KDE

Installation

Install the kde-plasma package, and optionally, the kde-baseapps package.

To use the "Networks" widget, install NetworkManager and enable the dbus and NetworkManager services. To use the "Volume" widget, set up PipeWire or PulseAudio.

Installing the kde-plasma package also installs the sddm package, which provides the sddm service for the Simple Desktop Display Manager. This service depends on the dbus service being enabled; test the service before enabling it. If you are not intending to run SDDM via a remote X server, you will need to install either the xorg-minimal package or the xorg package. By default, SDDM will start an X-based Plasma session, but you can request a Wayland-based Plasma session instead.

If you wish to start an X-based session from the console, use startx to run startplasma-x11. For a Wayland-based session, run startplasma-wayland directly.

Dolphin

Dolphin is the default file manager of the KDE desktop environment. It can be installed on its own by installing the dolphin package, or it can be installed as part of the kde-baseapps meta-package.

Thumbnail Previews

To enable thumbnail file previews, install the kdegraphics-thumbnailers package. If you want video thumbnails, the ffmpegthumbs package is also necessary. Enable previews in "Control" -> "Configure Dolphin" -> "General" -> "Previews" by checking the corresponding boxes. File previews will be shown for the selected file types after clicking "Preview" in Dolphin's toolbar.