Hello All,

I installed the minimal-command line system from the kubuntu CD on my laptop,which is guess is roughly around 200mb after installation. I wish to install a Desktop Environment preferably KDE and i wanted to know how and where do i begin from?

Do i need to have a working XORG prior to installation of KDE and do i also need to install Window mangers and e.t.c? What all packages/libraries and components do i need to install first? I'm really not sure where should i begin from :-).

Initially what i am trying to do is to have working GUI system,then later on i can install rest of the packages and software that i need,like office,GPU drivers,browser e.t.c.

Secondly,for a minimal KDE system,what metapackages are to be installed from this site? I believe kdebase,kdebase-runtime,kdebase-workspace are required.


Thanks

I regularly do this with Debian netinstall.
For KDE minimal run command:
Once it is finished and the the prompt returns, run this command to start up graphics:
Then you can install synaptic if you like to see what all software is available. Aptitude is better at resolving dependency issues and does a better job removing stuff cleanly with the "purge" option.

The package manager will handle installing the packages that you need. Selecting the kde desktop when installing the system would have done this for you.
xorg libraries and drivers are compiled with dependencies on the installed libraries, and kde and it's apps are dependent on specific versions of xorg and other things that the distribution was compiled with.
maybe someone will post a simple apt command for you to install up to what you need.

Just one thing to note, although Debian recommends using aptitude over apt-get, I think Ubuntu recommends apt-get.

Cheers,

Evo2.

I wanted to make sure i install only stuff that i need,thats why i opted for this approach. I dont really wnat to install kde games koffice and lot of stuff that it comes with.

Do i need to install the video drivers and input drivers separately after installing the xorg?

@whansard- Well i dont need the direct commands that i need to enter,what i wanted was the procedure ,am doing this so that i could learn how to build a minimal desktop system.

To precisely answer your question you should describe your needs more precisely, in particular the resources you have (disk space available for Linux, RAM; CPU, ...) and what do you want to do. I go on with a generic answer.

Before trying to tune Ubuntu, you should check if other distros could do better. Ubuntu is an excellent non minimal easy going distro, good for everyday's life (I use it, with gnome); minimalising it sounds a bit of nonsense.

In addition, for a minimal install KDE does not seem to be the proper choice, it is heavy regarding both disk space and needed RAM (this is also true for Gnome, though it is slightly less resources demanding).

There is a fork distribution of Ubuntu, called Xubuntu, with a much lighter, though efficient, default X-window system, which has the merit of being already fine tuned with the distro.

Otherwise, you should consider leaving the Ubuntu universe. There are excellent, clean distros which are not burdened by "microsoftism", like Slackware and SUSE (and many others).

If you like to try and test, and you really need to take the most from a small system, there are distros devised for optimisation, like Gentoo, where you really build the system step by step. But I would not recommend if you have no real experience of Linux internals (unless you have some experience as a C programmer): things like "ls", "ln", "chmod", "swapon", "mkfs", "mount", "fstab"... should have a precise technical meaning to you. Or you have a lot of spare time, in which case Gentoo is the university of Linux internals.

If you want to know more about the infinitely many distros, there is dedicated forum: "Distro reviews", which you might find useful.

Good luck!

Ok here are my specs for the laptop

Amd turion X2 M500 2.2Ghz
4 Gb ram
Ati radeon HD4650 1GB
320 GB HDD.

I'm in no hurry,so i dont mind trying and testing it out untill it works.

Those commands I posted will get you graphics using free display drivers, all input devices will be configured and running. Depending on which graphics card you have, you may want to try proprietary drivers for extra capabilities after the fact.

And if you try to do it with apt-get instead of aptitude, you'll end up spending an eternity trying to resolve dependencies just to end up installing what aptitude will in one command.

@ Thanks brains,ill try it out.By the way i was reading the arch linux wiki,it has good approach on how to a build a working system from a minimal system. I guess i could use that as a guide.

Dependencies? Perhaps you are talking about "recommends".

If so apt-get can do this with flags or entries in apt.conf. Eg.

And don't get me wrong, I too think aptitude is better than apt-get, but it is probably better if the OP sticks with what his distro advocates.

Cheers,

EVo2.

Sorry for the delay , i got my system working this is what i did

-> installed ubuntu server ( comes with no gui)
-> installed hal and dbus
-> installed xorg,with input drivers and the free driver for my ati radeon hd4650 mobility card
-> installed a basic window manager like icewm and fluxbox
-> started x
-> installed the prop. ati radeon drivers from ati site.Before that i had to install the linux headers.
-> installed kdebase-workspace and other stuff that i needed.

sounds good!

You got a pic of your fluxbox/ice desktop?
did you customize it?

whats your install weight? under or over 2GB?

what version of buntu? 9.04 or 9.10?

you should maybe try fvwm-crystal; beautiful

What was wrong with the question? He stated exactly what he wanted to do. You want him to do something else, obviously.

Glad to hear you got it running how you want. You can search these forums for fluxbox configuration tips and you will not be disappointed.

Good work. That goes to prove that you can do what you want with any distro.

hi linus,

I installed ubuntu server 9.10.Even though i have icewm and fluxbox,i mainly use kde.icewm is just a fallback.Well total weight after installing the kdebase and some libs was something around 1.2GB. Later,i installed lot of stuff which i actually need,like

Browser- FF,chrome
File manager- dolphin,konqueror
mediaplayers - Vlc and mplayer with all the codecs
Music players- amarok and songbird
pim - kontact
Office- scribus & abiword
emulator- wine and also sun virtualbox
security - iptables from netfilter site along with clamav
eyecandy - compiz n emerald.
mysql

Lastly i installed the alsa-lib,alsa-driver and alsa-util from the alsa site. I had tough time making the audio work as i had to download dependencies like curses e.t.c.

I guess the installation size after installing all that is somewhere around 3.4 GB.I used remastersys to make a bootable iso and the iso is around 1.4 Gigs.

I can take the snapshot of the system when i am home.