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Installing KDEConnect in the worst way possible

Aravisian

Mon Nov 25, 2019 9:08:37 pm

Be careful what you ask for...
JeffK969 wrote:Some Step by step instructions on how to do this would be great for us, less than knowledgeable folks...
Namely me Aravisian... I don't fully understand 'dependencies' and what to do with them...
"It requires certain dependencies to work, including qt5ct. I got a bit... Lazy... So I installed dolphin and allll the vittles that come with it." It's Greek, right?


Dependencies are other bits of software that the program you are trying to install will need to use in order to run. Like gears in a machine, their operation is shared by different programs.
In the Other OS by M$, You have dependencies, too. In that OS, when you go to install something, everything that program needs is included with the download and installer.
Everything.
Sounds good? Except that it brings major bloat, clutters the HDD, causes fragmentation and carries security or corrupted file risk.
In Linux, the developer gives you only the program and tell you what it will depend on to run. This gives you more control and allows you to keep download sizes smaller and faster. You have less clutter, more control. It allows base (gears) software to be provided by known safe sources instead of always included by any unknown developer.
When I said "I got lazy" earlier, I merely installed a known KDE program that also depends on the same things. This is so that I did not need to go down the rabbit hole of chasing dependencies manually. For example, libfakekey depends on QT5-base and so on.
Step by step:
Install what KDEConnect will depend on- the lazy way...
Code:
sudo apt-get install qt5ct

This allows KDEConnect to cooperate with your system theme and appearance
Code:
sudo apt-get install dolphin

By installing Dolphin, this installs a metric ton of other KDE dependencies from the KDE Plasma Desktop. This includes kcmutils, libfakekey, qca and so on. And their dependencies, as well.

Now install KDE Connect:
Code:
sudo apt-get install kdeconnect


Why did I do it this way? Because Synaptic managed to Fumble it. It told me that it had gotten all the pieces and installed KDE Connect and I believed it. But I could not get KDE Connect to work. This set me back a bit trying to figure out why..

Now that you have everything installed, configure KDEConnect.
It uses the following ports that you want to give it access to (For Zorin Users):
Code:
sudo ufw allow 1714:1764/udp

Code:
sudo ufw allow 1714:1764/tcp

Code:
sudo ufw reload

IF you are not using Zorin and landed on this page or you are using Zorin but switched to using Firewalld instead of gUFW,
Code:
sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --permanent --add-port=1714-1764/tcp

Code:
sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --permanent --add-port=1714-1764/udp

Code:
sudo systemctl restart firewalld.service


Now in terminal paste in
Code:
qdbus org.kde.kded /kded loadModule kdeconnect

hit enter and then type in "true" and hit enter.
In terminal
Code:
kbuildsycoca4 -noincremental

hit enter. If you get, command not found but can be installed with klibs-bin, don't worry about it unless testing KDEConnect has it not working.

Ok... Now let's undo our laziness from earlier:
Code:
sudo apt-get remove --purge dolphin

Code:
sudo apt-get autoremove

Code:
sudo apt clean


Configure KDEConnect:
Above should have it configured on your Computer. You should install KDEConnect on your android device using Google Play Store.
If you are using iPhone, take a long walk off a short pier.
Open "KDE Connect Settings" fromyour app menu.
Here, you can see the settings for it- computer side. Now, on your phone, open the KDEConnect app and the screen will automatically go to the pairing screen. It has a hamburger icon on the left and three dots on the right. Click the three dots and click refresh and see if your computer appears below as Available Device. If so, tap it and then select Request Pairing.
If it does not, then - restart the phone because it is being a ****.
Start the KDEConnect app again and this time, you should see your computer under Available devices. Tap, request, then accept the pairing request on your computer.
You will now see a new list on the app on your phone:
Send Files
Slidewhow remote and so on.
If you hit Remote Input, you can move your finger on your phone screen and the mouse on your computer screen will follow it. You can tap the Keyboard icon on the top right and type on your phone keyboard and the text will appear in a Notepad or other text entry field available on your screen.
Spooky.
Ok, first, hit Send Files. This is the easy (Lazy:D) way of allowing all the permissions. The app will tell you it need certain permissions which will appear as options below on your phone screen. Go down this list selecting all the permissions you want to allow.
When you send files to your phone, it will go to the downloads folder on your phone and when you send from phone to computer, it will go to your Downloads in Home. You can change this in settings. I don't know why anyone would want to... Unless you are taking nudie pics on your phone which is
"Like OMG, that is like soooo 1990's!"
Remote for Media Player only works on some media players. I have not tested them all. I know it works on the KDE media apps (that I don't use) but it does not work so hot with Audacious. Or Parole. I have not tried VLC.