Kubuntu vs Ubuntu: 9.10, 10.04 and Generic Comparison
Monday, March 08th, 2010 | Author: Om



The official derivative of the Ubuntu is Kubuntu. Instead of GNOME, Kubuntu uses KDE graphical environment, and shares its underlying system along with Ubuntu.

Kubuntu is a project of Ubuntu; here’s a comparative analysis of Kubuntu vs Ubuntu

Kubuntu

Kubuntu - The Latest Sensation!



Origin of Kubuntu

There is a possibility of running Kubuntu on both of the desktops GNOME and KDE. Kubuntu is similar to Ubuntu in terms of the underlying operation, as you can install ubuntu-desktop on Kubuntu, and kubuntu-desktop on Ubuntu.

The word Kubuntu has literal meaning – ‘towards humanity’. Here the letter K refers to the desktop or applications of KDE run by Kubuntu. In Kirundi, the meaning of Kubuntu is ‘free’.

Overview of Ubuntu

Ubuntu is a type of operating system that is designed based on the distribution of Debian GNU/Linux. The name of the operating system Ubuntu comes from the ethical ideology of South Africa named Ubuntu.

Ubuntu is an open source, freely distributed software, which is highly efficient, and robust than Windows, and Mac OSX.

Being an operating system that is so stable, up-to-date for an ordinary user with the easy installation, and a great focus on the usability of the operating system, Ubuntu is one among the famous distributions of LINUX. The current market share of Ubuntu is about 40 to 50 percent according to the web statics from late 2009.

Kubuntu vs Ubuntu: Performance Comparisons

Although Kubuntu is derived from Ubuntu, it differs from Ubuntu in many ways. Gnome desktop is used by the usual installation of Ubuntu, while KDE desktop is used by Kubuntu. On top of Ubuntu, metapackage of the Kubuntu’s desktop and can be used as Kubuntu or another method is to install just Ubuntu and then to install KDE. The disadvantage of doing this leads to the usage of both KDE and GNOME.

Kubuntu versus Ubuntu 9.10

The minimum system requirements needed for the installation of Ubuntu are as follows. ARM, AMD 64 and Intel x86 are the motherboard architectures supported by Ubuntu. Some among the server based operating systems support the architecture of SPARC.

The minimum requirements of the system for installing Kubuntu are a processor of 300 MHz, RAM of 64MB, hard disk space of 8 GB and a video card that can support VGA at the resolution of 640×480.

When you see the 9.10 release, it looks really promising, but once again, it is up to the user to decide as to how he/she needs to go about it.

Kubuntu vs Ubuntu 10.04

In the latest 10.04 release, things aren’t as clean as the 9.10 stable release. So, if you compare Kubuntu vs Ubuntu 10.04, Kubuntu is definitely a superior option. Remember, running a KDE application doesn’t integrate very well (visually) within the Gnome environment and vice versa.

Customizations in Kubuntu


Kubuntu can be totally customized according to the user’s requirement. Kubuntu’s intention is to make the transition easier for the users from different operating systems by giving the allowance to a desktop layout that is similar.

Architectures like AMD64 and Intel x86 are presently supported by the Kubuntu’s desktop version. As Kubuntu is derived from Ubuntu, any kind of software that is applicable for Ubuntu is available also for Kubuntu!

So, in a nutshell, a comparative analysis of Kubuntu vs Ubuntu depends upon what you really require, and the versions you’re comparing, and several other aspects.

You can find more info on differences between Kubuntu and Ubuntu here