Edit: I changed the title, because in the end I came back to Kubuntu 8.04
I didn't know where to put this, and it has to do with an operating system so...
I really really really hate it to go back to Windows. I've used Kubuntu for four years now. 6.10 and 8.04 worked great. But 10.04 is completely unworkable for me.
The reason I take the time to write this is I hope some developers or whoever read it and maybe it helps a bit to make Linux better in future. So I can come back.
I really liked this board and the way people help each other here, before I forget to mention that.
8.04 worked great. But I build sites and Firefox was getting too old. (Just after upgrading to 10.04 canonical asked for people to test Firefox 3.5 on 8.04, grrrr. Firefox was the only reason I upgraded).
Okay, I installed 10.04 completely clean. Checksum etc. were okay. First installation went completely wrong, don't know why. Well, that can happen. Maybe I jumped on the floor the moment something was read from the cd, whatever.
Second installation worked okay. Only the nvdia-driver recommended by canonical didn't work. I didn't know it was the driver and things were so weird I couldn't even ask for help. Because I couldn't describe the problem in an understandable way. Fonts were randomly changing in size. Not all programs and not all of the time. Sometimes even the desktopfonts changed. Sometimes fonts were suddenly so small I couldn't read them. Toolbars were sometimes normal, sometimes suddenly small. OpenOffice had grey lines on the toolbars, making them hardly readable. Sizes of folders changed just like that. Etc., etc.
After getting 'out of range' errors it was pretty soon clear it was the recommended driver that caused everything. I installed the other (not recommended) driver and this problem was solved. Took me only about two weeks and three times installing again, because I changed so much settings I was not sure anymore I hadn't caused it myself.
I am supposed to write tutorials how to build sites. (By the way: I didn't contribute much to the Linux community, but my tutorials are also free in both ways and promote open standards. So it's another community, but I'm not only 'using'. And really open standards on Internet are very important for Linux too.)
I'm pretty sure if I take another two weeks or two months everything is working, but that's too much time. A small part of the problems that still exist (and didn't exist in 8.04) is following.
(For most of this things I've been searching on Internet. I had much more problems and I could solve a lot of them. Still existing problems I was going to ask here, but it's really taking too much time. And I'm pretty sure some things are just not solvable.)
* RSIBreak doesn't work. When the screen blanks out after 10 minutes, RSIBreak stops counting.
* No sound in RSIBreak.
* After rebooting I have to manually connect to Internet.
* Scrollbars are hardly visible, because they are all grey. I didn't find a way to change color. Maybe installing a completely other theme or something like that could work, but I'm afraid the other problems are starting again.
* I've a map on the desktop. To select something I have to click on it. Typing the first letter doesn't work.
* Drag and drop with Shift, Control or Control+Shift most of the time doesn't work. No big problem if it never works, but on the wildest moments it suddenly does work, even if I didn't use Shift or Control. I just drag something somewhere and there's suddenly a link or a copy. I've really taken a very long time to try this out, but it just doesn't work well on my computer. Not being able to reliable copy or move is not a small thing.
* The helpcenter doesn't work. The helpcenter itself is working, but in applications I get all of the time 'no index exists' (or something like that). Only in KDE-apps. I can't make an index, because if I choose in the helpcenter for making an index I only get a pop-up where there's nothing to choose or type.
* Shortkeys for widgets aren't working. So I have to use the mouse a lot. A whole lot.
* I get no notifications for updates.
* KAlarm has as a general setting for sound. But there was no sound. After searching for a very long time it turns out there's a setting about four levels deep in the individual warnings. Soundlevel in every new warning is zero. You have to adjust it in every warning. What's the use of a general setting if it's overruled by every warning? All this things also take a lot of time, because for example this setting was really good hidden. Couldn't find another usable alarm-program.
* There's a strange dotted square on the taskbar, making the widget on the left almost unusable. Removed the whole taskbar and every widget, but after putting everything back it's there again. Switching widgets etc. doesn't make any difference.
* Systemmonitor (a widget with three bars) gives half of the time no left bar (cpu usage) and says half of the time cpu usage is 100%. Completely unusable. (100% isn't correct, because top etc. give a different usage.)
* No sound in OpenOffice. There's a red cross in the mediaplayer and I can't change that.
* Klipper doesn't work wel. Because of the tutorials I write I sometimes have to copy 30 or something different sentences, and have to keep them a little while. Klipper was perfect. The first entrance (the one used the most) could be copied with Ctrl+ V. Now I have to open Klipper, select the first entrance, close Klipper and then finally I can use Ctrl-V. Every time again: the selection I make doesn't persist.
* Sound in Firefox is good. But not in add-ons. NoScript and Download Statusbar have no sound.
* Sounds in k3b are truncated. After about half a second they stop.
* To get shortkeys for applications working I had to change two settings in a config file. No big deal, but of course it took again some time before I found that out. Why does KDE make a very handy shortcut-system in the menu, when you have to change two settings with an editor before it works?
* Korn was a terrific mail notifier for KDE 3. There simply doesn't exist a good mail notifier for KDE 4. I use a widget, but that only gives the number of mails. Sometimes it gives a warning with a sound, sometimes not. It should give the header of the mail. Sometimes it does, sometimes not. It should give the sender. Sometimes it does, sometimes it gives completely rubbish. (Thunderbird gives the correct sender, so it's not something wrong in the mail). It was the best I could find for pop.
* After installing the not-recommend driver the fonts are better. But in Kubuntu 8.04 (and Windows) the are still far better.
* Workrave has no sound.
* I use Knotes to put to do lists on a desktop. Very handy if you work on more projects at the same time. After rebooting the font size is changed to an unreadable small size and all positions and formats are lost. I've reinstalled KNotes a few times, typed everything in completely new, no difference. It's hardly usable this way.
I could install Tomboy and mono, but I might as well go directly back to Windows if I install mono.
(If I say reinstall here of course I removed everything, also all settings etc.)
* If I connect an external harddisk or usb-stick, I get notified. After that there's not any sign there's an external thing connected, making it very easy to forget to safely remove it. Dataloss can happen. In 8.04 there was an icon on the deskop: a clear indication there was some external device connected.
Probably I can get something like that in 10.04 too, after another two days of searching and asking.
For the moment I've put a very big widget (you can't make the bloody thing smaller) on the desktop that says in text if something's connected.
* The window of OpenOffice is not completely visible. About half a centimeter at the bottom is missing. Reinstalling didn't repair that. So I can't see page numbers etc. Wait, sometimes the window is visible and I can enjoy for a few minutes page numbers.
* VMWare didn't work. I'm used to getting errors installing it, so nothing strange. Found a fix on Internet, just like in 8.04. Fix didn't work. Found a fix for the fix. That worked: I could install Windows. Just one small problem: no internet. I use it to test sites on Internet Explorer 7 (and 6, but I probably quit 6 completely for testing).
* VirtualBox worked great. Far easier than VMWare. I used VirtualBox out of the repo. Just one small problem: no internet.
I used two weeks trying to get Kubuntu to work. Of course it took also some time to learn new things. But I didn't really even started using it and I found already so many problems. I'm pretty sure if I start using it I'll find lots of other problems.
Well, that's it. Thanks for the help I got here. I really don't like to go back to Microsoft. And in some time I'm definitely going to try Kubuntu again. I even installed Ubuntu in despair, but I really don't like gnome.
Bottom line is: there are fabulous desktop effects. But KNotes doesn't keep it's settings. There are beautiful windows for notifications. But there's no usable mail notifier. That's nice if you like all that glamour, but I have to work.
For me the most important thing is not it's free (without money), but Linux frees you from one of the most horrible companies ever existed. If I had to pay for Linux that would be no problem. But I must be able to use it. I think that's not an unreasonable expectation...
I didn't know where to put this, and it has to do with an operating system so...
I really really really hate it to go back to Windows. I've used Kubuntu for four years now. 6.10 and 8.04 worked great. But 10.04 is completely unworkable for me.
The reason I take the time to write this is I hope some developers or whoever read it and maybe it helps a bit to make Linux better in future. So I can come back.
I really liked this board and the way people help each other here, before I forget to mention that.
8.04 worked great. But I build sites and Firefox was getting too old. (Just after upgrading to 10.04 canonical asked for people to test Firefox 3.5 on 8.04, grrrr. Firefox was the only reason I upgraded).
Okay, I installed 10.04 completely clean. Checksum etc. were okay. First installation went completely wrong, don't know why. Well, that can happen. Maybe I jumped on the floor the moment something was read from the cd, whatever.
Second installation worked okay. Only the nvdia-driver recommended by canonical didn't work. I didn't know it was the driver and things were so weird I couldn't even ask for help. Because I couldn't describe the problem in an understandable way. Fonts were randomly changing in size. Not all programs and not all of the time. Sometimes even the desktopfonts changed. Sometimes fonts were suddenly so small I couldn't read them. Toolbars were sometimes normal, sometimes suddenly small. OpenOffice had grey lines on the toolbars, making them hardly readable. Sizes of folders changed just like that. Etc., etc.
After getting 'out of range' errors it was pretty soon clear it was the recommended driver that caused everything. I installed the other (not recommended) driver and this problem was solved. Took me only about two weeks and three times installing again, because I changed so much settings I was not sure anymore I hadn't caused it myself.
I am supposed to write tutorials how to build sites. (By the way: I didn't contribute much to the Linux community, but my tutorials are also free in both ways and promote open standards. So it's another community, but I'm not only 'using'. And really open standards on Internet are very important for Linux too.)
I'm pretty sure if I take another two weeks or two months everything is working, but that's too much time. A small part of the problems that still exist (and didn't exist in 8.04) is following.
(For most of this things I've been searching on Internet. I had much more problems and I could solve a lot of them. Still existing problems I was going to ask here, but it's really taking too much time. And I'm pretty sure some things are just not solvable.)
* RSIBreak doesn't work. When the screen blanks out after 10 minutes, RSIBreak stops counting.
* No sound in RSIBreak.
* After rebooting I have to manually connect to Internet.
* Scrollbars are hardly visible, because they are all grey. I didn't find a way to change color. Maybe installing a completely other theme or something like that could work, but I'm afraid the other problems are starting again.
* I've a map on the desktop. To select something I have to click on it. Typing the first letter doesn't work.
* Drag and drop with Shift, Control or Control+Shift most of the time doesn't work. No big problem if it never works, but on the wildest moments it suddenly does work, even if I didn't use Shift or Control. I just drag something somewhere and there's suddenly a link or a copy. I've really taken a very long time to try this out, but it just doesn't work well on my computer. Not being able to reliable copy or move is not a small thing.
* The helpcenter doesn't work. The helpcenter itself is working, but in applications I get all of the time 'no index exists' (or something like that). Only in KDE-apps. I can't make an index, because if I choose in the helpcenter for making an index I only get a pop-up where there's nothing to choose or type.
* Shortkeys for widgets aren't working. So I have to use the mouse a lot. A whole lot.
* I get no notifications for updates.
* KAlarm has as a general setting for sound. But there was no sound. After searching for a very long time it turns out there's a setting about four levels deep in the individual warnings. Soundlevel in every new warning is zero. You have to adjust it in every warning. What's the use of a general setting if it's overruled by every warning? All this things also take a lot of time, because for example this setting was really good hidden. Couldn't find another usable alarm-program.
* There's a strange dotted square on the taskbar, making the widget on the left almost unusable. Removed the whole taskbar and every widget, but after putting everything back it's there again. Switching widgets etc. doesn't make any difference.
* Systemmonitor (a widget with three bars) gives half of the time no left bar (cpu usage) and says half of the time cpu usage is 100%. Completely unusable. (100% isn't correct, because top etc. give a different usage.)
* No sound in OpenOffice. There's a red cross in the mediaplayer and I can't change that.
* Klipper doesn't work wel. Because of the tutorials I write I sometimes have to copy 30 or something different sentences, and have to keep them a little while. Klipper was perfect. The first entrance (the one used the most) could be copied with Ctrl+ V. Now I have to open Klipper, select the first entrance, close Klipper and then finally I can use Ctrl-V. Every time again: the selection I make doesn't persist.
* Sound in Firefox is good. But not in add-ons. NoScript and Download Statusbar have no sound.
* Sounds in k3b are truncated. After about half a second they stop.
* To get shortkeys for applications working I had to change two settings in a config file. No big deal, but of course it took again some time before I found that out. Why does KDE make a very handy shortcut-system in the menu, when you have to change two settings with an editor before it works?
* Korn was a terrific mail notifier for KDE 3. There simply doesn't exist a good mail notifier for KDE 4. I use a widget, but that only gives the number of mails. Sometimes it gives a warning with a sound, sometimes not. It should give the header of the mail. Sometimes it does, sometimes not. It should give the sender. Sometimes it does, sometimes it gives completely rubbish. (Thunderbird gives the correct sender, so it's not something wrong in the mail). It was the best I could find for pop.
* After installing the not-recommend driver the fonts are better. But in Kubuntu 8.04 (and Windows) the are still far better.
* Workrave has no sound.
* I use Knotes to put to do lists on a desktop. Very handy if you work on more projects at the same time. After rebooting the font size is changed to an unreadable small size and all positions and formats are lost. I've reinstalled KNotes a few times, typed everything in completely new, no difference. It's hardly usable this way.
I could install Tomboy and mono, but I might as well go directly back to Windows if I install mono.
(If I say reinstall here of course I removed everything, also all settings etc.)
* If I connect an external harddisk or usb-stick, I get notified. After that there's not any sign there's an external thing connected, making it very easy to forget to safely remove it. Dataloss can happen. In 8.04 there was an icon on the deskop: a clear indication there was some external device connected.
Probably I can get something like that in 10.04 too, after another two days of searching and asking.
For the moment I've put a very big widget (you can't make the bloody thing smaller) on the desktop that says in text if something's connected.
* The window of OpenOffice is not completely visible. About half a centimeter at the bottom is missing. Reinstalling didn't repair that. So I can't see page numbers etc. Wait, sometimes the window is visible and I can enjoy for a few minutes page numbers.
* VMWare didn't work. I'm used to getting errors installing it, so nothing strange. Found a fix on Internet, just like in 8.04. Fix didn't work. Found a fix for the fix. That worked: I could install Windows. Just one small problem: no internet. I use it to test sites on Internet Explorer 7 (and 6, but I probably quit 6 completely for testing).
* VirtualBox worked great. Far easier than VMWare. I used VirtualBox out of the repo. Just one small problem: no internet.
I used two weeks trying to get Kubuntu to work. Of course it took also some time to learn new things. But I didn't really even started using it and I found already so many problems. I'm pretty sure if I start using it I'll find lots of other problems.
Well, that's it. Thanks for the help I got here. I really don't like to go back to Microsoft. And in some time I'm definitely going to try Kubuntu again. I even installed Ubuntu in despair, but I really don't like gnome.
Bottom line is: there are fabulous desktop effects. But KNotes doesn't keep it's settings. There are beautiful windows for notifications. But there's no usable mail notifier. That's nice if you like all that glamour, but I have to work.
For me the most important thing is not it's free (without money), but Linux frees you from one of the most horrible companies ever existed. If I had to pay for Linux that would be no problem. But I must be able to use it. I think that's not an unreasonable expectation...
Will probably go back to opensuse if Kubuntu is as rubbish as implied. Of course I also use Windows XP Vista and 7 as I haven't found alternatives for some windows software. Problems Irritations so far dual screen does not keep settings and there was no Games Folder by default but on the plus side Qt installed without problems and also Apache PHP and Mysql and phpMyAdmin installed without having to fart about changing permissions and altering config.inc.php so like all OS's there are pluses and minuses. I'm lucky that I only use computers as a hobbist so can change distros as often as I like also someone mentioned free and beer 
and still frequent here.
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