Kubuntu

Hey any readers that I get. This section of my webpage will be devoted to my linux distribution of choice, Kubuntu. I have many reasons that I chose Kubuntu and I'll go through most of them here. I am not anti-Windows but when I don't think it even compares to linux. I chose Kubuntu because I like KDE and some of the pre-installed applications better then Gnomes. BTW, did you know that most crooks get into your house through the windows?

June 23 2007 "My reason for switching"

The first time I saw linux was in my first computer science class. This Asian guy we call "snake" was loading up his computer and I saw that he was loading Xubuntu. I had no idea what this was, so I thought nothing of it. Later I learnt of a website called www.digg.com which has tons of stories posted on it about linux. I kept hearing about this thing called Ubuntu. I soon learnt Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, etc... were all different destroys for linux but were all based on Ubuntu with different desktop managers. Well I kept hearing about linux, and second semester I saw my friend Andrew using his laptop during class. All of the sudden he took his desktop and rotated it to a different side. His whole desktop had become a cube, I was absolutely stunned and quite impressed. So I went on and got Kubuntu because I prefer the desktop manager (KDE) over the rest. Why didn't I have a Cube? I couldn't figure out how to do anything, but things got much, much better over time. What was this nifty Cube you ask? It was a linux program called Beryl and I'll be letting you know more about it later.

This part of the webpage will be all about the Kubuntu programs/applications I like to use and I will describe them, what they do, and what I use them for. Ill try to add updates frequently

"Games"

I currently only have one game I like to play on linux

• Armagetron

  Remember that episode of family guy where Peter goes into a virtual race and he sees his opponent and is like "Hey I haven't seen you since high school! What have you been up to" His opponent "I'm the Blue guy" Peter "I'm the Red guy" Then his opponent cuts him off and kills him. Well, that's the game, and if you don't remember, its your own damn fault.

"Graphics"

All the photo editing/viewing software I use

• digiKam

  I use digiKam to download pictures of my memory card. I don't like the program very much.

• GIMP

  GIMP is basically the linux equivalent of photoshop. I have never used photoshop so I don't know what its like, but I can tell you that I am trying to learn GIMP and it is equally as confusing as it was to look at the photoshop menu. Also a few people who are familiar with both photoshop and GIMP say that both programs can basically do the same things.

• Gwenview

  Gwenview is great for viewing pictures, very easy to use, but I think windows Explorer is a little bit easier. Gwenview would be better if it was intergrated with Konqueror.

• KPDF

  Just a program to view PDF files.

• Ksnapshot

  This app lets you take screen shots of your desktop, and you can time when you want your screen shots taken. This was very useful when I was taking a picture of my beryl cube. You can also take screenshots of specific sections of the screen.

"Internet Tools"

All the photo editing/viewing software I use

• Firefox Web Browser

  This is the Web Browser I use in any OS. It is also the web browser that renders my webpage closest to what I want it to look like

• Gaim

  Basically just like windows messenger. The GUI is not as nice but it does the job, I perfer it over MSN messenger.

• KNetworkManager

  This basically configures your internet connection automatically. If you need to manually change something its very easy to use. Only flaw is that it doesn't connect to wireless internet automatically, however this will be fixed in Gusty.

• Konqueror

  to much to write here, finish later

• Konversation

  Konversation is just and IRC client for Linux. I use to use mIRC in Windows and I can tell you that the colour coding and alerts you get when somebody says your name in a message is really helpful because nobody likes to search through a IRC chat with lots of different conversations trying to find messages sent to them.

• Kopete

  Kopete is also a messenger program, I actually like it better then Gaim and MSN but it has a huge flaw being that it doesn't show when I receive files through file transfers.

• Ktorrent

  Ktorrent is a program I use to manage all my torrent downloads. I found Ktorrent before I saw Utorrent for windows. They are both very good but I like Ktorrent better.

• Opera

  This is a pretty good Internet browser. I have not fully looked into it all its features.

• Internet Explorer "Hacked"

  I hate IE, I don't hate IE7 as much as the other IE and the only reason I have IE is to see how my webpages looks in it.

"Multimedia"

Video viewing, editing, hacking, burning and ripping software I use

• AcidRip

  Amazing program for ripping DVDs. I don't even know what all the settings are, but I do know that I click the rip button, and I have the DVD ripped as a AVI file.

• Amorok

  Amorok is a the best music player. Very easy to organise your music and playlists. Also has great iPod + mp3 player support. I use Amorak instead of iTunes because I like it like 127 times better.

• Avidemux

  Awesome program for editing videos. I have not even begun to tap into its potential. I have used it to change movie formats, movie sizes, and to cut clips out of Rockey Balboa and make a 2 piece montage.

• DeVeDe

  Haven't used this program yet but I know how to. It takes your movies and burns them on a DVD so they will be playable on a DVD player.

• gtk3-recordMyDesktop

  I think the title says it all. Basically what you do is click start, the program records everything you do on your desktop until you press stop. You can also record specific sections of your screen as well. This is the program I used to make my beryl video.

• Kaffeine

  Kaffeine is basically the best video player I have ever come across. For me it is even better then VLC player because it has played certain movies that VLC couldn't open. Kaffeine is simple to use and it will play pretty much any format of movie. You can also use Kaffeine to play, rip and encode music Cd's along with its ability to play DVD and VCD's. If you don't like Kaffeines player engine, well you can easily change the player engine to another one in the settings making it very versatile.

• Kmix

  Just the sound control, I don't know why its here. I might get rid of it because its kind of a generic thing you expect and don't need a description for.

• MPlayer Movie Player

  This is a movie player *duh*. I think it comes with gnome, I don't use it for watching movies but have used for testing out some stuff and it was pretty good.

• Myth TV

  I have not tried to set this up yet but from what I hear, Myth TV can set up your computer as a multimedia station. You can basically record TV shows, pause and fast forward live TV and do a bunch of other things all through your computer. I don't have a good setup for this right now so I can't test it.

• VLC media player

  This movie player works for windows and Linux. If you have a file that won't play in one of your media players, try VLC. Chances are that it will have the proper codecs to play it.

"Office Tools"

Just a couple tools for office uses

• Kontact

  This application is like a contact book to organize everything you can thing of. If I am to become somewhat organized in the future I will start to use it.

• OpenOffice Software

  OpenOffice is like Office XP but free. That's about it, I can do everything I need and more that I don't need in OpenOffice. Its got all the goodies like spreadsheets, word processing, etc... Oh its also for windows :)

"System"

Programs I use to manage my system

• Adept Manager

  Alright, I install Kubuntu, now what? I open Adept and I look at every single program available to be downloaded. Wow there are to many, so I search for the ones I want and download them. Humm that's it? Yep, every program that comes in the repositories is available to you and there are many more available if you add your own repositories.

• Automatix

  Description is under heavy brain construction

• Beryl

  Remember that desktop cube I was talking about? Well I'm about to show it to you. Beryl and Compiz are two different company's that will be merging. They both try and make your desktop environment very fun and unique. Ill upload a video so you can see what Beryl can do. First I have to find free software to record a video of my computer and then I'll probably tell you about that software as well.

  After I made the video I found a way to make beryl way cooler by changing some stuff so this is the new one (hopefully better).

• Konsol

  Konsol is basically the a Unix based command line. I like it... dunno what else to say lol.

• VM-Ware Server Edition

  VM-Ware server is a way to emulate windows XP through linux. It does have its limits being that it does not support 3d acceleration so you cannot play windows games on it (DAMN!!!). I do use it for my printer however. There are ways you can add a windows start menu to your ubuntu destro and use all your windows programs through linux. This is neat, but if you do this, just go back to windows...

"Utilities"

Video viewing, editing, hacking, burning and ripping software I use

• AcetoneISO2

  AcetoneISO is basically the Dameon tools of linux. It's not as popular but it is much more powerful. You can mount, play, create, convert and encrypt ISO's with Acetone. This is probably one of the most useful apps I have used in Linux.

• Ark

  Ark is basically WinZip. I just use it to extract files although I think it can do more.

• Katapult

  Description is under Super Duper heavy brain construction because i love this app

• Knotes

  Basically just a very simple notepad that stays in your system tray. It looks like a post-it on your desktop. Very useful to write phone numbers, CD-Keys, notes for the day, etc...