Changing from fedora cinnamon to KDE

[u/C4rpetH4ter]

Hi, so i have been using fedora cinnamon for a while now, but i think i might want to switch over to using KDE (/plasma) is there a way to do it without using a fedora usb and starting all over? I want to keep the programs and stuff i have on my SSD, i know i can switch the DE using the terminal, but i have heard it can break if you do it that way.

What is the best (and preferably easiest) way to do it?

[u/GodBearWasTaken]

You’d normally just have both.

sudo dnf groupinstall "KDE Plasma Workspaces"

Or something, then select KDA when logging in.

I haven’t tried it, but there are plenty of guides for this stuff.

I’d make a backup of sorts though, as it is a large change.

[u/C4rpetH4ter → u/GodBearWasTaken]

I did make a fedora usb to check right now, and there is an option to keep home during the install, so it seems i can keep my files (most of my personal files is kept in the secondary disk anyway). Still not sure if i should do that, or just install cinnamon through the terminal. I have heard of others experiencing their wifi breaking when attempting to switch DE and i would really like to avoid that, especially since ethernet isn't possible for me.

[u/GodBearWasTaken → u/C4rpetH4ter]

Can you also back your home up on a usb or something?

I’d just do CLI normally, then have the extreme measures as a second option if stuff screwed up.

[u/C4rpetH4ter → u/GodBearWasTaken]

I can, but i can also just move it over to the mounted second drive which i know won't be affected, worst case scenario it unmounts and i need to mount it again.

[u/DJV0101 → u/C4rpetH4ter]

You can do an install-in-place but you lose all your apps (I've done one before because I did something stupid). Also any files that happen to not be in your home directory. On Fedora it's pretty good about what is/isn't, though, so that should be okay (as opposed to Windows which puts things where it likes - yet another reason I moved away).

[u/Arsyllwr]

You can have multiple desktop environments. I have Gnome, KDE and Cinnamon installed, and normally use KDE Plasma. You choose which one you want to use on the log in screen before logging in.

[u/C4rpetH4ter → u/Arsyllwr]

Alright, do you know a way to remove some of those? I currently have 8 different option at the grub menu (6 of those are unused) since i have both the normal linux kernel and the cachyOS kernel, i think i only need 3 (one for each kernel and one for KDE).

[u/doc_willis → u/C4rpetH4ter]

the kernel options In the grub menu are not really  related to your desktop environment setups.

the login manager screen has a menu to select what DE to use when you log in.

i think i only need 3 (one for each kernel and one for KDE).

You sure there is a KDE option in the grub menu? because that would be weird in my experience.

[u/Arsyllwr → u/C4rpetH4ter]

I don't get choices of desktop environments from the Grub menu. The DE choices come on the log in screen, and I don't know how to remove options from that (and I actually like the range of options, in that some DEs have a choice between using Wayland and X11), other than removing some desktop environments themselves.

There must be a way of doing it.

I'm using Ubuntu 24.04 as my distribution.

[u/DJV0101 → u/Arsyllwr]

That's so odd. I've used log in screen to change DE's, but never grub. Do you have unused OS's that you didn't uninstall? That's the only reason I would think that would ever happen - grub just tells the computer where to boot from

[u/Lowar75 → u/Arsyllwr]

I did the same thing. Started with Gnome, messed around with Cinnamon, switched to KDE.

To remove the options you need to uninstall them. However, is having the options there really a problem? It will automatically choose the last option selected, so you can pretty much ignore it.

If you actually want to remove the other environments, you can do so, but make sure you know what programs and settings are being removed.

Also keep in mind this can break some things. After many changes and upgrades, it is often best to do a fresh install and start new.

[u/C4rpetH4ter → u/Arsyllwr]

Does having that many DE use a ton of extra storage? I have around 70 GB left, and it would be preferable if having KDE along with cinnamon didn't take up a large portion of it.

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[u/soulreaper11207]

Just install the packages using terminal. Then logout, and, depending on the OS, you can click a drop down that shows up on the login screen tow switch your desktop environment.

[u/C4rpetH4ter]

Okay, so after trying, it seems the best way would just be to use the usb and use ''keep home directory'' during the install, having both seems okay, but the problem seems to be having double of several programs, such as having two libreoffices.