Why I no longer use Kubuntu
Posted by: Anurag Panda on: June 5, 2007
Along with Ubuntu which has GNOME by default, Canonical also offers Kubuntu which is KDE by default and also Xubuntu which is Xfce by default.
Though Kubuntu and Xubuntu are available as separate distros. It is easy to transform Ubuntu to Kubuntu or Xubuntu or vice versa.
My first experience with Ubuntu was Dapper Drake which included GNOME by default. The desktop was very simple to use and employ. But out of sheer interest and being awed by the superior “eye-candy” of KDE, I installed Kubuntu on my dapper desktop.
Using KDE proved to be a great experience, As I was much impressed by its eye candy as well as its application support such as Amarok (which was simply an outstanding music player), K3b and Kooka. My experience was perfect except that KDE was bit slower. Moreover the workspace in KDE was a joke, since switching from one Virtual Desktop to another made no difference and the application which were in the other taskbar did not get hidden like in GNOME.(EDIT: This problem can be corrected by a simple setting change, as pointed out in my comments, why that behaviour is not default, I don’t know).
KDE is not as rock solid as GNOME in Ubuntu.
Fast forward to my upgrade to Edgy, I decided to install Kubuntu rather than Ubuntu. A first look even more impressed me, it was much better looking. But this was a shortlived experience. My applications crashed a lot especially Open Office and were very slow visibly due to my less RAM (256 MB) and a pentium III but what surprised me was that it was much slower and unstable than Kubuntu of Dapper. Also I sorely missed GIMP and other packages of GNOME not included with Kubuntu. So I installed the Ubuntu-desktop package but still kept KDE as my default desktop enviroment.
After being disappointed and toiling hard with the slow Kubuntu Edgy, I immediately installed Ubuntu Feisty and after fixing my mouse problems, I am using GNOME since and not even bothered to install KDE.
Yes, I miss Amarok (I’m now using Exaile), I miss Kooka and I miss K3b but I think the KDE support in Kubuntu is not as good as the GNOME support in Ubuntu. Yes, Kubuntu is superior in looks, better for new users, and has a better application support but Ubuntu is better for general use overall.
Yes I can still install the Kubuntu-desktop package as I did in Dapper but coexistence of GNOME and KDE in my ancient Pentium III makes it very slow.
Probably due to my missing of Amarok and Kooka, I would install the Kubuntu-desktop package but of using KDE as default DE : My answer currently is no.
KDE in Kubuntu is getting better. What I have heard that the KDE in Fiesty includes very minor enhancements over that in Edgy. But I feel Kubuntu requires even more massive support from the Ubuntu development team and community.
Kubuntu in my opinion unlike Ubuntu is not a excellent distro. I would rather recommend using Kubuntu in a much faster computer with higher capacity of RAM for those who just love KDE. But a better KDE distro in the of many opinion for those is MEPIS (which is based on Ubuntu). I cannot confirm this but if this is true I only hope that the MEPIS and the Kubuntu projects get merged.
22 Responses to "Why I no longer use Kubuntu"
June 5, 2007 at 1:10 pm
“Moreover the workspace in KDE was a joke, since switching from one Virtual Desktop to another made no difference and the application which were in the other taskbar did not get hidden like in GNOME.”
Dude, the option to assign running apps to each desktop taskbar exists in KDE. The joke here, like in most fanboy posts, is that you didn’t even care to find out how to do it.
Right click on the Panel, head on to Taskbar and uncheck “Show Windows From All Desktops”
Lately i am using both KDE and GNOME (KDE being my 1st environment) and i try my best to bridge some gaps between them, that is to say, i bring into GNOME some functionality it does not provide out of the box, instead of bashing it. The main quirk i would like the GNOME devs to rethink is the absence of tabs support in Nautilus.
June 5, 2007 at 1:14 pm
MEPIS adds proprietary software. Kubuntu doesn’t. If you want a nice KDE distro try maybe Arch with KDEMod – http://www.kdemod.ath.cx/ 
June 5, 2007 at 1:20 pm
I have regularly used Kubuntu since Breezy and I have agree – to me it feels like Kubuntu is a neglected step-child in the Ubuntu family (as is Xubuntu) and there are better KDE distros out there such as openSuSE and PCLOS2007. Ubuntu gets all the major enhancements, and Kubuntu gets a few things here and there (neglected again with Feisty when Ubuntu got the restricted drivers manager and automated codec installer). As much as I love what Ubuntu stands for, the community, the support behind the OS, and for being a Debian-based distro, if things don’t get better with Gutsy I’m thinking of moving on to another.
Some of the problems you had (for example the icons staying when you switch desktops) are settings related and can be fixed. Hopefully the slowness you experienced will go away when KDE 4.0 is released. Be sure to give KDE another try then (even if it’s not Kubuntu).
June 5, 2007 at 1:24 pm
“Dude, the option to assign running apps to each desktop taskbar exists in KDE. The joke here, like in most fanboy posts, is that you didn’t even care to find out how to do it.”
-Nuno Zimas
I would like to say that I am not a Gnome fanboy. I like KDE’s application base and overall it’s is an excellent desktop enviroment. But KDE in Kubuntu lacks the killer edge like that in GNOME in Ubuntu.
‘Right click on the Panel, head on to Taskbar and uncheck “Show Windows From All Desktops”’
-Nuno Zimas
Yes you are right but but the joke is that the KDE developers have forgotten to set the natural functionality to Virtual Desktops by default.
June 5, 2007 at 1:35 pm
I have regularly used Kubuntu since Breezy and I have agree – to me it feels like Kubuntu is a neglected step-child in the Ubuntu family (as is Xubuntu) and there are better KDE distros out there such as openSuSE and PCLOS2007. Ubuntu gets all the major enhancements, and Kubuntu gets a few things here and there (neglected again with Feisty when Ubuntu got the restricted drivers manager and automated codec installer). As much as I love what Ubuntu stands for, the community, the support behind the OS, and for being a Debian-based distro, if things don’t get better with Gutsy I’m thinking of moving on to another.
Some of the problems you had (for example the icons staying when you switch desktops) are settings related and can be fixed. Hopefully the slowness you experienced will go away when KDE 4.0 is released. Be sure to give KDE another try then (even if it’s not Kubuntu).
-Anonymous
Yes you are right. I think canonical must melt down their “neglected child” approch to KDE. Because I feel Kubuntu is the one which if gets better can seriously challenge Windows.
Don’t think that I will not try KDE 4.
June 5, 2007 at 2:07 pm
If you want a really fast and responsive KDE experience, I suggest you try PCLinuxOS 2007. It is exremely fast, and it looks great too.
(slack and arch might be faster, but they aren’t nearly as complete as PCLinux)
PCLinuxOS
http://www.pclinuxos.com/
June 5, 2007 at 2:50 pm
My experience was perfect except that KDE was bit slower.
I guess that depends on what environment KDE is installed. KDE in PCLinuxOS and Vector Linux 5.8 is faster than Ubuntu/Kubuntu.
June 5, 2007 at 4:22 pm
Gimp runs great in KDE. There’s no reason that you can’t use it even though Kubuntu doesn’t include it by default.
Chad
http://linuxappfinder.com
June 5, 2007 at 4:30 pm
Gimp runs great in KDE. There’s no reason that you can’t use it even though Kubuntu doesn’t include it by default.
I didn’t say that I did not run GIMP in Kubuntu. But installing GIMP in KDE demanded the ubuntu-desktop package which I had to download and install which bothered me.
June 5, 2007 at 6:02 pm
You don’t deserve to write a blog relating to Linux when you’re so ignorant about setting up a simple desktop.First off, it’s painfully simple to add GIMP to any *buntu, whether you’re using KDE, GNOME, Xfce, Fluxbox, or whatever else is your weapon of choice. If you aren’t in GNOME, Synaptic or apt will take care of the additional dependencies (GTK-related) to make GNOME, etc, work and display as normal. The same goes for Amarok, KFTPGrabber, and any other KDE/Qt-based application.
Also, as an above commenter stated, it takes about three obvious clicks to make only the windows in your current workspace display in the taskbar. Also, note that KDE and GNOME use similar resources, and neither is faster nor slower than the other. Their base packages are also comparable in size (~230MB for GNOME, ~290 for KDE due to extra bundled apps). I recommend you spend six months tweaking KDE and GNOME, working with both, before even considering that you can hammer away accurately at their intricacies.
As an experienced user, I’ve noticed the following differences between the two. GNOME is a simpler layout, has a more plain look (some would say more professional, but this is Linux and we can easily theme our desktops regardless), and offers fewer features. It’s nothing more than a choice between simplicity and features.
June 5, 2007 at 7:33 pm
Yes, I love KDE and like the Ubuntu philosophy, but I think that Kubuntu is mistreated, underserved, and underdeveloped by the Cananocal people. KDE should be so much more, but I really like the Debian base of K/Ubuntu and the frequent releases, so I’ll stick with it, hoping for a better shake with each new release.
[...] Why I no longer use Kubuntu Along with Ubuntu which has GNOME by default, Canonical also offers Kubuntu which is KDE by default and also Xubuntu […] [...]
June 6, 2007 at 2:41 am
”
You don’t deserve to write a blog relating to Linux when you’re so ignorant about setting up a simple desktop.First off, it’s painfully simple to add GIMP to any *buntu, whether you’re using KDE, GNOME, Xfce, Fluxbox, or whatever else is your weapon of choice. If you aren’t in GNOME, Synaptic or apt will take care of the additional dependencies (GTK-related) to make GNOME, etc, work and display as normal. The same goes for Amarok, KFTPGrabber, and any other KDE/Qt-based application.”
I think you have misunderstood me, I did say that I missed GIMP in Kubuntu, but I did download and install GIMP, but it was painful. Mainly because there was no synaptic and I had to use adept. The install broke twice and then I had to correct the problems by logging in the recovery mode and had to fix my broken packages and then I managed only to run GIMP.
Add to that a download of 150+ MB on limited internet connection (of 400 MB max) at speed 30 KB/s : It was not a pleasant experience. “Painfully Simple!” As you call it
Yes I know very well that I can run Amarok or other KDE applications in GNOME but it looks gaudy and to add to that I have
to download the heavy packages.
What I do not understand that why packages like Firefox and GIMP or Amarok require the whole ubuntu-desktop or kubuntu-desktop package if only the base gnome packages are required in GIMP and base KDE for Amarok.
Firefox is not included in Kubuntu Edgy. Unless i’m very much mistaken Firefox does not require GNOME so why did Adept add the entire ubuntu-desktop package when I tried to install firefox (I finally installed firefox through the tarball). You are an experienced linux user, so tell me that.
“Also, as an above commenter stated, it takes about three obvious clicks to make only the windows in your current workspace display in the taskbar. Also, note that KDE and GNOME use similar resources, and neither is faster nor slower than the other. Their base packages are also comparable in size (~230MB for GNOME, ~290 for KDE due to extra bundled apps). I recommend you spend six months tweaking KDE and GNOME, working with both, before even considering that you can hammer away accurately at their intricacies.”
;
According to my experience : KDE is slower than GNOME at least in my PC.
I do not mean to bash KDE or neither did I intend to review KDE or GNOME. If you haven’t read the title it is Why I no longer use Kubuntu. I was talking about the irritants of Kubuntu.
June 6, 2007 at 2:57 am
anuragpanda’s(the ubuntu labrador) experience with Kubuntu is similar to my own. I prefer KDE, coming from Windows, but Kubuntu was noticeably sluggish on my system and I couldn’t get font rendering right for some weird reason. Ubuntu was fine, but the darn thing never found my screen resolution, even after installing the proprietary driver. I wish it were otherwise.
The best looking and work KDE I’ve found is by far PCLinuxOS. Worked with Fedora_7 over and weekend and fell in love with its artwork.
June 6, 2007 at 9:37 am
I just started a month ago with Ubuntu, I really like it, but i think it has a spirit, their are stuffs happening that i don’t understand.
Other than that I really enjoy it, I didn’t experience much problem, just ntfs problem with an external hard drive, a kernel problem.
What I miss is the advance of skype for widows. Not being able to use the video is really sad. (I know there is other softs, but I don’t know many people using them).
June 6, 2007 at 9:50 am
You can use Skype in Ubuntu.
Just follow the steps in the following post
here
Yes no videos in skype in Linux is a major problem.
WengoPhone is a good alternative though.
June 6, 2007 at 10:50 am
Very interesting post. keep it up!!
Sunil
—-
http://usefullinks.50webs.com
June 6, 2007 at 11:51 am
Yesss I know i can use skype don’t worry, I use it but it’s not really stable.
and for the video I have ekiga, but it’s not as mainstream as skype… so i don’t know anybody using it… skype is still number one I think
June 19, 2007 at 4:52 pm
I also use ubuntu for a long time (used slackware before as desktop).
I’m a great fan of KDE, why?
- it dose offer lots of features compared to gnome
- if you tweak it a little bit, it not just run faster, but with lower memory requirements than gnome (since i’m installing kde from the moment when you needed to compile it to get it working as latest stable…)
- very easy integration with emultaros, and on a p4 at 3ghz 2gb ram i can run kde and 2-3 virtual machines with diferent os., try this in gnome, will work like hell after you start the second virtual machine.
Still, regarding Kubuntu i must agree is not very good distro. When i started ubuntu experience i tried both, but the kubuntu has a lots of things which i didn’t like. First thing to notice is the hard part to install a propietary driver…, so i install ubuntu than kdebase:)
I’m still using Dapper, but over the time i manually upgraded the applications.
At this point i can say that ubuntu is the only distro that did not present me the terminal to write things in it (slakware when the gui failed, will present you a nice black terminal to write what you want there…)
I’m happy the ubuntu (and linux) community is increasing.
[...] as well. Having used Kubuntu 6.10 which was not quite up to the mark as I’ve discussed here, I was forced to restrain myself to download KDE in June and I was hesitant to download it in this [...]
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June 5, 2007 at 12:35 pm
You can install and use Amarok, Kooka and K3b in GNOME.