This article suggests you several useful things to do after we finished the installation of Kubuntu 24.04 LTS "Noble Numbat". We have collected for you recommended hardware brands and printers, software applications, games, browser addons, useful adjustments, widgets and shortcuts to add, and several more. We present this to all GNU/Linux users. Finally, we hope this helps you get better daily life with Kubuntu. Let's start reading and happy friendly computing!
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Basics How To Play
To run Dolphin File Manager:
click applications menu -> type "dolphin" -> Dolphin icon will show -> click it -> Dolphin runs.
To run System Settings:
same as Dolphin but search for "settings" instead.
Alternative ways:
see bottom panel: click blue folder for Dolphin, and black box for Settings.
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1. Know Your System
Your system is Kubuntu 24.04 LTS in short. Your full specifications can be viewed as the following.
a. Open applications menu -> type "about" -> click About this System -> computer specification will show.
b. Open applications menu -> run KDE Partition Manager -> full information of hard disk drive(s) will show.
c. Open applications menu -> run Info Center -> full information of the whole hardware devices installed in the computer.
d. Type a command line in Konsole: $ inxi -Fz followed by Enter. If inxi is not installed yet, install it first. See picture below.
About this system |
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KDE Partition Manager |
Info Center |
inxi -Fz |
2. Adjust Mouse and Touchpad
Kubuntu 24.04 needs a little adjustments for mouse and touchpad.
1. Open System Settings.
2. Go to Input.
3. Go to Mouse -> adjust pointer speed -> Apply.
4. Go to Touchpad -> enable Tap to Click -> Apply.
5. Test and retry step 4 and 5 until you feel everything is alright.
(System Settings -> Input -> Touchpad)
3. Enable Internet Access
Click wifi icon (a dot with three arches) -> select a wifi hotspot available -> enter its password -> Connect -> connected -> internet access successfully established.
(Network Manager showing list of networks available nearby with one connected)
If you do not have access to wifi internet, alternatively you can use other choices:
a. USB Tethering from phone / portable wifi modem.
b. Cable internet. Or,
c. Using an external USB wifi dongle.
Note: if KDE Wallet shows up, select Classic (default) option -> fill nothing into username -> fill nothing into password -> OK -> it will not shows up again.
4. Enable Software Installation
Many people call this "update" (but actually it does not grow versions of installed apps) and you need to do this once so Kubuntu computer can install applications and games properly from the internet. Click applications menu -> click Konsole -> type the following and end it with Enter:
$ sudo apt-get update
Once finished, you will see that it downloads some megabytes of information about tens of thousands applications, games and utilities officially offered by Kubuntu.
(Discover showing SuperTuxKart racing games for kids generation of Free Software)
5. Disable Automatic Updates
Many times, you want Kubuntu Desktop operating system to update only when you command it to and not done automatically. No worries because you can still do update whenever you need/want anyway.
$ snap refresh --hold # to revert back, replace hold with unhold
$ sudo systemctl disable unattended-upgrades # to revert back, replace disable with enablePro Tip!
Do you have limited internet access? For example, is your internet service expensive or quota based? If so, aside from the above method, you can also add: connect to your wifi hotspot -> select your connected wifi hotspot -> Configure -> configuration dialog will show -> General -> switch Metered connection: into "Yes" -> Apply.
6. Create Your Desktop Shortcuts
Click start menu -> click Dolphin -> Dolphin runs -> open up your favorite folder -> go up one step -> with pointer, drag your favorite folder and drop it to the left under "Home" -> repeat this for any other of your favorite folders. See example below. More about this in our tutorial.
(Kubuntu with shortcut icons on desktop for apps, files, folders and PDFs)
7. Automatically Mounting Disk Drives
Automount your disk partitions! This will result in the same user experience to Windows users in which they always had their disk drives like [C:] and [D:] already mounted at startup. That is useful, for example, to fully enjoy "Recent Documents" features. More about this with screenshots on our tutorial.
8. Install Applications and Games You Want
Run Discover -> find an application -> click Install -> wait for the setup to take place -> application installed -> repeat this for any other favorite applications and games you want. See Recommended Apps & Games section below.
(Discover showing OpenTTD with Install button visible on top)
Pro Tip!
If you find Discover lacks detailed information, you can first install Synaptic Package Manager and use that instead. Please see Learn More section.
9. Setup Your Tools
We have tutorials covering things most people are working in daily basis. Feel free to pick one of these:
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| Setup Thunderbird for your Gmail/IMAP Account. |
To give you a glimpse of that, here's Thunderbird showing mails:
Tips and Tricks
We offer you several useful tips and tricks we use ourselves in daily life. Please pick one of these:
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| Import Firefox bookmarks & history | Import Tab Sessions Manager saved tabs | Pick a privacy-respecting Startpage, or DuckDuckGo search engine |
Learn More about Kubuntu
We believe everyone wants to learn more about Kubuntu GNU/Linux especially its command lines as well as its package management system.
Recommended Computer Brands
For your next computer, you may consider the following brands who offer laptops and desktops preinstalled with Kubuntu:
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Recommended Printers
We do not advice you to buy a printer for Kubuntu without first carefully reading community's advices and test results. Select only printer that works with GNU/Linux with full functionalities. If you already have one, please test it out with Kubuntu for compatibility. Don't waste your money buying printers rated as "garbage" or "paperweight" or "work only with Windows" because they do not work on Kubuntu. Links below go to FSF's Hardware Node Database, Linux Foundation's OpenPrinting as well as HPLIP webpages for your references. Separately, we also highly recommend you to read James Hayden's Printer Recommendation.
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Recommended Firefox Addons
We always present several Firefox addons in this series of recommendation articles. An addon is like a small program, it adds new functionality to Firefox web browser. Here we ago again this time:
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uBlock |
Tab Sessions Manager Helps you save currently opened tabs to reopen them at any time. |
Wayback |
Recommended Applications and Games
Here's some of our recommended apps for your daily activity and productivity. Click each link to show our tutorial on the Ubuntu Buzz.
LibreOffice |
GIMP |
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And here's our recommended games for your amusements and good time with kids. Click the link to visit official website of each game.
SuperTuxKart | OpenTTD | A multiplayer | A game similar |
To give you a glimpse of that, here's a picture of GIMP finished coloring a scenery of a pond with a chair and a fishing rod.
And finally here's a picture of the welcome screen of OpenTTD game with a glimpse of how its gameplay would look like.
(An OpenTTD city with a lot of roads, rails, water transportations, and air baloons)
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About Kubuntu
In this series
How to install Kubuntu 24.04 Noble Numbat
What to do after installing Kubuntu 22.04
What to do after installing Kubuntu 20.04
See Also
List of Kubuntu Default Applications and Their Purposes
References
Kubuntu User Manual Documentation
This article is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.