Now Available:

Now available on Bright Hub Part three of the series “The Move from Windows to Kubuntu is Smoother than You Think” the article is called “Introducing Your New Kubuntu Installation“.

In this article I explain the standard features of Kubuntu, where to find applications and how to install an application using adept.  It is filled with screen shots of Kubuntu with both KDE3 and KDE4.  I believe it gives a good insight into the fresh installation of Kubuntu.  It interlaces perfectly with both part 1 and part 2, “The Move from Windows to Kubuntu is Smoother than You Think” , “Installing Kubuntu with Wubi”

The Move from Windows to Kubuntu is Smoother than You Think

The move from Windows to Linux is easier than ever with Kubuntu. Kubuntu uses the KDE desktop, which has a one button start menu similar to Windows. With a large community behind (K)Ubuntu, help is easy to find. So what are you waiting for? Switch to a free and open source software now.

Introduction

fstab demystified how to add partitions and more

In this post you will learn to understand fstab and it’s entries. This post is a follow up to: How to partition new hard drives the easy way. It will show you how to add the new partitions of the new hard drive to fstab to mount the partitions automatically on boot.

Unfortunately there is no way to do this in a “point and click” manner. At least I’ve not been able to find one.

Firefox add-ons I always install on a new Kubuntu install

I’ve been a fan of Firefox from the very beginning.  And I like it, it is good to see that Open source(Mozilla is an Open source leader) can really work.  Firefox 3.0.1 Gave us the promised improvement in memory usage although there is still room for improvement for Mozilla.  I think they are on the right track and I’ll continue to use Firefox and many others, I test browser versions regularly of all major browsers that will work under Kubuntu.

I’ve got three “must have” add-ons that I can recommend. Off course “Ad Block Pro” if you don’t like the many advertisements(really over done by some websites). Password Maker because we all know that using one password for every website is isn’t secure. And Foxmarks great if you use Firefox on more then one computer.

How to partition new hard drives the easy way

I haven’t found any partitioning app. for Kubuntu(or Ubuntu) that is better then GParted. I’ve tried others like QTParted but they don’t even come close to the ease of use of GParted.

Normally as you know I’m a “Terminal beast” but I love Gparted. Here goes.

The scenario you bought a new 160GB hard drive and you want to start using it you put it in your box(synonym for your computer) but Kubuntu doesn’t “see” the drive so now it has to be partitioned, you want to divide it up in three partitions but how?

Kubuntu doesn’t come with GParted, it’s a Gnome package after all, so we’ll have to install it. I’ve already written two how to’s on how to install packages you can find them here:
Point and Click
Terminal APT

Just replace the package in the examples for gparted(yes all lowercase).

I’m assuming that you’ve already installed the hard drive in your box. Start GParted (start->system->Partition Editor) you will have to put in your password because GParted needs root access to the drives.