In this article, we will show you how you can get KDE Plasma Workspace running in Ubuntu 9.10 along with Compiz and Emerald. So, if you would like to get KDE Plasma Workspace without migrating to KDE full time, here is what you need to do:

• Install the required applications with the commands given below:

sudo apt-get install kde-minimal

sudo apt-get install kdeplasma-addons

sudo apt-get install plasma-scriptengine-python

• Create a script to launch gnome desktop with the command:

gedit ~/Desktop/gnome-desktop.sh

• In the gnome-desktop.sh file copy the code below and save.

#!/bin/bash
killall fusion-icon
killall gnome-panel
killall plasma-desktop
gnome-desktop &
fusion-icon &

• Create a script to launch plasma-desktop with the command:

gedit ~/Desktop/plasma-desktop.sh

• Copy and paste the code given below in plasma-desktop.sh.

#!/bin/bash

killall fusion-icon
killall gnome-panel
killall plasma-desktop
plasma-desktop &
fusion-icon &

• Make plasma-desktop.sh and gnome-desktop.sh executable with the command

chmod +x ~/Desktop/plasma-desktop.sh
chmod +x ~/Desktop/gnome-desktop.sh

• Open gconf-editor with the command

gconf-editor

• In gconf-editor, go to desktop -> gnome -> session -> required_components. Double click the panel option and remove the gnome-panel value. Close it.
• Now, to get the Plasma Workspace, double click on plasma-desktop.sh, which is located on your desktop, and select Run.
• To get back the Gnome Desktop, run gnome-desktop.sh, which is in the desktop, in the same way you ran plasma-desktop.sh above.

source: ubuntu forum