I just got kubuntu 8.10, and came here to this forum for help after getting really frustrated with lots of sites that say they help newbies but they really dont.
yes i read the forum post that is tagged at the top of this section.
Im sorry but this entry is going to be a gripe session about how non-user-friendly this distro has been so far.
A couple yrs ago i tried ubuntu gnome desktop, i liked it, but didnt switch from winxp at that time. now i have, and friends told me KDE is so much better so i got kubuntu. bad choice so far. perhaps this is a bad choice because of my misunderstanding of what Ubuntu is - i thought it was a distro of linux that was user-friendly for the average (or below average) windows user to change to linux. sure its a new OS and stuff to learn but keep reading and you will find that this is NOT an easy change for windows users.
I would like to mention im not a unknowledgable user, i would rank myself as above average experience. (although if the customers i have to deal with at work are the real average for computer knowledge then i would be well above average).
1st problem is keyboard language installation, i chose english install but the keyboard is messed up. this should be an àt sign = " and this should be a number sign = /. you`ll see more of this if you keep reading. other keyboard problem, is that i have a keyboard with extra button like one-touch email, webbrowser, volume, media back-forward-stop. when i tested gnome ubuntu couple yrs ago that all was working, now it isnt, perhaps kde doesnt like the extra button input i dunno, but it lessens my experience. so i went into regional & language settings and it said no language selected default english - wait, i chose US English 3 times during the install of kubuntu, something may be wrong on the kubuntu install program. i am in Canada but i know that for keyboard and language sets its the US English set that works.
2nd problem comes from the real reason for me switching to ubuntu - is that my harddrive with windows on it had crashed hard, so i got a new HD and needed to install new OS, so here i go, into the world of linux.
Ive always stored all my data on my 2nd harddrive, just in case of a crash like this. and ubuntu will not recognize my 2nd harddrive. There is no D:É (oh look more keyboard messup) drive and i found the file manager to be really odd, but that i can deal with, i knew linux has different file structure - the problem is there is 2nd drive and all my data are inaccessable. the file manager shows the HD Seagate 200GB, just below Trash and Root - but clicking, right clicking, press enter, is futile. if i cant get my data this whole linux trial will be smoked.
3rd problem with this konqueror since it happens on other sites too, when i use keyboard shift and arrows to move around the text im getting weird flashes of lines on screen and random block letters appearing on the page. also i made a few spelling errors in this and konqurer underlines those words, so i right click expecting spell checker and instead get a menu 15 choices (wow thats alot for right click on text) and no option to change spelling, instead there is a link to a spell check program - i have to goto another app to spellcheckÉ wtfÉ (lol) why bother have the program underline misspellings if it isnt going to do spell checking. this default browser seems to be in need of some more beta testing.
4th problem, so i went to change web browser, looking at changing to Firefox, so i went to Add<Remove software, waste of time, the whole list of Internet apps does not include firefox - gotta be a jokeÉ So i went to the help pages for newbies
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/index.php?topic=3228.0 - section for Install Firefox - and huhÉ i need command lines to install an app! gotta be a joke. so i kept reading, and see the words `Some people are too lazy or too impatient to install Firefox the way it should be in Ubuntu (see section 1).```= WOAH !!! im not running RedHat or some other code intense linux, this is Ubuntu rightÉ supposed to be user-friendly to newbs rightÉ there is no way im going to learn code to do a simple browser install, ridiculous.
ps. this webpage seems to misinterpret my keyboard commands, that are supposed to just move the curser around the page as i think of more to add to other paragraphs, as commands to do something in browser like go back, go home, save<preview. it was really annoying and i think there is some disjointed sentances in this post because of it, after coming back to the page i dont know what was save and what wasnt.
5th problem is KDE. so far im not impressed, i thought KDE was supposed to be customizable andéor modular. all i see is widgets (whatever that is) and a normal icon based desktop. like someone took WinXP and styled it with new icon pics and integrated widgets. well, this KDE ;start; menu is better, i like alot more. So i thought about changing to GNome, and went online to lookup how to do it, lots of people have asked the same question, but neither on forums nor wiki do i find a walkthrough how to. best i got was this: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1008453
and i left out a really important step - how do i get a command lineÉ there is not a command option anywhere. after a while, i did find something else that was similiar called Terminal, and i entered the command line as specified in the forum article, and got a nice error = sudo apt command not found (and just like windows i cannot copy & paste from this command line), well looks that that idea to get gnome is also going into the crapper.
6th problem, lack of newbie support. i wouldve thought that ubunuforums.org, or the link for kubuntu forum (http://www.kubuntu.org/forums-local-groups.php) would have something useful, but nope. nada nothing. im not here to learn command line codes, as these forums seem to think is the biggest godsend ever; I am here to check out what is supposed to be a better OS.
7th problem was the Add Programs application. I dont have a perfect memory, but when i tried Ubuntu yrs ago on gnome, the add programs list was far more massive that this list in KDE. another reason not to use kde if there is not as many apps for it.
default language problem, keyboard problem, konqueror problem, harddrive problem, add program problem, kde criticism, lack of newbie walkthroughs.
Me, im thinking im going back to Windows. I really like the ideas of Linux, and Ubuntu, but it seems like they still have ALOT of work to do to get their distro ready for public use. perhaps the next release will be... i doubt it, it seems the ubuntu developers have been trapped in the same trap as everyone else - an advanced use is incapable of developing software for a non-advanced user = great job well done but not user friendly.
yes i read the forum post that is tagged at the top of this section.
Im sorry but this entry is going to be a gripe session about how non-user-friendly this distro has been so far.
A couple yrs ago i tried ubuntu gnome desktop, i liked it, but didnt switch from winxp at that time. now i have, and friends told me KDE is so much better so i got kubuntu. bad choice so far. perhaps this is a bad choice because of my misunderstanding of what Ubuntu is - i thought it was a distro of linux that was user-friendly for the average (or below average) windows user to change to linux. sure its a new OS and stuff to learn but keep reading and you will find that this is NOT an easy change for windows users.
I would like to mention im not a unknowledgable user, i would rank myself as above average experience. (although if the customers i have to deal with at work are the real average for computer knowledge then i would be well above average).
1st problem is keyboard language installation, i chose english install but the keyboard is messed up. this should be an àt sign = " and this should be a number sign = /. you`ll see more of this if you keep reading. other keyboard problem, is that i have a keyboard with extra button like one-touch email, webbrowser, volume, media back-forward-stop. when i tested gnome ubuntu couple yrs ago that all was working, now it isnt, perhaps kde doesnt like the extra button input i dunno, but it lessens my experience. so i went into regional & language settings and it said no language selected default english - wait, i chose US English 3 times during the install of kubuntu, something may be wrong on the kubuntu install program. i am in Canada but i know that for keyboard and language sets its the US English set that works.
2nd problem comes from the real reason for me switching to ubuntu - is that my harddrive with windows on it had crashed hard, so i got a new HD and needed to install new OS, so here i go, into the world of linux.
Ive always stored all my data on my 2nd harddrive, just in case of a crash like this. and ubuntu will not recognize my 2nd harddrive. There is no D:É (oh look more keyboard messup) drive and i found the file manager to be really odd, but that i can deal with, i knew linux has different file structure - the problem is there is 2nd drive and all my data are inaccessable. the file manager shows the HD Seagate 200GB, just below Trash and Root - but clicking, right clicking, press enter, is futile. if i cant get my data this whole linux trial will be smoked.
3rd problem with this konqueror since it happens on other sites too, when i use keyboard shift and arrows to move around the text im getting weird flashes of lines on screen and random block letters appearing on the page. also i made a few spelling errors in this and konqurer underlines those words, so i right click expecting spell checker and instead get a menu 15 choices (wow thats alot for right click on text) and no option to change spelling, instead there is a link to a spell check program - i have to goto another app to spellcheckÉ wtfÉ (lol) why bother have the program underline misspellings if it isnt going to do spell checking. this default browser seems to be in need of some more beta testing.
4th problem, so i went to change web browser, looking at changing to Firefox, so i went to Add<Remove software, waste of time, the whole list of Internet apps does not include firefox - gotta be a jokeÉ So i went to the help pages for newbies
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/index.php?topic=3228.0 - section for Install Firefox - and huhÉ i need command lines to install an app! gotta be a joke. so i kept reading, and see the words `Some people are too lazy or too impatient to install Firefox the way it should be in Ubuntu (see section 1).```= WOAH !!! im not running RedHat or some other code intense linux, this is Ubuntu rightÉ supposed to be user-friendly to newbs rightÉ there is no way im going to learn code to do a simple browser install, ridiculous.
ps. this webpage seems to misinterpret my keyboard commands, that are supposed to just move the curser around the page as i think of more to add to other paragraphs, as commands to do something in browser like go back, go home, save<preview. it was really annoying and i think there is some disjointed sentances in this post because of it, after coming back to the page i dont know what was save and what wasnt.
5th problem is KDE. so far im not impressed, i thought KDE was supposed to be customizable andéor modular. all i see is widgets (whatever that is) and a normal icon based desktop. like someone took WinXP and styled it with new icon pics and integrated widgets. well, this KDE ;start; menu is better, i like alot more. So i thought about changing to GNome, and went online to lookup how to do it, lots of people have asked the same question, but neither on forums nor wiki do i find a walkthrough how to. best i got was this: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1008453
and i left out a really important step - how do i get a command lineÉ there is not a command option anywhere. after a while, i did find something else that was similiar called Terminal, and i entered the command line as specified in the forum article, and got a nice error = sudo apt command not found (and just like windows i cannot copy & paste from this command line), well looks that that idea to get gnome is also going into the crapper.
6th problem, lack of newbie support. i wouldve thought that ubunuforums.org, or the link for kubuntu forum (http://www.kubuntu.org/forums-local-groups.php) would have something useful, but nope. nada nothing. im not here to learn command line codes, as these forums seem to think is the biggest godsend ever; I am here to check out what is supposed to be a better OS.
7th problem was the Add Programs application. I dont have a perfect memory, but when i tried Ubuntu yrs ago on gnome, the add programs list was far more massive that this list in KDE. another reason not to use kde if there is not as many apps for it.
default language problem, keyboard problem, konqueror problem, harddrive problem, add program problem, kde criticism, lack of newbie walkthroughs.
Me, im thinking im going back to Windows. I really like the ideas of Linux, and Ubuntu, but it seems like they still have ALOT of work to do to get their distro ready for public use. perhaps the next release will be... i doubt it, it seems the ubuntu developers have been trapped in the same trap as everyone else - an advanced use is incapable of developing software for a non-advanced user = great job well done but not user friendly.
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