Kubuntu, PCLinux,Win7 in VirtualBox 3.0?

[Sheddie]

Hi all, i hope this is the right place to put this.
I recently had to buy a new notebook (Compaq with all the bells and whistles) as the old HP fried its brains.
The new one came pre-installed with Vista - dog in my view. So I decided to install the RC1 version of Win7 Ultimate. Everything went perfectly and W7 even found drivers for a 9 year old scanner I have. Wireless broadband - everything I had used on my old Notebook with WinXP (3) worked beautifully and I have plenty of peripherals. Then I bought a PC mag and there was a freebie with PCLinux2009 on the front cover. I read the article - I've been interested in moving to Linux since the late 80's and even fooled around with OS/2 for a while but always found the early Linux distros too esoteric for my knowledge level.
I also read in the same magazine an article about VirtualBox 3.0. I went to the Sun site and d/l it and after reading the manual installed it on my new Win7 notebook. Then, again after carefully reading up on it I installed PCLinux to a virtual hard drive in VirtualBox. Again, everything went beautifully, wireless, broadband, google and all the other stuff I use worked as well or better under PCLinux than WinXP (too early to say whether it beats Win7).
Then I read about Kubuntu. I downloaded that too and am thinkiing of installing it into a second virtual hard drive in VirtualBox. However, reading some of the posts here it seems (K)Ubuntu users seem to have a lot of issues with peripherals not working or installing.
Should I, as an absolute Linux beginner, forget about Kubuntu and just stick with my Win7 and PCLinux OS's?
Thanks
Mike
PS: I'm not a gamer. Music, databases, spreadsheets, music, writing and music are my sins. :guitar:

[dE_logics]

Ubuntu is the easiest Linux distro and so I really recommend it for beginners.

Kubuntu is a bit unstable (though a lot stable than all windows) cause of KDE...KDE is large and complicated so probability of a bug is high.

And to use xfce desktop environment (xubuntu) you need to have a bit of experience...so best is start with ubuntu.

Windows 7 though a lot faster than Vista is a lot unstable also, using Vista for a year, I found it very stable but it was useless by the fact that it's toooo slow...and a resource hog.

Windows 7 has a good memory management as compared to vista and a lot faster...but a lot unstable also...I used it for 3 or 4 months and it crashed thrice unexpectedly like a window...so I started getting the usual Microsoft feeling back; you know closed source never make it.

Then I switched to Linux forever.

So my advice -- just dump Microsoft and move on with a 'real' OS not a business product.

[Sheddie]

right then, I'll also download Ubuntu and give it ago. Thanks!
Mike
:guitar:

[Sheddie]

SO this is the rub. And, I just knew it would happen. Like every other distro i've tried, Ubuntu just won't work with my bog standard Telstra Sierra Wireless USB Card. I've never been able to get onto the internet with any Linux distro and its the sole reason I won't dump windows permanently. I'm following the Keir Thomas Pocket Guide. Early in the introduction he says, "Ubuntu just works, unlike Windows". Well sorry Keir. You're wrong and the thousands of posts on the Ubuntuforum from people with install problems is a testament to the misrepresentation you make inj the handbook.
I'm not a geek but I'm not stupid either. The language and terms used in the handbook are for geeks.
I think i'll install Ubuntu in VirtualBox. I installed PCLinux in VirtualBox (on my Win7 OS) and i had no trouble at all connecting to the internet.

Now, I bet I have all kinds of problems uninstalling Ubuntu and getting my partition back to what it was. I'm disappointed.

[Sheddie]

I decided to persevere. I retract the comments I made in my last post re Ubuntu not working. I found that when I came back to give it another go\ everything worked fine Including the wireless broadband. In fact the connection to my ISP was completely automatic. Unlike the Windows process where I have to launch the connection manager.
However, I'm having a problem installing the Firefox Add-on AdBlock Plus. I downloaded it and when I clicked install I got a popup telling me that Firefox has prevented Adblock Plus from asking to be installed - not a valid file type. Can anyone help with this.
Thanks
Mike:guitar:
PS: I think I might end up dumping windows (hope I can get Linux versions of my Family History Software (Brothers Keeper).