Seven Linux distros fight over one old ThinkPad: Kubuntu snapshot

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(Oct. 5, 2006)

Kubuntu 6.06-1

Distro overview

Kubuntu is the KDE desktop version of the popular free, community-supported Ubuntu Linux distribution. It's built on top of Debian, and is commercially supported by Canonical Ltd.

Observations

Pro's:

Easy package management with Adept, with lots of available apps
WiFi worked well, and was easy to configure using wlassistant; it even switched over from wired to wireless automatically, when I unplugged the laptop's Ethernet cable hookup
Large developer and user community, shared with Ubuntu

Con's:

Kubuntu doesn't normally run "standard" mozilla.org Firefox and Thunderbird, and Acrobat Reader, due to gtk library dependency issues (see note that follows this list)
Some problems getting sound working with CD players (Kaffeine and Kscd both didn't work), and also streaming Real media on the web didn't work, even though KDE's sound configuration tool's sound test worked
No root password; requires sudo commands instead

Note: In my first attempt to install standard versions of apps like Firefox, Thunderbird, and Acrobat Reader, I used apt-get to install ubuntu-desktop, in order to equip my system with a full set of gtk libraries, and then configured KDE as the system's default desktop. Following that, I was able to successfully install apps that required gtk library dependencies, such as standard versions of Acrobat Reader, Firefox, and Thunderbird. Later, however, I reinstalled Kubuntu and used Adept to download and install Acrobat Reader, Firefox, and Thunderbird from the Kubuntu-standard repositories, which went without a hitch. However, my preference is to have the gtk libraries installed, so that "standard" versions of popular programs will generally work without requiring special Kubuntu versions (use: apt-get install gnome-desktop)

Screenshots

Kubuntu's very empty default desktop
(Click to enlarge)

System configuration tool
(Click to enlarge)

Adept app downloader/installer/updater -- very nice!
(Click to enlarge)

Nifty wireless configuration tool
(Click to enlarge)

My Kubuntu desktop, just the way I like it
(Click to enlarge)
Scorecard

Kubuntu Scorecard
Installation	5 points
Customizable	5 points
Hardware/multimedia support	4 points
Apps included/available	4 points
Total:	18 points

Bottom line

A nice distro, but it appears to have a few shortcomings. In my brief experience, SimplyMEPIS is "a better Kubuntu than Kubuntu" itself.

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Use of this site is governed by our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Except where otherwise specified, the contents of this site are copyright © 1999-2008 Ziff Davis Enterprise Holdings Inc. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Ziff Davis Enterprise is prohibited. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.