages go in /var/cache/apt/archives/
Click to expand...
Perfect thanks for the tips.

Thanks for all the help you guys, You have so much patience with us Linux gnoobs :D
 
bah, gnome > kde :p

Must admit, my laptop is a bit of a mess and uses GDM for login and KDE for the session, but meh - it works!
 
To be honest I find both of them REALLY slow compared to Windows XP which is very frustrating. I prefer the layout of Gnome and there are a few features I prefer but I have to say KDE is faster and I'm getting used to it.

I'm going to try and get a back copy of the OS and see if that's any better because the speed is one thing that will put me off using Linux day-to-day.
 
Have you got your GFX drivers installed?

If KDE/Gnome is slower than winblows, something is wrong.. (usually gfx drivers missing :p)
 
or if you have an ATI card, thats a whole new world of pain.

the linux installs at work, at home and on my laptop are just dandy
 
It's on a laptop and it does have Ati graphics but that's never been a problem. I just mean day to day stuff like booting, web surfing, new tabs in Firefox, opening office suites, email programs etc. It's all painfully slower than Windows.

I have an older version of Knoppix which is lightning fast for everything and that would suit me down to the ground. That's why I was going to dig about for an older version of Ubuntu or similar, plus that's why I wantd to see if KDE made any difference. I may look into installing Knoppix to disk otherwise.
 
Go for a full compile tbh. That way you'll have a system tailored for your machine, not some generic packaged kernel for x86.
 
Ooooooo I'm a noob with a capital K at the moment, no chance of compiling anything yet :D

Surely graphics support would only affect moving graphics and scrolling, not the speed that programs and menus open and close? The only thing that annoys me about the graphics in *nix is the way text is displayed. In Windows it fits perfecly pixel to pixel and is sharp and easy to read. In Linux it is a funny font and is harder to read. In fact in KDE it is all really small and difficult to read in forums.
 
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