Im not 100% sure if KDE will work whit out hall, but KDE doesent use hal directly instead it uses the Solid framework of KDE. Solid isint dependant of one spesific bacend, but its like phonon so you can have multiple differend back ends whit it. i do not have any Idea of the state of differend backebnd, mayby some one whit more knowelege could provide additional information.
