Kubuntu is awesome and it continues to be.
The latest edition Maverick Meerkat just blows you away. It’s always the case that Ubuntu Gnome is more stable and easy to use than Kubuntu KDE but this time things have changed and for the better.
First, we will see the similar improvement in both Ubuntu and its variants is the brand new Ubiquity Installer. It starts copying files as soon as you choose the partition details and click next. Which saves you time and now the installation completes within 15 minutes and that is 170% faster than last time.
Believe you, me the installation is fast, but the interface is even faster. Both in Ubuntu and in Kubuntu the speed quotient has been improved and properly dealt with as there are no buggy situations which are very apparent due to speed improvements.
This time for Maverick Meerkat the major change in the release versions were highly speculated and the result is obvious now. It’s a grand success. Unlike the Ubuntu’s Unity interface, Kubuntu’s netbook workspace works like a charm and it is even super easy to switch between them. Also Kubuntu beats Ubuntu hands down with usability with its various widgets and plasma interface and now the netbook interface is awesome and its gaining pace like never before.
When windows 7 was released it was considered highly advanced and the features to be very refined and stable, however three years along the road win7 stays the same with just updates and bug fixes but Kubuntu has seen six new editions. This is the basic difference between a commercial product and a passion driven project.
We should see some screenshots, heck I do wanna show off Kubuntu right hereJ
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From Kubuntu meerkat screens |
The normal home screen that we’re all used to, just like in windows the same location for start applications and stuff and the widgets are good as you can see the facebook widget is one of my favourites.
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From Kubuntu meerkat screens |
The widgets available are plenty and damn useful.
The things that makes me feel at home in Kubuntu is the VLC media player and the chromium browser. I sync my bookmarks in chrome browser when I use in windows and I can use it here too and it’s the exact same. VLC player is there so I don’t have to install any new codecs for the stock player available, besides I can uninstall them to free space.
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From Kubuntu meerkat screens |
Another change is the look and feel of the system settings. See for yourself:
From the workspace option which is used to switch between the netbook look and the desktop look besides other things
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From Kubuntu meerkat screens |
The netbook workspace is awesome:
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From Kubuntu meerkat screens |
This is called the search and launch page as it says right there.
This is called page on, this can be filled up with widgets and apps to your heart’s content and It can be scrolled down if the page is full.
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From Kubuntu meerkat screens |
There’s a bar which shows how many applications are running and upon clicking it, you see the marvels of the Kubuntu interface
There’s something amiss though while you use the top bar disappears and the windows in this interface don’t have the close/resize buttons.
However when the cursor reaches the top border, the panel appears and that panel has the close and resize buttons. This is a radical concept and it took me a while to find that.
Another thing is there are no buttons for shutdown restart or logoff. I found a widget only for log-off and screen lock.
I’ve been using the plasmacon widget which emulates the terminal and used sudo shutdown and sudo reboot commands. Later I found right clicking on the search and launch page has a “leave” option which produces the actual shutdown and reboot dialogue like sweet old times
..Enjoying my time with Kubuntu and You should too…
Kubuntu is pretty awesome! It is leaps and bounds ahead of windows and regular ubuntu in terms of functionality, speed and customization. I just wish they'd get rid of the "Desktop Toolbox" widget.
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