Linux

I’ve dist-upgraded my AMD64 Kubuntu Linux installation from 5.10 Breezy to 6.04 Dapper Drake (even if the latter is still Beta). I had to solve some small issues but I suppose that this is what happens when one uses Beta versions :-)

• Dynamically loaded firmware (for example, firmware for my USB Alcatel Speedtouch modem) MUST be placed in /lib/firmware/{kernelversion}/ instead of /lib/hotplug/firmware/ as was the case in 5.10
• The default configuration of KDE is not nice at all : new windows do not automatically get the focus. For example, pressing Alt-F2 to bring the “Run Command” window does not allow you to type a command right away because of the lack of focus. Solving the problem is easy, just change the “Focus stealing prevention level” from Low to none as shown here :

  

• When logging in KDE, the splash screen was not displayed properly because a required package (ksplash-engine-moodin) was not installed (I had to do it manually)
• This is not a bug but a feature it seems to me :-) NTP (client) is not installed by default. I need to find out why.

By the way, a drake is a male duck :

For the past one and a half year, I’ve been a very satisfied Gentoo Linux user. I would advise all enthusiastic Linux users to install Gentoo at least once. It is a very instructive (not to say interesting in a geekish sort of way) process. Personally, I’ve learnt a lot about the internals of Linux thanks to Gentoo. Sometimes things get very low level but that’s Gentoo to me :-)

But all nice things must come to an end.

I don’t use Gentoo any more.

I’ve finally found the perfect distribution (TM).

Let me introduce the mighty Kubuntu, the KDE derivative of Ubuntu Linux…

The three most important advantages of Kubuntu over Gentoo (IMHO) are

1. It just works!
   • Configuring my scanner under Gentoo was not trivial (i.e. difficult). It worked without any configuration whatsoever under Kubuntu
   • Configuring Gentoo to work with a laser printer at work (HP Laserjet 4000 family) was OK but I had to download the driver manually. In Kubuntu, the driver is immediately selectable from a list.
2. Updates are much quicker!
   • Gentoo features portage which is basically an equivalent of the Kubuntu packages. One fundamental difference is that in Gentoo everything is compiled from source and, therefore, takes time (and, sometimes, lots and lots of time) whereas in Kubuntu, packages are precompiled and, hence, are installed in no time. Granted, Gentoo gives the user a much finer choice about the various compilation options and what really needs to be installed. But, I prefer Kubuntu’s speedier updates over Gentoo’s much slower ones. Life is too short :-)
3. Kubuntu is from Africa! And I am proud to be African!