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How did you do that? I though only Kubuntu uses KDE, and normal Ubuntu uses GNOME (what you have). Have to admit, much prefer the idea of having one bar rather than two like GNOME, mgiht give Kubuntu a go.

Yes, Ubuntu comes with GNOME and Kubuntu comes with KDE as default desktop environment.

However, both Ubuntu and Kubuntu share the same software repository, which means that even though I use Ubuntu, I can download the KDE desktop environment and install that.

Then at the login screen, I goto the bottom-left corner and select that I would like to login to a KDE session instead of a GNOME session.

Also, you can remove one of the bars in GNOME if you would like, that way, you only have one bar. Two bars just happen to be the default configuration, but it is not something that is needed.

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How did you do that? I though only Kubuntu uses KDE, and normal Ubuntu uses GNOME (what you have). Have to admit, much prefer the idea of having one bar rather than two like GNOME, mgiht give Kubuntu a go.
Nothing to stop you from installing KDE on Ubuntu, then you can switch back and forth between GNOME and KDE - though why you would want to, I can't answer.
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How did you do that? I though only Kubuntu uses KDE, and normal Ubuntu uses GNOME (what you have). Have to admit, much prefer the idea of having one bar rather than two like GNOME, mgiht give Kubuntu a go.

Yes, Ubuntu comes with GNOME and Kubuntu comes with KDE as default desktop environment.

However, both Ubuntu and Kubuntu share the same software repository, which means that even though I use Ubuntu, I can download the KDE desktop environment and install that.

Then at the login screen, I goto the bottom-left corner and select that I would like to login to a KDE session instead of a GNOME session.

Also, you can remove one of the bars in GNOME if you would like, that way, you only have one bar. Two bars just happen to be the default configuration, but it is not something that is needed.

So whats the point in having both Kubuntu? Can you do the same with Xfce?

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How did you do that? I though only Kubuntu uses KDE, and normal Ubuntu uses GNOME (what you have). Have to admit, much prefer the idea of having one bar rather than two like GNOME, mgiht give Kubuntu a go.
Nothing to stop you from installing KDE on Ubuntu, then you can switch back and forth between GNOME and KDE - though why you would want to, I can't answer.

It is nice to try out new things and new desktop environments, see if it works better for you or your system, see if it you like it better, or you're more productive in it, or for some reason you like it more.

It is nice to be able to quickly install a new desktop environment and change to it, by just selecting it at login.

So whats the point in having both Kubuntu? Can you do the same with Xfce?

What do you mean in having both Kubuntu? Do what with Xfce?

If you run Ubuntu, you can install Xfce if you like, then you can use Xfce instead of GNOME if you prefer that.

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So whats the point in having both Kubuntu? Can you do the same with Xfce?

What do you mean in having both Kubuntu? Do what with Xfce?

If you run Ubuntu, you can install Xfce if you like, then you can use Xfce instead of GNOME if you prefer that.

I mean what is the point of having Kubuntu and Xubuntu if you can install those desktop environments under normal Ubuntu?

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I mean what is the point of having Kubuntu and Xubuntu if you can install those desktop environments under normal Ubuntu?

I guess it is for novices so they can pick one, and install that and have it just working, without have to install another desktop environment and change to it.

Not entirely sure. They're like flavors.

It's Linux, they must have as many versions they possibly can... ...yet people complain about Windows offering four or five.

Choice is a good thing, and Ubuntu with GNOME and KDE are different. The reasons many flavors exist is choice.

With Windows all versions are pretty much the same, just some are crippled more than others. The reasons for many distributions are to milk money.

So there are different reasons behind it.

Since there are no fundamental difference between the Windows versions, I think they should consolidate them and have just Windows Vista, instead of Starter, Home, Home Premium, Pro, Business, Ultimate, etc.

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I actually installed ubuntu to play with it a little more:

t2848_Screenshot.jpg

I decided to try it because I was told the latest ati drivers would fix most of the problems I had with it. So far that seems to be true, I did a little more research on the laptop hd bug and managed to get that under control too. So far its a pretty solid system. There are a few things I really like:

- The media player in my status bar in the right.(awesome) Rythom Box is actually pretty cool.(light, downloads album art, easy to use, supports my ipod %100.)

- Free

- The gnome bars have kind of grown on me. I will probably cut it down to one and install mint menu(make it look like windows)

- My HP printer/scanner works great and the HP linux software is actually better than the windows counterpart(no massive slow down/bloat)

-multiple desktops kind of useful.

- I still can use most of the same apps I always have: vlc, firefox, Pidgin, ect, ect.

Cons

- No MS Office. I did mange to get openoffice 3(ubuntu still comes with 2? ) but its just not the same.

- Pain in the a** to get working

- Slower to boot up than xp. Now this is my xp set up(very little stuff booting up) its way faster than the average user's xp set up.

Now that all my hardware actually works and the system is 100% stable/supported I will say that it doesn't seem all that different. To get the system this way took a lot of work. I had to manually install drivers that weren't in the repository and that was a little nerve wracking. I had to do a lot of updating programs that were not in the repository, some I got luck with .debs(sort of like .exe installers) but not all of it. I don't think I'm going to have to use the command line anymore but it was required and I had to do a lot of searching and praying to get everything to work. :)

I'm happy that I have it working, I'm not sure if I'm keeping it or not. I sort of feel like I should because it took so much work, on the other hand I still like windows better. Now that I know what linux has to offer I would not do this again, if I needed a new computer and could get it considerably cheaper with linux? Maybe depending on what I needed it for.

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ATI drivers are getting better and better. AMD has been very helpful towards the open source community and released lots of hardware documentation so the open source drivers are getting better too. Soon they will take advantage GEM (graphics execution manager) a memory manager for graphics memory, and mode-switching in the kernel.

Yeah, Rhythmbox is very nice. I use it everyday. The search feature is nice too. Being able to create automatic playlists according to rules is nice too (example all Rock songs that are longer than 6 minutes). I like how it integrates with Jamendo and Magnatune, so you can stream nice music. Another player that is pretty nice is Songbird.

The upcoming Ubuntu 9.04 "Jaunty Jackalope" comes with OpenOffice.org 3.0.1. I like it. If you want Microsoft Office, you can run that through a virtual machine or with Wine.

Ubuntu 9.04 will boot faster than 8.10.

.deb files are actually more like .msi (Windows Installer) files than .exe files.

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ATI drivers are getting better and better. AMD has been very helpful towards the open source community and released lots of hardware documentation so the open source drivers are getting better too. Soon they will take advantage GEM (graphics execution manager) a memory manager for graphics memory, and mode-switching in the kernel.

Yeah, Rhythmbox is very nice. I use it everyday. The search feature is nice too. Being able to create automatic playlists according to rules is nice too (example all Rock songs that are longer than 6 minutes). I like how it integrates with Jamendo and Magnatune, so you can stream nice music. Another player that is pretty nice is Songbird.

The upcoming Ubuntu 9.04 "Jaunty Jackalope" comes with OpenOffice.org 3.0.1. I like it. If you want Microsoft Office, you can run that through a virtual machine or with Wine.

Ubuntu 9.04 will boot faster than 8.10.

.deb files are actually more like .msi (Windows Installer) files than .exe files.

I actually thought it booted pretty damn fast.

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Seems I spoke too soon, the computer just self destructed.

I used it for about an hour or so(browsed internet, watched a few podcast videos, ect), I did not change ANY system settings or install any new software. I turned the computer off and then went and did some stuff for about 3 hours, came back to use it again and bam, it boots into a blank screen.

I have been using this same install for 5 days and I've probably rebooted the computer at least 15 times(probably way more) and its worked fine, now it boots up to show the ubuntu screen with the orange bar, yet there are 2 of them now and then after that... blank screen. I'm a little annoyed because it was actually working pretty well. It was playing HD videos better than it did under window(I think because I was using newer ati drivers than I did before, I'm going to reinstall windows and get the newest ones.)

I will not install any form of linux for a long time. This simply does not happen in windows, I've never had everything working for a week, then rebooted the system and had it die for no reason whatsoever.(well maybe not since win98 but thats a different story.)

I was actually kind of liking it, not anymore.

I already used my image of xp to get the thing back up and running.

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