Kubuntu vs. Ubuntu

[wetherb67]

Re: Kubuntu vs. Ubuntu

In view of your "goodbye windows" comment you might also consider setting up your existing windows installation as a virtual machine (which you can run in VM player) or if you have a windows disk you can set up a new virtual machine with virtualbox. All the software to do this is available free, if only as in beer. This option will prove useful if you have that killer app that will only run in Windows, or you need access to a website that makes heavy use of active x etc. This will be a serious option if you have decided that you want to use Linux as your base OS.

This looks promising...as I really want to use Kubuntu. So I will try to put Vista on Virtualbox and see how it goes. Do you think if I did that I could install and use that Lexmark printer from it?

[The Liquidator]

Re: Kubuntu vs. Ubuntu

I expect you could. One point though,you will need to enable USB support in virtualbox - you have to install the "guest additions"to get that working. These are available from the repositories, although you can download a package from the Virtualbox website which has these already in.

Also, you will need to bear in mind that to use your printer you will still need to run VB and load windows, although you will find it considerably quicker than rebooting.

[wetherb67]

Re: Kubuntu vs. Ubuntu

In view of your "goodbye windows" comment you might also consider setting up your existing windows installation as a virtual machine (which you can run in VM player)

Ok, how would I go about doing that? By existing do you mean cloning it to the VM? Kinda confused on that one.

[The Liquidator]

Re: Kubuntu vs. Ubuntu

You'll see I got some great help from fintan here

http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...pic=3096347.15

To summarise, whilst in Windows (not sure about Vista as mine is XP) you can run a VMWare "converter" and you save the converted image to another partition. It does not remove the installation, simply makes a clone of it to run as a VMware machine. The size of the clone will, by default, be as big as the existing partition (check for shrink options during the process) so you will need lots of space - I had to use an external USB drive for this as the HDD on my Dell 630m is only 60Gb in total. Might be worth looking at shrinking the partition before you start.

You then install VMWare player in home -you need the "header" packages for your running kernel installing - and then play it through there. What you have is a full virtual copy of your current windows setup running within the VMWare player.

Using virtualbox is, frankly, a lot easier and probably the best way to go if you are experimenting. However, performance-wise I have found the VMWare way to be better, but it's a harder road. Since I got the VMWare setup working it now occupies the partition that used to be the windows c:\ drive so for me it was a great success.

Ian

[GreyGeek]

Re: Kubuntu vs. Ubuntu

The problem a LOT of long time KDE3 users have is that KDE4 is SO DIFFERENT in how it is administered that they have a hard time breaking old habits. Their frustrations center on complaining about KDE4.

Please, drop that argument, it's BS. I've used just about every window manager for most major OS.

What I dislike with KDE4 is that it's unstable and lacks features. From a usability viewpoint, I like it, a lot, but it's simply not ready for production use yet. Also, it still has too many problems for a newbie.

It will be great, but I'll give it another release or two before I make the switch, because it's not there yet. For a newbie or someone who relies on his computer to work reliably, I'd give the same advice.

Oh "Please" yourself. Some folks were using the "next release or two" argument several releases ago.

What may be "BS" to you reflects only your experience, while my postings reflect mine. I've been using KDE 4.1.x on Mandriva 2009 PWP for several months and have had NO stability or other problems. Mandriva's xorg Intel server didn't not drive my Sony 1600X900 G45 display, but Kubuntu 9.04 does so admirably. FF3 on KDE 4.2.1 leaves a living zombie when it is closed, which usually crashes later and throws an error dialog, but FF3 is crashing on GNOME and KDE 3.5, too.

So, unless you are running a home built computer with mismatched and configured hardware, or it old and on the verge of failing anyway, KDE4.2.1 will give excellent performance with no more problems than GNOME or KDE3.5 seem to be experiencing. Perhaps your KDE experiences reflect only the 4.0 or 4.1 series?

[Monster_user]

Re: Kubuntu vs. Ubuntu

Well, I'm running KDE 4.1 on Kubuntu 8.10. so far its been perfectly stable. And the performance is decent on my machine.

Athlon XP 2400+
768mb DDR1
Geforce 6800 128mb AGP
20gb HDD

4.0 was atrocious, but the latest release of 4.1 has been very stable. Kind of basic, but stable.

[wetherb67]

Re: Kubuntu vs. Ubuntu



Got it up and running late last night. Wiped Windows off, now running Kubuntu and a stripped-down VMWare version of my old system for the couple of things that I couldn't do without for work.

Thanks a bunch to all who helped with advice....all went smoothly and I'm enjoying my first windows free day

[The Liquidator]

Re: Kubuntu vs. Ubuntu

Now that's what I call jumping in with both feet Hope it all works for you.

BTW - does that printer work? Also, what apps are you referring to as being needed for work?

Ian

[wetherb67]

Re: Kubuntu vs. Ubuntu

ARRRGGGGGGHHHHH!

dANG.....

Got to work and the laptop won't see my local network or internet.

We use DHCP and the local server is 192.168.1.2.

It worked fine from home last night on Mediacom cable internet

And ODDLY enough, I can browse internet AND the network thru the VMWare player!

I don't know enough yet about Kubuntu to get the connection up and running. Someone please help! I don't want this to whip me >

[The Liquidator]

Re: Kubuntu vs. Ubuntu

Ah! I wasn't aware that you needed to get onto a work network with it. I for one had concluded it was your own machine that you used to do the odd bit of work on it, for which dual booting or the VM way would have been ideal, so this news does complicate matters a bit I think. I did think it a bit brave to simply zap the windows partition straight away

I am assuming that all you need is access to file and print services- is that correct?

Is it a windows network you need to log into? If so, you will need Samba to be installed and configured to enable kubuntu to get in there. I don't use my laptop on my work network but there are folks on this forum who no doubt do it as routine and I'm sure they will advise. I suggest you post a new thread on the networking section just to cover this one.

I confess that I'm not aware of how you would get the VM into the network. I imagine it's feasible, but I think you'll need to get the kubuntu connection to the network working first.

Edit: Just noticed your edit. The situation seems much better than originally posted as you can access both the network and the internet through the VMWare player. Phew!

[GreyGeek]

Re: Kubuntu vs. Ubuntu

Got it up and running late last night. Wiped Windows off, now running Kubuntu and a stripped-down VMWare version of my old system for the couple of things that I couldn't do without for work.

Thanks a bunch to all who helped with advice....all went smoothly and I'm enjoying my first windows free day

congrats!

I went Windows free from Jan 1, 2000 to March of 2005, IIRC, and then I needed XP because of a programming job. Now that it is over and support is no longer needed I took the great pleasure of wiping VISTA off this laptop and replaced it with Kubuntu 9.04, upgraded to KDE 4.2.1 Works PERFECTLY!