In case you never knew. Kubuntu is an official derivative of the Ubuntu operating system using the KDE graphical environment instead of GNOME. While Ubuntu is based on a heavily customized version gnome desktop environment. Kubuntu is just plain vanilla kde (down to artwork) it also lacks some of the features and innovations which canonical has built into Ubuntu hence no ubuntu one, software center, me menu etc. What kubuntu however has going for it is a strong tie to the kde upstream (and the awesomeness which comes with that) and strong community control (meaning less co operate influence). Kubuntu 10.04 LTS was released couple of months ago. It is based on KDE 4.4 which brings a host of features many of which I hope to review in a much later post. I have been running Kubuntu 10.04 now since the Release Candidate and simply upgraded to the final release. So far I would have to say it has been release smooth although not perfect. Compared to Ubuntu The out of the box experience of Kubuntu can be a little rough edge and quite overwhelming especially to a user who is very new to KDE. It is for this reason that I decided to share some tips and walk around for minor annoyances I encountered using Kubuntu Lucid and generally things I did after installing Kubuntu . NB These is by no means the gospel of how kubuntu should be. It is based on how I setup my Kubuntu Desktop (Emphasis on “I” and “My” :D )
Network Manager
Kubuntu uses the plasma-widget-networkmanagement which is just ok for basic network management tasks but when it gets real complicated, you might want something much more robust and stable. The kde 4 frontend to network manager is still under heavy development and currently is not on per with the gnome network manager in area of features and stability. It is for this reason that I prefer the gnome frontend to network manager. More so since it require very minimal gnome dependencies to run. (Its a matter of choice really)
Install Gnome Network manager
To prevent conflicts I removed the kde frontend for network manager before installing the gnome version.
sudo aptitude purge network-manager-kde -y ; sudo aptitude install network-manager-gnome
Once installation is complete add nm-applet to your autostart session. Systemsettings -> Advanced Tab -> Autostart Click Add program and paste nm-applet in the dialogbox that comes up 
Once you have done this the gnome network manager would become the default network manager for Kubuntu upon restart.
Passive Notification
I find the default kde notification quite annoying. It tends draws much attention to itself which always distracts from what I am doing and when you have multiple notifications it then stacks them on top of each other in a way which simply pisses me off!!!
I prefer the passive notification which uses transparent notification which allows click through and really does not get in my way. Although it comes at a cost of not being about to Interact with notification elements like upgrade or click to vew an IM. I think I can live with that.
My Walk Round: Colibri
What is Colibri Colibri provides an alternative to KDE4 Plasma notifications. What I like about Colibri
- Colibri notifications look lighter and are completely passive: they do not provide any buttons. You may or may not like this. Since they are completely passive
- They smoothly fade away when you mouse over them, allowing you to interact with any window behind them.
- They also do not stack each others: if multiple notifications happen, they will be shown one at a time.
Thankfully Colibri is now available in the Lucid repository
sudo aptitude install colibri
Once installed the following setup still need be done because colibri would not start to work immediately.
- Right Click on systemtray and select “systemtray settings” uncheck “Application notification”
- Add
colibrito startup session (Following the same process as with nm-applet) - Go to system settings —> Desktop (Under the Generation Tab) —> “Colibri Notifications” select which area of your screen you want Notifications to be Displayed apply.
- Thats all
NB: You may need to logout and login again for Colibri to take effect. If all goes well your Notification should look like this. 
Codecs and Multimedia
(k)ubuntu does not come pre-installed with multimedia codecs for popular formats like mp3, AVI, Dvix , Adobe Flash etc due to license restrictions Although it is very easy to install the codecs when you attempt to play an mp3 file for example, you get a popup prompting to install necessary codecs need to play the file. Even then I rather just have all what I need in one go. Some of the codecs needed for playing popular multimedia codecs are so restricted that there are not included in the Ubuntu Repositories and one would need to add a 3rd party repository. Medibuntu repository comes with many tools, codecs and applications which can not be shipped in the Ubuntu repository due to license restrictions. It can be added to your software source with the following command.
echo 'deb http://packages.medibuntu.org/ lucid free non-free' | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list ; wget -q http://packages.medibuntu.org/medibuntu-key.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add - && sudo apt-get update
Once added I usually just install just about every Multimedia Codec I would ever need on Kubuntu with the following command.
sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad-multiverse gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg libxine1-ffmpeg ffmpeg kubuntu-restricted-extras libdvdread4 ; sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/install-css.sh
Multimedia Apps
I would like to go through some of the multimedia apps I always resort to in my day to day use of kubuntu. For the most part I prefer to stick with Kde/Qt apps due to their integration with the rest of kde. But I always use the best tool for the Job Qt or Gtk doesn’t matter (As long as it is not too tired to gnome or need half of gnome desktop to install)
Audio Encoder
Soundcoverter Like the name suggests soundconverter is a small GTK app which reads anything the GStreamer library can read (Ogg Vorbis, AAC, MP3, FLAC,
WAV, AVI, MPEG, MOV, M4A, AC3, DTS, ALAC, MPC, Shorten, APE, SID, MOD, XM, S3M, etc…), and writes WAV, FLAC, MP3, AAC, and Ogg Vorbis files. Its extremely easy to use and IMHO the best Audio Converting app on free desktop.
sudo aptitude install soundconverter
Video Encoder
Winff Winff is a GUI frontend to FFMPEG, it converts any video file supported by FFMPEG and can all do multiple file convert i.e You can for example
convert mpeg’s, flv’s, and mov’s, all into avi’s all at once. Just like Soundcoverter winff is very easy to use and also support 3rd party presets for Nokia and Android devices. The only flaw I found with winff progress indicator instead you get a commandline window which displays working of an encoding process in the most geeky way lol
sudo aptitude install winff
DVD Rip
Handbreak is a great app (some will say the best for the job) Personally though I prefer k9copy. K9copy is a program that allows you to copy DVDs in Linux. It is similar to DVDShrink, and has the following features:
Features
- The video stream is compressed to make the video fiton a 4.7GB recordable DVD
- DVD Burning
- Creation of ISO images
- Choosing which audio and subtitle tracks are copied.
- Title preview (video only)
- The ability to preserve the original menus.
sudo aptitude install k9copy
Video editor
Video editing is not one of the strongest areas of Linux. However that trend is changing as more applications like openshot and Pitivi get matured and add needed functionality and features. However the best and most feature packed Video editor on Linux today is Kdenlive. The list of its features are so numerous that its better to just check them out yourself 
sudo aptitude install kdenlive
Audio Editing
Audacity is a cross platform open source software for recording and editing sounds. While Audacity would not be winning any award in UI design any time soon. It is indeed one of the most powerful open source sound editor out there. 
sudo aptitude install audacity
Internet and Social Networking
Browser
Konqueror the default browser which ships with kde sucks, I wish there was a mild way to put that but really it does. And please don’t get started on Firefox its integration with KDE is just appalling. ReKonq is a decent browser but it crashes a lot and can be unstable. My browser of choice on kde is Chromium. Its faster, lighter and although a gtk app has better integration with kde compared to Firefox. 
sudo aptitude install chromium-browser
Microblogging
I am a heavy microblogger and you would find me on both identica and twitter. When it comes to microblogging on kde it starts and end with Choqok. Really there is nothing more to add here. 
sudo aptitude install choqok
Blogging
I am a fan of blogging client which allows me to blog even when am offline and publish my post when connected. Blogilo allows me to do this and much more. You might want to check out a review of the app I did I while back
sudo aptitude install blogilo
IRC Client
Kubuntu ships by default Quassel IRC client. Which is a pretty decent IRC client, but I was never able to find my way round it. For IRC I use Konversation which I find much easier to use and less cluttered compared to Quassel. Konversation has the following features 
- Standard IRC features
- SSL server support
- Bookmarking support
- Easy to use graphical user interface
- Multiple servers and channels in one single window
- DCC file transfer
- Multiple identities for different servers
- Text decorations and colors
- OnScreen Display for notifications
- Automatic UTF-8 detection
- Per channel encoding support
- Theme support for nick icons
- Highly configurable
sudo aptitude install konversation
Packge Management
Kubuntu ships with Kpackagekit as package manager. Which is pretty decent but feels very incomplete and can be quite unstable compared to Synaptic. So I just go ahead and install synaptic
sudo aptitude --without-recommends install synaptic
Note: The “–without-recommends” ensure that only the basic needed dependencies are installed with synaptic. I use this options anytime I am installing a gtk app. It helps to slim down the bloat so I get just what I need.
Other Apps I use on Kubuntu
Video Player = Vlc
Note Taking = Zim
Email = Thunderbird
The above applications are very popular and can be easily installed from the package manager.
My Kubuntu Tweaks and Customizations
Here is where I share some of the little tweaks and customization I did to the Out of the Box Kubuntu to make it further meet my everyday use case.
How to make gtk apps running as root not look like A**
One major grip I have with the gtk toolkit is how gtk apps always look like some win95 era app when used outside of a non gtk enviroment. Thankfully the Kubuntu theme have done a good job Integrating it with Qtcurve which helps give gtk apps a kdish look and feel. Unfortunately gtk apps which are run as root aren’t covered and still always look like s**t. Hence if you run synaptic on KDE what you get is a tool that is so ugly it hurts.
My Walk around this was to install the gtk-chtheme package
sudo aptitude install gtk-chtheme
Once installed alt + F2 and run the following from krunner.
kdesudo gtk-chtheme
The way I got it to work was to first select the “Releigh” Then select “QtCurve” you can also choose a fonts. Once done remember to click “ok”
When you start synaptic again it should look much better.
Setting up Window Share
For some reason the process for setting up a samba network share on Kubuntu is not as straight forward as it is on Ubuntu. Ideally If I want share a folder I should right click on it go to properties –> share tab and click configure sharing. Then the system asks me for my password and tells me it needs to install some packages before it can proceed, I say yes it installs the packages and my Samba share is done. Well the situation is quite different on Kubuntu. When I get to the part where I am suppose to share my folder, it asks me for my password and then nothing happens no error message, no sharing no feedback on what failed, everthing just seems normal except the fact folder is also not shared.
I did some digging and found that I had to install the following packages
sudo aptitude install samba kdenetwork-filesharing
Once Installed, sharing any Folder via samba becomes a matter of point and click ™.
Repeated Button actions
There is a minor annoyance with the repeated button actions. e.g things using the volume key on your laptop for volume control or the multimedia keys to control amarok always skip two step forward or backwords.
Fortunately the fix to this problem is very easy. Start kde Systemsettings and go to keyboad and mouse under the general tab. You would see the “enable keyboard repeat” already checked. Uncheck it and click apply. Then check it again and click apply. Doing this Surprisingly that solved the problem for me.
Font Setup
Refer to this post I wrote a while back.
Finally
IMHO Kubuntu is the best Kde Distro I have tried. It very close to the kde upstream and provide a solid Ubuntu base for stability. It really not easy getting a compilation of everything I did to customize my Kubuntu to suit my everyday needs, probably left out somethings. If you have some tips or recommendation of your own please share. I hope someone out there find this useful 
This content is published under the Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
A minor corrrection: Kubuntu does not use plasma-widget-networkmanagement, it is using the the standard network-manager-kde. An svn-snapshot version of plasma-widget-networkmanagement can be installed, however, Nice post!
Kubuntu remains a big disappointment, partly because of KDE, partly because of Ubuntu itself.
Minor gripes, that I can live with:
* I can't save my screen resolution, so I have to resize my screen at every boot.
* The Ralink WIFI worked fine in the (K)ubuntu 8.* sries, but then it broke and remains broken.
* Attempts to install proprietary drivers fail horribly, so no Desktop Cube for me.
* all attempts to upgrade from 9.10 to 10.04 fail, leaving a system that cannot be booted. Reinstallation from CD is the only cure.
Major gripe:
Evolution and Kmail cannot render HTML emails any more. This bug is reported and alive for two years now, but no cure is forthcoming. This effectively renders the integrated calendar, todo lists and contacts useless. There is no easy way to really sync your calendar, todo and contacts with those of a cellphone. I specially bought a N900, hoping that linux-linux sync would work, but no luck so far.
When I see how Microsoft users effortlessly sync their cellphones over bluetooth just by walking into the room, it makes me mad.
Paai
Nice article, thanx.
Hi,
Nice post, I really appreciate the changes w.r.t synaptic that was always annoying me. And also everytime I wish to install KUBUNTU, I feel why can't I install all the N number of packages that come along with the DVD. Any way of installing all the packages of Kubuntu DVD during first installtion, or any suggestion would be helpful here.
Thanks Again for the NICE document !!
Keep it up !
-Srikant
well I would certainly not advise installing all the packages which comes with the dvd. AFAIk the DVD comes with every pakcage in the ubuntu main repository and which are not really need by the average user. It is better to install applications as u need them. Beside most of the packages in the dvds are libraries and may not work with your system hence would cause you some problem. Installing what you need is always the best approach with any OS (Linux Included)
I am so sorry to here. Never had the issue with resolution, mine works just fine. But then I use an intel graphic card which is known to work very well on linux.
My wifi too is again a hardware driver issue. I am sure there would be a work around somewhere if u search or ask in the (k)ubuntu irc. Concerning upgrades I have never been a fan of it. always prefer to do a clean install and because I always keep a seperate home directory I still retain all my user settings.
Both Evolution and Kmail are a pain to use. Kmail is in the process of being ported to akonadi and it is expected that this would reduce the amount of pain. For the best email experience, just use thunderbird.
I use the N900 too and I was able to setup syncing calendar, and contact with google using mail for exchange setup. and I also setup my thunderbird to sync with google calendar. the setup works like charm. maybe I should blog about it
really nice post! thanks for sharing all these awesome tips
just one thing.. i think you missed the second 'n' in soundconverter xP
ps. loved the layout and colors of this page x)
Oh thanks for the observation. the typo has been corrected
My comment may sound like a noob-ish but I appreciate your post as I have always like kde over gnome but since I've installed Ubuntu 10.4 RC I chose gnome over stability and completeness. Your post inches me closer to that feeling with kde. Networking, VPN and extra steps allowing shared folders were my pet peeves with kde.
Good job..
Ive upgraded both my parents computers (both in their late 70s) and my wifes laptop to Kubuntu 10.04, they love
it. My dad loves the new windows effect.
A few must have KDE programs:
Digikam. simple enough for my parents to plug in their digital camera and DL pix on their computers but powerful enough for most power users.
K3b, the cd burner
Gwenview, the image viewer which is getting better and better (almost at Irfanview level) yet very simple. Kopete which to me was a must have when I switched to Linux a few years ago since it was the only one that supported Yahoo IM video chat.
Ive been a VLC man since the Windows days when it made me forget the atrocious codec dance we used to do for years but a while back, i got a problem with my a 2nd screen appearing (its a known problem) and I switched to Dragon Player, it has nowhere the options as VLC but as a siimple player to watch your Doctor Who episode? Great. Like Ktorrent or Okular, I just use it but rarely think about it. That 'just works' thing.
My sons swear by Kstars and KDE games.
I love troubleshooting family far away through desktop sharing and krdc-krfb.
And my wife loves the fact that you can now cycle through your slideshow wallpaper with a Next Wallpaper button.
Had it not been for Kubuntu and my 16yr old nephew we talked to on Skype when we had had enough of the Ubuntu 8 experiment (we bought a Dell Mini 9 and it was our first Linux experience after over 20 years of Windows), we probably would have gone back to Windows XP two years ago.
The KDE desktop is one of the main reasons we are using Linux exclusively in our home now. (old XP partition for Chessmaster 10 and for income tax program for work)
Thanks for the nice article. However there is a much more easy way to install the non-free codecs, flash, Java and MS TTS Corefonts:
sudo apt-get install kubuntu-restricted-extras
very cool!
I also wrote this – http://sandeep.wordpress.com/2010/05/23/kde-4-4...
oh and this should be interesting – http://www.reddit.com/r/kde/comments/ca79x/why_...
Use Synaptic to completely remove openoffice and Replace it with Koffice much better intergration and no Oracle crap solid write up though I also suggest firefox with readability & optimized settings over chrome but im a konqueror fan all the same.
really nice article,
thanks!
just a simple proposal. As I use notes a lot, I would suggest tomboy with synchronization with ubuntu one service. It works fine with kde even if it is a gtk app
I'm guessing you're using nvidia-settings.
Both Kubuntu and Ubuntu possess the glitch of being unable to save to xorg.conf from nvidia-settings, even if you start them via gksudo nvidia-settings.
the hack is, once you set everything up in nvidia-settings, then go to save to x configuration file and click “show preview”.
Then go to konsole and sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf, delete EVERYTHING that's in it and copy-paste what nvidia-settings generated for you. Save and enjoy! Cheers!
Thanks on this repair tip. Now I don’t need to reset my desktop res every time I log on!
This was a great help with my resolution issue I was having. Every time I logged on the screen would be different from where I had actually set it up as. Thanks!!
Tired Koffice and as much as Iove its UI integration with kde, Its just not ready for primetime compared to openoffice.
Im new on Kubuntu and linux stuff…Thanks to your blog i can hear mp3 files, watch movies and so on. It helped me alot. But i cant hear anything on youtube or similar web players. have you ever had an issue with youtube player?
P.s i downloaded Adobe Flash Player 10.1.53.64. Maybe its because of this soft? Could you help me to solve this problem. :/
Try go to your volume applet in the kde notification area (systemtray) click the icon and selet volume mixer. make sure the PCM slider is pushed up.
big thanks! that was very helpful for me
The liberation font is really cool, thanks for the tip. About fonts, the fonts.conf tweak is not necessary in Lucid. It does the trick automatically once you set it in GTK module of sistem configuration, appearance, fonts.
The use of gtk-chtheme for root applications is also amazing. I've been trying to get this for years.
Wow, i haven't seen Kubuntu in move.
From time to time i'm using Ubuntu with Gnome.
I'm still newbie, but your post open my eyes.
Great share bigbrovar
Mixmax / Ivan
You are very right Thanks for the correction
hmm My only grips with tomboy is that it has too many mono dependencies. I am not against mono and I used gnome-do and banshee alot when I was on gnome. But on kde I use as little gtk app as possible especially those with very little gnome deps.
Thanks I am glad you found it useful
Thankyou very much for the gtk tips, now synaptics and others are now pleasant.
Thanks for sharing
Thanks for the feedback. I glad you found it useful
Yes you are right about that, I don't like using mono or gtk apps either. They are a bit slower and they don't look good in kde, even with your tweaks.
However I do not know any other notes application that is so easy to use and provides online synchronization between different devices (laptop, home pc, work pc). I have tried many other, including kde's basket and knotes, but they are not what I want.
Of course if you find anything please write it in your blog!
Great post, kudos!
And I agree, Kubuntu is about the best KDE distro out there. I have been along time user of OpenSuSE and Mandriva, and I have followed (K)Ubuntu since 8.04 but always stuck to SUSE or Mandriva becasue they were (in general) more polished and complete.
Not any more. (K)Ubuntu, as of 10.04 IMHO, has far exceeded other distros, and I advocate it in all of my Systems Integration projects now.
Your post was great, and much appreciated!
Wow .. always been a windows user cause us oldies don't change so easy (I'm proof) nor can we if there's ah … other reasons (I'm proof) … but finding this site .. this blog … pure inspiration. Just pure inspiration.
Wanted to get away from windows & the hangups I've seen in it … old machine with 32mb Nvidia …2.4 Intel & 1.5gig mem … two drives eighty gigs each … one with two parts … windows on one part. Would love to get into something better (hardware) but can't .. life don't afford me that option. I've gone crazy over portable apps just so I don't have the install hangups so often .. saves me a bit of pain.
But XPsp2 is no longer supported by MS & I dread sp3 will follow soon .. so gotta make some real choice soon I think. You got the best reading & some of the best feedback I've ever seen. Nice to come to a page where people are not calling each other morons or stupids & so on .. nice.
Tell me people .. ever thought of putting all your ah, choices, tips, advice, changes & such in one document so one can download it & go over it piece-by-piece? That would save money for them paying for net time (not included there). If done in such a way, perhaps people can also edit & resubmit or upload so fresh copies are often available. I'm downloaoding the Ubuntu 10.4 to try it out on a CD before I really do anything else … but you have enthused me … no doubt about that. I'd probably need gallons of help if I did go this way … but you do make it seem attractive .. all you who have added to this page. Darn nice to meet some decent folk … really. Please … don't ever hide. Garry, an Australian in Taipei (who can't use Chinese anything .. not even their food).
You comments and tips have been a big help. Thanks Alot. I’ve messed with Mandrake in the past and found the Linux to be a difficult to deal with. With this said I realized I was slaved to Microsoft Windows. I’ve been dueling with the Windows 7 Ultimate and Microsoft Techs to the point I totally dumped it. Now running Kubuntu 10.04 and loving it! I have two sons and I will be installing Kubuntu on there computer so they can be on point with this great OS. Does anybody have any suggestions on any reading material for a total novice?
Thanks in Advance
Jeff
very nice app selection, also gems like Zim – wonderful, just my taste!
Only, I prefer sidux (http://sidux.com) which is a variant of Debian Sid with some TLC applied, so stable enough for the desktop (and server btw) but up to date with the latest packages…:)
oh, and Konqueror will support switching the rendering engine to WebKit in KDE 4.5 btw:), see:
http://www.kde.org/announcements/announce-4.5-b...
Yeah I am on kde 4.5 now unfortunately rendering engine is just one of the many improvements that Konqueror would need on its way back to becoming a browser of choose in my book. For now am still sticking to chromium
I have heard alots of good things about sidux. I would give it a go one of this days. Thanks for the tip
Can I remove k mail. I use thunderbird and have no use for it