System Specifications
After having installed KDE 4.3 on my ubuntu installation and really enjoying using it, I decided I wanted the full Ubuntu/KDE experience. So I decided to wipe my ubuntu installation and install Kubuntu 9.04. It turns out the switch wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. There we're definitely a few stumbling blocks along the way.
First I couldn't get tomboy notes to work. I'm aware that KDE offers Basket Notepad but I really prefer Tomboy. I love the wiki style and simplicity of it. I could install it fine but attempting to launch gave me errors. I never did quite figure out what the issues was but I knew it was very important for me to get it working as all my installation notes we're in tomboy which I sync to dropbox so I can have them available to me anywhere (this is really handy as tomboy also has a windows version so I can run them back and forth). Well after much googleing I discovered it's some kind of issue that won't let tomboy run with out gnome. Well I thought, at the very least I can install ubuntu in virtualbox and access my notes this way. So that's what I proceeded to do. Well I decided to have a look at the article on how to forge entitled The Perfect Desktop - Kubuntu 9.04 This article is very thorough and allowed me to get everything I needed on kubuntu without the primary use of my notes.
After following the guide and picking the software I wanted (I didn't install all the software mentioned as I use alternatives to some of them) I then went to google to search for a way to test my browser plugins. This is when I noticed I had no sound in my browser. Flash, totem and mplayer remained silent. So off to google again. Many hours and much googleing later I discovered the reason for my sound issues was that Kubuntu does not install pulseaudio by default. So I needed to install it. So I followed the instructions found in this post. But for some reason I still had no sound. This drove me completely insane, at this point I was highly frustrated. Well somewhere in the mirad of google pages I came across a post and the reply to that post was that this person had discovered that their PCM volume was turned down and when they turned it up they had sound. So I checked my PCM volume using the mixer option available when clicking on the volume in the system tray and sure enough it was turned all the way down. Now I had sound in my browser. Flash, Mplayer totem they all worked!
I updated my KDE to 4.3 which is (Im my humble opinion) far Superior to the KDE that ships with Kubuntu Jaunty. The widgets are great and I love using them, also I noticed that the networking widget, which refused to work under kde installed on top of ubuntu, now worked perfectly under Kubuntu. Also I no longer have annoying sounds when using gtk applications under kde this was the most annoying thing about using kde ontop of ubuntu.
I almost forgot to mention that after following the Perfect Desktop article, my tomboy notes began working. So I have it installed now and running as well. From the error I was receiving when attempting to launch it through the terminal, I know it was some kind of Mono error, though I can't be sure what as I don't know anything about programming.
When I switched to KDE I began using Kontact as my "Outlook Replacement" and I really have grown very fond of it. Once you get into the the options and customize it, it really works well. I even switched from google reader to Akregator.
For messaging I have always preferred the layout of Kopete over pidgin to me it just seems cleaner. So that's what I'm currently using.
I was able to get Firefox setup easily and it looks great after installing the qt-curve engine. I also installed the flashgot extension & configured it to use kget as my download manager. I use firefox for my everyday browsing. Konqueror has become my Guild Wars Browser. I have the homepage set to the Guild Wars wiki which I use regularly, and the only other bookmarks I have in it are all for guild wars.
Speaking of games, I installed Guild wars using crossover games, I've had a license for 2 years now, I also installed Neverwinter Nights 2 with wine, it works great, I also have the native linux version of Neverwinter Nights. The other pack I installed was kdegames for cards and such.
I have seen lot's of people complain about amarok 2 but it has been a long time since I used Amarok 1 and to be honest I really like Amarok 2, it's worked perfectly for me.
I would have to say I've really fallen in love with Kubuntu and I'm glad to have the opportunity to use it.
- Systemax AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ 2.30GHz
- 3GB DDR2 800 (PC2-6400)
- 250GB Hard Drive
- 9-in-1 Media Reader
- Realtek ALC883 High Definition Integrated Audio
- DVD±R/RW
- Integrated NVIDIA GeForce 6100
- I have added a NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GS 512 mb card
After having installed KDE 4.3 on my ubuntu installation and really enjoying using it, I decided I wanted the full Ubuntu/KDE experience. So I decided to wipe my ubuntu installation and install Kubuntu 9.04. It turns out the switch wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. There we're definitely a few stumbling blocks along the way.
First I couldn't get tomboy notes to work. I'm aware that KDE offers Basket Notepad but I really prefer Tomboy. I love the wiki style and simplicity of it. I could install it fine but attempting to launch gave me errors. I never did quite figure out what the issues was but I knew it was very important for me to get it working as all my installation notes we're in tomboy which I sync to dropbox so I can have them available to me anywhere (this is really handy as tomboy also has a windows version so I can run them back and forth). Well after much googleing I discovered it's some kind of issue that won't let tomboy run with out gnome. Well I thought, at the very least I can install ubuntu in virtualbox and access my notes this way. So that's what I proceeded to do. Well I decided to have a look at the article on how to forge entitled The Perfect Desktop - Kubuntu 9.04 This article is very thorough and allowed me to get everything I needed on kubuntu without the primary use of my notes.
After following the guide and picking the software I wanted (I didn't install all the software mentioned as I use alternatives to some of them) I then went to google to search for a way to test my browser plugins. This is when I noticed I had no sound in my browser. Flash, totem and mplayer remained silent. So off to google again. Many hours and much googleing later I discovered the reason for my sound issues was that Kubuntu does not install pulseaudio by default. So I needed to install it. So I followed the instructions found in this post. But for some reason I still had no sound. This drove me completely insane, at this point I was highly frustrated. Well somewhere in the mirad of google pages I came across a post and the reply to that post was that this person had discovered that their PCM volume was turned down and when they turned it up they had sound. So I checked my PCM volume using the mixer option available when clicking on the volume in the system tray and sure enough it was turned all the way down. Now I had sound in my browser. Flash, Mplayer totem they all worked!
I updated my KDE to 4.3 which is (Im my humble opinion) far Superior to the KDE that ships with Kubuntu Jaunty. The widgets are great and I love using them, also I noticed that the networking widget, which refused to work under kde installed on top of ubuntu, now worked perfectly under Kubuntu. Also I no longer have annoying sounds when using gtk applications under kde this was the most annoying thing about using kde ontop of ubuntu.
I almost forgot to mention that after following the Perfect Desktop article, my tomboy notes began working. So I have it installed now and running as well. From the error I was receiving when attempting to launch it through the terminal, I know it was some kind of Mono error, though I can't be sure what as I don't know anything about programming.
When I switched to KDE I began using Kontact as my "Outlook Replacement" and I really have grown very fond of it. Once you get into the the options and customize it, it really works well. I even switched from google reader to Akregator.
For messaging I have always preferred the layout of Kopete over pidgin to me it just seems cleaner. So that's what I'm currently using.
I was able to get Firefox setup easily and it looks great after installing the qt-curve engine. I also installed the flashgot extension & configured it to use kget as my download manager. I use firefox for my everyday browsing. Konqueror has become my Guild Wars Browser. I have the homepage set to the Guild Wars wiki which I use regularly, and the only other bookmarks I have in it are all for guild wars.
Speaking of games, I installed Guild wars using crossover games, I've had a license for 2 years now, I also installed Neverwinter Nights 2 with wine, it works great, I also have the native linux version of Neverwinter Nights. The other pack I installed was kdegames for cards and such.
I have seen lot's of people complain about amarok 2 but it has been a long time since I used Amarok 1 and to be honest I really like Amarok 2, it's worked perfectly for me.
I would have to say I've really fallen in love with Kubuntu and I'm glad to have the opportunity to use it.
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