Some years ago, I published an ebook: The Shortest Path to Linux featuring Kubuntu Linux. The contents are long out of date, as is typical of the fast moving field of computer technology. Still, regardless of what you may think of Canonical (the company behind it), their flagship Ubuntu and all of its branches and clones, Kubuntu remains the easiest way for a Windows user to get acquainted with Linux, in particular because it features the KDE desktop. KDE is modeled somewhat on the layout and integrated functions of Windows.
Recently, I tried several distributions I had used in the past on various hardware collections, but this time on a laptop (Dell Latitude 3540) that originally shipped with Windows 11: Mint, PCLinuxOS, OpenSUSE and Kubuntu. No, I didn’t try any of the RedHat derivatives because the kernel is too old and KDE is very hard to get for it. I tried to work with Win11, but I quickly came to hate it. There were too many restrictions and frustrations. After testing how well each of those Linux distributions worked on my system, I found Kubuntu the only one that worked consistently. PCLinuxOS KDE is broken; it comes with very bad defaults and they are extremely difficult to change. Mint is a derivative of Ubuntu, so to get KDE, you have to install it from Kubuntu. It isn’t very well integrated with the underlying system, so I wasn’t happy with the results. I tested OpenSUSE, but it doesn’t recognize all of my hardware.
Keep in mind: SUSE is very good at server and uniform corporate desktop stuff, but not so much for the home user. If you use it on a server, it is very easy to configure, since it comes with a GUI tool called YaST that automates most common configuration tasks. However, because the corporate world is their focus, the quality control for common consumer stuff is a little weak. I ran into broken packages and it kept me from performing some tasks. Kubuntu provides a fully integrated experience for the average consumer.
While I don’t believe I’m going to rewrite and republish another edition of my book on it, I am going to post about dealing with Kubuntu in the interest of helping others deal with the inevitable challenges every OS throws at us. All software sucks, but some is more manageable than others. I want to give back to the community of users, and frankly advocate for people to move away from Windows.
I may someday look into using an alternative OS, so things like this may help even me.