Kubuntu 9.10 Review and Commentary
Kubuntu, for those unfamiliar, is the equivalent to Ubuntu 9.10 but with the KDE desktop environment as opposed to the familiar Gnome one that the standard Ubuntu is shipped with.
First, we'll walk through the installation process.
One immediate thing to note is that the install interface has been designed in QT and definitely looks more KDE'ish (nice word isn't it?) 
The new timezone screen shows a graphical representation of the timezone which is a nice addition and change from previous versions.
Another interesting change (unless I missed this in the previous version) is the addition of a graphic representing the keyboard layout. This makes it much easier to discern which layout a person is using and I see this as a positive change.
We can now prep the hard disk for installation by modifying the partitions or simply erasing the whole disk.
Adding a new user is a simple process as well. You may notice the additional option at the bottom that allows you to specify whether you'd like your password to be required to both log in and decrypt your home folder.
This is a great security addition if the machine you are working on is going to be used for multiple users.
Now the installation begins.. and yes.. this is all you get to see. Personally, I'd like to see them make more of an attempt to spruce things up rather than the black background and small progress window. I see no reason why they can't add some screenshots or even graphics that showcase the best of Kubuntu similar to the way the main Ubuntu release does.
Unfortunately, our installation made it through the whole process and then crashed before installing the bootloader. We were running this in Virtualbox and were quite surprised to see a crash as this doesn't often happen. It doesn't bode well for a release when it dies on installation.
Another oddity is that when we hit close, the Xorg session died and we were logged into the live-cd desktop..
Since we wanted to finish this review for everyone, we will continue from that point.
Here is the default desktop you would see at first bootup:
You may notice that two windows (plasmoids) appear to be overlapping. For some reason, the developers thought it would be good to add a KDE Blog update to the desktop behind the desktop folder window (which we found rather annoying and quickly killed).. visually, it just doesn't make a lot of sense.
There also appears to be a huge number of apps running in the system tray, we count 8.
That seems like a bit of overkill and unnecessary and we'd prefer to see unneeded ones hidden or something until needed.
Now comes the main menu:
We've always liked KDE but this new menu seems counter-intuitive. It's hard to get past the slowness of the menus and the fact that you often need to search for an application which defeats the purpose of a menu in our opinion. The classic menu is better but this could be good if organized in a more logical manner.
Let's see how software management works in this release.
Hm, is it me or is there simply nothing available for software? (For the record, I am aware that you can obviously search for software but similar to Ubuntu, showing some apps and categories would be helpful instead of presenting nothing.) This is what we were greeted with at first startup. Not exactly the best approach for new users. It would also make more sense to get rid of the KDE names and revert to something a bit more sensible for new users.. calling something kpackagekit just adds confusion when it could just as easily be called Software Management or something similar.
It also needs a lot of work to be more user friendly.. seeing nothing available is not a good first impression and there's no obvious help available either since the menu is greyed out.
Unfortunately, there are way more con's than pro's with this release as you'll see below.
Pro's
- Uses the KDE desktop which would be good for those who are fans.
- Based on the popular Ubuntu core.
Con's
- Poor presentation on the desktop with windows overlapping one another.
- Poor software management application, not user friendly.
- No Firefox! This installation comes with Konqueror as the default browser which we think was a bad decision.
- Crashed during installation which doesn't bode well.
- Poor presentation of the installer.
Overall, we wouldn't recommend this release. Personally, we don't feel it's ready for prime time.
*disclaimer: these reviews are written for those who are new to linux and are the comments and suggestions within are geared this way as well.
as for the menu... you can change it to classic, which I prefer........
It would be nice to see some catergories listen in kpackagekit, or even better.. something like what Linux Mint have.... the Software portal, which has software by catergory, and user ratings which helps alot....
"Poor presentation on the desktop with windows overlapping one another."
then move the plasmoids...
"Poor software management application, not user friendly."
it is very easy to use... but is still being heavily developed... some extra features would be nice...
"# No Firefox! This installation comes with Konqueror as the default browser which we think was a bad decision."
Didn't you notice Kubuntu has a Firefox installer icon built in?????? you can install firefox by clicking on it. simple
"Crashed during installation which doesn't bode well."
Never experienced that... probly a problem installing it to the vm that you are using.....
"Poor presentation of the installer."
I thought the installer was excellent... nice and polished and looks very plasma"ish"
I disagree with almost everything you have said. perhaps you should install it to a harddrive for testing and play with it a little longer before jumping to misleading comments.
The installer may look good but, as I said, a black background with a small progress bar could have easily been dressed up.
As for the crash, I'm sure it's not a common occurence but it has nothing to do with being in a VM or on a hard drive.
Switching to classic mode on the menu is not obvious, I know it can be done but again, this is not he point. As I stated previously, my reviews are directed to assist in making the distribution more user friendly for beginner linux users, I do not feel this one is quite there yet.
Thank you for your feedback, however.
1. Easy install, I did install on my hard drive, I never faced any issues.
2. KDE 4.3 is very stable. It is ready for prime time.
3. Konqueror is good browser, of course you can install Firefox or Arora or Opera in click away. Konqueror is faster than Firefox on KDE.
4. Software installer is good. Needs some improvement.
5. Plasmaiod widgets are better now.
6. Good look and feel.
I'm not agreeing with most of your "CON'S" in review.
Users can go ahead install Kubuntu 9.10 .
"For some reason, the developers thought it would be good to add a KDE Blog update to the desktop behind the desktop folder window (which we found rather annoying and quickly killed).. visually, it just doesn't make a lot of sense."
Never seen that. Anyway it is a ridiculous comment as it is obviously a bug.
Installer crash? Yes, they should NOT include a beta installer.
Software management? Yes, that is beta also, they should put some work into that to make it more stable, user friendly etc before release.
"No firefox" is another ridiculous comment since they have included a simple installer for Firefox that appears where Firefox would normally appear in the Internet menu.
"Uses the KDE desktop which would be good for those who are fans."
Good to know only "those who are fans" will benifit from the new KDE version. I'm guessing you're not a fan then
Bottom line is it's a release with sadly much beta included. However it's more stable than many other OS out there.
"these reviews are written for those who are new to linux"
Yes that always seem to be the excuse for people writing biased reviews.
The site is called Linux Critic for a reason, not everyone will agree with what is being said.
Simply put, firefox should be the default. New users should not need to contend with Konqueror which is unable to support anywhere near the same number of sites as Firefox. Why should they need to install it when its already a web standard? Just install it for them and save them the hassle.
Anyways, thanks for your input. I appreciate the time.
I had this with the 64 bit version of kubuntu 9.10, but when I installed 32bit kubuntu, it wasn't a black background during the install.... it was a very polished blue/plasma looking background..... must be a bug in the 64 bit installer
Software manager is terrible. I used it to install synaptics, that's it
This second download of K9.10 developed the problem I found the first time (and was the main reason why I went back to Gnome). There is NO sound. I cannot get it to play anything. The menus and choices for sound control are lacking in variety. I am wondering if there is a download I can find to make this work. I certainly, after about four years of hanging with first Mandriva and now Ubuntu, do not want to go back to XP. What's a man to do??
I continue my quest for the fix of this system. I do agree that Gnome 9.10 is easier to read and allows for more choices when it comes to day to day tools; including the internet. It was like pulling teeth to get Kubuntu to recognize the SAME cable connection which was easy and painless to use on a daily basis in Gnome. Maybe the tekkies are trying to do too much with this PLASMA stuff which I think is ridiculous and only gets in the way of work and enjoyment of the system. Anyone out there with a solution to NO SOUND on KUBUNTU9.10 using an ASUS MB with sound on board, please feel free to answer at antonygeee@gmail.com.
Thanks