How to install KDE desktop environment on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS?

Often not all users are satisfied with the desktop environment that Ubuntu has by default, which from the last version made the change from Unity to Gnome. Which this change was a disappointment to several users.

But without, on the other hand, like the majority of Ubuntu users we know that this distribution has different flavors which cover the most popular desktop environments. Given the case and gThanks to the great customization options that Linux allows us, we can change the appearance of our system to our tastes and preferences.

That is why today we are going to share with newbies two ways to get the KDE Plasma desktop environment in our Ubuntu 18.04 or in some derivative of it.

About the KDE Plasma desktop environment

For those who still do not know this great environment I can tell you that this is an environment with a multitude of applications and development infrastructure for various operating systems such as GNU / Linux, Mac OS X, Windows, etc.

The main software components made by KDE are grouped under the name KDE Frameworks, KDE Plasma and KDE Applications.

KDE Applications works completely natively on GNU / Linux, BSD, Solaris, Windows, and Mac OS X.

Having said that, It is important to know that in the two ways we can get KDE Plasma on our system there is a big difference.

Between The installation options that we are going to share we will be able to obtain the Kubuntu Desktop and KDE installation package.

Although in theory they are the same since it is "KDE" these packages have big differences.

Install Kubuntu Desktop on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS and derivatives

This first pack with which we can install KDE on our system is the one offered by the KDE Plasma desktop environment additionally it comes bundled with all the configuration and customization packages that are included in Kubuntu.

In order to install this package we must open a terminal with Ctrl + Alt + T and execute the following in it:

sudo apt install tasksel

When installing this tool we will be able to install all the dependencies of KDE Plasma in Ubuntu.

Done this now we proceed to install the Kubuntu Desktop package on our system with the following command:

sudo apt install kubuntu-desktop

During the installation process of all package configuration packages, we will be asked to choose if we want keep the login manager default we have or if we choose to change it to the one for the desktop environment which is KDM.

Done this at the end of the installation we can proceed to close our user session and we can see that the manager changed.

Now we can select to start our user session with the new KDE desktop environment.

We may notice that some of the default programs were changed so they were installed together with KDE Plasma.

Install KDE Plasma on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS and derivatives

The other method of being able to obtain the environment KDE Plasma desktop on our system it is by regular installation of desktop environment, with which we will only obtain the environment in our system with some minimal configurations.

This option is quite ideal if you want to polish the environment to your liking and not depend on the configurations of others.

To install this package we must open a terminal with Ctrl + Alt + T and we will execute in it:

sudo apt-get install plasma-desktop

At the end of the installation only we must close our user sessionUnlike the previous package with this one, we will still keep our login manager.

Only we must select the login with the new desktop environment that we just installed.

Finally, either of these two methods is valid to be able to obtain KDE Plasma on our system, the difference is between obtaining a more personalized environment or one in vanilla state, so to speak.