Installing KDE on OpenBSD 5.2

[EverydayDiesel]

I mostly use openbsd for fire walling/routing but I am liking this OS so much I want to also run it on my desktop.

Last night I went looking for a tutorial on how to install KDE but most everything was out of date.

My main question is, how do know which kde packages to install from this list?
http://mirror.esc7.net/pub/OpenBSD/5.2/packages/i386/
is there one file that i can download and install?

Thanks in advance

[jggimi]

Start by installing kdebase. Here, for your entertainment, is the message that you will receive upon installation. You can also obtain it with the -M option of pkg_info(1).

KDE is a network transparent contemporary desktop environment for UNIX
workstations. It was written by a world-wide network of software
engineers committed to free software development. KDE seeks to fill
the need for an easy to use desktop for Unix workstations, similar to
the desktop environments found under the MacOS or Window95/NT. 

This package holds the basic KDE applications. It contains:

* applnk: files to create the icons for the K menu button
* doc: XML formatted documentation files for the apps
* drkonqi: if ever an app crashes (heaven forbid!) then Dr.Konqi will be so
           kind and make a stack trace. This is a great help for the
           developers to fix the bug.
* kaddressbook: an addressbook (for postal addresses, phone numbers and
                of course for e-mail addresses)
* kappfinder: searches your hard disk for non-KDE applications, e.g. Acrobat
              Reader (tm) and installs those apps under the K start button
* kate: a fast and advanced text editor with nice plugins
* kcheckpass: small program to enter and check passwords, only to be used by
              other programs
* kcontrol: the KDE Control Center allows you to tweak the KDE settings
* kdcop: GUI app to browse for DCOP interfaces, can also execute them
* kdebugdialog: allows you to specify which debug messages you want to see
* kdeprint: the KDE printing system
* kdesktop: you guessed it: the desktop above the panel
* kdesu: a graphical front end to "su"
* kdm: replacement for XDM, for those people that like graphical logins
* kfind: find files
* khelpcenter: the app to read all great documentation about KDE
* khotkeys: intercepts keys and can call applications
* kicker: the panel at the bottom with the K start button and the taskbar etc
* kioslave: infrastructure that helps make every application internet enabled
            e.g. to directly save a file to ftp://place.org/dir/file.txt
* klipper: enhances and extends the X clipboard
* kmenuedit: edit for the menu below the K start button
* konqueror: the file manager and web browser you get easily used to
* konsole: a shell program similar to xterm
* kpager: applet to show the contents of the virtual desktops
* kpersonalizer: the customization wizard you get when you first start KDE
* kreadconfig: a tool for shell scripts to get info from KDE's config files
* kscreensaver: the KDE screensaver environment and lot's of savers
* ksmserver: the KDE session manager (saves program status on login, restarts
             those program at the next login)
* ksplash: the screen displayed while KDE starts
* kstart: to launch applications with special window properties
          such as iconified etc
* ksysguard: task manager and system monitor, even for remote systems
* ksystraycmd: allows to run any application in the system tray
* ktip: gives you tips about how to use KDE
* kwin: the KDE window manager
* kxkb: a keyboard map tool
* l10n: mostly country flags
* legacyimport: odd name for a cute program to load GTK themes
* libkonq: some libraries needed by Konqueror
* pics: various icons and wallpapers

Setup tips:
- if you don't run Kdm, you can start KDE from your .xinitrc with this 
kind of sequence:

kdmdesktop    # to get a nice display
KDEDIR=/usr/local exec ssh-agent /usr/local/bin/startkde

- you don't have to run all of KDE to use some applications like Konqueror.

- as a user, you should run kappfinder from time to time to make sure you
have up-to-date menus.

- when upgrading from an old version of kde, it's usually best to start
over on your .kde files.  Managing legacy config files is quite buggy yet.

- Konqueror does not execute JavaScript nor Java by default. You will need
a recent JVM installed, and referenced from Konqueror's menu, for Java to
work.

- install kdesamba if you need to access samba shares.

[ocicat]

Originally Posted by EverydayDiesel

My main question is, how do know which kde packages to install from this list?
http://mirror.esc7.net/pub/OpenBSD/5.2/packages/i386/
is there one file that i can download and install?

As a point of caution, recognize that the the path listed above is for packages only targeting OpenBSD 5.2-release for i386. If you have installed -current, this isn't where the matching packages are to be found. Section 15.4.1 of the FAQ covers some of the strange issues which can arise if packages and the OS installation do not match.

[shep]

If you are coming from linux or FreeBSD you may want to want to research the available desktops in OpenBSD. Although KDE4 is seeing some developmental activity, KDE 3 is what you will get in OpenBSD 5.2.

Gnome is fairly up to date thanks to a herculean effort by one of the main OpenBSD developers. Another developer is on the XFCE4 team.

is there one file that i can download and install?

Both Gnome and XFCE have meta packages that result in a working desktop.

Between Gnome/XFCE I have a sense that XFCE4 has the edge in upstream code quality.

I usually like to do the install in the default fvwm window manager with a couple of xterms open. You will get install messages to set soft links in python, enable some services (dbus and avahi) and it is nice to copy/paste some of the commands after reading the documentation.