KDE 4.2 has been released, but till now it’s still not being included in Ubuntu’s main repository. This makes the Ubuntu / Kubuntu users to get stuck with KDE 4.1, probably until Jaunty Jackalope is released this April.

There are however a solution as some nice people has actually compiled the KDE 4.2 packages and creates a repository for it.

To install KDE 4.2, you’ll need to add the following line to /etc/apt/sources.list. The easiest way to to that is to run the following command from the console;

$ echo "deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/project-neon/ubuntu intrepid main" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list

You’ll then need to add the GPG key and update your packages cache by running the following commands;

$ gpg --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys 493B3065 && gpg --export -a 493B3065 | sudo apt-key add -
$ sudo apt-get update

Your system will now update all your KDE 4 installation to the latest version when you run the following command;

$ sudo apt-get upgrade

and if you’re a Ubuntu user who doesn’t have KDE 4 installed and want to try a full KDE 4.2 experience, install the Kubuntu Desktop with the following command;

$ sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop

From now you’ll be able to log in to KDE 4.2 session from your GDM.