Razor-Qt Chakra Tutorial

Razor-qt is an advanced, easy-to-use, and fast desktop environment based on Qt technologies. It has been tailored for users who value simplicity, speed, and intuitive interface. Unlike desktop environments, Razor-qt also works fine with weak machines.

It is somewhat like LXDE in trying to provide a fast and nimble desktop environment, which is lightweight yet featurefull.

Some people think that the project is dead, but that's not the case. Development is going on at a slow, but steady pace, which is evident by looking at their GitHub profile: https://github.com/Razor-qt/razor-qt

Installing and using Razor-Qt in chakra is very simple and provides users with an alternative desktop environment for their Qt loving distribution. Since Chakra tries to be GTK free as much as possible and as Razor-Qt is all Qt and C++, using Razor-Qt in Chakra can be quite a rewarding experience.

Installing Razor-Qt in Chakra is very simple. After ensuring that we have CCR installed, we can install two versions of the DE: the stable version, or the latest one from their GIT repository. I would recommend installing the GIT version as it is much more complete than their last stable release.

For the stable version:
ccr -S razor-qt

For the GIT version:
ccr -S razor-qt-git

After executing the above command, Chakra will download the sources, compile the package and then install it on the system.

Now before we can use it, we need to add it to KDM so we can choose it from the session selection menu before logging in. This way we'll be able to use Razor-Qt and traditional KDE, both.

We need to edit the following file:
/usr/share/config/kdm/kdmrc

You can edit this file by using a command line utility like vim or nano, or by using a graphical application like Kate, with root privildges.

To edit with nano:
sudo nano /usr/share/config/kdm/kdmrc

To edit with Kate:
kdesu kate /usr/share/config/kdm/kdmrc

In that file, we must find the section named "SessionsDirs" and at the end of that line add a comma and add: /usr/share/xsessions

For eg: on my system, the line before editing was:
SessionsDirs=/usr/share/config/kdm/sessions,/usr/share/apps/kdm/sessions

After editing:
SessionsDirs=/usr/share/config/kdm/sessions,/usr/share/apps/kdm/sessions,/usr/share/xsessions

Now we just need to save the changes and log out. In the KDM, we must now be able to select the option of using Razor-Qt from there, which will use KWin as the window manager.

And you're done!