First look at Kubuntu 10.04

[Clay Weber]

On Tuesday, August 03, 2010 09:46:39 pm Doug wrote:
> Hello, and probably goodbye.

Why goodbye so soon? We hardly got to know ya ;)


> I d/l'd Ku 10.04 and set up the live edition.  Now I know what the guys
> on the SUSE list are bitching about with KDE 4.4.x. (I think yours is
> 4.4.2.)  What a horrific mess!

What complaints? Most *Open*Suse users I know like KDE 4.x and think it 
provides a pretty good implementation of it.

Or do you really mean those who still desire KDE 3? (Is Suse SLED/SLES still 
using KDE3?)

> I have been using PcLinuxOs for a couple of weeks now, and it says
> it has KDE 4.4.5, and this looks a lot more like the old KDE 3.x.
> (I don't know why Ku couldn't get it right!) I have installed PcLOs. And
> everything I've tried WORKS. (Almost all of it worked live, too.)
>
It is KDE4, why should *all* distros strive  to make it look, well, old? But 
to be really honest, basically all PCLOS does is use the 'classic' menu, and 
setting up the desktop as a Folder View instead of the default - all easily 
changed by the end user really

> Anyway, in spite of the terrible screen, no video, no music, no mail--it
> wants some kind of security stuff--no printer--it knows what it needs
> for HP 2200D, but can't supply it--it can't just try Postscript, which
> should work, I went as far as I could.

Is this Kubuntu? this part is not clear, initially I was thinking you were 
still speaking about pclos, but  you said it was mostly working.

> So I d/l'd Ubuntu 10.04. Ran that live.  Still no music, but it says it
> needs mp3 drivers for sound, and mpeg drivers for video, and of course
> running off a CD, it can't d/l them and install them anywhere

I bet it can, assuming enough ram, etc. The development version of Kubuntu has 
the ability to update the installer program before it runs, for example. And I 
personally have installed firefox during a live session. Of course it cannot 
save that between session, though if you intall the image to a usb key using 
usb-creator, you can set up a persistence file, though I am not sure if it 
saves downloaded/installed apps as I think it only saves user data

> , so I'll
> give it a pass for now.  Printing works fine, altho slowly--I guess
> that's due to the live configuration. 

yes, PCLOS has one of the better-running livecd's around, they have been doing 
this method longer than Ubuntu iirc

> Email is set up and works.
> I'm not happy about the system tray being on the top, or the x and _
> being on the left instead of the right, but I could live with that.
> 
> So why am I messing with xxbuntu?  I'm signed up for a college course in
> Unix/Linux in the fall, and I figured since the -buntu distros
> seem to be the most popular, I'd go with that, in the absence of
> information from the CS department over the summer, and I am fairly
> familiar with KDE 3.x.  So on the laptop I just ordered, it will be
> Ubuntu, without the K.  Too bad.  I was hoping for better.  (Of
> course, the CS instructor may tell me to install Debian, who knows?)

Ubuntu, and therefore gnome, is arguably more popular, though it is possible 
that the curriculum could be Red Hat specific as that is much more common in 
server rooms and IT departments, and has a more widely accepted certification 
program. 

> I will respectfully await replies, and I have some time before fall,
> so If someone can suggest remedies, I'll go look, but in the meantime,
> I'll pursue Ubuntu.  And get work done on PcLos and W7.  If there
> are suggestions, I remind the suggester that I'm a tyro at this:

A lot has changed since the KDE 3 days of which you are more familiar, but 
there is still quite a bit that still should be familiar both on the surface 
and under the hood.

> that's why I signed up for the course.

> --doug

Feel free to ask all the questions you need! And rest assured if you decide to 
stay with pclos, no one will take offense. It is a good distro. I always 
suggest that you should use what works best for *you*, even if it isn't my 
distro of choice.


----
Clay Weber
http://kubuntuforums.net
http://ubuntumaine.org
http://emacdogsports.com