Re: a little help for a newbie...
My two cents:
(Since this was your intro I'll call this comment #0)
0: The first step in switching is realize linux is not windows. Lots of things will be different and not all (but most) will be better. Most of us are linux users because the few shortcomings of linux far out-way any benefit windows might have. Get ready to let go of your pre-conceived ideas about how to do things and to do things differently.
1. The short answer is yes and doing it is way easier than on windows once you learn how to do it. But; Using windows you needed to keep expanding your hard drive space because the software is as bloated as the OS. With the exception of some windows games you might want to try and install, the entire Kubuntu OS and every linux program you can think of will fit in 16gb or less. You might be able to get it larger, but only by installing four or five different programs of each kind. How many photo editors do you need...?
2. Unlike windows, the appearance you describe is configurable several ways depending on where it's is occurring and how you want it to look. The simplest way is to right click and select "Properties". Then click on the little wrench and then on the gear icon. This will allow you change the icon for the entire system, i.e. every .exe file will have a new appearance. If the program has a desktop configuration file, this will change the icon for that program only.
3. Web searching is your friend. There are hundreds of web pages on how to do this. Roll up your sleeves and start reading. A good place to start is the Wine App Database > http://appdb.winehq.org/
4. The answer to this question is, right click on the persons icon and select "properties", "Select Name Source", "Custom".
Soapbox:
If you meant what you said in your introduction "i want to switch entirely to kubuntu" time to start. If you're going to insist every program you use be the windows version or behave exactly the same as windows, you might as well stay with windows. Wine works well for a few things, but you'll spend more time and energy trying to get things to work "the old way" than you will learning to use a linux alternative. We can all list a hundred reasons why you should switch. It's up to you to decide that you are actually going to switch.
Here's a good article to read. It's 5 years old but still applies http://linux.oneandoneis2.org/LNW.htm . the LNW in the url stands for "Linux is Not Windows".
If you want to switch - put away your wallet (linux and almost all of it's software is free), spend time playing with it, consider the time you would have spent running anti-virus software and registry cleaner and spend it reading this and other forums A LOT. A good "other" forum to research Kubuntu issues is the Ubuntu forums because it forms the basis of Kubuntu.
On a final note and this is only my opinion: Since you're new to linux, you might consider some other distros. Although Kubuntu is very well supported, has one of the if not the largest software base, and has so many features it's mind boggling - it's not the easiest linux distro to get to know well. Many of us here started out somewhere else - I'm remembering my own transition from Windows 98 to linux. I suggest you try at least one other distro - PCLinuxOS http://pclinuxos.com/. They have a live CD, a great forum, lots of dedicated users, and it's designed to be simpler and more stable than most distros. One advantage that (K)Ubuntu has is the largest (or nearly so) user base.
Either way: Good luck and I hope we hear from you again.
My two cents:
Originally posted by psorincatalin
0: The first step in switching is realize linux is not windows. Lots of things will be different and not all (but most) will be better. Most of us are linux users because the few shortcomings of linux far out-way any benefit windows might have. Get ready to let go of your pre-conceived ideas about how to do things and to do things differently.
1. i'm a windows user and have been for the past 7 years or so...and the normal thing i have to ask is if my primary disk (equivalent to C: - in windows) is full can i install software and/or games on an alternative partition (equivalent of D:, E: etc - on windows)?
2. if there's a windows executable the icon i see is a "gear" and if i make a desktop link to it it has the same icon. so my question is....can kubuntu be configured in such a way that it displays the icons correctly as if they were under windows ?
3. i'm not into gaming alot but the only game i really do play is world of warcraft and i understand that it can be safely run under wine but i have no experience at all with configuring wine
4. i use yahoo! messenger on a daily basis and last time i checked kopete only displays the address of my friends not their full names, and yes the option with displaying their names is enabled (i don't want other alternatives to kopete such as pidgin). is there another setting that i'm forgetting, or even better does the latest version of yahoo! messenger run under wine ?
Soapbox:
If you meant what you said in your introduction "i want to switch entirely to kubuntu" time to start. If you're going to insist every program you use be the windows version or behave exactly the same as windows, you might as well stay with windows. Wine works well for a few things, but you'll spend more time and energy trying to get things to work "the old way" than you will learning to use a linux alternative. We can all list a hundred reasons why you should switch. It's up to you to decide that you are actually going to switch.
Here's a good article to read. It's 5 years old but still applies http://linux.oneandoneis2.org/LNW.htm . the LNW in the url stands for "Linux is Not Windows".
If you want to switch - put away your wallet (linux and almost all of it's software is free), spend time playing with it, consider the time you would have spent running anti-virus software and registry cleaner and spend it reading this and other forums A LOT. A good "other" forum to research Kubuntu issues is the Ubuntu forums because it forms the basis of Kubuntu.
On a final note and this is only my opinion: Since you're new to linux, you might consider some other distros. Although Kubuntu is very well supported, has one of the if not the largest software base, and has so many features it's mind boggling - it's not the easiest linux distro to get to know well. Many of us here started out somewhere else - I'm remembering my own transition from Windows 98 to linux. I suggest you try at least one other distro - PCLinuxOS http://pclinuxos.com/. They have a live CD, a great forum, lots of dedicated users, and it's designed to be simpler and more stable than most distros. One advantage that (K)Ubuntu has is the largest (or nearly so) user base.
Either way: Good luck and I hope we hear from you again.
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