ZorinPlasma

Tutorial on how to use KDE Plasma on Zorin OS

WARNING

KDE Plasma might affect how GNOME looks if your planning on dual-environmenting. If you are in that case, be warned!

Step 1: Remove GNOME (Optional)

If you want to replace GNOME with KDE Plasma, you must do this following step. Just to be sure, if you are not comfortable with CLI (Command Line Interface), save this step for when KDE Plasma is now working but it is recommended to remove GNOME first if you want to replace it with KDE Plasma. Firstly run:

sudo apt purge zorin-os-desktop gnome-shell gdm3

Then when your done, you need to clean up the leftovers. To do so, run:

sudo apt autoremove

Step 2: Install KDE Plasma

So this is the step you came for. Please note that all features from Zorin OS will not work on KDE Plasma and if you want the features, you need to customize Plasma to have some of them. Firstly, you need to find what you want to install.

kde-full

This package brings the full Plasma Experience with a bunch of KDE bloat. Not recommended if you hate bloat, but it does it's job.

kde-standard

This package gives the essentials. Most of its 'bloat' are actually useful most of the time. Not recommended once again if you hate bloat.

kde-plasma-desktop

This package gives you the important essentials. It will still give Konsole, Kate, Discover, Dolphin, and Weather, but atleast it is light! Recommeneded if your planning to replace GNOME with KDE Plasma.

Just to be sure

KDE Plasma on Zorin OS will be on version 5.27.12 at latest. You won't get the features that Plasma 6 or above has. If you use Zorin OS 18, that means no floating taskbar.

Now install the package that you chosen

You can choose any package, but I will use the package kde-plasma-desktop as a example. Once you have chosen your package, install it with the following command:

sudo apt install kde-plasma-desktop sddm

Once it is finished installing, if it did not show up a prompt to select sddm, run the command:

systemctl enable sddm

Or if your dual-environmenting GNOME and KDE Plasma but want to use SDDM instead of GDM:

systemctl disable gdm3
systemctl enable sddm

Step 3: Reboot

Once KDE Plasma is finished installing, you will want to reboot and select it.

If your using GDM

Firstly, click on your user. Then click on the gear icon located at the bottom right corner and choose the session labeled "Plasma" or if you want to use the Wayland session, select "Plasma (Wayland)". If you installed the kde-plasma-desktop package, you might want to install the plasma-wayland-session package if you want to use Wayland on KDE Plasma.

If your using SDDM

Firstly, click on the button located at the bottom left corner. It might list "Plasma" and "Plasma X11" or "Plasma (Wayland)" and "Plasma". If "Plasma (Wayland)" is being listed and you want to use the Wayland Session, click on it. If "Plasma X11" is being listed and you want to use the Wayland Session, click on "Plasma". If you installed the kde-plasma-desktop package, you might want to install the plasma-workspace-wayland package if you want to use Wayland on KDE Plasma.

Step 4: Apply a Zorin OS wallpaper (Optional)

If you want atleast some Zorin OS branding, you could use this! Firstly, go to the /usr/share/backgrounds directory. Then, find a wallpaper that you love. Then right click it and click on "Set as wallpaper".