Kubntu is based on Ubuntu but it is quite different in terms of Graphical User Interface. Ubuntu has the Unity based graphical environment (GNOME desktop environment developed by Canonical Ltd.) where as Kubuntu uses KDE Plasma Desktop instead for graphical user interface. KDE Plasma 4 and 5 provide an environment for creating and running applications. KDE Plasma 4 is the umbrella term for 4th generation graphical environments. KDE Plasma 5 was then released on July, 2014 as its successor. KDE Plasma has many components, KDM, KWin, Plasma core libraries, System settings etc.
Kubuntu 15.04 (Vivid Vervet) has Plasma 5 which will pleasantly surprise the end users. It is important to note that if you don’t upgrade Kubuntu to the latest version, system will be stuck with iterations of Plasma 4 branch and it is no more supported.
Download Kubuntu 15.04 32-bit ISO
Download Kubuntu 15.04 64-bit ISO
Installing Kubuntu Desktop
Download the desired Kubutntu 15.04 bootable image and flash to USB or burn the DVD. System will boot through the bootable media and two options will be on offer at first by the installation wizard, either try the operating system without installing or install Kubuntu. Click “Install Kubuntu” to proceed.
Preparing to install window will check and show the available disk for storage with respect to its requirements. And also gives you couple of options to install proprietary software and download the updates. If you agree click on the corresponding Check Box otherwise leave it blank and click “Continue” to move forward.
Disk setup will give few options about how to setup and use the hard disk, choose one and click “Install Now”.
A pop-up will be displayed to give you the partition scheme and a warning that data on the selected partition will be formatted so back it up first. Click “Continue” once you are ready to proceed.
Select your location for time zone selection. Once done, click “Continue” to move forward.
Select Keyboard layout according to your needs.
Fill in your primary information, set a username and a strong super user password.
Congratulations! Kubuntu 15.04 has successfully installed. A restart is required for finalizing installation.
Few Things to do after installing Kubuntu 15.04 (Vivid Vervet)
System Update: It is very important to update your system even after a fresh installation. There may have been few patches released/implemented for newly detected threats or vulnerabilities. Open Moun update manager and install all the available updates.
Update Package Manager: Although Moun discover is a very nice package manager shipped with Kubuntu by default but there are few others which can perform even better, especially in terms of resolving dependancies. For example, Apper or Synaptec. You can install these through terminal using following commands.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:snwh/pulp
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install apper
OR
sudo apt-get install synaptic
Install/Update Ruby: Install Ruby if not already done or upgrade it to latest version using apt-get package manager from terminal. You can also use Apper or Synaptec package managers to install/upgrade Ruby and its gems through GUI.
Sudo apt-get install ruby rubygems
Enhancements in Terminal: Those who love working in terminal would love the drop-down terminal Yakuake. It can be installed through Moun ackage manager or any other we installed earlier. Yakuake can easily be navigated/hidden through F-12 Key.
File Managers: Dolphin is the default file manager for vivid vervet. One very good thing that ruby can help here is to open the folders with root permissions.
Krusader is another very nice file manager which can be installed through any package manager. Use following command to install Krusader through terminal.
sudo apt-get install Krusader
Krusader has a very useful split window view which can help in comparisons, synchronizations etc. Furthermore it supports FTP, SAMBA, etc.
Summary
Kubuntu 15.04 has a giant leap from KDE Plasma 4 to KDE Plasma 5, open source and freely available. Kubuntu 15.04 (Vivid Vervet) beta 2 is also released for notebooks. It is studded with few wonderful features like, KMail, Mozilla Firefox, game, Open PDF, Dejavu, PS, DVI for seemless document view, KDE instant Messanger and many more. It may have few bugs initially but these will be fixed as it gets mature. For further reading, please visit the official website.
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