Elijah Lofgren

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KDE Tips for Kubuntu and Ubuntu

Use the Human ubuntulooks theme for GTK apps

  1. Install the Human ubuntulooks theme:

    sudo apt-get install gtk2-engines-ubuntulooks 
  2. Download the i386.rpm of gtk-chtheme
  3. Install the program to convert RPM packages to Debian packages:

    sudo apt-get install alien
  4. Convert it to a deb:

    sudo alien gtk-chtheme-0.3.1-1.i386.rpm
  5. Install the generated deb:

    sudo dpkg -i gtk-chtheme_0.3.1-2_i386.deb
  6. Run gtk-chtheme:

    gtk-chtheme
  7. Click on "Human"
  8. Click the "Apply"" button.
  9. Log out and back into KDE

Add CPU, Memory and Swap monitoring applet to the KDE panel

  1. Install the extra applets for the KDE Panel:

    sudo apt-get install kicker-applets
  2. Right click on a part of the KDE panel and from the menu choose "Add Applet to Panel..."
  3. In the search box type "monitor"
  4. Click on "System Monitor - A simple system monitor"
  5. Click the "Add to Panel" button.
  6. Now grab the applet by it's handle and drag it to where you want it placed.

Use KDE File Dialogs in Gtk Apps

Check out this link: KGtk (Use KDE Dialogs in Gtk Apps).

How to install Kuickshow on Ubuntu Dapper Drake 6.06

For some reason Kuickshow was not included in Ubuntu 6.06. You can install it from Debian, but it's a little tricky.

Here's how:

  1. First enable the universe repository.
  2. Next, install imlib11:

    sudo apt-get install imlib11
  3. Go to the Debian Kuickshow package page and under the "Download" heading click on your architecture, in my case it's i386.
  4. Now choose a mirror. The http.us.debian.org/debian one should work fine.
  5. Save the "kuickshow_3.5.3-1_i386.deb" file somewhere and go to that directory in your console. (I downloaded it to /home/install/kuickshow.):
    cd /home/install/kuickshow
  6. Extract the deb file into the current directory:
    dpkg-deb --extract kuickshow_3.5.3-1_i386.deb ./
  7. You'll now see that a "usr" directory has been created:
    elijahlofgren@ubuntu:/home/install/kuickshow$ ls
    kuickshow_3.5.3-1_i386.deb usr
  8. Now to install Kuickshow you just need to copy that folder to the root of your filesystem:
    sudo cp -Rv usr / 
  9. Kuickshow should now be install, you may have to log in and back out for it to show up in the KDE menu.
Note: I just found out that you can increase brightness with Gwenview. The ability to easily increase brighness was the main reason I installed Kuickshow. I would reccomend that Gwenview be used instead as it is still being maintained.

Increase Brightness with Gwenview

Increasing brightness in Gwenview can be done with either "View -> Colors -> Increase Brightness" or with "Control + B".

To decrease brightness click "View -> Colors -> Decrease Brightness" or press "Control + Shift + B"

Thanks to Lubos Lunak for informing me that Gwenview had this feature in a comment on the KDE Commit-Digest for 25th June 2006.

How to install Gnome on Kubuntu

You can either install just Gnome by running this:

sudo apt-get install gnome

Or you can install everything you would have gotten by installing Ubuntu from the CD by running this:

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop

Now you can login to Gnome by choosing "Gnome" as the "Session Type" in KDM

Make list of users to login as be shown in KDM

  1. First, you need to disable the Kubuntu KDM theme:

    1. Open /etc/kde3/kdm/kdmrc and find:

      UseTheme=true
    2. change it to:

      UseTheme=false
  2. Now you need to enable the userlist:

    1. Open "K Menu -> System Settings"
    2. Click on "Login Manager"
    3. Click the "Administrator Mode..." button.
    4. Enter your password and click the "OK" button.
    5. Click on the "Users" tab.
    6. On the left under the "Users" section make sure that the "Show list" checkbox is checked.
    7. Click the "Apply" button.
    8. Now you can Log Out and you should see the users list in the KDE Login Manager (KDM)

Remove KDE Dragon from Logout menu

Run this command:

sudo rm /usr/share/apps/ksmserver/pics/shutdownkonq.png

Easily install VMWare Player.

See the InstallingVmPlayer page in the Ubuntu wiki.

Share Windows files with VMware

Here's what I have set in /etc/samba/smb.conf to share my Windows files with VMware:

# Security mode. Defines in which mode Samba will operate. Possible
# values are share, user, server, domain and ads. Most people will want
# user level security. See the Samba-HOWTO-Collection for details.
security = share

[Windows]
path = /mnt/windows
comment = Windows Files
available = yes
browseable = yes
public = yes
writable = yes