I love Kubuntu!
Hello all,
I am a real Geek I suppose. I have been using a computer since DOS 6.0, doing all kind of stuff with it... Later I learned Windows 3.11, Win 95, 98, NT, Me, 2000, XP Home and Pro, Vista, Windows 7 Ultimate and Windows 8 and 8.1 and - lately - Windows 10. I got certified in pretty all of those versions, as well as in Win Server 2008 and 2013 and into Exchange Servers - since I am running an IT business.
However, while DOS and 3.11 was cool, I do remember how much I hated 95 and 98 for its instability and Bluescreens... It kept being like this for NT and Me, though 2000 actually was great and so was XP in both its home and pro versions.... During these times, I did not look into any alternatives... or well maybe they did not exist as well... I used to game a lot besides working and many programs and tools I am using, required Windows. So I just went with the pain and kept using it... followed by a crappy Vista, which in my opinion was the worse system ever, I got my hands on Windows 7 Ultimate, which I did love as well.. I gave a try 8 and 8.1 when I got a new Laptop and I put some time into it, since I have clients with new computers using it... However, pretty fast I downgraded my own machine to Win 7 and did recommend my clients doing the same.
When Win 10 came out, obviously I was anxious about it. While I did not test it before, I heard and read some things about it which made me like it. So when the day of release finally came, I got Windows 10 home on my Desktop and windows 10 Pro on my laptop. It looked good, first impressions were great.. however, it did not take long to get me frustrated. Mail would not sync its own Outlook.com account, blue screens would come up once or twice a day, many fixes brought new bugs... a microsoft community full of compaints... thanks god in Venezuela Cortana doesn't work, so I never got that issue. I also suffered from poor performance and long boot times on the latptop, many games and programs not running etc.
With other words.. I am a big Windows Geek.. While I am not a MS fan, I was a hardcore MS Office and Windows user - who maybe did not see nor took the time to look into alternatives.
Hence a friend reminded me about Linux... well I have heard about it and did do some basic research about it, in order to support customers, that do use Linux machines.. In addition we run an own web server with Cent OS. However, in a previous attempt to test Linux, I did not like it and I ran into many issues with not supported Software... that was in 2004! Either way, my friend wouldn't let it go and told me about how great Xubuntu was, etc. It got me curious and I read up Xubuntu and its Docs... in the process (actually reading a comparison of Ubuntu Distros and Linux Distrus), I stumbled upon Kubuntu. Is UI using KDE is more appealing to me than Xface of Xubuntu. In addition, a couple days before installing Kubuntu on my Laptop I got a Knoppix Version set up on my Desktop (HD Install) and and pendrive with Knoppix. Both working like a charm - and - using KDE. So the choice for Kubuntu was made fairly quick, the Iso downloaded and while I ran into some problems, having the ISO Image to boot from my pen, this was solved within some hours, reading through the great documentation and help, etc. Finally what did make it work, was using the Knoppix Machine to convert the image and not the Windows one (I know, I should have known before :P )...
I should mention, that Venezuela is strong supporter of Linux up to the point, where public and government authorities are pretty much forced into using Linux. However, Venezuela uses its own, home made Canaima Linux. I have seen it several times and I hated it.. maybe another reason to look away from Linux... :P
Still being sceptic, I planned to run Linux on my second partition, leaving the first one on Windows for now... In addition this would allow me to save the majority of my data and game images.
Now once the installer started, I was suprised... it was beautifully made, to a point where even my wife who has no clue about computers, asked me: "Oh dear! What's that? That looks beautiful!? She did not understand what I was doing or what is Linux, but she did notice the interface. I have to admit, this was a great surprise. In my prior attempt, the installer was pretty ugly and simple (so it was on knoppix
). My surprise should remain during the whole install process... it was simple (everyone could do it), maybe aside from the disk partitioning. There were no errors, no nasty prompts and during the install - that took no longer than maybe 15 or 20 minutes - I received some first tips, hints and impressions!
Here I should add, that Mircosoft left my partitions formatted like a mess... in addition Windows 10 took like 5 minutes to reboot... I got really pissed and - probably in an affect - I deleted all my partitions and assigned all space to Kubuntu.... ooooooops.... I was worried a second about my data and what if it sucked... well... it booted up with its nice graphics and shortly after I was on the desktop, even more impressed... Now the issue was where to start and what to do... Unfortunately there was an error with the install or I messed up, however I had to install it again... since I did not know about any other solution as a noob... not a problem, since it was a clean install anyway and since it is quick... just another 15 minutes and that was it.
Now... I am using it for like 4 or 5 days... I am getting used to it and its simplicity... I am stunned about its flexibility and grade of customization.. I am spending no less than 30 minutes to 1h to set up every single app and program... since there is so much customization.. I got a system, that is exactly how I want it... It is booting within a minute, it is simple, visually appealing and it does what I want... the basic commands work fine, it doesn't question me and it does what I want.
More though, the documentation available is great and even though I put my Linux on Spanish, there is no issue doing things thanks to the console. I am really happy and still not done setting it up :P I am spending hours a day reading and taking notes, in an attempt to not **** up my system.... :P After 25 years working with Computers, I am feeling like a noob once again... but learning is fun and easy.
Great work done here.
Resume of a long, long review: I am happy with Kubuntu, I love it and I wouldn't want to miss it. The games I can't play don't hurt, since I find they don't value the hassle to go back. In any case there is VM Machines and DosBox and more and more games coming to linux. After all my wife always complained about me playing too much off work... :P so well.. it is not that bad..
Even more, I have been moving our business policies into actively supporting Linux systems and encourage people in getting them. We are already making plans to offer certified and uncertified Linux courses, as well as installation and migration services, to help customers switching. So far there is just one actual program, I am stuck with, that does require Windows: Kayako Desktop - which however through Wine or VM Machines runs smoothly. A little hassle, that is more than worth it.
One thing I know for sure: ¡I won't ever go back to Windows!
This said, thanks again for the great community, it helped and helps me a lot getting used to my Linux! Sorry for the long review and if you have any questions or tips, please do not hesitate to let me know.
Cheers,
Ben
I am a real Geek I suppose. I have been using a computer since DOS 6.0, doing all kind of stuff with it... Later I learned Windows 3.11, Win 95, 98, NT, Me, 2000, XP Home and Pro, Vista, Windows 7 Ultimate and Windows 8 and 8.1 and - lately - Windows 10. I got certified in pretty all of those versions, as well as in Win Server 2008 and 2013 and into Exchange Servers - since I am running an IT business.
However, while DOS and 3.11 was cool, I do remember how much I hated 95 and 98 for its instability and Bluescreens... It kept being like this for NT and Me, though 2000 actually was great and so was XP in both its home and pro versions.... During these times, I did not look into any alternatives... or well maybe they did not exist as well... I used to game a lot besides working and many programs and tools I am using, required Windows. So I just went with the pain and kept using it... followed by a crappy Vista, which in my opinion was the worse system ever, I got my hands on Windows 7 Ultimate, which I did love as well.. I gave a try 8 and 8.1 when I got a new Laptop and I put some time into it, since I have clients with new computers using it... However, pretty fast I downgraded my own machine to Win 7 and did recommend my clients doing the same.
When Win 10 came out, obviously I was anxious about it. While I did not test it before, I heard and read some things about it which made me like it. So when the day of release finally came, I got Windows 10 home on my Desktop and windows 10 Pro on my laptop. It looked good, first impressions were great.. however, it did not take long to get me frustrated. Mail would not sync its own Outlook.com account, blue screens would come up once or twice a day, many fixes brought new bugs... a microsoft community full of compaints... thanks god in Venezuela Cortana doesn't work, so I never got that issue. I also suffered from poor performance and long boot times on the latptop, many games and programs not running etc.
With other words.. I am a big Windows Geek.. While I am not a MS fan, I was a hardcore MS Office and Windows user - who maybe did not see nor took the time to look into alternatives.
Hence a friend reminded me about Linux... well I have heard about it and did do some basic research about it, in order to support customers, that do use Linux machines.. In addition we run an own web server with Cent OS. However, in a previous attempt to test Linux, I did not like it and I ran into many issues with not supported Software... that was in 2004! Either way, my friend wouldn't let it go and told me about how great Xubuntu was, etc. It got me curious and I read up Xubuntu and its Docs... in the process (actually reading a comparison of Ubuntu Distros and Linux Distrus), I stumbled upon Kubuntu. Is UI using KDE is more appealing to me than Xface of Xubuntu. In addition, a couple days before installing Kubuntu on my Laptop I got a Knoppix Version set up on my Desktop (HD Install) and and pendrive with Knoppix. Both working like a charm - and - using KDE. So the choice for Kubuntu was made fairly quick, the Iso downloaded and while I ran into some problems, having the ISO Image to boot from my pen, this was solved within some hours, reading through the great documentation and help, etc. Finally what did make it work, was using the Knoppix Machine to convert the image and not the Windows one (I know, I should have known before :P )...
I should mention, that Venezuela is strong supporter of Linux up to the point, where public and government authorities are pretty much forced into using Linux. However, Venezuela uses its own, home made Canaima Linux. I have seen it several times and I hated it.. maybe another reason to look away from Linux... :P
Still being sceptic, I planned to run Linux on my second partition, leaving the first one on Windows for now... In addition this would allow me to save the majority of my data and game images.
Now once the installer started, I was suprised... it was beautifully made, to a point where even my wife who has no clue about computers, asked me: "Oh dear! What's that? That looks beautiful!? She did not understand what I was doing or what is Linux, but she did notice the interface. I have to admit, this was a great surprise. In my prior attempt, the installer was pretty ugly and simple (so it was on knoppix
). My surprise should remain during the whole install process... it was simple (everyone could do it), maybe aside from the disk partitioning. There were no errors, no nasty prompts and during the install - that took no longer than maybe 15 or 20 minutes - I received some first tips, hints and impressions! Here I should add, that Mircosoft left my partitions formatted like a mess... in addition Windows 10 took like 5 minutes to reboot... I got really pissed and - probably in an affect - I deleted all my partitions and assigned all space to Kubuntu.... ooooooops.... I was worried a second about my data and what if it sucked... well... it booted up with its nice graphics and shortly after I was on the desktop, even more impressed... Now the issue was where to start and what to do... Unfortunately there was an error with the install or I messed up, however I had to install it again... since I did not know about any other solution as a noob... not a problem, since it was a clean install anyway and since it is quick... just another 15 minutes and that was it.
Now... I am using it for like 4 or 5 days... I am getting used to it and its simplicity... I am stunned about its flexibility and grade of customization.. I am spending no less than 30 minutes to 1h to set up every single app and program... since there is so much customization.. I got a system, that is exactly how I want it... It is booting within a minute, it is simple, visually appealing and it does what I want... the basic commands work fine, it doesn't question me and it does what I want.
More though, the documentation available is great and even though I put my Linux on Spanish, there is no issue doing things thanks to the console. I am really happy and still not done setting it up :P I am spending hours a day reading and taking notes, in an attempt to not **** up my system.... :P After 25 years working with Computers, I am feeling like a noob once again... but learning is fun and easy.
Great work done here. Resume of a long, long review: I am happy with Kubuntu, I love it and I wouldn't want to miss it. The games I can't play don't hurt, since I find they don't value the hassle to go back. In any case there is VM Machines and DosBox and more and more games coming to linux. After all my wife always complained about me playing too much off work... :P so well.. it is not that bad..
Even more, I have been moving our business policies into actively supporting Linux systems and encourage people in getting them. We are already making plans to offer certified and uncertified Linux courses, as well as installation and migration services, to help customers switching. So far there is just one actual program, I am stuck with, that does require Windows: Kayako Desktop - which however through Wine or VM Machines runs smoothly. A little hassle, that is more than worth it.
One thing I know for sure: ¡I won't ever go back to Windows!
This said, thanks again for the great community, it helped and helps me a lot getting used to my Linux! Sorry for the long review and if you have any questions or tips, please do not hesitate to let me know.
Cheers,
Ben
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