Kubuntu 10.10, codenamed Maverick Meerkat, a debian based distro with KDE Desktop environment and is derived from Ubuntu. The latest version of the distro was released on Oct 10, 2010 and has all the application one would need for their day-to-day use – web browser, office suite, media players, chat clients, and many more.

My System Specs
Intel Core 2 Duo
2.0 Ghz processor
4 GB RAM
320 GB hard drive

Boot from Live USB
Nowadays, there are multiple ways of installing a Gnu/Linux distro. In case of Kubuntu, you can install it from a CD/DVD or Live USB. Or, if you have Ubuntu already installed in your system, then you could go to the command line and install Kubuntu. Let me take you through how to install Kubuntu from a Live USB drive.

Firstly, create a Live USB drive using the .iso which you downloaded. Once, the Live USB drive is created boot your system using that.

Once you are into the live session, you can do most of your work without actually installing Kubuntu – accessing the Internet, creating word documents, creating excel sheets, listen to music, play games, and many more. The best feature about running Kubuntu in Live mode – before installing the distro into your hard drive you can actually use it and check if you like it or not, and also if it supports your hardware.  After trying out the distro, if you have decided to install Kubuntu, then click on Install and the wizard pops up a new window shown in Fig 1. Kubuntu supports multiple language. Hence, you can select from the drop down menu the language of your choice. Once you have done click on Forward and move on to the next window .

Next, the installer gives you option(as shown in fig2), from which you can chose whether you want third party software to be installed or if you want to download updates while installation. During  my installation I chose to skip it as it takes longer to install and the installation completion becomes dependent on the Internet speed.  If you want to install them while installing Kubuntu, you can chose the options. Once again click Forward ...

Fig 2: Preparing to install Kubuntu

The installer now asks which partion in your hard drive you want to isntall Kubuntu. You can chose to erase the entire disk and have only Kubuntu in it, else you can also manual chose the drive of you choice and install Kubuntu. I chose the manual option.

Fig 3: Chose your drive

Once you have made the choice to install Kubuntu manually. It next shows you the partition table (as shown in Fig 4).There you can chose the drives, create the mount point (/), and chose whether you want to format it or not. Also, during manual installation create a swap partition. This boosts the processing capabilities. Selecting partition is the most critical part of installation and should be done with care. Else you can lose all you existing data in your hard drive. If you have made, the choice then click on Install Now.

Fig 4: Manual partion selection

The next few windows takes you through configuration of the time zone selection, the keyboard layout selection, and the user details and password created.

Fig 5: Time zone

Fig 6: Keyboard layout

Fig 7: User settings and password creation

Fig 8: End of installtion and reboot

Installing Kubuntu from the command line is pretty simple. Firstly update the repo by typing
sudo apt-get update.

Once the repository has updated, type
sudo apt-get  install kubuntu-desktop.

KDE Experience
After the installation is over, you will be asked to restart your system. After Kubuntu boots it welcomes you with the KDE default Desktop screen as shown in Fig 9.

Fig 9: Default KDE Desktop

Well, I clicked on KDE Application launcher menu and checked out what all new does this version of KDE has to offer. First thing which came to my noticed was the inclusion of the new browser Rekonq Fig 10. This broswer looks almost similar to Chrome and nothing much to offer. I would rather like to use my day-to-day browser “Firefox”.

Fig 10: Rekonq browser

The Widget application allows you to install various tools onto your Desktop. You have have analog clock on your Desktop, keep track of weather, check on the current currency rates, and many more.

Fig 11: Widgets

Gwibber, is a microblogging client. It allows you to configure more then one account and view their updates and sent comment to all of you account all at once.

Fig 12: Gwibber

Kubuntu Software Center comes with software which are provided by Kubuntu, software of companies who have partnered with Canonical, and you can also purchase software from the Kubuntu software center. Installation of any software is really easy. All you need is Internet connection and chose the software and click install.

Fig 13: Kubuntu Software Center

Fig14: Gimp installation through ubuntu software center

Amarok is the default media player in Kubuntu and you can listen to music, read through the lyrics of the songs which you are playing, and many more. Fig 15 shows Amarok and Totem in action.

Fig 15: Amarok and Totem

Kubuntu comes with lots of games, the entire list of games can be found in the Kubuntu software center. The installtion of these software is really easy and you can enjoy the games for free.

Fig 16: Games