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The package list here, was tested on CENTOS 5.5 x86_64 installed with @core. There are two methods to do this. 
* YUM method, if you already have a working yum repository available.
* RPM method, if you do not have a yum repository.

===YUM method===
You can use the "yum groupinstall" command to get it done, but it will install a lot of unnecessary RPMs. Better to install the following key packages. Their dependencies will automatically be pulled by yum.

There is already a yum repository configured in default system installation, by the name of 'c5-media', which checks for media in any of the following: /media, /media/cdrom or /media/CentOS . Just mount your CentOS CD/DVD on /media/cdrom. 
<pre>
# mkdir /media/cdrom
# mount /dev/cdrom /media/cdrom/
</pre>

The following will install about 113 MB of packages, and will give you a fully functional KDE core desktop:
<pre>
#  yum --disablerepo=\* --enablerepo=c5-media install kdebase.x86_64 system-config-display switchdesk
</pre>
Notice the use of trailing <b>.x86_64</b> with kdebase, above . If you will not use it, a lot of un-necessary i386 packages will also get installed.

===System stats (before and after)===
Our system:
<pre>
[root@testkde ~]# uname -a
Linux testkde 2.6.18-194.el5 #1 SMP Fri Apr 3 14:58:14 EDT 2010 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
</pre>

<b>Before: (only @core / no KDE)</b>
<pre>
[root@testkde ~]# rpm -qa | wc -l
233

[root@testkde ~]# df -h
Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/vda3             2.8G  707M  2.0G  27% /
/dev/vda1              99M   12M   82M  13% /boot
tmpfs                 250M     0  250M   0% /dev/shm
/dev/hdc              4.1G  4.1G     0 100% /media/cdrom
[root@testkde ~]# 
</pre>

<b>After: (@core and 'basic' KDE components)</b>
<pre>
[root@bilaltest ~]# rpm -qa | wc -l
328

[root@bilaltest ~]# df -h
Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/vda3             2.8G  1.1G  1.6G  43% /
/dev/vda1              99M   12M   82M  13% /boot
tmpfs                 250M     0  250M   0% /dev/shm
/dev/hdc              4.1G  4.1G     0 100% /media/cdrom
[root@bilaltest ~]# 
</pre>

<b>Note: </b> KDM (K Display Manager) will not let you login as root. Normal user can login to KDE GUI. You can switch to root once logged in as an ordinary normal user. 

===Screenshot===
[[File:Minimal-KDE-1.png]]