[DESKTOP] How do I strip Plasma x from Kubuntu?

[Pepse]

I am thinking of going back to Kubuntu after 3 years of (1st) Mepis and (2) Lubuntu because I need/want something newer than Mepis 11 (As of now still no Mepis 12) and Lubuntu is a bit flaky, but really fast; loved it. I ran Kubuntu for about 7 years and the one thing I Don't need is the fluff of the Plasma environment. And Mepis uses a stripped down Kubuntu desktop so I am wondering that if I installed Kubuntu 14.04 if I could remove the Plasma environment? I did check out MX-14 but I do not like the Ubuntu style desktop.

Pepse.

[Danum]

Pepse, some corrections to your post,
The last version of Mepis to use the Kubuntu Desktop was Mepis 6.5, and that was a KDE3 desktop.
Mepis 11, was released as a KDE4 distro, but it never worked as one from day one, KDE 4.5 came from the Debian QT/KDE developers, not Kubuntu plus it came with a health warning, and never made it into Debian.
The only release of Mepis 11 that ever worked as it should was Mepis Roadblock.
http://forum.mepiscommunity.org/view...p?f=59&t=32565
Mepis 12, is a remaster of the first release of Suduction. as of now Mepis is dead and has been for a long time

As for removing the plasma desktop. simple answer is no, you cannot remove it unless you want to remove KDE, even Mepis 11 uses the plasma desktop that is how KDE is built.

Advice, install Kubuntu then use it as you are doing now with Mepis 11, which is as a KDE3 desktop, problem solved.

[oshunluvr]

If you don't "need the fluff" of the Plasma, you don't need KDE. I suggest trying Xubuntu if you want a modern release without KDE and based on Ubuntu.

[richb]

Another correction, MX-14 does not have an Ubuntu style desktop, It is XFCE.

[Pepse]

richb, To me the MX-14 desktop is like Ubuntu. Ubuntu uses the Gnome desktop which is what XFCE is like; except with XFCE you get the taskbar on the side or top. Never liked that.

Danum, Well considering Mepis 11 runs KDE4.3 it was better because I don't recall it having the plasma environment, which bogs down the computer. And what I have is a Gigabyte EP43-UD3L mobo with 4 gigs of DDR2 ram and a Core2 Duo 3GHZ 1333FSB chip and a 1 Gig Nvidia PCIE vid card. When Kubuntu with the KDE 4.x environment came out with the plasma desktop environment the computer bogged down, like windows. That is when I switched to Trinity 10.10 for a couple years then to Mepis 11. Ran that for a couple years then switched to Lubuntu 13.10. Lubuntu is okay but seems a little buggy. I love the lightweight OS. But I figured if I went back to Kubuntu and got rid of Plasma I could have a good stable OS.

oshunluvr, Xubuntu is XFCE. Not good.

Later.

[Danum]

richb, To me the MX-14 desktop is like Ubuntu. Ubuntu uses the Gnome desktop which is what XFCE is like; except with XFCE you get the taskbar on the side or top. Never liked that.

Danum, Well considering Mepis 11 runs KDE4.3 it was better because I don't recall it having the plasma environment, which bogs down the computer.
But I figured if I went back to Kubuntu and got rid of Plasma I could have a good stable OS.
.

Pepse, Mepis 11 uses a bit of a hybrid desktop, although it was released as a KDE 4.5.1 desktop, it is a mix of 4.5.1 and 4.5.3,
Mepis 8.5 uses KDE 4.3 which was the first official release of KDE4 in Mepis
From day one all releases of KDE4 were/are built with the plasma desktop, remove it and you remove KDE.

I doubt very much if it is plasma that is giving you problems, it will most likely be graphics, have you tried a live Kubuntu DVD,

And for what it is worth I agree with you about Gnome, Gnomes belong at the bottom of the garden

[SteveRiley]

Ubuntu uses the Gnome desktop

Not quite. Ubuntu uses most of GNOME, but ditches GNOME Shell for Unity, an alternate desktop shell. Other portions of GNOME are also replaced; see information on Ayatana, Canonical's user experience project. Unity is a part of Ayatana. Over time, the amount of GNOME present is decreasing, as Canonical has been using Qt and Nux a lot more lately.

But I figured if I went back to Kubuntu and got rid of Plasma I could have a good stable OS.

You can't. Plasma has been the desktop in KDE since 4.0.

[NickStone]

...Xubuntu is XFCE. Not good.

Later.

Actually Xubuntu is Ubuntu with the XFCE desktop. Kubuntu is Ubuntu with the KDE (plasma-desktop) and Lubuntu is Ubuntu with the LXDE desktop (soon to be replaced with LXQT not sure when though) and Ubuntu is a bag of @#$?

Edit: If you think that KDE (plasma desktop) is too "bloated" you can disable the widgets that run as default when you install Kubuntu, that should make it a little "leaner".

[Pepse]

Okay, let me clarify Ubuntu/Gnome. When I started using Linux back in '01 I had Mandrake 8.4. I could choose between the KDE desktop or the Gnome desktop. I experimented with both and preferred KDE (didn't care for the taskbar on top and Gnome in general). So, when I seen Ubuntu 6.06LTs I got that CD and discovered it was the Gnome desktop. So, I got Kubuntu. Now my point is when I see an OS with the taskbar on top or the side, to me, it is Gnome. So if it looks like I am lost on desktops that is why. I don't pay much attention to any tweaks or whatever that Ubuntu or other OS's have for a Gnome based destop. And so to me XFCE is Gnome-like. And Lubuntu and is KDE-like.
So, I will download Kubuntu 14.04 and see what gives. Maybe I can deal with it this time.

Later. Pepse.
So, of course the thread is for me to try and find a way to remove Plasma and of course I can't. I wanted to go back to Kubuntu as the WIFI setup is/was a piece of cake (I dare say Buntu in general). Because whatever OS I use will go on my tower and a HP laptop.

[Pepse]

NickStone just seen your reply after I posted my reply. Yeah, I can see that by stripping what I can should help. Worth trying. Thanx.

Pepse.

[richb]

Now my point is when I see an OS with the taskbar on top or the side, to me, it is Gnome.

So if you put the panel on the bottom it is not Gnome? Which you can do with XFCE. Or if you put the panel on the right in KDE it is Gnome? With all due respect that is rather a narrow view of what defines a DE.

[SteveRiley]

I'll have to agree with Richb here. Characterizing a desktop environment as GNOME-like or KDE-like just because of the locations of certain elements may hinder you from discovering all the capabilities of the individual desktops. As for KDE, you can place the panel anywhere you like.

[Pepse]

Like I said in an earlier post back when I ran Mandrake I tried the Gnome desktop and "(didn't care for the taskbar on top and Gnome in general)". I tried Gnome with each version of Mandrake (8.x, 9x, 10.x) and even though Gnome was improving I still didn't go with it. To me it was still lagging behind KDE.

As for moving the taskbar around in XFCE are you talking the Xubuntu version? I tried the MX-14 with XFCE 4.10 and the taskbar defaulted on the left and I was able move it to the top, that's it. And in reading up on MX-14 it stated it is customizable; apparently the taskbar isn't.

And so, I am trying to find a stable lightweight OS, but, Lubuntu like I stated earlier is flakey. So, that is why I was think of going back to Kubuntu but would like to strip it down so it is a little faster. As NickStone stated " you can disable the widgets that run as default when you install Kubuntu, that should make it a little "leaner" ". So, that is something to look at.

Later. pepse.

[claydoh]

MX-14?


Um, nevermind..


Anyhoo, perhaps describing what you mean as flakey. I have found Lxde, and Lubuntu quite stable and solid for the few years I have used it on my ancient hardware, until it recently died.

If you want to try something out, you can install openbox, and then in KDE's,system settings default Applications settings, you can switch from using Kwin as the window manager to openbox. Snappy, but plain.

I do think that if you checked out Kubuntu 14.04 or 14,10, you might be surprised how much better the interface runs compared to what you had in Mepis.

[NickStone]

...even though Gnome was improving I still didn't go with it.

Sounds like you'll fit right in here with that attitude to Gnome.

As for moving the taskbar around in XFCE are you talking the Xubuntu version? I tried the MX-14 with XFCE 4.10 and the taskbar defaulted on the left and I was able move it to the top, that's it. And in reading up on MX-14 it stated it is customizable; apparently the taskbar isn't.

XFCE is very customisable, you can position the taskbar any where on the screen including in the centre if you wish.