Kubuntu Linux 10.04 LTS (Lucid Lynx)
Where To Get Help
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Drop by the forum to get help, talk about Linux or just hang out.
You might also want to check out the Kubuntu Wiki, FAQ, and Community Support page.
Final Thoughts & Who Should Use It
I had high hopes for Kubuntu after last week’s review of Ubuntu 10.04. However, it seems clear that Kubuntu is still a bit of an orphan and not very high on Canonical’s list of priorities. The lack of similar theme, title bar buttons on the right, no software center, and various other problems mean that Kubuntu just isn’t up to par with Ubuntu.
Frankly, anybody could have released Kubuntu. There is little or nothing here to indicate that it is part of Canonical’s product family. It’s just a generic KDE-based desktop distro with little or nothing to set it apart or to draw users to it. I’m forced to wonder why Canonical even bothers with it in the first place. I think it’s time for the company to decide whether or not it really wants to continue releasing Kubuntu. Either make it on par with Ubuntu in all ways or simply discontinue it altogether.
I recommend that everybody avoid Kubuntu. If you must use a KDE-based distro, wait for the KDE version of Linux Mint. You’ll have a much better experience and you won’t waste your time with Kubuntu. I’m sorry to have to say that, I had hoped for much more from Kubuntu 10.04. Unfortunately, it just doesn’t measure up to Ubuntu 10.04 and it’s best avoided if at all possible.
What’s your take on this distro? Tell me in the comments below. Visit the DLR forum for more discussions. Visit JimLynch.com for opinion columns.
Summary Table:
| Product: | Kubuntu Linux LTS 10.04 |
| Web Site: | http://www.kubuntu.org/ |
| Price: | Free |
| Pros: | Provides the latest KDE 4.4 Plasma desktop. Install includes a slideshow to entertain users. Touchpad configuration menu for laptop users. Firefox integrated with KDE. Better system notification updates. |
| Cons: | Lacks a social media app like Gwibber. F-Spot, GIMP and PiTiVi are not installed by default. Ambiance theme from Ubuntu not available. Uses KPackageKit for software management, the Ubuntu Software Center is not available. The Ubuntu One online service and music store are also not included. |
| Suitable For: | Only the most die-hard KDE users who simply must have “ubuntu” in the name of their KDE-based distro. Others should wait for the KDE version of Linux Mint. |
| Summary: | Kubuntu is a sad disappointment and should have the “ubuntu” removed from its name. There is nothing in this release that remotely puts it on par with Ubuntu Linux 10.04 LTS. |
| Rating: | 2.5/5 |
(91 votes, average: 1.99 out of 5)
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(4.83 out of 5)
I could be wrong, but I believe Kubuntu is completely a community project and other than the logo and the repos, the project is not driven by Canonical at all.
Hi Jeff,
If you go to the official Kubuntu site and look down, you’ll find this text at the bottom of the page:
“Kubuntu and Canonical are registered trademarks of Canonical Ltd. ”
And if you look on the FAQ page, you see this:
“What is Kubuntu?
Kubuntu one of the distributions from the Ubuntu family (alongside Ubuntu Desktop and several other variants). Our Kubuntu CDs are made up of Ubuntu’s base plus KDE Software Compilation. You can get exactly the same effect by installing Ubuntu and adding the KDE Software Compilation packages (and removing the Gnome packages) from the Ubuntu archives.
Is this a fork of Ubuntu?
No, it is an official part of Ubuntu. All our packages are in the same archives.”
All of that means that users are probably going to think that Kubuntu is simply the KDE version of Ubuntu and would be as polished in all respects. Unfortunately it’s not, as I indicated in the review.
Hey Jim Lynch! do you happen to be Dan Lynch’s Brother? from Linux Outlaws? that would be so cool/awesome!
Anyways a very great review as always it was in-depth and showed everything! Kubuntu sadly seems to have its own mind of what packages they want. (mostly KDE ones?) I’m surprised not to see a video editor installed either they could do Kdenlive if they love kde apps so much.(it’s kinda buggy though) but maybe they are running out of space on the small CD they use? so thats not an option.
BTW. Fedora has said they will be using DVDs (Only about 900 MB) from now on to distribute it in KDE and Gnome Edtions Plus the huge multi installer. this means they hopefully won’t have to cut out things. I think ubuntu should consider this. CDs are now becoming a limitation sadly.
Hi JD,
No, no relation to Dan Lynch that I know of…but I do have a lot of relatives so you never know!
Thanks for the positive feedback. Much appreciated.
I agree, CDs are passe to a certain extent at this point. Too small for today’s desktop distros, for the most part. Although some of the smaller, light-weight ones are still fine on them.
wow. one of the best review i have read. very detailed and still to the point. it seems you have discovered all the flaws in kubuntu and i totally agree with you. canonicle treat kubuntu like step child whom they don’t love. there are lots of distros thriving on kde desktop, if same attention could be paid on kubuntu then they can have best of both world (well best of all the world considering xfce and lxde) this is the reason i install kde in regular ubuntu.. its plain vanilla kde so i dont miss a thing.
Are you seriously complaining about the KDE4 theme? Have you SEEN how many KDE Themes are available? There are like 20 and only about 10 of them are any good. ALL KDE4 based Distros use one of 2 themes. Oxygen or Air, period.
@ abhifx:
Actually, Kubuntu 10:04 is 1000 times better than its Ubuntu counterpart for this release. Ubuntu is completely worthless for the next 6 months, and if Shuttleworthlesses ideas for 10:10 are any indication … the next year as well.
The best KDE-Buntu is Mint KDE Edition. Mint Kde is Kubuntu derivatif with some fine tuning here and there.
The English translation for the word Kubuntu is “Krap”.
quote: Jim
I suspect I will be hammered for this review by some KDE users. But I said what had to be said. Canonical needs to make Kubuntu its own or stop releasing it altogether and just focus on the GNOME version.
Do you want me to hammer you then? You know better than that. I respect your viewpoint and the viewpoint of others. I do have some issues to take with your review, however.
I respect your viewpoint that Canonical, if it intends to brand itself with Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Lubuntu, and Mythbuntu, ought to take branding into consideration. Clearly they did in this release with Ubuntu. However, I am not certain just how many employees of Canonical are a part of the other four projects. I suspect it is not more than a tenth to a quarter as many, and that explains the difference in focus, at least to me.
Jim, the reason that I follow Kubuntu is that it is always the very first Debian based system that has binary packages built for versions of KDE. It is ironic. In Debian, the GNOME distribution is quite stable – and fairly clearly the preferred desktop in the Debian Stable release, but it takes a back seat in Unstable, where it can be quite erratic. Canonical’s first significant contribution to the party is that they really flesh out GNOME and help both Debian and Mint, to name two Debian-oriented distributions.
We don’t see the emphasis quite as directly with KDE because the Debian KDE packagers only release every 2-4 maintenance releases (in fact, until last night, their last release was KDE SC 4.3.4, which is 3-4 months old now. As of today, KDE SC 4.4.3 – four updates later, is FINALLY in Debian Sid.) In contrast, Kubuntu has been building updates within days of new packages, and is a reference release for KDE. OpenSUSE DEFINITELY gets the crown in this respect – it is THE release that KDE itself uses for Live CD sample releases (not too surprising, given the long time German roots).
My point in this is that Canonical focuses most of its KDE effort on building binaries early and often so that KDE Alpha and Beta testers have a platform to use. Arch, Sabayan, Gentoo, OpenSUSE, and Mandriva are the other leaders, most everyone else lags by at least a month, sometimes six months or more, in this area.
I therefore consider your review this time a bit too strongly tilted to the visual effects, which we all know are easy to modify. I do respect your view on branding, and if they had more time and money to spend, it might be nice to throw more into Kubuntu and Lubuntu. In time, that may happen. Curiously, Xubuntu, while not heavily branded, generally has the best appearance, from an artistic viewpoint, of any of the releases. I’ve not seen strong branding there, either, though, at least not in the past. I’d like to read your viewpoint on that.
A 2.5/5, simply based on weak branding is not what the average consumer cares about. How does it work? My experience throughout the Alpha and Beta test cycle suggests that this release works every bit as well as Ubuntu. The only thing it lacks are those small points. A 3.5 rating at the least is a more reasonable rating, considering that the installation is trivial, the packages you want to add are omitted only for space reasons to fit on a CD instead of mandating a DVD. Grabbing the Ubuntu Package Manager, or for that matter, low level tools, such as gdebi or aptitude, are only as far away as a kpackage, dpkg, or apt-get installation request.