How to install KDE 4.1 in Slackware 12.1

I don't actually use KDE. I have always leaned to minimalism and felt that KDE was bloated and slow. Even after years of avoiding KDE like the plague, even I have to admit KDE 4.1 is smooth and polished, runs well, and seems to have severely improved over the infamous 4.0. So I am throwing together a small and hopefully simple guide so you too can try out KDE 4.1 on your Slack box.





Off to the guide. First I will assume that you are going to do this on a fresh install, test box or a virtual machine (as I did). If not do this at your own risk, and remember to remove all KDE 3.XX packages before you begin.

This is all a pretty simple process, download all the following packages.
All packages in:
/packages/kde4/deps
/packages/kde4/extragear
/packages/kde4/kde3-compat
And your language pack only from:
/packages/kde4/kde-l10n

Once you have done that, its pretty easy, install all the packages, of which there will be several. Use xwmconfig to change your default window manager to KDE.

Notes:

• If you are doing a fresh install leave out the KDE packages, this will make your life easier.

• If you are not doing a fresh install use xwmconfig to switch to another desktop environment, and then remove all the KDE 3.XX packages, and switch back to KDE once you have installed all the KDE 4.1 packages.
  

My guides are not always newbie friendly so if you are not understanding something (as if this blog gets read) feel free to leave a comment, or seek advice from one of the numerous outlets for help.