KDE & Cinnamon Switching at Boot

Marc

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I used the Cinnamon default that came with my install of Linux Mint 18.1. Love it and it works just fine. I am just returning back to the Linux world after losing faith with Ubuntu last few years. Friend told me about MINT and he was right. Great OS.

Well I did want to experiment with the KDE desktop so I did a command line install, update, was brought to a screen asking to choose how I wanted to choose my desktop environment at boot. Figured I was all good. I rebooted and still I am given no option and it just starts up in my original Cinnamon.
 


At the login screen you should be able to choose which type of desktop session you want to log-into.

The location of the session selector will vary depending on what display manager/login manager you are using and the theme you have running on the greeter screen. I'm not a Mint/Cinnamon user, so I don't know where it is offhand. Either way, somewhere on the login page will be a button that you can click that will list all of the different desktop sessions that are installed on your machine.

Most login managers will log you into the last desktop environment you used if you do not specify a session in the session chooser. Once you have switched into KDE via the session chooser, KDE will be set as the default session until you use the session switcher to switch to another DE/WM.

If you are the only user on the computer and you have it set to automatically log into the desktop on boot - then things are different. It's been years since I used auto-login, but if memory serves - I think you'll need to set up a .dmrc file in your home folder (e.g. ~/.dmrc). In the .dmrc file, you can specify which desktop to log into.
e.g.
Code:
[desktop]
Session=kde-plasma
As long as you have the kde.desktop file in the /usr/share/xsessions/ - you should be good to go... I think! ;)
 
At the login screen you should be able to choose which type of desktop session you want to log-into.

The location of the session selector will vary depending on what display manager/login manager you are using and the theme you have running on the greeter screen. I'm not a Mint/Cinnamon user, so I don't know where it is offhand. Either way, somewhere on the login page will be a button that you can click that will list all of the different desktop sessions that are installed on your machine.

Most login managers will log you into the last desktop environment you used if you do not specify a session in the session chooser. Once you have switched into KDE via the session chooser, KDE will be set as the default session until you use the session switcher to switch to another DE/WM.

If you are the only user on the computer and you have it set to automatically log into the desktop on boot - then things are different. It's been years since I used auto-login, but if memory serves - I think you'll need to set up a .dmrc file in your home folder (e.g. ~/.dmrc). In the .dmrc file, you can specify which desktop to log into.
e.g.
Code:
[desktop]
Session=kde-plasma
As long as you have the kde.desktop file in the /usr/share/xsessions/ - you should be good to go... I think! ;)
thanks
 
Hi all

Just a heads up here.

If you are using the "Minties" and wish to multi-DE (Desktop Environment), you are better off starting with KDE, and then adding on eg Cinnamon, MATE, Xfce &c.

Cinnamon and Mate may tell you (when you try to add KDE) that you have broken packages, in Synaptic Package Manager, and they cannot be resolved.

This applies to 18 and 18.1 (Sarah and Serena).

Be aware that in adding the additional DEs, you are not getting the real mccoy, as in full DE, and you will need to tweak a lot. For example, if you start with KDE and add Cinnamon or MATE, you will find features such as Kate (from KDE) being default text editor, &c.

Hope this is not too little too late.

Cheers

Wizard
 
Wish I would have known that..load KDE first. Well I am still having problems. Plasma shows up as an option at boot up, I select Plasma, yet it still just loads Cinnamon. And its not like I hate Cinnamon or anything. I just remember from my old Ubuntu days, KDE was a little more robust interface. So I am not sure what is happening, and I am just getting back into the Linux after leaving it for past 5 years because it seemed Ubuntu just went down the toilet.

Not sure if I have KDE installed correctly or what.
 
Hi Marc, I am hoping you can expand a little on that

Plasma shows up as an option at boot up, I select Plasma, yet it still just loads Cinnamon.

Does this mean that since your OP (original post) at #1, and #6, you are currently
  • (still) using a Cinnamon DE as a baseline, that you
  • have managed to get KDE packages installed, either via the command line or Synaptic Package Manager and now
  • have a bordered pane at login that allows to to choose a DE icon of Cinnamon, Cinnamon Rendered and Plasma - from the top right corner
... or otherwise?

The following two screenshots are taken from my own environment, which includes a set of quadruplets based originally on Linux Mint 18 'Sarah' KDE, which I then upgraded to 18.1 'Serena' via the GUI Updater. I then added Cinnamon, MATE and Xfce to it. So the File Manager is Dolphin while I am in KDE Plasma session.

sbDU2qx.png


Note that I am in /home/<yourusername>/.config - not sure of anyone's skill levels as I am new here. But the dot before config means the folder or file is hidden by default, so in my /home/chris/ I will have clicked Ctrl-h for the session to see them, or for longer term tweaked the Preferences in my FM (File Manager) to show hidden files and directories.

Note that I have highlighted the folders -
  • caja, showing MATE DE is present
  • nemo for Cinnamon and
  • Thunar and xfce4 for Xfce
So that was in your Home folder's subfolders, and it seems that you should have nemo and dolphin showing if you have been successful in installing KDE on a Cinnamon baseline.

The next screenshot is a logical follow on from what JasKinasis was saying above at #2

As long as you have the kde.desktop file in the /usr/share/xsessions/ ...



zmku5bf.png


So we are in usr/share/xsessions (where my Dolphin FM says Root at the left, Cinnamon's would say File System, or Ubuntu ... Computer), and the names are pretty self-explanatory. For the Viewers whom may not know, Plasma and KDE and now intimately and inextricably intermeshed.

So Marc, if you can either present your own screenshots of your circumstances, or else confirm or deny and outline differences, we may get a better picture of where you stand.

If you need help posting screenshots, sing out, unless Rob and his Team have a guide elsewhere (I don't want to go off-Topic or reinvent the wheel).

Cheers all and

avagudweegend

Wizard
 
Marc, how did you install KDE/Plasma?
If definitely sounds like something is missing.....

As Mint is based on Ubuntu - It should just have been a case of installing the kubuntu-desktop meta-package:
Code:
sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop

That should install the full KDE/Plasma desktop along with Dolphin, Kate and some of the other default KDE applications.
When it comes to the actual installation, you may get asked whether you want to change your default login-manager - if the default KDE login manager is different to the currently installed one. But whether you choose to use your current one, or the KDE one, it shouldn't affect your ability to log into your chosen desktop session.

I've been using Debian based distros for years - including various Ubuntu derived distros and I've never had a problem using multiple desktop environments / window managers. But that said, Mint is one of the few Ubuntu derived distros that I have never used. And from what Wizardfromoz has said, perhaps this is a problem that is specific to Mint.... :/
 

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