[Solved] A little guide for installing multiple DEs?

Lizard · 2016-12-15 09:02:32

I have gnome installed, and gdm as display manager (login manager). I want to install KDE Plasma beside my Gnome, I read that this is possible.
should I just pacman it or some pre-installation steps are required? is there any post-installation steps required too?
and will gdm support KDE? if not, which one support both gnome and KDE so I can login and choose DE? and how to install and enable it?
another question, I will install it on the same partition as gnome, is that ok?
sorry, I am a newbie and my fault is I'm in love with arch right away.

Last edited by Lizard (2016-12-15 13:04:27)

woodape · 2016-12-15 09:17:20

It should really only mean installing the "plasma" group with pacman. You should check the Wiki here for further details, but if you're running GDM for your display manager, you'd just select "plasma" from the session dropdown.

A better question to be asking is "should" you do this. GNOME and KDE have very few overlapping packages, meaning you've probably doubled the size and frequency of your update/upgrades. You'll be able to see GNOME programs from your KDE menus and visa versa, which kinda kills the "environment" aspect if you ask me. If you really want to do it, go for it, but if you just want to try out one or the other, just install it in a virtual machine and have it in a sandbox.

Lizard · 2016-12-15 09:37:10

A better question to be asking is "should" you do this. GNOME and KDE have very few overlapping packages, meaning you've probably doubled the size and frequency of your update/upgrades.

I think I didn't get this, do you mean when I hit pacman -Syu it will update both kde and gnome? what the downside in this?

You'll be able to see GNOME programs from your KDE menus and visa versa, which kinda kills the "environment" aspect if you ask me. If you really want to do it, go for it, but if you just want to try out one or the other, just install it in a virtual machine and have it in a sandbox.

I really hate virtual machines, and not considering them as a choice. is there a way that make programs and packages do not "overlap"?

woodape · 2016-12-15 10:06:54

Lizard wrote:

I think I didn't get this, do you mean when I hit pacman -Syu it will update both kde and gnome? what the downside in this?

The downside is as I said, a rough doubling of the number of packages to update/upgrade. This takes extra time, bandwidth, and hard drive space. If those aren't concerns for you then it isn't an issue.

Lizard wrote:

I really hate virtual machines, and not considering them as a choice. is there a way that make programs and packages do not "overlap"?

If you have two separate Arch installs on different partions, you could have one install be GNOME and the other KDE, and select the one you want to boot into from GRUB. But then you'd have to update both systems separately. Otherwise, if you just install plasma alongside GNOME, both environments will be looking at the same *.desktop files, bin folders, etc. This is usually a feature because there may be a handful of GNOME programs you want to use in KDE or visa versa so it is useful that the two environments look in the same place for them. I have no idea how you'd stop KDE from seeing GNOME programs installed on your system or GNOME from seeing KDE in this scenerio.

Awebb · 2016-12-15 11:22:27

So much FUD in one thread :-)

1. Install as many packages as you like. Pacman will tell you, if there are conflicts. There usually are no conflicts between desktops.

2. Most display managers (like GDM) should be able to run most desktop environments. Some desktops like Gnome have special integration with their display managers (GDM in that case), so you might lose a minor feature or two, if you don't go for total integration.

3. If you use different desktops based on different toolkits (like Qt or GTK), you might bump into occasional design inconsistencies, because toolkit designs are not configured per desktop, but per user.

4. I'm not sure why woodape is riding that particular horse, but naturally, if you install more packages, you'll have to update more packages when you update. Please read the pacman wiki article and man page, to understand how updates work on Arch. Hint: You always update the whole system.

Trilby · 2016-12-15 12:10:11

Lizard, you have another open active thread where you are concerned about ~7GB out of your ~10GB parition being used up already. As indicated in that thread, that's not surprising as you have lots of big packages installed (one of the biggest DE's and a full Wine system in there too). Now you are proposing installing the other biggest DE as well.

There is absolutely no concern of the variety you are raising in this thread: install whatever packages you want. But given your partition size and the things you've already installed, you *will* run out of space very quickly.

Lizard · 2016-12-15 12:19:04

Awebb wrote:

So much FUD in one thread :-)
1. Install as many packages as you like. Pacman will tell you, if there are conflicts. There usually are no conflicts between desktops.
2. Most display managers (like GDM) should be able to run most desktop environments. Some desktops like Gnome have special integration with their display managers (GDM in that case), so you might lose a minor feature or two, if you don't go for total integration.
3. If you use different desktops based on different toolkits (like Qt or GTK), you might bump into occasional design inconsistencies, because toolkit designs are not configured per desktop, but per user.
4. I'm not sure why woodape is riding that particular horse, but naturally, if you install more packages, you'll have to update more packages when you update. Please read the pacman wiki article and man page, to understand how updates work on Arch. Hint: You always update the whole system.

thank you very much!
Now I will install in peace of mind..

Lizard · 2016-12-15 12:23:39

Trilby wrote:

Lizard, you have another open active thread where you are concerned about ~7GB out of your ~10GB parition being used up already. As indicated in that thread, that's not surprising as you have lots of big packages installed (one of the biggest DE's and a full Wine system in there too). Now you are proposing installing the other biggest DE as well.
There is absolutely no concern of the variety you are raising in this thread: install whatever packages you want. But given your partition size and the things you've already installed, you *will* run out of space very quickly.

thank you for your concern @Trilby, but I had removed arch completly after that thread and repartition again and installed arch and gnome. Now I have 70G on both my home and root, so volume won't be a concern any more.
P.s: the thread you mentioned is not solved but I don't need it anymore, I couldn't find "delete post", and couldn't make it solved because it isn't. What should I do?

Last edited by Lizard (2016-12-15 12:24:18)

Awebb · 2016-12-15 12:54:04

Are the questions you had in this thread answered? If yes, the thread is solved. Edit your thread and put [SOLVED] in the beginning of the title. We're quite a manual bunch here.

We don't delete threads, just because somebody is done with them. Chances are somebody with the same frame of mind and level of knowledge as you might search for the same key words you used, find this thread and gets stuff done without opening a new thread.

Arch Linux

#1 2016-12-15 09:02:32

[Solved] A little guide for installing multiple DEs?

#2 2016-12-15 09:17:20

Re: [Solved] A little guide for installing multiple DEs?

#3 2016-12-15 09:37:10

Re: [Solved] A little guide for installing multiple DEs?

#4 2016-12-15 10:06:54

Re: [Solved] A little guide for installing multiple DEs?

#5 2016-12-15 11:22:27

Re: [Solved] A little guide for installing multiple DEs?

#6 2016-12-15 12:10:11

Re: [Solved] A little guide for installing multiple DEs?

#7 2016-12-15 12:19:04

Re: [Solved] A little guide for installing multiple DEs?

#8 2016-12-15 12:23:39

Re: [Solved] A little guide for installing multiple DEs?

#9 2016-12-15 12:54:04

Re: [Solved] A little guide for installing multiple DEs?

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