Configuring KDE

KDE Frequently Asked Questions
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# Chapter 9. Configuring KDE

9.1. How do I set the language used by KDE?
9.2. Is there any keyboard switcher for international keyboards for KDE?
9.3. How do I replace the standard Linux® text login screen with the KDE login screen?
9.4. How do I replace kwm or KWin with another KDE-compliant window manager like Blackbox and Window Maker?
9.5. How do I change the Red Hat® Linux® logo bootup screen image?
9.6. I would like to click the left mouse button anywhere on the desktop and have the K menu displayed.
9.7. How do I use the three extra keys on my Windows® keyboard in KDE?
9.8. After installing KDE, the Red Hat® start menu disappears!
9.9. Where do I find information regarding KDE themes?
9.10. How do I change MIME Types?
9.11. KDE (kdm) does not read my `.bash_profile`!
9.12. How do I use TrueType® fonts in KDE?
9.13. Is it possible to enter, show and work with the Euro Symbol in KDE?

9.1. How do I set the language used by KDE?

There are two ways to set the language KDE uses in the messages it will display:

Using the KDE Control Center

  Fire up the KDE Control Center and select Personalization followed by Country and Language. You can select your language and location here. If KDE cannot find a translation in the first language chosen, it will fall back on the default language. This will usually be (American) English.

  | Using the KDE Control Center is the preferred way of choosing languages in KDE.

Using the `LANG` environment variable

  The second method uses the standard locale setting on your system. To change the language, simply set the environment variable `LANG` accordingly. For example, if your shell is bash, execute export LANG=de to set German as the language used.

9.2. Is there any keyboard switcher for international keyboards for KDE?

KDE 1.x used to come with kikbd but that has since been completely removed and one should use xkb instead.

9.3. How do I replace the standard Linux® text login screen with the KDE login screen?

First, you need to change to the "xdm runlevel" (runlevel 5 on Red Hat® systems, 3 on S.u.S.E.) by editing your `/etc/inittab` file. In the file, you should have a line saying `id:3:initdefault:`. Change it to `id:5:initdefault:`. Now at the end of the file, comment out the following line: `x:5:respawn:/usr/bin/X11/xdm -nodaemon` and replace it with `x:5:respawn:`/opt/kde/`bin/kdm -nodaemon`.

| The location of kdm may differ on your system.

For changes to take effect immediately, type init 5 (for Red Hat® systems) at the shell prompt.

| It is risky to initiate a graphical login without checking beforehand whether it works. If it fails to work, you would be in for a hard time getting back....

9.4. How do I replace kwm or KWin with another KDE-compliant window manager like Blackbox and Window Maker?

First, download the source code and compile them. You would probably need to specify some option when you execute the `configure` script in order to produce KDE-compliant binaries. Read the `README` and `INSTALL` files for instructions. Then simply replace the kwm command in the `startkde` script with the command that runs the new window manager and you are done. For KDE 2 you rewrite the line that executes ksmserver in `startkde` to call the session manager with the option `--windowmanager `my_window_manager`` specified instead.

Blackbox is yet another addition to the list of window managers for the X Window System™. It is built with C++ and shares no common code with any other window manager (even though the graphics implementation is similar to that of Window Maker). Blackbox became KDE compliant at its 0.50.2 release. Please visit Blackbox @ alug.org for further information. You might also find this website KBB - getting Blackbox to work with KDE useful.

To use Blackbox with KDE, download the source tarball, untar it, enter the newly created directory, and run ./configure `--with-kde` ; make ; su -c 'make install' (the `--with-kde` flag enables KDE support).

Next, edit the `startkde` script as mentioned above to call blackbox instead. Save the new script as, for example, `$`KDEDIR`/bin/startbb` and change the bottom line of your X startup file so that it runs the new script instead of the old one. Fire up the X Window System™ and you are away.

Window Maker is an X11 window manager designed to give additional integration support for GNUstep applications. It tries to emulate the elegant look and feel of the NeXTSTEP™ GUI. It is relatively fast, rich in features, and easy to configure and use. Window Maker became KDE compliant at its 0.50.0 release. Please visit the Official Window Maker Website for more information.

9.5. How do I change the Red Hat® Linux® logo bootup screen image?

Red Hat® uses xbanner to display its logo, so to disable it, just comment out the line calling xbanner from the configuration file xdm reads, which is `/etc/X11/xdm/Xsetup_0` (may vary). If you want something else to run there, put it in instead, for example `/opt/kde`/bin/kdmdesktop.

9.6. I would like to click the left mouse button anywhere on the desktop and have the K menu displayed.

KDE 1.x

  First, edit `$`HOME`/.kde/share/config/krootwmrc` and add the following two lines:

       [MouseButtons]
       Left=Menu

  Then restart KDE.

KDE 2

  Open the KDE Control Center and choose Look and Feel->Desktop->General. You can now choose the behavior of mouse clicks on the desktop. To have the K menu open from a single left mouse button click, change the entry labeled Left button to say Application Menu.

9.7. How do I use the three extra keys on my Windows® keyboard in KDE?

You may have to configure your X server via xmodmap to bind the keycodes of the Windows® keys to useful X key symbols (xev is your friend!).

First, create a file `$`HOME`/.Xmodmap` containing the entries:

     keycode 115=F13
     keycode 117=F15

Then run xmodmap ~/.Xmodmap. This sets the Start key to emit F13 and the Windows key to emit F15. Next, fire up the KDE Control Center and select Shortcut Keys->Global Shortcut. Set Pop-up system menu to F13 and Window operations menu to F15. That is it.

| The numbers 115 and 117 may depend on the keyboard. If you are not sure, please check using xev. In addition, the above procedure requires KDE 1.1 and above. kikbd is able to do this too, but keymaps have to be edited. The advantage of kikbd is that one can choose whether to use these mappings on several custom keymaps and have them hotswappable. It would be interesting to make a little script that will automatically do the keymap modifications on demand. kikbd should be able to read/understand user-side keymap files.

9.8. After installing KDE, the Red Hat® start menu disappears!

Just run the command wmconfig `--output kde`. This will put the Red Hat®-specific icons into your KDE menu. If you run this within KDE, you will need to restart your panel. They are installed by default into the `applnk` folder after you run that command, but then you can copy and paste them wherever you like with kmenuedit.

9.9. Where do I find information regarding KDE themes?

Go see http://kde.themes.org/.

9.10. How do I change MIME Types?

If you are using KFM, first open a KFM window and choose Edit->Mime Types. Find the type you want to change (e.g. text/english or image/gif), click the right mouse button, select Properties, choose the Binding tab, and set Default Application to whatever you want.

If you are using Konqueror, do this instead: first, open a Konqueror window and choose Edit->File Type. Find the type you want to change (e.g. text/english or image/gif), click the right mouse button, select General, and set the application preference order to whatever you want.

9.11. KDE (kdm) does not read my `.bash_profile`!

Well, xdm (and kdm) does not run a login shell, so `.profile`, `.bash_profile`, etc. are not sourced. When the user logs in, xdm runs Xstartup as root and then Xsession as user. So the normal practice is to add statements in `Xsession` to source the user profile. Please edit your `Xsession` and `.xsession` files.

9.12. How do I use TrueType® fonts in KDE?

You need to install TrueType® font support to your X Window System™. Please take a look at x.themes.org for the fonts, and xfsft: TrueType® Font Support For X11 or X-TrueType® Server Project Home Page for the font servers.

If you have a bunch of TrueType® fonts from Microsoft® Windows®, edit the `XF86Config` file to get the fonts from the font folder. Then just tell KDE to use these new fonts with the font administrator utility.

However, many KDE 1.0 applications use a font dialog that does not use the font list of KDE. But there is a workaround: edit the rc files of the rebellious applications directly.

9.13. Is it possible to enter, show and work with the Euro Symbol in KDE?

Yes and no. For details, look here: http://monitor.blvk.ch/euro/.

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