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.

Post-Install

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

You may also want to take the following optional steps below.

Clean up old packages

You can optionally free up disk space by removing old packages:

1. Open Konsole from the menu at the bottom left of the screen
2. Run apt --dry-run autoremove to check which packages will be auto-removed
3. Use sudo apt-mark to mark any you'd like to keep
4. Run sudo apt autoremove to begin cleanup

Depending on what you choose to keep, this can free up at least a few hundred MB of disk space.

Install the System76 Scheduler Plugin for KDE

To maximize media and game performance, Pop!_OS ships with:

• the System76 Scheduler
• desktop integrations to tell the scheduler which application is important

Since you've replaced the desktop, you may need a KDE-specific plugin to use the scheduler to the fullest. Install instructions and source for one are located here: https://github.com/maxiberta/kwin-system76-scheduler-integration

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?

These scripts revive an earlier experiment with converting Pop!_OS to use KDE as the default desktop. The project builds on the contributions of the following:

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

Later KDE Versions

[!WARNING] These are known to break installs as of the last test!

We welcome pull requests to fix it.

I'm brave!

If you still want to try to install a KDE Plasma 5 desktop than 5.24, the Kubuntu Backports ppa may provide a foundation to start tinkering.

The following steps may help figure it out:

1. Be sure you can afford to lose or break the install you'll try this on
2. Run the following:

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

Even if it doesn't break the install, later versions may also introduce additional changes and install steps beyond those for KDE 5.24.