Kubuntu 5.10
Published on 1 Dec 2005 · Filed in Review · 244 words (estimated 2 minutes to read)After wrestling with installing, configuring, and supporting Fedora Core 3 on an older Compaq Armada E500 laptop, I decided to break with my Red Hat/Fedora legacy and try Kubuntu, the KDE-based Ubuntu variation. Ubuntu itself is a relative newcomer to the Linux distribution arena, based on (as I understand it) Debian.
In previous stints using Linux as my desktop OS, I’d always been partial to KDE instead of GNOME. Some would say that it’s because KDE has traditionally been more “Windows-like” than the other Linux graphical environments; perhaps that’s the case. I’ve typically found KDE easier to work with, and since this laptop would eventually be used by the kids I felt like ease of use was important.
The install went very quickly and very smoothly. When the install was done, I then proceeded to update KDE to version 3.5.0 (which had just been released a few days before). Along the way, I learned a handy piece of information about HTTP proxies and command-line utilities (I’ll soon post information on that as well). Eventually, I managed to get apt-get to download and install the updated KDE 3.5 packages. I rebooted the system and found that I was now running the updated version of KDE. (Side note: There are still some KDE packages that won’t upgrade for some reason; I’m currently working on resolving that issue.)
It’s still too early to tell for certain, but I may just have found a new desktop Linux version.