I’ve written a number of times on this topic, but thought I’d bring it all up to date and draw all the various, disparate posts together.

I use Kubuntu, not as my main OS, but for web development testing, which means I need a broad cross-section of Linux browsers. Therefore I run Kubuntu for it’s KDE interface (and, hence, Konqueror). I do this under VirtualBox – the virtual machine that I’ve found to be the best.

So, here’s my def. guide to creating a web development build of Kubuntu (for the layman, but assuming you can find your way around an OS and VirtualBox a bit). Ok, here goes…

Installing Kubuntu

1. Download the Kubuntu ISO (I’m using the 32-bit addition) and save on your computer.
2. If you’ve not already creating a guest machine on VirtualBox, do so. I find an 8GB hard drive, 256MB base memory and 12MB graphics memory is sufficient. I also enable the 3D acceleration and VT-x/AMD-v options.
3. Attach the previously saved ISO as a mounted CD and boot. This will run through the installation – install this onto the previous created virtual hard drive.
4. Reboot after the install.

Ok, now you have Kubuntu. Start it up again and we’ll configure it.

Automatic Login

1. Go into System Settings.
2. Click on the Advanced Tab and select “Login Manager”
3. Click on the Convenience tab.
4. Click on Enable Auto-login and select the user from the drop-down list.
5. Apply these changes

This has set Kubuntu to automatically log you in each time – a handy time-saver.

Switch off Screen Saver

1. Go into System Settings
2. Click on Desktop
3. Click on the Screen Saver option
4. Untick “Start automatically”
5. Apply these changes

Update Build

The next thing I do is to go into the Adept Manager and install any pending updates. This ensures your build is as up-to-date as possible.

Now restart the system.

Installing Linux Additions

Linux Additions is software which improves the interactivity between your host machine and your guest machine – in my case, between Windows XP and Kubuntu.

1. Start Kubuntu. At the top of the VirtualBox window, select Devices and then click on “Install Guest Additions”
2. Open up Konsole and run the following…
   sudo aptitude install build-essential linux headers-`uname -r`
3. Once complete, run the following commands…
   cd /media/cdrom
sudo sh ./VBoxLinuxAdditions-x86.run
4. Once complete you’ll be prompted to restart the system, which you should do.

Once the system has restarted you’ll notice that you’ll be able to cleanly interact with the Kubuntu system via your mouse, without having to click in the window and use a “hot key” to return back to Windows. It will also give you extra video facilities which leads onto…

Improving Screen Size

I don’t know if it’s the same with your build but up until the point I installed the Linux Additions, Kubuntu was displaying in a 800×600 pixel window. However, now it’s gone to 1152×864, which is a lot better. Personally, I’m going to change it, so here’s how to do it…

1. Go into System Settings
2. Click on Display
3. By default the Size and Orientation option should be selected
4. You should see an option to set the size – change this via the drop-down
5. Apply these changes

The screen then proceeded to corrupt and I had to reboot the Kubuntu session to get it back – this worked however and my resolution is as I set it.

Installing Browsers

Kubuntu comes with Konqueror. The two further browsers I wish to install are Firefox and Opera.

First of all, Firefox…

1. Go into Adept Installer
2. Search for & install Firefox

A simple one that! Now for Opera…

1. Browse to http://www.opera.com/download/ and download the latest version to your desktop (it should be a .deb file)
2. Right click and select “Open With” followed by “GDebi Package Installer”

And that should be it. All done. However, each update to Kubuntu normally brings along changes to the above (e.g. with 8.10 I lost the ability to easily specify my monitor and video card hardware).

The plan now is to keep this post up-to-date (I’ll add appropriate comments to highlight where changes are made). In time I’m going to add a selection of FAQ pages to the site, and I’m sure this will become one of them.

Good luck and if you have any problems, please drop me a comment.

When I originally reviewed Google Chrome I did at as a home user. I’d just got my mits on it, installed it, browsed with it and gave my comments. And they still stand – it’s not very exciting and the speed increases they spoke about, I can barely notice them.

However, having spent some time reading more about the Chrome browser it becomes evident that this is far more important that it may first appear.

First of all, we have the OpenSource V8 JavaScript engine – written from scratch in machine code (rather than a higher level language, as others are).

Secondly, we have the fact that Chrome manages each tab as a seperate process. This means if a website crashes, it only takes down that tab.

Lastly, we have the various commands that can be typed in to display memory and process managers. A bit like the information on Windows Task Manager (you know, CTRL, ALT, DEL).

All of this means two things…

1. Once we get the plugins and all the other nice stuff that makes Firefox so cool and froody, this could pan out to be a superb browser.
2. If Google is not (and the moment they say they’re not) intending this to be their own OS then I’ll eat… my arse.

And by that second point, I mean the Chrome has all the components that makes it an OS – everything runs in separate processes, with memory and process management, etc. We all knew that with so many applications going online, then something as basic as a browser was the future of OS’ (although you still need something “backend” to run it on, and sort out hardware, etc) and this certainly looks like that way.

And, I’ll be honest, as a Beta release Chrome is pretty damn stable and un-buggy.

Now I just want to be able to change that default theme…

Ahhh, the old Blue Screen of Death (or BSoD) – that lovely screen of blue with white text that greets you when Windows goes horribly, horribly wrong.

Normally, my stress levels hit the roof as a result of one, but I guess I must be getting better at sorting them now, as one such really bad one today hardly made me bat an eyelid.

I was using a product named DriverMax to look for outdated drivers – it now has functionality to download and install them as well. So I let it. Some people never learn.

One reboot later and I’ve lost all network capability – any attempt by Windows to re-install it caused a fatal BSoD.

So I calmly reboot, access Safe Mode via F8 and run a system restore for earlier today. Ta-da – now working. And DriverMax? Not being used.