Installing Plasma 5 in Kubuntu 14.10

[Snowhog]

Just finished installing Plasma 5 on my Kubuntu 14.10 32-bit Toshiba laptop. It was running KDE 4.14.2.

There are conflicting instructions on how to do this if you search the 'Net. I found several and settled on this one initially:

How To Install KDE 5.2 On Kubuntu 14.10 Utopic Unicorn

DO NOT USE THIS ONE! IT HAS A SIGNIFICANT ERROR.

First, you are told:

In order to get KDE Plasma 5.2 on your system, follow the bellow instructions exactly:

However, if you do, when you run:

$ sudo apt-get install kubuntu-plasma5-desktop plasma-workspace-wallpapers

You'll be informed that kubuntu-plasma5-desktop can't be found. That's because it doesn't exist!

Being the person that I am, I cloned the laptop before I began, so I was able to restore it easily.

If you want to install Plasma 5 on your 14.10 installation, use the instructions I followed afterwards:

How to Upgrade to KDE Plasma 5.2 in Kubuntu 14.10

This one works. Scroll down to How to Install / Upgrade to KDE Plasma 5.2 in Ubuntu:
The difference is with the install line:

sudo apt-get install plasma-desktop plasma-workspace plasma-workspace-wallpapers

Note that the package is plasma-desktop not kubuntu-plasma5-desktop

I really don't like posts that contain instructions that are not correct. To many people will follow them without having taken proper safeguards and possibly end up with a crippled system.

[vinnywright]

I just did it .......

But for some strange reason I kept loosing connection with us.archive and the dist-upgrade would quit ,,,,,I'd wate a sec and then run it again until it all completed .

it's ok ,,,,,,,running prity quick ...............lack of system settings stuff still , needs more themes and decorations ,,,, the "get new" themes wouldn’t resolve it's address ,,,,,,,,cant find the trick for different widgets/wallpapers for each desktop,,,,,,,,,,,,,,but I'm sure it will come .

,,,,,,,,, it is running quite light and snapy.

VINNY

[claydoh]

kubuntu-plasma5-desktop was correct, at one point (before 5.2 was released), as it is present in the kubuntu-next ppa. However, the blog post in question is still wrong, since next-backports is now the correct ppa to use. Someone should tell the author that they are wrong. Which will probably not do anything, as it could be some copypasta from someone else's incorrect instructions.

[claydoh]

Well, I commented, we'll see if it is moderated.

(I really really need to but my blogging hat back on and post some of this stuff, since my blog does get aggregated by planet-ubuntu, and that might put it closer to the top of the search results. And more likely to be correct, lol!)

[claydoh]

I just did it .......

But for some strange reason I kept loosing connection with us.archive and the dist-upgrade would quit ,,,,,I'd wate a sec and then run it again until it all completed .

it's ok ,,,,,,,running prity quick ...............lack of system settings stuff still , needs more themes and decorations ,,,, the "get new" themes wouldn’t resolve it's address ,,,,,,,,cant find the trick for different widgets/wallpapers for each desktop,,,,,,,,,,,,,,but I'm sure it will come .

,,,,,,,,, it is running quite light and snapy.

VINNY

Themes and decos will need to be taken up by the theming community
the Get Hot New Stuff is broken off and on lately, more so lately
For different wallpapers for individual virtual desktops, well..............you can't, and likely won't be able to do so, without using Activities instead. This bums me out,even though I do not use virtual desktops at all, but do use Activities - many will be annoyed by this, especially for the desktop cube lovers out there lol! The bug on this is marked as 'wontfix' https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=341143

Which system settings things are missing??
Oops sorry, I forget we are talking 14.10 here. The system settings modules are there, just not visible in the plasma5 version. They should show up in a search in the Kmenu or krunner, or via kcmshell4 <module-name-if-you-know-what-the-heck-it-is-called>. I think a couple I had to install from the package manager, can't remember which, though. I don't seem to be missing anything in my Utopic box other than a user manager.

[apachelogger]

kubuntu-plasma5-desktop was correct, at one point (before 5.2 was released), as it is present in the kubuntu-next ppa.

Next is a bit special. next-backports *needs* next. Using next-backports without next is like using any PPA without having an archive.ubuntu mirror in the sources.list. Next is the base archive of next-backports, without next, next-backports will not offer all the software that is considered part of Kubuntu 14.10 Next.

So. What one would want to do is:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/next
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/next-backports
sudo apt update
...install things...

All that being said, next-backports does offer a complete plasma-desktop, just not a complete kubuntu-plasma5-desktop. Hence why the package is not available

[ronw]

Is it still true that upgrading 14.10 Next to 15.04 will not be supported?

[claydoh]

Next is a bit special. next-backports *needs* next. Using next-backports without next is like using any PPA without having an archive.ubuntu mirror in the sources.list. Next is the base archive of next-backports, without next, next-backports will not offer all the software that is considered part of Kubuntu 14.10 Next.

So. What one would want to do is:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/next
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/next-backports
sudo apt update
...install things...

All that being said, next-backports does offer a complete plasma-desktop, just not a complete kubuntu-plasma5-desktop. Hence why the package is not available

Thanks for the clarification, apachelogger!

[vinnywright]

Well, I commented, we'll see if it is moderated.

(I really really need to but my blogging hat back on and post some of this stuff, since my blog does get aggregated by planet-ubuntu, and that might put it closer to the top of the search results. And more likely to be correct, lol!)

I did to ,,,,,yesterday , and it has been fixed ,,,,,,but nether of our posts showed up .

VINNY

[vsreeser]

Ok,
If I jump in and install plasma5 on my Kubuntu 14.10 and hate it, can I revert to 4 without a total reinstall?

[ronw]

Ok,
If I jump in and install plasma5 on my Kubuntu 14.10 and hate it, can I revert to 4 without a total reinstall?

I believe claydoh used the term "butt pain" in this or another thread.

[claydoh]

Ok,
If I jump in and install plasma5 on my Kubuntu 14.10 and hate it, can I revert to 4 without a total reinstall?

Probably not. You can try using ppa-purge, but since there are too many package changes between the two, it is likely to be a huge messy pain, at best
Most of the difference is really in the theming. Things mostly work the same way in the same places, just looking different. Which of course can be changed.

[claydoh]

Try a vivid iso as a live session to get a real feel of plasma 5 before jumping in to it on 14.10, that will give you a proper idea of how things will look and work. The 14.10 plasma 5 iso is not at all currrent