Kubuntu

[darksyndrem]

Well, I'm dark, and I'm completely new to different operating systems and completely new to linux. I've been talking to my friend about it and he recommended Kubuntu to me because it was easy to use, but I wanted to ask you guys what the purpose of using Kubuntu is? What makes Kubuntu better than XP(what I'm using now) or vista? I just wanted to ask a few things like that.

Thanks,
Dark

[caljank]

Re: Kubuntu

first, what do you want to do with it? what are you looking to accomplish? If you just want to move to linux because it is different from windows, you will probably not last long. I have seen it many times.

[dibl]

Re: Kubuntu

he recommended Kubuntu to me because it was easy to use

Errrr ..... easy for him to use, perhaps?

Seriously, there are a couple ways to look at the question of "easy to use" and you can come to different conclusions. For example, my computer illiterate mother in-law wanted a computer to do her online banking, use e-mail, and browse the Internet for new food recipes. I bought her an E-machines PC and set up Kubuntu on it and she's been happily doing her thing for two years now, oblivious to the question of what operating system is behind her desktop. Except for occasionally managing to hide the panel (from herself) she does fine. So, it's apparently "easy for a novice", in that sense.

But, should you choose to be the installer and configuration manager of a new Linux system on your own hardware, it's going to be a different story. Your Windows experience is not only useless, it will lead you to wrong theories of what to do and how to do it, and why things aren't working. So to install and configure a Linux system is definitely NOT easy, for the person who isn't experienced with that process.

[Dart]

Re: Kubuntu

I got my elderly mother set up with Ubuntu. She basically uses it for internet/email and a couple of other simple tasks. She finds it easier to use for that than Windoes.

However, I use Kubuntu for 95% of my needs - the remaining 5% use with Windoes is divided between specialized invoicing for my business and at the studio for music.

The main difficulty I have with most Linux distributions, since i'm still basically a newb, is locating proper drivers that can be integrated for some (not all) hardware.

For internet, it's great. No need to spend half of your computing experience eliminating spyware, viruses and looking for multiple utilities - since you need a few to catch them all :-X

[sithlord48]

Re: Kubuntu

as far as a linux distro goes kubuntu is one of the ezest to use , have you tryed booting your comptuer to the live cd this should give you an idea of how its gonna look, feel and run.
as a newer user you should give kubuntu 8.04 (with kde 3.5) a try
you can get the live/installer cd by either of the two addresses below

regular download:http://ubuntu.osuosl.org/releases/ku...sktop-i386.iso
torrent:http://ubuntu.osuosl.org/releases/ku...86.iso.torrent

after you download the iso file you can burn it to a cd, if you don't have a burning program for iso files
you can use img burn http://www.imgburn.com/

[darksyndrem]

Re: Kubuntu

Well, I know I will definately end up playing Warcraft on it (lol) and I'm probably going to be using Illustrator on it alot. But I don't know what kubuntu is good with which is why I'm here to see if I should be getting kubuntu or not. Now, I also wanted to find an OS that would be less vulnerable to viruses and such but I honestly don't know if OS's have anything to do with that or not. As far as booting my computer to the live cd, I haven't, I'm actually reformatting my computer as we speak, but how does that work?

[sithlord48]

Re: Kubuntu

I also wanted to find an OS that would be less vulnerable to viruses and such but I honestly don't know if OS's have anything to do with that or not

yes the os has a lot to do with that .. everything to do with it

but how does that work?

well you basicly burn the cd
put it in your cd drive,
and turn the computer on
it will boot to a nice kubuntu desktop
and make no changes to ur hard drive (unless you install it)

<well you need to in ur BIOS to have the cd selected before the hd in the boot order>

[darksyndrem]

Re: Kubuntu

So would switching to Kubuntu help me on the virus side?

<well you need to in ur BIOS to have the cd selected before the hd in the boot order>

You kinda lost me there :\

[aged hippy]

Re: Kubuntu

So would switching to Kubuntu help me on the virus side?

<well you need to in ur BIOS to have the cd selected before the hd in the boot order>

You kinda lost me there :\

There are very few viruses written which attack Linux installations.

Your BIOS will be the first splash image you see when you boot the computer, you can change the settings, but it would be worth trying it out without doing so, in other words, stuff the CD in the drive, and see if it boots from it.

If not, change the BIOS settings.

[darksyndrem]

Re: Kubuntu

There are very few viruses written which attack Linux installations.

I'm going to take that as a yes lol. So, from what I've said so far, do you guys think it would be smart for me to get kubuntu? Would it be hard to use some windows programs in kubuntu?

[aged hippy]

Re: Kubuntu

An Emulator - Wine - runs several Windows programs, a couple of my favourite games run on it very well indeed.

There are also virtual machines which run Windows programs, if you <search> this forum for virtual you will get some idea, but - aside from that - Linux has many applications which can load and save in the Windows format.... and they are all free.

[darksyndrem]

Re: Kubuntu

An Emulator - Wine - runs several Windows programs, a couple of my favourite games run on it very well indeed.

There are also virtual machines which run Windows programs, if you <search> this forum for virtual you will get some idea, but - aside from that - Linux has many applications which can load and save in the Windows format.... and they are all free.

Sweet so in your own opinion(@ everyone) what do you like about Kubuntu? What do you think makes it better?

[Dart]

Re: Kubuntu

You can install either Ubuntu or Kubuntu from within windows with the wubi installer found here: http://wubi-installer.org/ If you decide you don't like it, just uninstall wubi.

[toad]

Re: Kubuntu

Another angle on the virus front - it is hard to envisage anybody getting away with writing viruses for linux and them spreading 'cos of the principle of open source. The virus is spotted, the offending package is identified, the coder vilified and the patch out quicker than you can say "Thank you, mam."

And I've tried wubi - and would vote against it. Download the 8.04 CD, try it as a live CD and see whether your hardware is recognised (sound, networking, etc.).

Come back with any questions

[jonathan4]

Re: Kubuntu

I would recomend 8.10 as it looks better than 8.04 but i dont really know exatley how stable KDE4 is right now.
Try to install it in wubi first because its very hard to remove it if you install it as dual-boot.


/from a somewhat experienced linux user