Transitioning from Ubuntu 16.04 to Kubuntu 16.10

[barraclm]

I have only ever used Ubuntu Linux but I would now like to use Kubuntu Linux instead (I find I am using more and more KDE apps so I want to go native). I am moderately skilled with Ubuntu but have never used Kubuntu.

How do I transition and upgrade?
Will the transition/upgrade any non-KDE applications I already have installed?
Will the transition/upgrade my existing Libre Office which is 5.1.x to 5.2 (I hope so)?
Is there anything I should do before I make the change?
Are there any gotchas that I need to watch out for?

Michael Barraclough

[SecretCode]

If it were me I would do a fresh install of Kubuntu 16.10 (actually I would go with 16.04 because I have been sticking with LTS releases recently) on a separate partition in the same computer. Do you have option - do you have a partition you can make free, or enough free space to create one?

(Any upgrade on the same partition is going to be a no-backing-out route, so if there's something critical that doesn't work for you or you decide you don't like it you'd be doing a reinstall.)

Or try Kubuntu 16.10 in a virtual machine until you are sure you're OK with it.

Any non-KDE apps you have on Ubuntu are installable on Kubuntu, they will just pull in whatever GTK libraries they need.

If you do upgrade the same partition ... hmm ... thinking about it I'm not sure if that is an option provided. You can add KDE (kubuntu-desktop I think) and make it your default desktop environment, but I don't know of a way to switch from Ubuntu to Kubuntu flavours via an upgrade. Someone else may have done it.

[SecretCode]

Oh, and welcome to KFN!

[Snowhog]

You would be better served upgrading your existing Ubuntu 16.04 to Ubuntu 16.10 first, and then make the switch to KDE/Plasma.