Review: Kubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala

Last week I installed KDE on my new Ubuntu 9.10 installation by installing the package
kubuntu-desktop in Synaptic package manager.

Soon I also changed my login manager to KDM.



After one week using Kubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala I have to say that this is one of the best KDE
Linux distributions I've ever tried.


Nearly everything works perfectly and I've had very few crashes.



Here is a screenshot of my current desktop setup:








I've done a few changes to the default Kubuntu setup:

I've changed my theme to Glassified

I've changed my widget style to Bespin

I've changed my icon theme to NuoveX2

I've removed the task manager widget and added the widget Stasks which shows only
icons in the panel instead of icons and the names of the programs.



I've also enabled KDE's desktop effects.


This setup is very beautiful and very productive.

My experience with Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Kola

This week I decided to try out the Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala RC.
I downloaded the ISO and burnt it to CD.

I backed up my important files in case I decided to install the RC.

I booted my computer from the Ubuntu 9.10 CD.


When it booted, I noticed it had a new bootsplash which was visually very
different from Ubuntu 9.04's bootsplash.

In the bootsplash first a black screen with a large white Ubuntu logo appeared,
then another screen appeared.

The new bootsplash kind of looks like Apple Mac OS X's bootsplash.


After the bootsplash the livecd brought the desktop.

Everything looked okay except the background. It was black.
Desktop effects were working (switching virtual desktops made the switching virtual desktops effect appear.

I right-clicked the desktop and clicked 'change desktop background'.

I selected another background but the desktop background still remained black.


I went to System>Preferences>Appearance and turned off desktop effects.

After turning off desktop effects the background became normal.


I tried setting up my wireless internet connection and it worked.



I thought that maybe the problem of the background becoming black when
desktop effects are switched on would go away if I installed Ubuntu 9.10 RC
to my hard disk.

I installed Ubuntu 9.10 RC to my hard disk, and rebooted my computer.



After my computer booted and I logged in, the desktop appeared.

But the background was black.

So I disabled desktop effects and the background became normal.


I set up my wireless internet connection.




Then I tested Firefox and it was working properly.



I opened Synaptic package manager and installed the following packages:

VLC media player
ffmpeg
gstreamer plugins bad
gstreamer plugins ugly
Flash player and plugin


I opened a video on my hard disk with VLC and it played properly.

Then I watched a Youtube video with Firefox and it played properly.



After that, I installed KDE by installing the kubuntu-desktop package.

I logged out of GNOME and into KDE,


When KDE loaded, I turned on KDE's desktop effects using KDE's System settings tool.

When I turned on desktop effects, KDE's background became black.

When I turned off desktop effects, KDE's background became normal.



I thought that maybe if I install all the updates for my system, the desktop effects
black background problem would go away.

So I installed all the updates and rebooted.


But after rebooting the problem was still there on both GNOME and KDE.





Conclusion:

Besides the problem of the background becoming black if desktop effects are turned on, everything else seemed to be working fine.

Screenshot of my Ubuntu 9.10 desktop