Gnome

[magic_plank]

My install of Ubuntu uses Gnome, however I really want to try KDE.
Am I correct in assuming that these are just graphical front ends for Ubuntu linux, and shouldn't affect say, programs designed for Ubuntu specifically and ones already installed?
Will I encounter any serious problems trying this?

Any advice would be great, but please keep it to n00b terms

[Rob Pomeroy]

Yep, no problems.  You just need to install the KDE metapackage (look through Synaptic).  I prefer KDE to Gnome - more easily customisable; but they are both resource hogs.

[magic_plank]

After following these instructions:
http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/kde

and changing this file : /etc/X11/default-display-manager
to /usr/bin/kdm

The option to use KDE does not appear on my login options menu, and the only visible change is that Konsole and Konqueror (which is what I really wanted) are installed. The file browser and everything else are exactly the same. Is this correct?

[Rob Pomeroy]

I take it you have rebooted? Thinkgs should look quite different after all of that.  Did you encounter any errors during the process?

You may want to start from scratch using the Kubuntu distro.

[magic_plank]

Thanks for the tip, I'll do that the next time I need to reinstall (I reinstalled last week)
At the login screen, I chose Gnome as default login option thingy, Now I dont have a login screen. No GUI is loaded and I have to login and type startx. Any way to go back?

Thanks.

[Rob Pomeroy]

Try

sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg