Vanilla KDE alongside the dragonized one

I'm a newcomer to the linux thing (i've made the switch like 3 days ago) and i've been wondering, is there a way of have 2 versions of the same de installed and ready to use? Just in case i'm not in the mood for the "gaming" vibe of the dragonized stuff, it could also be like a profile/preset you change in the settings or something. i've googled it but to no result that seems to be it.

The DE settings are per user. You could create a second user and change the settings to be default plasma settings.

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There are a couple of ways of looking at this. @dalto's dual user will certainly work but then you lose all your settings.

You can either go dual user and use some "same group" symlink/bind trickery to ensure the settings and things you want on both are always in sync or you can just script the change. KDE was a tad insane last I checked as you have to know the "dealy" (kmshell or something?) that loads/controls all the modules but you could script all the little changes. This would allow a single user but double click make over.

For example in XFCE I used to have this to switch themes for which GPU was which and other things.
DISPLAY=:0.1 xfconf-query -c xsettings -p /Net/ThemeName -s "yellow"
DISPLAY=:0.0 xfconf-query -c xsettings -p /Net/ThemeName -s "yellow"
DISPLAY=:0.1 xfconf-query -c xsettings -p /Net/ThemeName -s "olive"
DISPLAY=:0.0 xfconf-query -c xsettings -p /Net/ThemeName -s "olive"

or xfconf-query -c xfce4-panel -m -v to watch my panels for changes so I could script/replay them.

There is a KDE equivalent (someone who uses KDE chime in) but there is normally a "watch/monitor" command so you can run it from the terminal, see the changes you make then nab the output for scripting later so it can be replayed.

Also welcome. You're in for a hell of a ride but some digging and reading will trigger that reward system in no time :wink:

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isnt there a way to "trick" the os into to thinking its another, separate DE? like a "fork"?

Yeah you could do that but the amount of work to pull it off would be insane not to mention a waste of hard drive space duplicating all the binaries for no real reason other than Yesterday you felt like wearing red and today you feel like blue. In addition to that you'd have to constantly login and logout to change running DE binaries. OR you could make minimal effort to script things as I said, have all your settings and "stuff" available at all times and never have to log out and in every time you felt like a change.

You may want to revisit what "forking" a project means work and effort wise never mind for something a tiny bit of scripting can do. Being new is one thing but how you are looking at this is kinda like building a pyramid upside down.

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As a question about this how drastic are these changes you want to make? If you are put off by a tiny bit of scripting that will require some reading and learning but think forking the whole KDE project and somehow making everything distinct to run as a different DE something is not right in your thinking hehe. Which is to say if you're put off by the easiest and best solution you might want to consider how badly you need this strange variety of choice never mind thinking of the worst and most difficult ways to achieve it.

Spend some time learning how to script, code in some language (if you don't know already) and shelve this thought until you have your head around at least the basics of scripting your DE with the tools available for the very purpose you want before you try some insane reinvention of the wheel---but not round style endevour.

What I proposed is easy.

What @anon92996653 proposed is fairly difficult with dr@g4nized and vanilla.

What you are proposing is vastly more work than the benefits. :grin:

How is scripting the de difficult? This might be a KDE problem but I know XFCE has become terribly broken for multi XScreen/GPU layouts so I have to script my panel placements, themes and there was nothing hard about it. xconf-query -m [channel] make the change I want, note what settings were changed, toss in my start up script...done.

It is because dr4gonized is so heavily customized as compared to vanilla. Figuring out how to script each one of those out would be time consuming.

If you wanted a script it would probably be much easier to write a script that copied the relevant config files in their entirety than scripting each change.

Ah OK well that's valid but still a hell of a lot less effort than forking KDE hahah. If he's OK with the constant logging in and out then I never said your solution was bad other than some settings might be left behind. I also noted some user/group permissions and bind or symlink fun can remedy that.

I wasn't claiming that either solution was better or worse. Just less work :grin:

As a side note, the permissions challenges can be made a non-issue by giving both users the same UID and making their primary group the same.

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Yeah that's what I said ;p toss in a few bind and symlinks for specific things and it's gold, minus the login logout...which I hate...still drives me nuts X can't be dynamically changed in certain ways requiring login/logout.

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The easiest solution for OP, barring a re-issue of what Garuda at one time issued, is probably to install the Barebones and build it up from there. Heck, a simple bash script would pull in all the packages the OP would want to install.

Doesn't need to be complicated.

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I actually think the opposite is true.

The reason I think that is building dr4g0nized from barebones is a decent amount of work. There are a lot of changes. The best way to do that would probably be to either install the dr4g0nized packages but if you do that, why not just start with dr4gonized.

On the other hand, converting a user from the dr4g0nized customizations to a default plasma layout is trivial. Just delete all the config files and let plasma recreate them.

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I have done it both ways. You may have, too. I felt building up gave me more control. Then again, I've always preferred that over deconstructing and finding and eliminating all the bits, pieces, and configs strewn around. That may sound a little anal-retentive--and maybe it is--but I dislike sloppy housekeeping.
:cry:

Give me a 'net connection and a command prompt and I'm ready to go to town.
:smiley:

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Generally speaking, I would agree. However, we are talking about theming here. In this case, the opposite is true. Building up requires finding all those things. Stripping down just requires you to blow it all away blindly.

Let's race!

(Nah, not worth the effort.)
:smiley:

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Hi - I am new around here and definitely an almost complete Newb. I’ve been trying to do my homework to figure out how to get to a vanilla plasma desktop from dragonized, but any explanations I have found have been either vague or above my knowledge level. I am not opposed to learning as I go, but it takes time.

The recommendation to “delete all the config files and let plasma recreate them” sounds like exactly the kind of thing I can handle at my skill level with a bit more information - How do I identify the files in question? Do I need to run any kind of process post-delete to initiate the plasma recreation or will a reboot get the job done?

I apologize in advance if this is considered hijacking the thread or if it’s recommended to start a new thread. I appreciate the resources here and the helpfulness exhibited by the community.

Thanks!

Edit - I found a link to https://gitlab.com/garuda-linux/themes-and-settings/settings/garuda-dr460nized/-/tree/master/etc/skel that appear to be the setting files in question. Is this correct? If so, would I only delete the files listed there or everything in the skel folder? And again, once deleted, will a simple reboot get me back to a vanilla environment or do I need to run a process?

Another edit: I found this: “Find and remove all the relevant files and folders from your home directory.” So I believe the files to be deleted are corresponding files to the above page in my home directory.

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Garuda Barebones KDE is what you are looking for: Garuda Linux - Browse /garuda/kde-barebones/220131 at SourceForge.net

You are on your own as far as "official" support goes, but there are forum helpers aplenty.

EDIT: Plus, the post-installation scripts in either version, Dr460nized or Barebones, run alike so it doesn't take much time to setup a working desktop.

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Thanks for the information. I will keep at the reading and research and will explore a barebones install as well.