miklp
April 16th, 2006, 06:37 PM
Hi,
After having used Kubuntu Dapper flight 6 during more than one week now (I also tried Ubuntu Dapper Flight 5 with Gnome, so I will make some comparisons with it), I wanted to share my thoughts about it, hoping it can be useful for future improvements. Sometimes it's just my opinion, so it doesn't have necessarily to be taken into account. Some issues I mention are very important.
I tell more drawbacks than advantages, but (K)Ubuntu goes in the right direction, becomes really better. I hope I will make it my primary system one day.
Installation
During the installation, I had one problem : it was not easy to make the installation process to detect my network. My hardware is detected without any problem (ipw2200), but the available wireless networks were not all detected. It always chose one of the network (which is not mine) by default. And even when I entered my ESSID, it was still stuck to the network it had detected first (and therefore my password didn't work). So I restarted the installation process several times, after finally my network was chosen first and thus the connection could be established.
I think there is definitely some bugs concerning the wireless detection of networks (as in Ubuntu 5.10) during the install process. At least, the "Detection of available networks" seems to be too fast to detect all networks.
An other problem during the installation (which is new since Dapper) : it doesn't detect my Windows partition ((K)Ubuntu 5.10 did), and so the first time I restart, I don't have Windows in the Grub list... and have to edit grub.lst . This is a big problem, I hope it will be fixed.
First start
First thing which amazed me : my X600 mobility graphic card now works by default in (K)Ubuntu !!! Before that, it was complicated as I had "No screens found" message, as other people having this graphic card. So, thanks to have listened to us !
First impressions of the desktop :
No antialias, even if it's enabled in the configuration : this is definitely a bug (the system doesn't look good at all), but I think it's already fixed. I could make it work (by disabling it and enabling it again just after), but in some applications there's still no antialias, sometimes.
The default background of Kubuntu doesn't look good to my opinion (a texture, as in old Linux times). It would be preferable to have a background such as the "default" KDE one, all blue with shapes (it looks modern and professional, even if it's not beautiful also !), with Kubuntu written somewhere. Here I really prefer the background of Ubuntu (with Gnome), which is very good ! But the maroon wouldn't be a good idea with KDE here.
I don't like the default window decoration (the blue is much too strong, and the gradiant doesn't look good to my opinion), but I go to change it and put the default Plastik one, which is good. But after having preferred the look of Kubuntu during a long time, I have to say that Ubuntu 6.06 looks much better now ! The situation reversed. But the human theme wouldn't fit well to KDE I think, and the KDE look is good, especially with Plastik (or Liptik as in Kubuntu 5.10).
A good point : the Side bar in Konqueror is now enabled by default ! Thanks a lot, it's much clearer.
After several minutes of use
As usual, I'm glad to see that Kubuntu installs by default few applications (not 5 applications for the same purpose, as I remember in Mandrake for example) : it makes it very easy to find what you need for each purpose, even when you're a beginner who doesn't know names of software (as for me I know that Amarok is a software for playing music, OpenOffice Write a word processor, ...). Good point, even if it's not new to the 6.06 version.
My wireless connexion works, that's good. However, there is a big issue !! When I'm using Linux while I use batteries, it doesn't work anymore !! At the beginning I didn't understand why for some sessions my connexion didn't work...
There are two error messages when launching Adept : I think this will be fixed soon. Apart from that, Adept works. It could be a little bit more intuitive I think (take some ideas from Ubuntu, but with a KDE style).
First thing I want to do : installing Skype. I go to download the .deb . Clicking on it doesn't install it, I thought that it was a new feature (very useful !) of (K)Ubuntu 6.06, so either it's a bug or it is not a new feature for the 6.06 version (for other future versions instead) as I thought. So I used dkpg...
When I installed some applications, they didn't appear in the K menu. I was really deceived. But after a restart they appeared (even Skype, which I installed with the deb file), so it wasmaybe due to the fact it was still my first session.
Right clicking on an item in the K menu doesn't do anything (in some other distribs (even in Ubuntu 5.04, with the KDE package (not the Kubuntu one), it worked). The K edit menu item should appear after such a click. But for this, the best is Windows. Maybe a feature for KDE 4.
I don't understand what "Add / Remove programs" (in the K menu) is supposed to do : for me it just launches an "empty" window.
I think it's useful to have "by default" the most used applications in the K menu, and it reflects Windows functionnality (good for "switching" people (at least people who tries Kubuntu))
Among my first concerns when I install a system : accessing my file and playing music. Impressions about it with Kubuntu 6.06 Flight 6
First thing I have to say : I have on my harddisk a NTFS partition where Windows is installed, and a FAT32 partition for sharing file among systems (if one day I decide to use Linux often).
I go in the devices, my FAT32 drive appears, but with a strange name (with "little squares" chars). I click on it : it opens. That's good. I try to write on it. It doesn't. Not very good for the beginner, even if I'm happy to see it's not difficult to configure it in the Configuration center. But maybe not intuitive all the same.
An other problem : files using some characters (such as accents : é, è, ... as in my MP3 / OGG files) doesn't appear well ("little square" chars instead of accents). The same problem happens on some web pages.
Now, let's talk about multimedia :
I launched Amarok, indicated the folders for my library (on the FAT32 drive) : the directories were scanned, but when I click on the files in Amarok they were not found. Strange. Same thing if I did it using Konqueror (it was Ogg files). Finally, I made it work, but I don't remember how.
I know that this is for legal reasons, but I'm always disappointed that it's "hard" to make MP3 files working, same for DVDs. Maybe one day Ubuntu will be also sold in stores, and such software will be included.
Plug in my MP3 player (iRiver H320) worked amazingly good : I really like the fact that the icon appears on the desktop and that a window pops up to ask what you want to do (better than Windows' one).
You will shout, but that's a pity WMA DRM files can't be played. I do hate this format, but I sometimes download music legally, because this is the only way to get it (I'm in an other country for a long time, and can't find CDs here, and ordering them is too expensive). The solution for this would be an "open-source" DRM system, instead of Microsoft's one. Because, yes, this is a necessity (such websites do want to put some protections on their files, and that's normal, even if I don't like it). But here it's not a problem of Ubuntu.
After having installed support for some formats (MP3, WMA without DRM), I've been very surprised (in the good way) that I could listen to Radio France radios, inside Konqueror (Kaffeine launches in it), although it's someWMA (embedded in the web page, what's more). However it happens that it makes Konqueror to crash. (By the way, Radio France has some Ogg streamings, but the quality is very very low).
Laptop issues
When running on batteries, the hard disk goes to standby all the time, which makes it restart / stop every 5 seconds. I think 1 minute would be better by default
A problem of Kubuntu, when compared to Ubuntu : now way to go to standby mode, or hibernate mode. This new window when logging out is an amazing feature of Ubuntu 6.06 : I was very surprised that standby and hibernate modes work with Linux ! This should be included in Kubuntu also.
As I said before, there is a big bug : when I'm running on batteries, my wifi connexion doesn't work
Other issues
A bug I already had with Kubuntu 5.04 (on an other computer), but this is an issue of KDE I think. Sometimes, when I launch an application, I see it being launched in the taskbar, but it never launches : it waits a long time and finally it disappears... When I launch it again it works. This is very common (let's say 10%). The KDE team should work on this annoying bug.
Graphic elements are very slow : for example moving a window is very slow, to the contrary to Windows. That's an important problem to my opinion.
After having used Kubuntu Dapper flight 6 during more than one week now (I also tried Ubuntu Dapper Flight 5 with Gnome, so I will make some comparisons with it), I wanted to share my thoughts about it, hoping it can be useful for future improvements. Sometimes it's just my opinion, so it doesn't have necessarily to be taken into account. Some issues I mention are very important.
I tell more drawbacks than advantages, but (K)Ubuntu goes in the right direction, becomes really better. I hope I will make it my primary system one day.
Installation
During the installation, I had one problem : it was not easy to make the installation process to detect my network. My hardware is detected without any problem (ipw2200), but the available wireless networks were not all detected. It always chose one of the network (which is not mine) by default. And even when I entered my ESSID, it was still stuck to the network it had detected first (and therefore my password didn't work). So I restarted the installation process several times, after finally my network was chosen first and thus the connection could be established.
I think there is definitely some bugs concerning the wireless detection of networks (as in Ubuntu 5.10) during the install process. At least, the "Detection of available networks" seems to be too fast to detect all networks.
An other problem during the installation (which is new since Dapper) : it doesn't detect my Windows partition ((K)Ubuntu 5.10 did), and so the first time I restart, I don't have Windows in the Grub list... and have to edit grub.lst . This is a big problem, I hope it will be fixed.
First start
First thing which amazed me : my X600 mobility graphic card now works by default in (K)Ubuntu !!! Before that, it was complicated as I had "No screens found" message, as other people having this graphic card. So, thanks to have listened to us !
First impressions of the desktop :
No antialias, even if it's enabled in the configuration : this is definitely a bug (the system doesn't look good at all), but I think it's already fixed. I could make it work (by disabling it and enabling it again just after), but in some applications there's still no antialias, sometimes.
The default background of Kubuntu doesn't look good to my opinion (a texture, as in old Linux times). It would be preferable to have a background such as the "default" KDE one, all blue with shapes (it looks modern and professional, even if it's not beautiful also !), with Kubuntu written somewhere. Here I really prefer the background of Ubuntu (with Gnome), which is very good ! But the maroon wouldn't be a good idea with KDE here.
I don't like the default window decoration (the blue is much too strong, and the gradiant doesn't look good to my opinion), but I go to change it and put the default Plastik one, which is good. But after having preferred the look of Kubuntu during a long time, I have to say that Ubuntu 6.06 looks much better now ! The situation reversed. But the human theme wouldn't fit well to KDE I think, and the KDE look is good, especially with Plastik (or Liptik as in Kubuntu 5.10).
A good point : the Side bar in Konqueror is now enabled by default ! Thanks a lot, it's much clearer.
After several minutes of use
As usual, I'm glad to see that Kubuntu installs by default few applications (not 5 applications for the same purpose, as I remember in Mandrake for example) : it makes it very easy to find what you need for each purpose, even when you're a beginner who doesn't know names of software (as for me I know that Amarok is a software for playing music, OpenOffice Write a word processor, ...). Good point, even if it's not new to the 6.06 version.
My wireless connexion works, that's good. However, there is a big issue !! When I'm using Linux while I use batteries, it doesn't work anymore !! At the beginning I didn't understand why for some sessions my connexion didn't work...
There are two error messages when launching Adept : I think this will be fixed soon. Apart from that, Adept works. It could be a little bit more intuitive I think (take some ideas from Ubuntu, but with a KDE style).
First thing I want to do : installing Skype. I go to download the .deb . Clicking on it doesn't install it, I thought that it was a new feature (very useful !) of (K)Ubuntu 6.06, so either it's a bug or it is not a new feature for the 6.06 version (for other future versions instead) as I thought. So I used dkpg...
When I installed some applications, they didn't appear in the K menu. I was really deceived. But after a restart they appeared (even Skype, which I installed with the deb file), so it wasmaybe due to the fact it was still my first session.
Right clicking on an item in the K menu doesn't do anything (in some other distribs (even in Ubuntu 5.04, with the KDE package (not the Kubuntu one), it worked). The K edit menu item should appear after such a click. But for this, the best is Windows. Maybe a feature for KDE 4.
I don't understand what "Add / Remove programs" (in the K menu) is supposed to do : for me it just launches an "empty" window.
I think it's useful to have "by default" the most used applications in the K menu, and it reflects Windows functionnality (good for "switching" people (at least people who tries Kubuntu))
Among my first concerns when I install a system : accessing my file and playing music. Impressions about it with Kubuntu 6.06 Flight 6
First thing I have to say : I have on my harddisk a NTFS partition where Windows is installed, and a FAT32 partition for sharing file among systems (if one day I decide to use Linux often).
I go in the devices, my FAT32 drive appears, but with a strange name (with "little squares" chars). I click on it : it opens. That's good. I try to write on it. It doesn't. Not very good for the beginner, even if I'm happy to see it's not difficult to configure it in the Configuration center. But maybe not intuitive all the same.
An other problem : files using some characters (such as accents : é, è, ... as in my MP3 / OGG files) doesn't appear well ("little square" chars instead of accents). The same problem happens on some web pages.
Now, let's talk about multimedia :
I launched Amarok, indicated the folders for my library (on the FAT32 drive) : the directories were scanned, but when I click on the files in Amarok they were not found. Strange. Same thing if I did it using Konqueror (it was Ogg files). Finally, I made it work, but I don't remember how.
I know that this is for legal reasons, but I'm always disappointed that it's "hard" to make MP3 files working, same for DVDs. Maybe one day Ubuntu will be also sold in stores, and such software will be included.
Plug in my MP3 player (iRiver H320) worked amazingly good : I really like the fact that the icon appears on the desktop and that a window pops up to ask what you want to do (better than Windows' one).
You will shout, but that's a pity WMA DRM files can't be played. I do hate this format, but I sometimes download music legally, because this is the only way to get it (I'm in an other country for a long time, and can't find CDs here, and ordering them is too expensive). The solution for this would be an "open-source" DRM system, instead of Microsoft's one. Because, yes, this is a necessity (such websites do want to put some protections on their files, and that's normal, even if I don't like it). But here it's not a problem of Ubuntu.
After having installed support for some formats (MP3, WMA without DRM), I've been very surprised (in the good way) that I could listen to Radio France radios, inside Konqueror (Kaffeine launches in it), although it's someWMA (embedded in the web page, what's more). However it happens that it makes Konqueror to crash. (By the way, Radio France has some Ogg streamings, but the quality is very very low).
Laptop issues
When running on batteries, the hard disk goes to standby all the time, which makes it restart / stop every 5 seconds. I think 1 minute would be better by default
A problem of Kubuntu, when compared to Ubuntu : now way to go to standby mode, or hibernate mode. This new window when logging out is an amazing feature of Ubuntu 6.06 : I was very surprised that standby and hibernate modes work with Linux ! This should be included in Kubuntu also.
As I said before, there is a big bug : when I'm running on batteries, my wifi connexion doesn't work
Other issues
A bug I already had with Kubuntu 5.04 (on an other computer), but this is an issue of KDE I think. Sometimes, when I launch an application, I see it being launched in the taskbar, but it never launches : it waits a long time and finally it disappears... When I launch it again it works. This is very common (let's say 10%). The KDE team should work on this annoying bug.
Graphic elements are very slow : for example moving a window is very slow, to the contrary to Windows. That's an important problem to my opinion.