It has always been possible to install and use KDE applications in Gnome, or vice versa, as long as the supporting libraries are there (and generally apt handles that for you). But getting them to look right is another story.
I use the Gnome desktop, but I run several KDE applications – Amarok, Kaffeine, K3B, Kid3, and Ktorrent, to name a few. You can install these applications from the Ubuntu repositories the same way you would anything else, and apt takes care of the dependencies, but the KDE apps don’t follow the Gnome appearance settings for fonts or subpixel hinting. Adjusting those settings for KDE apps requires the KDE systemsettings tool.
Previous to Hardy Heron (8.04), the Kubuntu project used KDE 3.x, and all that was needed was to install the systemsettings tool itself, sudo apt-get install systemsettings if memory serves.
Starting with Hardy, KDE4 became available in Kubuntu, and by the time of the Intrepid Ibex release, KDE3.x was gone. It was no longer possible to install just the systemsettings tool to control font face, font size, and LCD subpixel hinting; doing it that way left those choices missing from System Settings.
At that point I started taking the lazy way out, and after installing Ubuntu on a machine, I’d install the whole kubuntu-desktop package (sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop). This worked fine up through Jaunty Jackalope (9.04); it got me the settings tools, and all my common KDE apps, in one shot. It also installed a lot of things I didn’t need, but that didn’t hurt anything as long as I had the disk space.
However, this does not work in the new Karmic Koala (9.10).
If you install Ubuntu 9.10, and then install kubuntu-desktop over it, you wind up with a sort of hybrid Gnome desktop that you have to control partly through the Gnome Appearance tool and partly through KDE System Settings. Desktop fonts are controlled from the Gnome tool, but mouse pointers are controlled with the KDE tool, and even if you change the pointers in KDE System Settings, some applications (Firefox, for example) ignore the change and revert to the default KDE pointers whenever you mouse over them. Shortcuts and launchers placed on the desktop sometimes do not appear until X is restarted. It’s a mess. I don’t recommend it.
Fortunately there is a solution, which probably would have worked in Jaunty and Intrepid too. Don’t install kubuntu-desktop over Ubuntu. Instead, install kdebase-workspace (sudo apt-get install kdebase-workspace) and then install your desired KDE applications. kdebase-workspace is a meta-package that brings in the minimum things you need to control KDE application appearance. You’ll still get the KDE System Settings tool in your Gnome menus (under System Tools) to control fonts and hinting and other KDE app appearance options, but it doesn’t affect the Gnome desktop otherwise.
Really I think I should just be happy that using KDE apps in Gnome is possible at all. 
Leave comments and let me know how this works out for you.
Good Tip! Thank You!
I have delayed upgrading to Koala for a few days waiting for information just like this. At one point I did take the ‘install kubuntu-desktop’ approach but this added way too much clutter to my GNOME menus.
[...] (and generally apt handles that for you). But getting them to look right is another story. More here Starting with Hardy, KDE4 became available in Kubuntu, and by the time of the Intrepid Ibex [...]
@Don Birdsall
Yeah, I think under Hardy (or maybe it was Intrepid) it added an insane amount of clutter. Every piece of the KDE system setting tools wound up as its own menu item. I’d just go remove all those entries, but yeah, it was a pain.
as a beginner ubuntu user, i came across your posting here and it seems to describe exacatly the problem i was having on one particalur app that was installed on my jaunty install. (kvpnc 0.9.3)
I followed your directions installing the workspace and have tried playing with all the display settings using the systems tool for KDE apps, but nothing i do seems to affect the font of the applciation. the fonts looks so bad, (almost like the menu titles were hand drawn by a 5th grader), that I can hardly stand to look
at the app.
i have uninstalled and installed it again numerous times and
I have played around with fonts.conf file endlessly, but nothing seems to help.
do you have any ideas what i could be doing wrong? or how i can get this app, which i use for work, to look decent?
thanks for any help/suggestions..
@Scott Conklin
I wish I had a definite answer for you, but I don’t. I installed kvpnc on two machines (one Jaunty and one Karmic) to try to reproduce your problem, and the fonts look fine on both. However, they do seem to follow their own rules; they’re larger in kvpnc than they should be according to my font selections.
The only thing I can suggest is to make sure you have subpixel hinting enabled. In the KDE System Settings tool, it is in Look & Feel>Appearance>Fonts. Set Use anti-aliasing to “Enabled” and Force fonts DPI to 96, then clock Configure and make sure Use sub-pixel rendering is checked and Hinting style is set to Full.
There is a gnome project for this, gvpnc, but it is not in the repos and needs to be built from source if you want to use it. There is also a vpn plugin for network-manager – network-manager-vpnc – but I know nothing about it other than that it exists.
Sorry I couldn’t be more help. Have you tried the Ubuntu forums?
Thanks for the info!
However i found that for me just installing systemsettings did the trick. But the only KDE app i’m using is krusader and that did install some KDE libs/runtime dependencies.
I can now change the krusader look without having the kdebase-workspace stuff installed.
Also i found that when going into the fonts configuration in systemsettings some of my gnome fonts changed aswell, mainly in firefox.
Tracked it to ~/.fonts.conf being created by systemsettings. Deleting this file after having used systemsettings fixed the fonts again in firefox while keeping the fonts settings set using systemsettings in krusader.
@dyna
I was kind of wondering why the font settings seemed to be interacting.
Thanks for that information.
[...] is the original: dwasifar's daily gripe » Ubuntu: Fine-tuning KDE app appearance in … By admin | category: amarok, ubuntu kde | tags: amarok, documents, gnome, kde, kimpress, [...]