Options To get Working

[Donn]

Clark,
> It seems I have wasted more than a week on Kbuntu, time to move on.
> Is there any chance that Ubuntu or some other distribution would work or
> is this "what you see is what you get Linux".
I can see where you're coming from, and also where you are wrong.
 On one hand, there is a lot of noise about *buntu and Gnu/Linux being ready 
and a good "alternative". On the other there is the very different culture 
that produces Free (emancipated) software.
 The former makes is reasonable that people come to Kubuntu and expect it 
to 'just work'. The latter is what scares the same group away.

Your only choice is to decide to stick with it - then you will be open to 
solving problems, and contributing back into the loop - versus deciding to 
move-on. 

You will find Ubuntu similar. You will find any distro similar. Perhaps some 
of the more commercial ones like Suse will handle some things better, but 
there will be other things that freak you out.

Ask yourself if Windows (or Mac) ever did that to you; I'm sure the answer is 
yes. Software is software and to bug is human :)


> I have a system that gives OOO without spellcheck; 
Yes - that does suck. It's outrageous. But you went a long way towards fixing 
it and that makes it less of a problem for next time. Same as anything 
anywhere.

> Thunderbird without 
> the option of right click send photo in condensed form, it will send a
> photo but it is huge; 
The right-click send stuff (AFAIK) is a desktop thing, not Tbird, and you can 
get handy menu extensions to do all kinds of tricks. I can send you one I 
created to let you compress to a size you are happy with before it attaches 
anything to email. Just an example, there are options.

> I selected storage media from the system menu to 
> save a file to Floppy and it can't find the Floppy, 
Floppies have been getting less and less important. I noticed this shift a few 
years ago and I also had to battle to get them working. State of the 
situation I'm afraid.

> the relevant Help 
> files either speak in command line (which I don't understand or give the
> message no help files;  
Thus the opportunity to learn something new (about the cli, in this case). You 
have to think in terms like that or Gnu/Linux (or any new o/s) will drive you 
mad.

I hope you stick around, it's very rewarding and you'll find that most 
problems are quickly resolved (keep notes!), and that others one learns to 
live with and wait for new versions. Or, roll your own!

\d