Lean Kubuntu install as server

[Caesar Tjalbo]

Hello, my name is Tjalling and I'm pretty new to Linux and very new to Kubuntu. My previous experience was with CentOS which I liked except I couldn't get my soundcard to work.
One live CD with Kubuntu and I found out the problem wasn't so much my soundcard.

The Kubuntu desktop installation felt a bit excessive to my needs so I tried the Alternate install. (For example: I don't have a printer so I don't need all these print-tools. I don't need OpenOffice, themes, groupware, scansoftware, kppp, etc., etc.)

Basically I'm not using a large part of the installed features of Kubuntu. I can remove them of course but I'd rather have them not installed in the first place, that would also save a lot of time when installing from scratch.

Therefore it seems a good idea to install a server and then add packages where needed and that worked to some extent. If you're a more experienced user, what do you think of that? Does it makes sense or is it complete rubbish?

The difficulty I ran into is: how do I start up KDE and where/how would I make KDE start up automatically after a reboot? In other words: I install a Kubuntu server, I install KDE from the cli, what files do I need to run/amend to get a GUI?

[askrieger]

Re: Lean Kubuntu install as server

Umm, Err. It's not that simple. I'm not sure that the server install includes an Xserver. I would think that the most conservative approach, which leaves you with a working machine at almost every step of the way, is to install the full "Kubuntu-desktop" (which does not install things like Open Office), and then remove things one step at a time, checking the continued performance of your essential apps, after each uninstall. Boring, I know, but why not just leave kubuntu-desktop and not use it?

Another alternative is to install Xubuntu, which is much lighter than Kubuntu, and then add KDE apps to taste.