Kubuntu 7-10 frustrations

[Daniel Mons]

Jaydear wrote:
> Hi Dan, thanks for your good advice. I'm definitely a GUI guy. I will
> give Ubuntu a try. I'm not sure how I got interested in Kubuntu (might
> have been Lab with Leo?), and I was not really aware that K is under-
> documented! I want to play with media serving through Linux among
> other things.
> 
> What's the best way to remove K and Grub? Maybe I should format both
> drives as 100% NTFS and install U first. I haven't activated this XP
> Pro yet.

I'll start this email with a disclaimer: I live in a Windows-free world, 
and am very happy with it.  My recommendation always is to get rid of 
Windows.  IMHO Windows is designed very poorly, is horribly insecure, 
becomes bloated and slow when the necessary third-party software is 
installed on it to make it semi-secure, and by and large teaches people 
very bad computing habits.  I highly recommend reading this very well 
written article that outlines a few other end-user issues caused by Windows:
http://www.over-yonder.net/~fullermd/rants/winstupid/winstupid1.php

With that out of the way, you can do a few things:

1) As mentioned, scrub Windows, and do a clean install of Ubuntu.

2) Install the "gnome-desktop" package via your preferred package 
manager to install the standard GNOME desktop (instead of KDE which you 
are using now).  It will give you an equivalent system to an Ubuntu install.

GRUB is the standard Linux bootloader.  You will need it unless you have 
a different, Linux-compatible bootloader.  The Windows bootloader 
(surprise surprise) will not work with Linux.

If you do however want to get rid of Linux and boot just Windows, you 
can use the Microsoft "fixmbr" tool (google for it to find out how and 
where to use it).

Ignoring my pro-Linux stance for just a moment, I highly recommend to 
anyone wanting to "learn Linux" that they dive in head first.  I find 
people who dual boot invariably find it too difficult to jump back and 
forth, and eventually give up on running Linux to stay in an environment 
they are more comfortable with.  Much like learning another language, 
total immersion is the absolute best way to learn Linux above and beyond 
any other method I've seen.  Remember too that Linux (particularly 
well-built distros like Ubuntu) works quite well on older hardware.  If 
you have an older, second machine lying around, don't be afraid to turn 
it into your Linux box if you still want Windows lying around somewhere.

Alternatively, virtual machine technology is now at a very user-friendly 
point.  Tools like VirtualBox are available in the Ubuntu repositories, 
and allow simple creation of virtual machines should you need to boot up 
Windows while on your Linux box.  But honestly, there is rarely a file 
format or tool I come across where there is not a Linux/free/GPL 
alternative that does what I need it to do.  In fact, I find the reverse 
more true: when forced to use Windows machines I find them frustrating 
and limiting.  The amount of tools provided with a standard Windows 
machine limit you to VERY basic computer use which make it very hard for 
me to go backwards into Windows land.

-Dan