Tag Archives: desktop

Installing Kubuntu

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So basically I want to run KDE Plasma under Ubuntu and this can be called Kubuntu.

This article is a little bit cargo-clutish. I.e. “I did this and it seemed to work.” and “I don’t do this because it didn’t seem to work.”

I have a pretty heavy reliance on Salt Stack for system configuration. My salt config is all built around Ubuntu 18.04 LTS.

When I need to install a Kubuntu desktop, this is how I do it:

  1. install Ubuntu Server 18.04 LTS from live installer
  2. apt update && apt dist-upgrade && apt autoremove && reboot
  3. apt install kubuntu-desktop && reboot
  4. apt install virtualbox-guest-dkms virtualbox-guest-utils virtualbox-guest-x11 && reboot
  5. apt install salt-minion
  6. vim /etc/salt/minion_id
  7. vim /etc/salt/minion.d/minion.conf
    • master: salt.staticmagic.net
  8. service salt-minion restart
  9. salt-call state.highstate

Note that if your Kubuntu install is a VirtualBox guest you need to start it with a normal start if you want the shared clipboard to work. If you start headless or detachable the shared clipboard will not work (in my experience).

If your Kubuntu install is not a VirtualBox guest you can skip the virtualbox-guest-* package installation above.

A folder named ~/.cache/kioexec/krun/13821_0/ already exists

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2017-12-09 jj5 – TODO: document this on my blog…

On Debian GNU/Linux 9.1 (stretch) when I try to open an *.desktop (application/x-desktop) link in a browser I get:

A folder named ~/.cache/kioexec/krun/13821_0/ already exists.

Searching for:

A folder named kioexec krun already exists

turned up diddly squat.

I solved the issue (for me) by changing:

System Settings -> Personalization -> Applications -> Default Application s-> Web Browser

from:

Open http and https URLs in an application based on the contents of the URL

to:

Open http and https URLs in the following browser: firefox

Create a desktop alias for an SMB mount on Mac OS X

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So to create an alias to an SMB share on your Mac desktop:

First use Finder -> Go -> Connect to Server…

Enter a location such as: smb://server/share

Then use Finder -> Preferences… -> Show: Connected servers

The SMB mount should now be visible on the desktop. Right-click the share on the desktop and choose ‘Make Alias’. Then take connected servers out of your Finder preferences and rename the desktop alias probably as the name of the share.

Entering SSH passphrase once in a KDE Pulse session

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If you want KDE to remember your SSH key’s passphrase for your whole desktop session you can create a ~/.config/autostart/ssh-add.desktop file like this:

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=ssh-add
Comment=Adds my private key to my session.
Exec=/usr/bin/konsole -e 'ssh-add /home/$USER/.ssh/id_rsa'

KDE Plasma Desktop hacks

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I managed to get my desktop settings so that files on the desktop were sorted automatically. But I didn’t want that. I edited the ~/.kde/share/config/plasma-desktop-appletsrc file and set the sortingStrategy=0 and that disabled automatic alphabetical desktop sorting.

I wanted to run an application on my desktop when I dropped some files on it. To do that I created a process.desktop file like this:

#!/usr/bin/env xdg-open
[Desktop Entry]
Icon=unknown
Name[en_US]=process
Name=process
Type=Application
Exec=/home/jj5/bin/tmp/process-test %F

Note the “%F” to receive the file list. More information here and here.