Moved back to Kubuntu Feisty Fawn
You might have read my earlier article about moving to OpenSuSe from Kubuntu. I couldn’t resist the temptation to move back to Kubuntu. I didn’t see anything wrong with OpenSUSE, but I wasn’t comfortable using that compared to (K)Ubuntu, so I downloaded the latest Kubuntu Feisty Fawn beta and burnt it in a CD.
I restarted my laptop, put the Kubuntu CD in and booted from the live CD. For my surprise, the live CD worked just fine without modifying the xorg file. This is the first time the live CD worked. It didn’t work even when Feisty Fawn was in Alpha stage.
Another cool thing that worked with (K)ubuntu Feisty beta that didn’t work before was the wireless connection. With Dapper, Edgy and Feisty Alpha, the wireless connection didn’t work with Live CDs, so I had to have an Ethernet connection in order to install (K)Ubuntu. No more. With Kubuntu beta (must be the same with Ubuntu too), the wireless connection works with Live CD, so you don’t have to have Ethernet connection to install the base system and update.
Once I installed and logged in, I installed the ATI driver (fglrx) through adept. I thought, once installed, Kubuntu would automatically use that the next time I boot my system, but it didn’t. It used the mesa driver. I had to manually reconfigure the xserver to use fglrx instead of mesa. It would be nice if they can fix this before the final release.
I forgot to check if the automatic codec suggestion and installation work. I installed the codecs before I played any media file. Once everything was setup, I replaced the default Kubuntu menu with Kickoff menu (similar to OpenSUSE). All you have to do is download the Kickoff menu from here. It’s a deb file, so open a terminal and type sudo dpkg -i thefilename, after you downloaded the file. It’ll install the file. Once installed, log out and log back in. The original Kubuntu menu will be replaced by the Kickoff menu. If you don’t want the Kickoff menu, then you can revert back by right clicking on the Kickoff menu and select restore KDE menu.
(Image source: Softpedia)
I had encountered another hiccup during the update process. When I updated my system after I logged in the first time, Kubuntu updated the Linux kernel to 2.6.20-13. When I rebooted the system with the new kernel, the wireless connection didn’t work. I read in the Ubuntu forum that linux-restricted-modules-generic package was not updated. gradedcheese gave a simple solution to fix that problem for Intel 3945 wireless cards. It might fix other cards too, but I’m not sure. This is what you have to do to fix it. Open a terminal. Type the following commands one by one:
sudo cp /sbin/ipw3945d-2.6.20-12-generic /sbin/ipw3945d-`uname -r` (press Enter)
sudo modprobe ipw3945 (press enter)
sudo /sbin/ipw3945d-`uname -r` (press enter)
Once you issue those 3 commands, your wireless connection should start working. It started working for me without rebooting.
I then installed all my favorite applications including Firestarter, GIMP (GIMP is not included by default in Kubuntu Feisty beta) etc. I was back to normal activity within an hour. Hats off to (K)Ubuntu team.
I would appreciate if someone can point me to howtos on installing XGL and Beryl for ATI Radeon cards in Kubunt Feisty Fawn. I’m a happy user now.
Technorati tags: Kubuntu, Ubuntu, Feisty Fawn, Firestarter, GIMP, Kernel, Linux, wireless, connection, OpenSUSE
March 27th, 2007 at 4:17 pm
Odd that you left behind the powerful YAST for nothing of its equal in Kubuntu.
That’s taking steps backwards IMHO. Not to mention that OpenSuSe is i586 and Ubuntu/Kubuntu is i386…so OpenSuSe is optimized for new architecture CPU’s like AMD Athlon’s, X2’s, and P4’s and Dual Cores.
Congrats on taking a step backwards? That makes little to no sense to me.
March 28th, 2007 at 1:07 am
openSuSE has a very slick interface, but it is bit clunky and YaST takes forever to load and install something.
Kubuntu is very good and problematic issues are easier to fix in Kubuntu.
Nice to know about the new features in Fiesty. It would had posted some screenshots.
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March 28th, 2007 at 5:42 am
devnet,
I don’t agree with your arguments. I didn’t leave OpenSUSE because it wasn’t good. I got used to using Kubuntu and I felt more comfortable using that, so I went back. OpenSUSE is a very good product.
YAST may be powerful, but it’s not as easy to use as Adept or Synaptic and it’s not as user friendly as those 2.
Kubuntu, by default, installs i386. I have a dual core laptop. I used to install i686 in Kubuntu or Ubuntu to access both cores, before Feisty. Kubuntu and Ubuntu Feisty has built in dual core support with their generic kernel now, so I don’t have to install i686.
I don’t think it’s a step backwards. Ubuntu has more active community and they are developing their product more user friendly. They are much more user friendly compared to other products considering the number of years they are in the market.
Sid, I agree with your comments. I did post some screenshots for alpha releases. I don’t think beta is any different from alpha, appearance wise, so I didn’t post the screenshots.
March 30th, 2007 at 5:31 am
“YAST may be powerful, but it’s not as easy to use as Adept or Synaptic and it’s not as user friendly as those 2.”
My friend, you are COMPLETELY misguided. YAST isn’t just an update tool. It’s WELL beyond just updating. (please remember, I don’t use OpenSuSe on my computers at home…I just test it out when they release…I use PCLinuxOS and Debian)
This leads me to believe that you may have installed OpenSuse but you didn’t test it out long enough to find out what YAST exactly is…otherwise, you wouldn’t have compared it to Adept or Synaptic.
Here’s some screenshots of YAST in action:
http://en.opensuse.org/Image:Screeny102_yast.jpg
As you can see, YAST is MUCH MORE than a silly update tool like synaptic or adept.
Now, don’t get me wrong here…I’m not personally upset with you or this misconception…I just want you to get it right. See, others might read your blog and unless you are 100% accurate, you’ll lead those new users or others to believe something that isn’t accurate.
I had the same problem when I started my blog…I was inaccurate on some things…and I retracted on all of them when someone pointed out problems with what I was saying. It’s part of learning how to write good articles.
If you’d like to put this whole idea to rest…please compare YAST in OpenSuse with screenshots to anything Ubuntu has that does the same thing. Are you up to that challenge?
March 30th, 2007 at 5:46 am
I think you are either not reading my article properly or you misunderstood what I wrote. I was clear in my article that I didn’t quit using OpenSUSE because it was bad. I was more comfortable using Kubuntu, so I went back. I also said YAST might be powerful, but not as easy for me to use as Synaptic. Synaptic does what it is meant for, easily. I agree YAST is quite powerful and not just an update tool. I don’t think (nor I expect) anyone would move from OpenSUSE to Kubuntu just by reading my article. They should use their brain and test them before changing. If not, it’s not my problem.
March 31st, 2007 at 1:44 am
at 8:44 pm by Roy Schestowitz We previously listed some short stories about people who gave up on Novell’s Linux and moved on to other distributions. Here is another story, which involves someone who flip-flopped, but ultimately decided to live without Novell. You might have read my earlier article about moving to OpenSuSe from Kubuntu. I couldn’t resist the temptation to move back to Kubuntu. I didn’t see anything wrong with OpenSUSE, but I wasn’t
April 20th, 2007 at 9:58 pm
I have to agree with devnet. It really is a step backwards, atleast from my perspective. Also, I think the yast package manager is the easiest thing ever. I agree, adept is nice too…but you could always install smart on SuSE, which is just as easy as adept and as light weight.
Anyway…whatever floats your boat, and congrats on the switch…but I’ll take SuSE over most distros today. It is by far the most complete, functional, and stable distro out there.
April 21st, 2007 at 7:15 am
As I said, I didn’t go to Kubuntu because OpenSUSE was bad. I’m used to using (K)Ubuntu, so I went back.