Kubuntu won’t sync my iPod? I feel lost without a Start menu? DVD not playing in Kubuntu? Sound familiar? Then this article is for you. Introducing the complete beginner (like me) to Kubuntu and the initial stuff you need to setup before you start to feel comfortable and warm about your new choice of OS…

1 – Backup your video settings before making everything just-so

Backup yes, but where and what and why? Mainly if everything looks good when you first boot up, make a backup of your xorg.conf file. Use something like (in a console window – which can be found in the system menu called “Konsole”)

cd /etc/X11
sudo copy xorg.conf xorg.conf-mybackup

This is important, because you are probably going to play with display settings as a priority to get things looking a bit better, and the last thing you want to do is wind up with a nice 640X480 desktop with associated huge icons. I did this on my first install.. Being a noob a reinstall fixed the problem =) but if I’d taken a backup of this file, I could have restored it.

2 - My Screen is screwy!

A few things impacted my viewing nirvana. Firstly I have a widescreen monitor that has a max of 1440×900. Wierd res I know. During the install if your maximum viewing pleasure is 1440×900, the install routine incorrectly detects 1440×1440! That’s too big and square for the monitor, so it displays in 1024×768 and nicely stretched to boot.. Thankfully a quick google returns that you just need to change some settings in the xorg.conf file (remember that backup?) So open the file (with sudo), make the changes and save. You’re looking for any reference to 1440×1440 and changing it to 1440×900. After making the changes, save the file. I guess just restarting X afterwards should show the changes, but if you’re in doubt how to do this, reboot. Remember use sudo at the command prompt to make changes to system files, or to do anything system related!!!

Number 2 - after a few minutes of playing with the screensaver settings I found out that Kubuntu gives a black screen rather than showing my chosen screensaver! What to do?! Well it turns out that if you turn the Energy Star power saving features off your screensaver disappears! Solution? Turn it back on in System Settings -> Monitor and Display. Mine is set to 45 minutes before turning the monitor off which seems to work very well - at least until they sort out this annoying bug.

3 - Make sure firefox is installed (because life without firefox is like life without a head):

Add/Remove Programs -> Either search for firefox in the box provided, or click internet on the left, and select it from the list. It should be the latest version.

and if you don’t install firefox first, some of the plugins for firefox won’t be installed properly with the fourth step..

4 - Download automatix from [getautomatix.com]

Using automatix, make sure at the very least you install:

Codecs and plugins-
AUD-DVD Plugins (Audio and DVD codecs)
Flash Player (+ Firefox plugin)
MPlayer and FF Plugin
Multimedia Codecs
Sun JAVA

Drivers
_if you have an Nvidia card (and who doesn’t??)_ Nvidia Drivers

Media Players
Audacity (a good audio editor)
Real Player (+ Firefox plugin)
iLife (includes drivers for your iPod)

Miscellaneous
Extra Fonts (this includes the ms fonts like Tahoma, and Verdana

Office
Adobe Read 9.0
Gimp
Google Earth

Virtualisation
Wine (to run your windows programs)

5 - Give yourself access to some of the better features in KDE

In the small shortcut menu, next to the big K (bottom left) is hidden loads of goodies that you can’t see! Right-click and delete the ones you don’t want. Drag the section to the right that displays the taskbar icons (in windows-esque) to reveal the rest. Make sure you leave kcontrol (Shows up as Control Centre) because this one is really useful and doesn’t show in any menus, and allows you to change practically everything (much like the old windows control panel)!!

If you like the idea of showing things on your taskbar and want to access more “applets” then right click on the bar at the bottom and select “Add Applet to Panel…” and choose from the list. Lots of sys monitoring tools and other things are available. Plenty are available too to download and there are also a few in the Adept Manager (system menu)

Remember the Add/Remove programs & Adept Manager (system menu) are your friends and are there to help you install new features into your OS. A good rule of thumb is, if you hear about a program for Linux that you’re interested in, do a search in Add/Remove programs first, then Adept in the system menu. You will find almost everything you’re interested in there first. If all fails you can always install manually, but do a lot of googling first and feel completely comfortable before you attempt a manual install. Linux will bite you in the ass if you don’t know what you’re doing..

6 - Sort out firefox’s crazy wide fonts…

Firefox’s fonts are controlled by GTK (built around the Gnome desktop, but Kubuntu uses KDE, which explains the “K”). Go to System Settings in the menu and in the Look and feel section, select “Appearance” Amend GTK Styles and Fonts – changing the entry in GTK Font for instant gratification!

Also, amend the defaults used by webpages to Arial or something in Edit- Preferences- Content- Default Font if you’re unhappy how webpages look.

7 - Get access to your Windows stuff

If you’re lucky, you’ve got a fresh machine, with a fresh Kubuntu install on it. If you’re unlucky (like me) you have a dual boot system so you can play your favourite games in windows, but want to use Linux as your main OS.

If you’re like me, you can create an entry in a file called “fstab” which holds the data for the File System. This file can be amended to let it know where abouts your NTFS drives are and mount them automatically so you can get access.

To find out more, visit [ntfs-3g.org] to find out more on using ntfs-3g. Remember, use the Adept Manager to install the package.

A word of warning. I have heard all over the place that ntfs-3g is better than some other ntfs file systems in Linux. I’ve also heard it is “more stable.” Unfortunately, in my book, that makes me think the file system is still a bit buggy and there have been reports of lost data (presumption I know) so my tip is: If you’re going to use it in Linux full-time don’t. Instead copy anything you need over to Linux, from your mounted Windows HD. Your data should hopefully be safer in it’s new home without the unknowns of NTFS emulation.

8 - Enjoy your OS

You’ve done the hard work - the transition. Now it’s time to kick back and see what an OS should be like.