pushfoo / pop-kde-script

A Simple script to move pop_OS 22.04 from Gnome to KDE Plasma

pop-kde-script

An experimental script to switch System76's Pop!_OS Linux 22.04 to KDE.

The default Pop!_OS desktop is a heavily customized version of Gnome. This script replaces it with the latest KDE Plasma available in the Ubuntu repositories (5.24). For a more recent version, please see Later KDE Versions below.

Warning

This script may break things!

Report any problems you find on this repo. See Issues below for more information.

Setup

Pre-requisites

Make sure you have the following:

1. A reliable internet connection to download packages
2. The latest version of Pop!_OS (22.04)
3. The latest updates, either by running sudo apt upgrade or via the Pop Shop

Running the install

1. Start a terminal session on the target system in one of the following ways:

   • Open a terminal window locally
   • Connect remotely via SSH or MUSH
   • For VM environments such as virt-manager, use a virtual console

2. cd to directory you downloaded it to

3. Run the script

4. Wait for a few minutes as gdm (Gnome Display Manager) is replaced with sddm

If you aren't running the install remotely, the screen may go black. If this does not resolve after a few minutes, you may need to reboot the system by using the power button.

Cleanup

After rebooting, you should be presented with an sddm log-in screen.

1. (Optional) Clean up old packages to free disk space:

   1. Open Konsole from the menu at the bottom left of the screen
   2. Run sudo apt autoremove

2. Enjoy KDE!

Issues

Pop!_OS offers optimizations other Linux distros do not.

This script may break or interfere with their underlying assumptions.

If you notice a problem or opportunity for improvement, please help fix it! This repo accepts:

• Issue reports
• Pull requests

Do not expect support from System76 or the general Pop!_OS community.

Why?

This script revives an earlier experiment with convering KDE to Pop!_OS. It builds on the contributions of the following:

• 13r0ck (expertise and mentorship)
• DaisyLee (packaging and testing)
• dubsyGG, (mockups and testing)
• pushfoo (research and testing)

Later KDE Versions

This currently does not work and will break you system completely. Looking for help trying to solve this.

If you prefer a later KDE Plasma 5 desktop than 5.24, consider running the Kubuntu Backports ppa as follows:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/backports-extra && sudo apt full-upgrade -y

In addition to breaking things the same way this script might, it may also introduce further changes.