Hello all. Let’s look at the best KDE Plasma themes and icons that you can install on your system. Since KDE’s Plasma is one of the most advanced and powerful desktop environments available in the Linux world, I would like to show you how to install themes and other eye-candy tools for your Plasma DE.
The themes that we’ll install here are the official KDE themes that come pre-installed on Manjaro; namely Maia and Andromeda KDE themes, Hex Plasma theme, themes available from AUR Arch Linux’s repo and PPA repo in Kubuntu. We’ll also add color schemes, icons and look and feel themes to Plasma workstation.
The knowledge acquired from installation shown here can be leveraged to install different/other KDE themes for your Plasma desktop since the process will just be the same.
Thanks for complete customization that KDE give our system- trust me no other Desktop Environment can match the standards and power of KDE.
Installing KDE Plasma on Linux
We’ll first cover installation of KDE Plasma Desktop Environment on major Linux Distributions; Arch Linux, Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Fedora,OpenSUSE and Debian.
Installing KDE Plasma on Arch Linux
I don’t want to leave users running other DEs on the dark, if you’ll like to install Plasma DE on your machine, just open your terminal window and fire commands below:
# pacman -S plasma
Above command will install Plasma 5.x by default. If you had Plasma 4, uninstall it first by typing:
# pacman -Rc kdebase-workspace
After installing Plasma 5, it’s also recommended to install sddm display manager for it. Install it using commands below:
# pacman -S sddm # systemctl enable sddm # systemctl start sddm
To install GUI configuration tool for sddm, type:
# pacman -S sddm-kcm
You can then remove or disable KDM display manager.
# systemctl disable kdm.service
This is enough for now. Later on in this tutorial, i’ll show you how to customize splash screen with sddm, and enable auto-login.
Installing KDE Plasma on Ubuntu and its derivatives like Kubuntu
# add-apt-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/backports # apt-get update # apt-get -y install aptitude # aptitude -y upgrade # apt-get install kubuntu-desktop
Installing KDE Plasma on Debian
# tasksel install kde-desktop
Installing KDE Plasma on OpenSUSE
# zypper -n update # zypper -n install -t pattern x11 kde kde_plasma
Installing KDE Plasma on Fedora 24
# dnf -y group install "KDE Plasma Workspaces" # echo "exec /usr/bin/startkde" >> ~/.xinitrc # startx
Installing Maia Plasma Theme
For complete installation of Maia Plasma theme, follow steps below:
- Install git client application
# pacman -S git
2. Create a directory to out cloned themes
# cd ~
# mkdir plasma-themes # cd plasma-themes
3. Download Maia theme
# git clone https://github.com/manjaro/artwork-maia.git # cd artwork-maia
Check the contents of the directory. It should look similar to one below.
# ls -l total 28 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1387 Aug 4 01:25 CMakeLists.txt drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Aug 4 01:25 colors drwxr-xr-x 11 root root 4096 Aug 4 01:25 icons drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Aug 4 01:25 lookandfeel drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 4096 Aug 4 01:25 maia -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 412 Aug 4 01:25 Readme.md drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Aug 4 01:25 wallpapers
4. We’ll copy each folder and files to end in its right theme system directory.
# cp colors/Maia.colors /usr/share/color-schemes/ # mkdir /usr/share/icons/maia # cp -r icons/* /usr/share/icons/maia # mkdir /usr/share/plasma/look-and-feel/org.kde.maia.desktop/ # cp -r lookandfeel/* /usr/share/plasma/look-and-feel/org.kde.maia.desktop/ # cp -r maia/ /usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/ # cp -r wallpapers/Maia /usr/share/wallpapers
Installing Andromeda Plasma Theme
- Download Maia theme
# cd ~/plasma-themes # git clone https://github.com/manjaro/artwork-andromeda.git # cd artwork-andromeda # ls -l total 32 drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 4096 Aug 4 02:02 andromeda -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1421 Aug 4 02:02 CMakeLists.txt drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Aug 4 02:02 colors drwxr-xr-x 12 root root 4096 Aug 4 02:02 icons drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Aug 4 02:02 lookandfeel drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Aug 4 02:02 octopi_icons -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 328 Aug 4 02:02 Readme.md drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Aug 4 02:02 wallpapers # mkdir /usr/share/icons/andromeda # cp -r icons/* /usr/share/icons/andromeda # mkdir /usr/share/plasma/look-and-feel/org.kde.andromeda.desktop/ # cp -r lookandfeel/* /usr/share/plasma/look-and-feel/org.kde.andromeda.desktop/ # cp -r andromeda/ /usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme/ # cp -r wallpapers/Andromeda /usr/share/wallpapers/
Installing Hex Plasma Theme
- Download Hex Theme by garthecho
# wget http://orig03.deviantart.net/be19/f/2014/100/5/e/hex_by_garthecho-d79x3lg.zip -P ~/plasma-themes # unzip hex_by_garthecho-d79x3lg.zip # rm hex_by_garthecho-d79x3lg.zip # cd Hex-KDESuite/ # ls -l total 2052 -rw------- 1 root root 2356 Mar 12 2014 Hex.colors drwxrwxr-x 17 root root 4096 Apr 11 2014 Hex-Plasma -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2063328 Mar 14 2014 Hex.png -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 27322 Mar 14 2014 Hex.qtcurve
Then copy theme files to the right locations
# cp -r Hex-Plasma/ /usr/share/plasma/desktoptheme # cp Hex.colors /usr/share/color-schemes/ # cp Hex.qtcurve /usr/share/QtCurve
Installing Icons
Install Luv Icon set
# git clone https://github.com/NitruxSA/luv-icon-theme.git # cd luv-icon-theme/ # ls -l total 44 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 385 Aug 5 20:51 CONTRIBUTORS -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 22701 Aug 5 20:51 CREDITS drwxr-xr-x 11 root root 4096 Aug 5 20:51 Lüv drwxr-xr-x 7 root root 4096 Aug 5 20:51 'Lüv Dark' -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3010 Aug 5 20:51 README.md drwxr-xr-x 8 root root 4096 Aug 5 20:51 Wallpapers
Copy files to relevant directories.
# cp -r Lüv /usr/share/icons # cp -r Lüv\ Dark /usr/share/icons # cp -r Wallpapers/* /usr/share/wallpapers
Installing Vertex-Maia Icons set
# git clone https://github.com/manjaro/vertex-maia-icon-themes.git # cp -r vertex-maia-icon-themes/Vertex-Maia/ /usr/share/icons
Themes available on Kubuntu PPA and Arch Linux AUR repos.
Look and Feel themes for Arch Users
- Arch Dark
Install by running command below, run as non root user:
$ yaourt -S arc-dark-suite-git
- Papirus
$ yaourt -S papirus-look-and-feel
Look and Feel themes for Kubuntu 16.04 users:
- Papirus
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:varlesh-l/papirus-packsudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install papirus-pack-kde5
- Arch Dark
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:varlesh-l/papirus-packsudo apt-get update sudo apt install arc-dark-kde5
SDDM Themes for Arch Linux users
- Papirus SDDM Theme
$ yaourt -S yaourt -S papirus-sddm-theme
SDDM Themes for Kubuntu 16.04 users
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:varlesh-l/papirus-pack sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install papirus-pack-kde5
Color Themes for Arch Linux users
- Papirus Colors for Plasma
$ yaourt -S papirus-color-scheme
- Arc Dark Colors for Plasma
$ yaourt -S arc-dark-suite-git
Color Themes for Kubuntu 16.04
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:varlesh-l/papirus-pack sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install papirus-pack-kde5
Papirus plasma theme for KDE
- Arch Linux
yaourt -S papirus-plasma-theme
- Kubuntu 16.04
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:varlesh-l/papirus-pack sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install papirus-pack-kde5
Papirus icon theme for KDE
- Arch Linux
yaourt -S papirus-icon-theme-kde
- Kubuntu
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:varlesh-l/papirus-pack sudo apt-get update # Kubuntu 14.04 sudo apt-get install papirus-pack-kde4 # Kubuntu 16.04 sudo apt-get install papirus-pack-kde5
Arc Dark VLC Skins
- For Arch Linux
$ yaourt -S vlc-arc-dark-git
- For Kubuntu 16.04
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:varlesh-l/papirus-pack sudo apt-get update sudo apt install vlc-skin-arc-darks
Changing theme and icons
Finally, to change your current theme settings, you have different elements to set. You have to select the elements separately under sections shown below:
System Settings > Appearance > Workspace Theme > Look And Feel
System Settings > Appearance > Workspace Theme > Desktop Theme
System Settings > Appearance > Workspace Theme > Splash Screen
System Settings > Appearance > Color
System Settings > Appearance > Icons
System Settings > Appearance > Application Style > Window Decorations
Using added wallpapers
Right-click on the desktop > “Desktop Settings”> Wallpaper, then select the background image you would like to use.
Customizing sddm
To customize sddm display manager, edit the file below
# vim /etc/sddm.conf
– To allow auto login, enter username like below
User= username
– Set autologin session by editing Session parameter under Autologin section:
Session=plasma.desktop
– Set sddm theme by changing current parameter under theme section block.
Current = papirus
Conclusion
We covered the installation of Plasma themes, icons, look and feel, Desktop theme and color schemes. If you’re using Arch Linux or Kubuntu, you must have noticed how easy it can be to install themes from PPA and AUR repositories.
Above theme sets are the best themes for Plasma I could get. Feel free to drop a comment if you know other good looking themes you think I should add to the list.
References
http://www.kde.org/
https://api.kde-look.org
https://www.kde-look.org
https://github.com/NitruxSA/luv-icon-theme
https://github.com/varlesh/Arc-Dark-KDE
https://github.com/horst3180/arc-theme
You can find more KDE and Plasma themes at:
http://nekron29.deviantart.com/favourites/45184096/KDE-Themes
http://guidoctor.deviantart.com/favourites/49227200/Desktop-Exellence
Wallpapers:
http://archlinux.deviantart.com/gallery/25194240/Wallpaper
