HowTo install KDE 3 into Intrepid (repost)

[dentaku65]

5-12-2008
Very imortant!
Thanks (again) to Madscientist159 the "official" and compatible KDE3 repository is online and ready.
Here the steps to install KDE3 into Intrepid.

(A) If you never installed KDE3 into Intrepid

Open your apt sources.list

kdesu kate /etc/apt/sources.list

And add the following lines at the end of the file:

#KDE3 Intrepid PPA
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/kb9vqf/ubuntu intrepid main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/kb9vqf/ubuntu intrepid main

Save and exit the file. Then do:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop-kde3

You'll get a bunch of packages to install, choose y (there is not verification on PPA repositories). When the installation finish, reboot your machine, at the kdm logon choose KDE3 as session.
Done!

(B) If you had installed KDE3 previously following the guide below, do this
Copy your configs:

sudo cp -R ~/.kde ~/.kde3

Reboot your machine and login into Gnome
Open your apt sources.list

gksudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

Remove (if exists) these lines:

deb http://apt.pearsoncomputing.net/ intrepid main
deb-src http://apt.pearsoncomputing.net/ intrepid main

and add these lines at the end of the file:

#KDE3 Intrepid PPA
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/kb9vqf/ubuntu intrepid main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/kb9vqf/ubuntu intrepid main

Save and exit the file. Then do:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get remove kdelibs4c2a gdebi gdebi-core kdebase-data
sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop-kde3

You'll get a bunch of packages to remove/install, choose y (there is not verification on PPA repositories). When the installation finish, reboot your machine, at the kdm logon choose KDE3 as session.
Done!


19-11-2008
Important!
The KDE3 repositories are offline now.
Madscientist159 and Kubuntu Team are working to provide official KDE3 packages/repo for Kubuntu Intrepid.
Please be patient.
Thanks to everyone.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php...&postcount=107
http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php...&postcount=111
http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php...&postcount=114


Prologue
I switched to Kubuntu Intrepid from Hardy and I kept KDE 3 because, in my opinion, KDE 4 is not ready to day-by-day pc operations.

This is not a post against KDE 4, so please do not start flame war about KDE.

I understand at large the reasons why Kubuntu team make the decision to switch the WM into KDE 4 and to do not include KDE 3 anymore; in my view this is a simply wrong decision, but it's ok.
Anyway, because I like very much *ubuntu philosophy and KDE, I found a way to continue to use my distribution at the ultimate release (Intrepid) with my favorite (at the moment) WM, KDE 3.

First of all I must say a big thanks to Madscientist159 that, without his precious works, the solution to use KDE 3 into Intrepid was not possible. Again, Madscientis159, in the full sense of *ubuntu community, invest his time and knowledge into this possibility.

I did the following steps personally, but I do not guarantee that this will work for you, but if I can I'll try to help you.
Please follow the steps indicated if you are a quite experienced user of the system.

The upgrade from Hardy to Intrepid
When you are still in Hardy install Gnome environment

sudo aptitude install ubuntu-desktop

Reboot your machine and log into Gnome
Open a terminal window and do:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist upgrade

Accept the updates if any.
Download on your desktop my source list file sources.txt (available at the end of the post); the repositories in the sources.txt are the official one from Ubuntu; then do:

sudo cp ~/Desktop/sources.txt /etc/apt/sources.list

Then upgrade the system from Hardy to Intrepid: To upgrade from Ubuntu 8.04, press Alt+F2 and type in "update-manager -d" (without the quotes) into the command box. Update Manager should open up and tell you: New distribution release '8.10' is available. Click Upgrade and follow the on-screen instructions.

(I did not make the command above to upgrade, but I used apt-get, the comand above is the official one anyway)

At the end of installation reboot your machine and log into Gnome. Now you are in Intrepid

Install KDE 3 into Intrepid
Attention! Install KDE 3 will REMOVE official Kubuntu KDE 4
Open the sources.list file

gksudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

And add the following lines (the Madscientist159 repository) at the end and save/close the file:

###KDE3 on Intrepid
deb http://apt.pearsoncomputing.net/ intrepid main
deb-src http://apt.pearsoncomputing.net/ intrepid main

Add GPG to the repository:

wget http://apt.pearsoncomputing.net/public.gpg
sudo apt-key add public.gpg

Then do:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
sudo apt-get install kde3

Reboot your machine and log into KDE; now you are in KDE 3 in Intrepid

Annoyances
Fix KDM login window

sudo ln -s /usr/share/apps/kdm/themes/Krystal/ /usr/share/apps/kdm/themes/kubuntu

Remove kde applet for network-manager (is not working)

sudo apt-get remove knetworkmanager network-manager-kde

Add nm-applet of Gnome into KDE

sudo ln -s /usr/bin/nm-applet ~/.kde/Autostart/nm-applet

Probably you must reconfigure kicker (KDE app bar and some stuff in kcontrol like fonts and style), if you had previously (in Hardy) installed compiz+emerald the configuration will be kept intact.

Reboot to get your networking works under KDE
Basically now you have finished, just add Medibutu repositories

sudo wget http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/intrepid.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install medibuntu-keyring && sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Accept the updates if any.

Do you still want KDE 4?
You can use the Nightly Neon ppa repositories (no GPG for authenticated packages)
Open sources.list

kdesu kate /etc/apt/sources.list

And add the following lines at the end of the file, then save/close the file:

###Amarok2 & KDE4 Nightly Neon!!
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/project-neon/ubuntu intrepid main

Then do:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
sudo apt-get install kde-nightly

Reboot the machine. Now you can choose 3 WM at the login window:

* KDE 3
* KDE 4 (Nightly)
* Gnome


That's it. Good luck!

[madscientist159]

As the originator of the KDE3.5 repository, I'd like to say thank you to Dentaku for posting an excellent howto!

Also, if you find any bugs (broken packages, packages that won't upgrade, KDE3.5 programs that are broken or don't work), please report them to my bugtracker at http://bugs.pearsoncomputing.net/

Thanks!

Tim

[madscientist159]

To the poster who wanted to know how to "downgrade" back to KDE4:
You will need to run this command before attempting to install the KDE4 master meta-package (kubuntu-desktop, IIRC):
sudo apt-get remove '.*kde.*'
Basically, because KDE3 is treated as an upgrade to KDE4, you need to completely remove it, meaning all of its packages, before you can install KDE4.

NOTE: I have not tried this as I am away from my main test machine. If there is an error, post it here and I'll try to assist.

[blackbelt_jones]

Oh God how could they?

[madscientist159]

Originally Posted by blackbelt_jones Oh God how could they?

Looks like a lot of people still wanted KDE3...in two days, my repository has transferred 12Gb of data to 200+ unique addresses and still climbing!

Have you tried KDE3 under Intrepid yet? It is even faster in some respects than it was under Hardy, mainly due to the Xorg update I think.

[curuxz]

not that I wish to make this thread into a flame, but I am so $%^&ed off with the Kubuntu team right now its unbelievable.

What were they thinking retiring KDE 3.5 without asking anyone?!?!? Better still what the hell were they thinking when they decided that KDE 4 was ready?! 90% of the functionality of kde 3.5 is missing and almost 100% of the stability.

As a user of linux for 10 years this has to be the worst move by ANY dev team I have ever seen and now I have to waste my valuable time re-installing because valiant as your post is it simply leaves half my system broken.

[madscientist159]

Before you re-install, can you please post the error output of whatever upgrade command you were using? Otherwise I have no chance to fix whatever went wrong. Also, a reinstall may not be necessary at all...there are ways to force the packaging system back into a working state.

Thanks!

[Paul S]

Yes, there is a need / desire / wish for a stable kde on intrepid, and for some, it's not met by kde 4. But, I think kubuntu dev's made it clear that they can't do both.

Would madscientist159 consider joining kubuntu team and posting them on kubuntu ppa, like some the original 3.5.10 were done for hardy? Then he could get free bandwidth too!

regards,

[curuxz]

OK here are my main list of faults with your KDE 3.5 for 8.10 fix

- The taskbar and panel over lap in corners (i have one down the right side and one along the bottom, VERY annoying)

- Like the taskbars, desktop icons refuse to see the panel too so they go under it, again annoying.

- Networking is FUBAR, i had to manually override the config even with your suggestion above.

- sound is DEAD

- WiFi is DEAD

- System performance is now very very low, even after I disabled all fancy effects mem usage for Xorg is just under 1 gig!!!!! This may just be the new version but stupid memory requirements seem very very vista'ish

Sorry no specific errors since they all just 'dont work' and as much as I would like to route around and fix them I have a major web site launch this weekend and really did not need this mamoth waste of time.

KDE & Kubuntu devs have really sold out the hard working power user with this update. I am really sad.

[madscientist159]

Originally Posted by curuxz OK here are my main list of faults with your KDE 3.5 for 8.10 fix - The taskbar and panel over lap in corners (i have one down the right side and one along the bottom, VERY annoying) - Like the taskbars, desktop icons refuse to see the panel too so they go under it, again annoying. - Networking is FUBAR, i had to manually override the config even with your suggestion above. - sound is DEAD - WiFi is DEAD - System performance is now very very low, even after I disabled all fancy effects mem usage for Xorg is just under 1 gig!!!!! This may just be the new version but stupid memory requirements seem very very vista'ish Sorry no specific errors since they all just 'dont work' and as much as I would like to route around and fix them I have a major web site launch this weekend and really did not need this mamoth waste of time. KDE & Kubuntu devs have really sold out the hard working power user with this update. I am really sad.

OK, can you try something for me? Go to your home directory from the command line (do not have KDE active at this point--just switch to a virtual terminal and log in). Execute

mv .kde .kde-old

and switch back to KDM or GDM and try to log in again. KDE4 will really crud up the .kde settings folder causing all kinds of weird issues like the ones you describe.

WiFi and networking in general are known problems, and the fault does not lie with me. Try complaining to the KNetworkManager people who broke WiFi support in Intrepid (technically, KNetworkManager was not properly updated to handle the new 0.7 networkmanager backend, so nm-applet is the only networkmanager frontend that will work).

Regarding memory usage, did you have Firefox open at the time (or at all since you started the computer)? There was a bug with Firefox, Flash and the new Xorg that sounds similar to your description--not sure if it is fixed now or not.

Hope this helps,

Tim