Things I already hate about Kubuntu (new user)

[James Gray]

On Tuesday 20 December 2005 11:34, Terry North wrote:

Hi Terry,

You sound like this isn't your first exposure to Linux so I'll answer based on 
that assumption.  Feel free to ask for elaboration if I'm wrong or not 
clear :)

> 3. Grub.
> Ubuntu took it upon itself to lead the list in the boot loader.

This is the default behaviour for every Linux I've ever installed.  At one 
time I was running 4 different Linux distros on the one machine and each one 
added itself to the top of the boot order as I installed them.  You don't 
like it - edit /boot/grub/menu.lst (read on - there are other options).

> 4. Screen Resolution.
> I've now got 3 systems on my computer.  The other 2 are quite happy with
> the settings I use and the settings result in them using exactly the same
> amount of the available area - all of it.  Ubuntu wants to use less - with
> a good third of and inch or more left black on all sides.  When I tried to
> find the tool to check and, possibly, change the settings, it was nowhere
> to be found.

Is this on the console or in X?  If it's in X you may need to double check the 
monitor sync ranges and/or add a mode line to /etc/X11/xorg.conf.  FWIW, I 
had to tweak my xorg.conf by hand to get my dual-head nVidia card running 
nicely with the dual 19" LCD's I use.  Same goes for the other OS (from a 
company in Redmond, WA).  Auto-detection for video settings in my experience 
is a little hit-and-miss.  Some monitor+video+OS combinations work well, 
change any of those components and the auto-detect results can be wildly 
different.

> 5. Only KDE and what about other utilities?
> I wanted Kalarm, so I got Kubuntu 5.10 instead of Ubuntu 5.10.  But I'd
> like gedit and, if possible, Nautilus (Konqueror stinks, methinks).  I paid
> $A9.90 for a one disk installation.  I would happily have paid more for a
> decent installation if it was available.

Exactly how much space do think is available on one CD? :P  If you were making 
a customised CD image for yourself, then sure, you'd probably fit all YOUR 
preferred apps on there...but when bundling a generic set of utils/apps for a 
broader audience, there has to be omissions.  Edit /etc/apt/sources.list and 
un-comment the lines for network installation (base, security, universe, 
multiverse etc).  Then "sudo apt-get update" and install whatever you want.  
All this can be done from Kynaptic I believe...not sure, I use CLI for all my 
packages.

> While I'm at it, what would be wrong with a tool such as System Settings
> opening in its own window instead of in Konqueror?

ALT+F2, type "kcontrol", hit "Run".  This should be in the K-menu under 
Preferences -> Control Center too.

> And don't talk to me about "Help".  "This page is not available.  Have you
> installed all the documentation?" 

The sum of all the documentation for KDE would fill an entire CD.  Got another 
$A9.90?? :P  Seriously though, I feel your pain.  I do a fair bit of Qt and 
KDE hacking and despite apt-cache search-ing until I'm blue, there are still 
some significant gaps that the KDE documentation system is yet have filled.

> 6. One touch and you buy it.
> I was alarmed to discover that selecting anything in a list does not just
> select the item, it opens it.  That is way out of left field and will take
> some getting used to.

Single-click execution is the default behaviour in KDE and has been as long as 
I can remember.  If you don't like it, you can revert to "double-click to 
execute, single-click to select" type behaviour:
1. Open "kcontrol" (see above)
2. Expand the "Peripherals" branch and select "Mouse".
3. Select the "General" tab and voila!  Edit to your preferred behaviour :)

> 7. Administrator's tasks made harder.
> A. I opened an administrative window from System Settings, which had
> decided to open as a list in Konqueror.  Everything was greyed out, except,
> possibly, a note telling me to click on the Administrator's button if I
> wanted to change anything.  First, there was nothing to change.  Secondly,
> there was no administrator's button.

Try opening it in kcontrol instead.

> B. So, that meant I had to edit menu.lst (to get a say in Grub).  Of
> course, the file is read-only.  So, I'll go into Midnight Commander, I
> think, and change the settings temporarily so that I can edit with Kate
> which has already opened the file with the one touch and you buy it policy.
>  I cannot believe (ok, I do believe it) there is no Midnight Commander or
> anything like it.

Non-root users can never lower the permissions of a root-write-only file.  
It's basic file system security.  You can simply "sudo <CLI-editor-of-choice> 
<file>" to edit a root-owned and protected file.

> C. Next thought, open Kate, possibly from the root console.  Look for Help
> on the subject (see above).  Could try chmod but I'm getting awfully sick
> of this.

You're approaching it the wrong way :)  Rather than lowering the permissions 
of the file so you can edit it as a normal user, elevate yourself to a higher 
privilege level THEN edit the file.  The tool is called "sudo" and when it 
prompts for a password it is your USER password.

> D. Light goes on.  Login in as Root, open Kate, open file, edit, 
> all's right with the world.  Sorry, no can do.  Jeepers Creepers.

Correct - root doesn't own the KDE instance so root can't get access to the X 
server.  This is normal.  If you want to run a GUI app with root privs in KDE 
the correct approach is "kdesu <GUI-app>" from ALT+F2 or the command line.  
When you get the password prompt, enter YOUR password - this is effectively a 
GUI version of sudo.  However, if you've broken the basic "sudo for 
everything" model of Unbuntu by setting a root password, then you may need to 
experiment using your password then root's password until you get success.  
I'm not really sure - I like the sudo methodology for a desktop system so 
left it alone.

BTW - unless you mirror your user-login KDE settings[1] in root's home dir, 
any application opened with "kdesu" will have default KDE look-and-feel.  So 
if the program running with kdesu looks a little different, you know why :)

James
-- 
If pregnancy were a book they would cut the last two chapters.
		-- Nora Ephron, "Heartburn"