ONLY THE RELEVANT SECTIONS HAVE BEEN UPDATED - all other sections remain the same as the in original posts above.
STEP THREE - ADD NECESSARY REPO FILE:
NOTE: It is necessary to have a working internet connection to proceed. It is not necessary to open a GNOME session as root user. Assuming that you are already logged in as any normal user, open a terminal window (aka "Console", "CLI", "command line"), and become root user:
Code:
su -
<enter root password at prompt>
gedit /etc/yum.repos.d/kde.repo
and <enter>. That's "su" followed by a space and then a dash. You should get an empty document window. Copy and paste the contents of:
http://apt.kde-redhat.org/apt/kde-re...edora/kde.repo to this empty file. "Save" this edited file, and close gedit.
STEP FOUR - DOWNLOAD AND INSTALL PACKAGES:
You should still have the terminal open as root user. If you don't have KDE installed type:
Code:
yum groupinstall KDE (K Desktop Environment)
and <Enter>
If you do have KDE installed type:
Code:
yum groupupdate KDE (K Desktop Environment)
and <Enter>. The repo you created will get you the latest KDE desktop packages. These are FC6 packages.
STEP SEVEN - REPLACE GDM WITH KDM:
GDM = Gnome Display Manager, KDM = K Display Manager; both run on the X Display Manager (XDM) to allow user logins into the X Server, and selected GUI. Both GDM and KDM enhance the login screen appearance and function.
Open konqueror file manager in super user mode. (You'll find it under KMenu=>System=>More Applications=>File Manager - Super User); you will be prompted for the root user's password. Go to folder /etc/sysconfig and open the file: desktop using an editor such as kwrite. Remove the comment markers (#) at the beginning of these lines, or place the following lines into it if they're not there:
DESKTOP="KDE"
DISPLAYMANAGER="KDE"
Then "Save" and close your editor, but not your file manager.
STEP EIGHT - CONFIGURE KDM:
KDM by default does not allow root logins. However, this tends to be unrealistic in a real world environment. Especially when the only two users are you and root. In a corporate environment this makes absolute sense, but not on a personal system. Fedora further muddies things up by shipping their own configuration for KDM and you can't tell the difference between it and GDM with the applied Fedora themes.
If that wasn't enough to confuse you the configuration file (kdmrc) can be in one of two places or both.
/etc/X11/xdm/ and - or /etc/kde/kdm/
If you have a kdmrc file in both folders, then rename the kdmrc file in /etc/X11/xdm/ (simply put a ~ at the end). If it's only in /etc/X11/xdm/, then copy it to /etc/kde/kdm/ and rename the one in /etc/X11/xdm/ as previously mentioned. This will place in the standard KDE location. Open the file /etc/kde/kdm/kdmrc with a text editor such as kedit.
Here is a copy of the kdmrc file I use:
Code:
[General]
ConfigVersion=2.3
ConsoleTTYs=tty1,tty2,tty3,tty4,tty5,tty6
PidFile=/var/run/kdm.pid
ReserveServers=:1,:2,:3
ServerVTs=-7
StaticServers=:0
[Shutdown]
BootManager=Grub
HaltCmd=/sbin/poweroff
RebootCmd=/sbin/reboot
[X-*-Core]
AllowRootLogin=true
AllowShutdown=Root
AutoReLogin=false
ClientLogFile=.xsession-errors-%s
Resources=/etc/X11/xdm/Xresources
Session=/etc/kde/kdm/Xsession
SessionsDirs=/usr/share/xsessions,/usr/share/apps/kdm/sessions,/etc/X11/dm/sessions
Setup=/etc/X11/xdm/Xsetup_0
[X-*-Greeter]
AntiAliasing=true
BackgroundCfg=/etc/kde/kdm/backgroundrc
ColorScheme=
EchoMode=OneStar
FaceSource=PreferUser
FailFont=Sans,12,-1,5,75,0,0,0,0,0
FocusPasswd=true
ForgingSeed=1108476160
GUIStyle=
GreetFont=Sans,16,-1,5,75,0,0,0,0,0
GreetString=Welcome to %s at %n
GreeterPos=50,50
HiddenUsers=Vince,Mike,root
Language=en_US
LogoArea=Logo
LogoPixmap=/usr/share/apps/kdm/pics/kdelogo.png
MaxShowUID=65000
MinShowUID=500
SelectedUsers=Mike,Vince,root
ShowUsers=Selected
SortUsers=false
StdFont=Sans,10,-1,5,50,0,0,0,0,0
Theme=/usr/share/apps/kdm/themes/FedoraDNA
UseBackground=true
UseTheme=true
UserCompletion=false
UserList=true
[X-:*-Core]
AllowShutdown=All
NoPassEnable=false
NoPassUsers=
ServerArgsLocal=-nolisten tcp
[X-:*-Greeter]
DefaultUser=Vince
FocusPasswd=true
LoginMode=DefaultLocal
PreselectUser=None
[X-:0-Core]
AutoLoginAgain=false
AutoLoginDelay=0
AutoLoginEnable=false
AutoLoginLocked=false
AutoLoginUser=None
[Xdmcp]
Enable=false
Willing=/etc/X11/xdm/Xwilling
Xaccess=/etc/X11/xdm/Xaccess
Now my kdmrc is not what you will see, since I no longer have the default Fedora kdmrc. There are two separate entries in Fedora's default kdmrc that say AllowRootLogin=false, both must be set to true if you want to allow root logins. I recommend that you replace the line marked in
red to allow root user login. Lines marked in
blue should be adjusted to reflect the actual usernames on your box. All of the other settings can be modified later; the lines marked in
green indicate lines that you may particularly wish to optionally customize now or later. To customize/change any of these settings later, go to KMenu=>Control Center=>System Administration=>Login Manager. You will need to enter "Administrator Mode" (requires root-user password) to make changes.
I also recommend you comment out (put a # in front of) the line that tells kdmrc what theme to use (so: #Theme=). If you do not do so, your Theme settings will override the login manager's settings, and you won't be able to customize the layout. I have seen it recommended to add the line UseTheme=false. I do not recommend this because you may want use another theme in the future.
Now "Save" your new kdmrc file.
STEP ELEVEN - REMOVE GNOME:
You don't have to remove GNOME, and if you want to keep it then skip the following and go to step Twelve. As root run:
Code:
yum groupremove "GNOME Desktop Environment"
Yep its that simple.
The last section bears repeating (with a few editorial changes):
FINAL NOTES:
This HOWTO is written to allow people to make a choice. Linux is about choice after all. I chose Fedora because it has a solid history based on Red Hat Linux, a large user community for support, and a moderate difficulty level with cutting edge software but a short learning curve. I am, however, a KDE user. I do not dislike GNOME and use it on other systems, but for my personal computer (a.k.a. my desktop), I wanted KDE. Like any HOWTO I went to find a solution to my problem and once I solved that problem I wrote a HOWTO to help others who are looking to do the same thing. GNOME is a great GUI and I like many things about it. GNOME has features not found in KDE and KDE has features not found in Gnome. But Linux allows us to make choices, and I chose to use KDE, as some others will. This is not an endorsement of KDE over GNOME, nor should it be construed as such. Rather this document only gives the information to allow one to make a choice.
Comments/corrections welcome. Enjoy!
VJS
Hybrid Mode
