version 1.078 written April 2007</P><BR>
go to:<a href="#begining">Begining</a>, <a href="#next">Next Steps</a>, <a href="#links">Useful Links</a>, <a
href="#conclusions">Conclusions</a></P>
<BR>
I have always been interested in GNU/Linux. It's been interesting how once in a while distribution becomes wildly popular and everyone gets all crazy about it. I saw this happen previously with Mandrake and Knoppix, and now lately I have been reading all the praises about Ubunto and got curious enough to try it and see what all the gushing was about. Was it as easy to install it and run as everyone claimed? Would my almost clueless mom be able to set it up and run it succesfuly?</P>
The Ubuntu article on Searchlores was very weak on practical tips and real how to; so I decided to write another one, something that helpfully will offer real teaching instructions for people who might wanna try Ubuntu.</P>
I have been working with computers since the late 1980s. I started with IBM big irons Amdahl machines, using MVS/XA systems.
(You know, the ancient monohrome black screen running the green text thing where you communicated with the system by
inputing long commands in). therefore I am not afraid of the command line altho i MUST admit I have been spoiled by Windoze
and its for idiots point and click interface. Nether I am hardly what one would call a total noob when to comes to Linux; I
have previously toyed with SuSE, Mandrake 9.2 and Knoppix on a few occasions, installed them on my hard drive but that
didn't last long because I couldn't run the many programs I am accustomed to(Photoshop, Painter, Firefox, eMule, WinMX, ICQ,
WinRar, NewsShark and so on) plus figuring how to set up the various things such as audio, video, the Internet, codeces and
what not became too much of a bother. I went with Kubunto instead of Ubunto because of my previoud KDE experience.</P>
My system is homemade using ASUS BIOS, Intel Celeron(R) CPU 3.3GHz with 512 RAM. Both the video and audio are embedded chips
into the motherboard. I run a copy of XP Professional with SP2 included in it.</P>
<BR>
For people who might not know what Kubuntu is, it's Ubuntu with KDe isntead of Gnome. Ubuntu's CD is simular to Knoppix; you
can run it as live CD or install it on the hard drive. This is pretty good if you wanna take them for a spin.</P>
I decided a dual boot with Windows XP becasuse I am SO accustomed running XP and I dont feel like jumping headlong into the
deep end. I admit it; if I had my way, this article was going to be about Mandriva ver 10. I downloaded and burned the 3 CD
ISO set, but when I tried to install it I keep on running into a message where a specific KDE library couldn't be installed
for whatever reasons. No, I wasn't told what the reasons were; the first time I told the installation to bypass the file and
continue but the mandrake system wouldnt boot up and gave me a kernel panic; so I wiped it up and retied an install again
getting the same library error message. When I tried to start the PC, the LILO had nicely messed up my MBR, and I had to
restore it with the FIXMBR command. Not wanting to waste any more time going through the various message boards and
searching I went for Kubuntu.</P>
<BR>
<A NAME=begining>
<!================================================ ======================>
<H2>Basics</H2>
Finding Kubunto was easy enough. To be on the safe side I chose the the 6.06 Dapper Drake because I figured it would be
much more stable than Edgy and burned the ISO. Next I went throught the documentation, and made sure I learned the basics
about Kubunto. I downloaded the pdf desktopguide; I also found and copied an HTML page short whihc explained how to activate
the Internet if you are on a PPPoe.</P>
I burned the CD, and rebooted. I was taken back a bit of how bare boned the system was; it didnt even include Firefox! When
I tried to play a multimedia file I couldn't since Kubunto has this thing about including any type of a soft that might infringe on patents, so i couldnt test any AVIs or MP3s or MKVs. That made me wonder what i was really getting myself into....</P>
Looking Kubunto over I must say that I will need to invest some considerable time into adjusting/tinkering the system before
I can even consider it really ready for every day use. Then again, I do spend several days refixing my brand new installed Windoze system too. Some of the essential things I would need were missing and need to be installed right the way:
<PRE><UL>
1. the Firefox browser,
2. usable audio player that would at least play MP3s, FLACs, APEs and true audio files
3. ICQ equivalent,
4. eMule equivalent,
5. Azureus equivalent
6.usable video player
figure ow to get to the depositories and install programs, etc...</UL></PRE></P>
I had already used Partition Magic to prepare both a Linix partition (HDA3) and a swap partition(HDA4)</P>
. I was asked What my location is, and my time(which it didnt read correctly) I was asked about where to put Kubunto (but
that was no problem since my hard drive was ready) I just had to choose the linux partition and assign it a root status.
After that the installation went surprisingly fast and quick. Too fast in fact; That kinda worried me; I was expecting at least a question about my display and to choose the correct resolution just like Mandrive did. or what packages to install. I wasnt even asked about LILO or where to put the boot
loader. Rather anouxious I rebooted, hoping my XP Windoze was still operational. It was! The graphic LILO came up(or is that Grub?) and I knew I was on my way.</P>
The KDE system came up nicely, reminding me of Mandrake's interface. I had sound and nice screen resolution, therefore both
of the chipsets were recognized! Way! That was impressive considering how long I had to work and how much I had to poke
around and read and ask people for help several years ago to get the sound to work in Mandrake 9.2.</P>
The very first thing I do on a brand newly installed system be it Windoze or Linux is to set up shortcuts to my all drives and favorite programs. Luckily I already knew how to accomplish this in KDE: right click on the desktop, choose shortcut to drives, find the drive and choose OK</P>
Second, I started pocking around and trying to change my desktop wallpaper. No mater how I tied I couldn't find a way to change the colors and the colors of the taskbar. That was slightly dissapointing. Oh well I have to read the forums some more and ask for help.</P>
The furst serious thing I tried was to set up my internet access - eternet using PPPOE. The documentation seems pretty easy and i went right at it. Here i encountered my 1st problem - su versus sudo command. No matter how I tried the su command I was getting password error. Slightly annoyed I stared the Help option and got to reading.</P>
After reading a bit I figured (wrongly) the documentation was wrong; I should have done "sudo -i..." instead of simply "su".
Not knowing the difference between the two didnt help either.
Several hours had passes and my wife wasn't at all happy about all the extra time I had "wasted" at the PC yet AGAIN. I had to explain to her that I was installing/setting Linux but she wasnt impressed at all. She informed me that starting tomorrow, I would be allow only a certain amount of hours on the PC and one my time was up it WOULD be up. I sighed, rebooted the PC, when back to Windoze and figured I will continue tomorrow.</P>
The next day I began to a serious exploration of the system.</P>
<BR>
<A NAME=next>
<!================================================ ======================>
<H2>Nex Steps</H2>
<H2>Next steps:</H2>
I wanted to install the multimedia codeces next so at least I would be able to play MP3s. After pocking around, I found the list of the ones that needed to be installed. No matter how much i tried I was getting messages about missing repositories.
So I went back to reading. I learned a lot about repositories. I needed to add the multiverse repositories. Without knowing I also updated my repositories which is something that MUST be done to be able to download and install any soft.
I found a thread where all the codecex needed for multimedia were listed.
Thankfully it was easy to understand and I was able to follow the instructions and install them the codexes via the command line. I found myself using the command line more and more and I wasnt really happy about that at all.
I had weird problems with it too, sometimes copy and paste wouldnt work sometimes it would. One more strike against Kubuntu and its claims of easy-of-use; no ordinary user I know would begin inputting the magical incantations needed and feel comfortable doing it. I was but thats because I also use the CLI in Windoze often enough when I am doing hacking.</P>
I had trouble figuring the MKV codeces I asked for help right here and when nobody answered I added asked jokingly if my questions were too hard or somthing. I got flamed pretty hard; gee, I dont consider codeces something special or unique, it's basic thing ALL users MUSAT grapple with; finally I got an answer of sorts but I began to suspect them kubuntu users were one mighty touchy lot indeed. They remind me of hard core Christians; it's impossible to even try to argue with them either. Thats OK thought since I also know the babble sorry Bible better than the so called Christians, in a few months I will probably know Kubuntu better than so called experts here too.
After installing the codeces I tried to play some AVI and mkv clips; they were horribly choppy and unwatchable. In fact, KDE was all slow as mollases; I could only run 1 program at a time.</P>
Some people here suggested it might have been my configuration; I dont consider it unique or weird its a simple ASUS board with 2 IDE hard drives and a DVD. I got 700 MBs RAM so it should be plenty. I even considered installing Unbuntu instead of Kubuntu (maybe Gnome runs faster?). Well, Kubuntu is so slow, it's hardly usable.<BR>
Another weird thing is every time I boot into Kubuntu, it screws up my BIOS clock setting it back 13 hours and if its PM changing it into AM. I live in Eastern Europe and thats what i told Kubunto when i was installing it, so i dont know why its screwing up my clock.</P>
Next I tried Kopete, maybe it's me maybe I didnt set it up right, but it messed up my friends' list database at ICQ com and when i ran ICQ back in Windoze I had to re-reqiest authorization from everyone again. Kopete is also SO minimalist I had to get GAIM instead. Dont ask me what i really think of most "free" soft; the first vers of Firefox used to eat my HTML files years ago. Sadly Kopete got a long way to go before it even begins to get close to even GAIM. </P>
I installed Firefox next, of course I hadnt listened to the people so i received the 1.5 version. I hd read I had to do soemthign special to get ther 2.0 version but I didnt wanna bother doing all that extra work just to get a damn browser ; at this point I didn't care anymore really.<p>
<A NAME=conclusions>
<!================================================ ======================>
<H2>Conclusions:</H2>
Good points: Kubuntu is a fairly advanced and acomplished Linux distribution. </P>
Linux is for the guy who has no problem spending a few HOURS to get something working. People who want the machine to just do it with a minimal amount of effort use something else called Windows. Sad but true, folks. No average Windows consumer would spend several hours reading manuals and Linux boards to figure how to install the codeces for MP3.
shortcumings:
Few of the average everyday users however, would know how to burn a CD from an .iso file, boot from a CD, shrink the Windize partitions, create the required Linux and Linux swap partitions, then install ubuntu, no matter how much the entusiasts claim it's "so easy".</P>
Linux is still not for everyone, and people need to come to terms with that. We need to stop trying to convert the masses - it's still too early. Build a truly better operating system and you won't have to spend so much time trying to sell people on a free product. Wait until "it just works" otherwise we're going to continue to turn people off.</P>
I know Ubunto comes on only once CD and the space is limited but the people should at least tried to include Firefox on it.
The Ubunto system is rather bare boned and contains only the very minimum; To get more once gotto set up the repositories systems. I had to spend considerable time getting all the programs I use everyday such as Firefox, couldnt live without. I am a long time Windoze user and I am kinda settled in my ways; therefore the KDE itself would require considerable amount of tinkering to get it exactly the way I want it to look and behave. Thios will probably break my system a few times and require I do a reinstall.</P>
Would my aunt/clueless mom be able to set it up and use it? Never in a million years. She wouldnt even be able to partition the hard drive correctly, forget about using the command line. Unbunto still requires more than the average knowledge of computers. Demographics are quickly changing however; more and more people who are in their 20s grew up with computers and
are not afraid or intimidated to get their systems to run the way they would want them to. Therefore in 10 more years we will see many more usersd chucking Windoze to one side and going with Linux. The growth will be in the 3rd world countries and Asia. Most people there will not be able to afford the 400 dollars Windoze Vista or 800 dollars Office.</P>
<BR>
the problem is that I've been on windows for an awfully long time now, so maybe I'm a bit too used to it and I am having trouble adjusting.</P>
a bit too minimal for me. Since Kubutu/Ubutu is a Debian fork, they are really strict when it comes to what software is allowed on them. It has to be all 100% free and/or unlicenced otherwise they won't included it.
Probably my biggest complaint is about MP3s and movie files – I could not play MP3s at all, and of the two video files (1 .mpg and 1 .avi) one had picture but no audio, while the other had brilliant sound but no picture. It might not be extremely difficult to change a setting or two in order to make music and video files play but since Kubuntu is considered a distro for beginners, I think this is a hurdle for them Since this is an end-user distro that is intended to be easy to use, I think it is reasonable to expect that music and video files will run straight from the start, without having to download and configure additional packages</P>
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For any corrections, additions, suggestions, love letters or hate mail, I am at hoyeru-at-rediff-dot-com. This article is
just a personal account of my experiences with Kubinto and all the mistakes I have made and all the opinions I have
expressed are only mine and mine alone. Therefore your may or may not agree with what i have written here. Try Ubunto or
Kubunto yourself, even for the geek trill of re(search) and share your experiences also.</P>
I'm planing on developing/re-writing article and then postring it on the Internet to counter all those "Ubuntu is Oh SO easy, even my grandma can install it and use it" articles I keep on seeing. No, i havent removed Kubuntu but I am NOT using it much(at all) either. After all, if I cannot even play a simple AVI or an mp4 normally what's the use?
) about what if any HTML codes are supported by this forum, but in any case, you should clean them up. Your article is full of uninterpreted codes, and this makes the whole thing look rather messy.
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