Kubuntu Linux 9.10
Sound and Multimedia
I had no problems with sound after booting into my Kubuntu desktop.
In order to play YouTube videos in Konqueror, I had to install a Flash plugin. I went into the KPackageKit software tool and found the plugin. I loaded it and then restarted Konqueror. When I first loaded a YouTube video there was no video on the page. The message about the plugin was gone so I knew it wasn’t that that was causing a problem. Looking through the Konqueror settings, I realized that Adblock was turned on by default. I turned it off and reloaded the page and then the video loaded. I have a lot more to say below about Adblock being on by default.
One Adblock was turned off, I had no problems loading YouTube videos. The videos looked great and the sound was flawless.
I was not able to get my DVD to play in Dragon Video Player. The DVD was listed there but didn’t load or otherwise play.
When I started Dragon Video Player it told me I should install additional packages for better multimedia functionality. However, it didn’t specify which ones and the popup message disappeared in a few seconds. This is not exactly a great way to let a user know about these kinds of things. A popup with a link to additional packages or some other clue might be a good idea.
What I Liked Most
I found myself liking this release of Kubuntu a lot better than the last one. I particularly liked the social media networking widgets I was able to run on my KDE desktop. I like to keep track of what’s going on and those two widgets came in handy.
I also liked the fact that KDE is finally moving toward including Firefox by default, hopefully in the next release it will be installed and will eventually be the default browser for KDE.
Problems & Headaches
One of the things I liked least about Kubuntu was the default blockage of advertising in Konqueror. I don’t know who made this decision but for sites like DLR it has the potential to hurt a lot financially. Default blocking of ads in a browser is a great way to insure that the only sites who survive are the ones that charge a subscription fee or who force you to pay to read each article via micro-transactions (charging 99 cents per article or whatever).
Having Adblocker on by default also screwed up the YouTube videos I was trying to play as nothing loaded in Konqueror with it on. I figured it out but it might cause some serious frustration to newbies to KDE based distros and those folks might not have any idea what the problem is on their system.
Come on Konqueror developers or whoever made the decision to have Konqi block ads by default. Wake up and understand the consequences of your decision. It’s bad for the web economy and it’s quite stupid to block YouTube videos from loading in people’s browsers. It’s no wonder that Konqueror has such a small base of users compared to Firefox, Safari, Opera, etc.
And speaking of browsers, another thing I didn’t like was that Firefox wasn’t installed by default. There is a Firefox installer present in the Kubuntu menu but why make the user install it at all? If you’re going to stick the Firefix installer in then why not just have the browser itself already included? I don’t know if this is a KDE thing or what but it makes no sense to me.
Another issue with Kubuntu is the lack of the Ubuntu Software Center. If you download regular Ubuntu you get a very nice software app included that’s easy to use and that provides a nice range of software. Kubuntu lacks this and has an add/remove software tool (KPackageKit) that strikes me as ugly, non-intuitive and just generally disappointing. When trying to view “All Packages,” for example, nothing was displayed. I could view individual categories and it would refresh appropriately but nothing happened when I tried to view all packages.
KPackageKit left a lot to be desired when it came to managing software.
I know that the Ubuntu developers put most of their effort into the Gnome-based version of Ubuntu but if you are going to release Kubuntu then why not include the Ubuntu Software Center in it too? KDE users certainly deserve the same attractive interface and ease of use that Gnome users get.
Finally, one glaring omission from Kubuntu is Ubuntu One. Despite some problems I had with it while reviewing Ubuntu 9.10, I generally viewed it as a positive addition to Ubuntu. And yet there seems to be no link to it in any of the Kubuntu menus. Ubuntu One is prominently displayed in the Places menu in Ubuntu 9.10 but no such link exists anywhere in Kubuntu 9.10 that I could find.
Why wasn’t Ubuntu One included in Kubuntu? Since it appears to be accessible in any browser then why not include overt links to it in Kubuntu? It appears to be yet another glaring example of Canonical’s double standard for KDE users. Perhaps the company simply expects KDE users to sit down, shut up and accept second class citizen status? If so, that’s a bad attitude to have and I say that as someone who doesn’t really use KDE all that much. I’d like to see some parity when it comes to Gnome and KDE by the Canonical developers.
(12 votes, average: 3.92 out of 5)
Loading ...
Related Posts:
- Kubuntu Netbook Edition 10.04 Review
- Kubuntu Linux 10.04 LTS (Lucid Lynx)
- Kubuntu 9.04
- Kubuntu Netbook Edition 10.04
- Kubuntu 10.10
Based on what you say here, Jim, if I were going to the KDE 4.3 series as my preferred desktop, (I continue to prefer Gnome or Xfce) the distro would not be Kubuntu. sidux 2009-2 will not give you your desktop social widgets, but it will give you an otherwise quite nice and responsive rendition of KDE. And if I were going to bet, I would put my money on the next Mepis, which will run 4.3.3 according to Mepis fans. Mepis has a good reputation for being well crafted, so the annoyances that show in Kubuntu very possibly will not appear there.
For non-Debian folks the next Suse (11.2 as I recall) is barely a week or so away. KDE people might want to see how it works.
Ubuntu is Gnome-centric and in my opinion best used that way.
I could not even reload the resoulces list and package kit was empty all the time because a cache bug. If this is not a show-stopper i don’t know what it is.
Kubuntu 9.10 went through a pretty good testing cycle, based on tests of a couple of Alpha releases (I think I started this release with Alpha 3 in a Virtualbox). I also had an installed version of Kubuntu 9.04, so when this reached Beta (or Release Candidate, I can’t remember which for certain), I ran an upgrade on 9.04, which allowed me to move to the software just prior to release, then after release, I ran another upgrade to get to the final.
Observations: NTP (time server) support works now; I had reported a defect in the 9.04 time frame that did not get adequately fixed; they fixed it now. Upgrades from 9.04 seem to work well. This is not the first time that I have upgraded from one release to another. Canonical and the various Ubuntu family of products generally do upgrades well. Mandriva is one of the other distributions that also does upgrades well, and they also have a release coming out (Jim, that would be a good one to review too, 2010.0).
You need not suffer with the “sliding menus” if you do not like the Kicker menu style. With KDE 4.3 you can revert to the classic KDE menus. In addition, tens of thousands of defects have been fixed, and KDE 4 can once again be considered stable.
I had no issues with this release. I’d put it up against Mandriva 2010.0. My inclination would be to give preference to Mandriva; I think it makes a better development platform, but they are similar in ease of use. For more software available right at installation time, get Mandriva. For those who upgrade and add software using package updates, it makes little difference; both have HUGE repositories of applications available. Mandriva, to me, has much nicer art work; Jim usually prefers good art, so I’d give the edge to Mandriva there.
Ubuntu sometimes has quality control issues on their rapid release versions with a lot of new features and better stability in their long term support releases (LTS). Mandriva suffers from quality control reputation issues. If cutting edge matters more than the possibility of finding defects, then both Kubuntu and Mandriva are worth a look. IF you want something more stable, wait for the next Mint or MEPIS release instead.
Nice review. Kpackage kit worked with no show stoppers even tho I don’t really like it. Overall Kubuntu showed no show stopper problems at all. Some minor problems were easy to take care of. As far as Kde distros goes I’ve tried several in the past month including sidux, Mandriva, OpenSuse (RC), and Kubuntu seems to work as well or better than most. If a person has to use Kde then its a good distro. Just remember that KDE4 still has a way to go before it can be considered prime time.
Thanks for the comments, guys.
BTW, we had a slight database burp due to a dumbass that accidentally removed the database then had to restore it from a backup. So a few posts are missing from this review. My apologies for the error.
I swear I only had 3 blueberry ales.
Please feel free to repost your comments and sorry about the database screw up.
As long as they finally fix the wireless issues that have been plaguing Ubuntu since 8.10 then I will be happy, and it will be a windows 7 killer.
Nice review you wrote!
Two remarks:
*Adblocking by default is certainly not a KDE thing, since the KDE adblocker is an optional Konqi plugn, available from extragear. Although I can understand the choice made by Kubuntu.
*KDE is in now way related to firefox, so that installer also has nothing to do with KDE. Konqi isn’t a good browser for modern javascript-heavy sites, so Firefox is a better choice there. However, Firefox depends on lots of GTK things, so putting it on the CD will remove room for other apps, so the Kubuntu Devs decided to write an installer.
Oh BTW: I also would recommend a Mandriva Review, excellent distro, I’m using it for a year know, because *buntu tends to screw up KDE translations.
@ MacLone:
I agree with MacLone. Kpackagekit does not work. I tried to use Synaptic in Kubuntu but I had a lot of problems. Packagekit works fine in Opensuse 11.2 KDE: Kubuntu needs a lot of work to reach Opensuse, Sabayon, Pardus, SimplyMepis, eccetera.