The Kubuntu Commitment

The Best, Against The Wind

Though the KDE desktop has a few obvious advantages over Unity, Kubuntu has always played second fiddle (maybe third) to Shuttleworth’s baby, Ubuntu. While the distro has received critcism and praise in equal parts, one thing has never change. Commitment.

KDE, and to a similar degree, Kubuntu, have both been on the receiving end of a few limiting factors and fables. Firstly, the myth that OpenSuse is a superior KDE distribution, or even maybe the ‘best’. Secondly, Kubuntu is the worst KDE distribution. Regardless of the fact that OpenSuse’s KDE quality is baseless and unfounded, and in the face of heat from the FOSS community that the distribution is not up to par, the team pushes on. Even after having their food stamp card revoked by Canonical, the team still manages to push forward.

The Pudding

Where is the proof? If you were a KDE user desperate to get your hands on the KDE 4.8 SC release, you were left biting your nails for all of a couple of minutes until you got wind of the fact that the release had already been made available in the team’s PPA.

Kubuntu users were able to get this great and stable release immediately after the KDE team had announced it. I don’t usually break prose and degenerate into street talk mid-article, but I am overwhelmingly compelled to say “haters gonna hate”…

Well, it may be time yet again to “brush dem haters off”, as the Kubuntu team have made KDE 4.8.1 available, immediately, to subscribers of their PPA channel.

If you are an OpenSuse user, you may need to follow this guide from +Swapnil Bhartiya over at Muktware. I hear there is a chance that you may spill your beer all over your keyboard…. Ofcourse while I thank Swapnil for this guide, and it’s great for OpenSuse users, nothing is easy or more safe than using the Kubuntu PPA channel to stay bleeding edge. Don’t have it enabled? Just do this…

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/backports

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get upgrade

Now, enjoy the heck out of KDE 4.8.1 and relish in your ability to still be able to manage windows.

Lastly, thank Jonathon Riddell for holding this great project together through years of adversity.

Thanks Jonathon.

Bill

I am loving KDE 4.8.1
I moved to KDE when Ubuntu announced Unity and Gnome announced the new shell. I have not looked back.
Enrico Badalamento

for me is Kubuntu best KDE distro, thansk to Kubuntu Team, excellent work !
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_QGUOKPDPIPMOPJK7RCCXIALHRI Ene Dene

I’ve started using Kubuntu 6 months ago, when classic gnome died. It was a rough ride first few days till I set everything up, now I’m riding the 4.8.1, I can’t be more satisfied, no way am I going back to gnome/unity or whatever comes next.
Jong

You sound like an openSUSE or anything not Ubuntu hater. Get over it buddy. This is not going to help you or Kubuntu. Create your own content not bash what other’s write. You are going in wrong direction.
Toddfirkins

I have been using Kubuntu since release 9, and it just keeps getting better. I also installed it on my wifes computer, since she just uses a web browser, I saw no need to spend money on Windows 7 for her machine. Overall, the experience has been good.
Lorne Greene

What a bunch of (KDE) geeks in that pix!!

Kubuntu was awful from 5 to 8, usable at 9 and good enough for me to have put both my parents computers and the netbook my kids leave their to do their homework on Kubuntu 10.04 LTS.

And I say that as someone who has been using Mandriva for close to a decade and PCLinuxOS for all my family and friends ever since that legendary 2007 version.

And Ive just tried Mint KDE for the first time and must say Im impressed as well.

OpenSUSE? Never heard of them. Dont care.

Ive actually been recommending Kubuntu to a few of my recent coworkers instead of my regular ones (I think rolling distros is great for when you take care of 5 of your aunts computer… long live KRDC) They wanted to get a little hands on with Linux and suggest Kubuntu because with good Google Fu skills and no fear of copy-pasting sudo commands, you can more or less answer and fix your own problems with Ubuntu solutions. Debian habits never die.

Yeah, Kubuntu is a bit vanilla but I see it as the flag ship of what KDE developers have in mind. I could change the icon on the kickoff/lancelot button on the panel but I leave the K with gears logo as is as a tribute to both KDE and Kubuntu. I like some of their stuff, adore the whole Plasma thing, being able to approach the desktop, netbook and touch using the same basics to different paradigms and mechanisms. The cosmetic stuff? Who cares? Use my own themes (Slim Glow by KDE folk hero and singer, Ivan Cukic… the man almost made Seigo break his vegan beliefs!!), my own wallpaper collections and fonts and icons
And the first thing I do on all my KDE is get rid of the Oxygen window decorations and change it for bigger and clearer buttons.
The KDE desktops I see throughout the years often dont look anything like each other (unless theyre running Cairo Dock). Just how you like to go from virtual desktop to another can make all the difference to a desktop. Its endless.

With good there is bad. Muon Software is drab and depressing and ugly. Kpackagekit always worked fine and the graphic work was visually miles ahead (my youngest used to say that the ladybug is onscreen and she’s gonna eat the bug problem.),
Since I never had problems with Kpackagekit, i must say this life sucking Muon is truly a step down.

I run KDE on Arch and Gentoo on my machines and PCLOS on our home ones so I like KDE served quite a few ways and Im happy the Kubuntu is going to go on strong. 11.10 was very impressive and stable and I cant wait to see what 12.04 brings.

There is no such thing as too many good distros. The success of another distro in no way affects the one you prefer or use. Less tribalism in distro wars would be nice because in the end, its not the distro that matters but the desktop, KDE.
- Sven
  
  great post. i sense a little opensuse bile… a man who uses arch AND gentoo must have heard of suse.
  
  youre right though about google fu skills and the Buntus being well supported.
  
  so many things in your last sentence really worth mentionening:
  -no such thing as too many good distros
  -success of anotehr doenst make your distro worse
  -less tribalism
  -the desktop choice is an important one. i think its like the ice cream analogy, not everyone likes chocolate so how could one desktop fit everyones tastes?
https://launchpad.net/~jr Jonathan Riddell

Cor thanks. Impressed you dug up that old photo. We’re not going anywhere, stay tuned.
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Tesillosguns

I used both, Kubuntu and opensuse KDE and think that Kubuntu it’s the best KDE distribution. I also tested Fedora, Kubuntu is the best choice for KDE users
GreyGeek77

I began using KDE with 1.0 beta in SuSE 5.3, back in September of 1998, and I’ve stayed with it every since. KDE has never let me down. It allowed me to switch to Qt at work and program under Linux, switching to XP only to compile the exe for deployment. KDE has been my ROCK on the desktop.

In my retirement my reward is KDE 4.8.1, the most powerful DE that I have ever used in nearly 40 years of programming. Since I’ve been retired it continues to make the use of my computer both efficient, rewarding and graphically appealing.

Congrats folks, for doing such an excellent job for such a long time.
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The Best, Against The Wind

The Pudding

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