Kubuntu 9.10, way better than I'd expected!

[pansz]

With the release of Kubuntu 8.10 and 9.04 most users are frustrated and switched to other kde distributions or switched to gnome. We have to say Kubuntu 8.10 and 9.04 sucks even more than Windows vista.

Kubuntu 9.10 solves most problems 8.10 and 9.04 had and provides a very useful desktop on my really old notebook (PIII 667MHz, 512MRAM, IGP). kudos for kde developers.

I'm looking forward for the next LTS version to upgrade my computer at work (it is still 8.04.3 LTS now, LTS->LTS is possible isn't it?).

Someone saids that releasing a horrible windows vista helps promoting windows 7. Now I doubt kubuntu are using the same method: release the horrible Kubuntu 8.10 and 9.04 to help promoting 9.10 and 10.04?

[theketchupman]

Re: Kubuntu 9.10, way better than I'd expected!

I tried every release on my laptop since the LTS version. The LTS worked fine, but I wanted to keep upgrading. I have had so many problems since I left the LTS. I installed Karmic this weekend, and spent a day trying to figure out how to get the wireless working (it's a stupid broadcom that requires me to use a proprietary driver), expecting Karmic to give me as hard of a time as the others, but it has been flawless. I have to say that this is the best kubuntu release since the switch to kde 4. My wireless network is connecting immediately. My laptop is not overheating. I can hibernate and shut down without any problems. I am sooooo happy! (such a sappy post, but I am still surprised that it is working this well)

[chipbennett]

Re: Kubuntu 9.10, way better than I'd expected!

Technically speaking, Kubuntu 8.04 is not LTS. For some ridiculous reason, the decision was made that KDE 3.5.x could not be supported for the duration of an LTS, and KDE 4.0 wasn't ready to be supported in an LTS - so Kubuntu users were left in no-man's land.

For that reason, ever since that decision was made, I was looking at Kubuntu 9.10 as the critical release: either move to KDE 4.x, or stick with an unsupported release (8.04) until KDE 4.x was ready.

I stuck with 8.04 for the next two releases, because I needed stability and feature-completeness and KDE 4.x was nowhere near either in either 8.10 or 9.04.

That said, I made the upgrade (clean install of /, with existing /home on a separate partition) to Kubuntu 9.10, having grown confident enough that KDE 4.3 was stable and feature-complete enough to make the KDE 3.5-to-KDE 4 switch.

And I must say: I am greatly impressed! Karmic is beautiful, stable, and fast. The transition was nearly seamless, since all of my previous settings were retained. I've had to make some minor tweaks that are peculiar to my setup (e.g. my fstab entries for my NAS shares), but otherwise I was up and running almost immediately. Even wifi worked "out of the box" for me.

(I actually upgraded using a LiveUSB of Karmic RC, and then updated a couple days after release, in order to avoid the server crunch in the first day or so following a release.)

The KDE and Kubuntu devs deserve a standing ovation for their work as culminated in Kubuntu 9.10!