Uploaded April 2017 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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In this video, I show how I installed, configured and tweaked my Plasma 5 desktop on Arch Linux. I have tried different distribution with Plasma 5, but KDE Plasma 5 on Arch Linux has been my best experience.

This tutorial assumes you have Arch Linux installed on your system.
See “Installing Arch Linux in less than 10 minutes” youtu.be/GKdPSGb9f5s?list=PLSmXPSsgkZLt66s-M_gfQtMakc8iYJY6M

You may also find useful my video on “10 Things to do first in Arch Linux” youtu.be/jW4GFGOIUjc?list=PLSmXPSsgkZLt66s-M_gfQtMakc8iYJY6M

I prefer to install a very minimal Plasma desktop and then build up by installing only the packages I really need.
sudo pacman -S plasma-desktop


1. Install some theme tools.

Essential packages for the cohesion in look between GTK and KDE applications:
sudo pacman -S breeze-gtk breeze-kde4 kde-gtk-config

Enable Breeze theme in SDDM:
nano /etc/sddm.conf

And in the section Theme, add Current=breeze.

Install additional plasma widgets and plugins:
sudo pacman -S kdeplasma-addons


2. Complete connection tools.

sudo pacman -S networkmanager plasma-nm

Disable dhcpcd:
sudo systemctl stop dhcpcd
sudo systemctl disable dhcpcd

Enable Networkmanager:
Then enable NetworkManager:
sudo systemctl enable NetworkManager
sudo systemctl start NetworkManager

Also, make sure you have your hosts configured correctly. I showed how to do it here youtu.be/GKdPSGb9f5s?t=4m5s

Reboot the system and you should have a network applet working in your system tray.

If you use Bluetooth, install bluez and bluez-utils packages. See Arch Wiki for details wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Bluetooth

If you need a VPN, depending on the service you use you can install any of these packages.
networkmanager-openconnect
networkmanager-openvpn
networkmanager-pptp
networkmanager-vpnc
networkmanager-l2tp
networkmanager-strongswan

I installed:
sudo pacman -S openconnect networkmanager-openconnect.


3. Enable audio volume control.

You need to have PulseAudio and GStreamer Multimedia Framework installed. See these videos for details:
youtu.be/GKdPSGb9f5s?t=6m52s - PulseAudio
youtu.be/jW4GFGOIUjc?t=1m42s - GStreamer

sudo pacman -S plasma-pa

Restart your Plasma 5 by log out and log in. And you have a volume control on your panel.


4. Install some KDE specific and desktop essential applications.

I think these are necessary:
sudo pacman -S ark kinfocenter kwalletmanager gwenview kipi-plugins gimp spectacle libreoffice-fresh okular amarok vlc speedcrunch redshift
yaourt -S plasma5-applets-redshift-control-git --noconfirm

I also recommend these packages:
sudo pacman -S digikam kcolorchooser kruler kompare kfind ktorrent

Download Wallpaper: plus.google.com/b/105235169774065518394/+AverageLinuxUser/posts/NgF3gkpbYqE

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