Kubuntu/Software

Software

This is a short guide to the software that is included in your Kubuntu installation.

Graphics

Some basic graphics applications are installed in Kubuntu by default, which allow you to create, view, scan, and manipulate images. The following applications are installed by default:

Okular is a universal document viewer for many kinds of documents including PDF, Postscript, !DjVu, CHM, XPS, ePub, etc.

LibreOffice Draw is an all-purpose diagramming and charting tool which lets you produce anything from a quick sketch to a complex plan, and gives you the means to use graphics and diagrams. With a maximum page size of 300cm by 300cm, Draw is an excellent package for producing technical drawings, general posters, and much more.

Skanlite is a simple image scanning application.

Gwenview is an image viewer with many features.

Kamoso is a webcam recorder from the KDE community.

KSnapshot is the best for desktop screenshots.

Internet

Kubuntu will get you online.

Browsers

Firefox is the default browser shipped with Kubuntu, the most popular open-source browser in the world. For more information on how to use Firefox see the Firefox Help Page.

Export your bookmarks

To export your bookmarks from Firefox:

Click on the Bookmarks menu item
Select Show All Bookmarks or Ctrl+Shift+O
A new window will appear. Select Import and Backup
Note where you save your bookmarks (by default in ~/yourfoldername)

Import your bookmarks into Firefox

A guide can be found here: Importing your bookmarks into Firefox.

Email Clients

There are many options when it comes to email clients. In Kubuntu, Kmail is the default email client, either as a stand-alone client or as part of the Kontact personal information manager (PIM). Kmail is the email component of Kontact, the KDE personal information manager (PIM). Kmail by itself is similar in functionality to other popular email programs, while Kontact is as full-featured as the fanciest personal information managers (PIMs), as it can be configured with calendars, address books, notes, an RSS reader, time tracking, journals and simple project planning. The following are just some of the features of Kmail:

IMAP, POP3, SMTP support

SSL, TLS, and Digest-md5 secure logon support

PGP and GNUPG signatures and encryption support

HTML reading, spam filtering, internal character sets, search and filter functions, spell checking, and

robust searching. More information on Kmail can be found in the KMail documentation.

Chat Clients

Chatting with friends and family is a popular use of the internet, and Kubuntu provides the necessary applications. There are two default chat clients installed in Kubuntu - KDE Telepathy for instant messaging, and Quassel for chatting on IRC (Internet Relay Chat).

KDE Telepathy is already installed and ready to configure.

Konversation is the IRC (Internet Relay Chat) client pre-installed in Kubuntu. Not only does it provide functions similar to those of other popular IRC clients such as 'X-chat, its design emphasizes ease of use. Konversation includes tabbed browsing and notification of messages and other events.

KDE software connects you to the world. See Internet, Networking, & Communication for more information.

Multimedia

The best in multimedia is installed when you open your new Kubuntu installation. If you get an error message about "missing codecs" please install kubuntu-restricted-extras. You can find your Multimedia applications through Kickoff->Applications->Multimedia.

The following applications are installed by default:

Pulseaudio keeps all your sound and video inputs and outputs working in harmony. If you need to direct your audio or video output to other devices, install the pavucontrol package, launch it by pressing Alt + F2, then type pavucontrol.

Exploring your music in Kubuntu is exciting with the pre-installed Amarok music player. For more about how to use and customize it see Amarok.

K3b is a simple, powerful and highly-configurable graphical optical disk burning application for audio, video, data projects.

Kmix controls all your audio channels.

Dragon Player is a simple interface for playing your movies, TV shows, and music.

Office

The default office suite installed in Kubuntu is LibreOffice. It includes Calc, Draw, Impress, Math, Base and Writer. This suite is the open source equivalent of the Microsoft Office suite and each application corresponds to a similar product in that line.

Calc = Excel

Writer = Word

Impress = Powerpoint

Base = Access

LibreOffice works well with the files created by their Microsoft counterparts, with the exception of Microsoft Access files. For more information see LibreOffice.

Personal Information Manager (PIM)

Installed with your system is the KDE Personal Information Manager Kontact. This includes many tools to help you manage your life.

email

contacts

diary

notes

feeds

to-do list

Please see Kontact for more details and help with this powerful set of tools.

System Settings

Information on adjusting system settings can be found at System Settings.

Utilities

Your newly installed Kubuntu system has some utilities already installed. One of the most useful is not in your menus; just press Alt + F2. Look at the top of your screen; there is one of your most powerful utilities, called Krunner. See more here: Krunner.

The following utility applications are installed by default:

Kate is the default text editor for KDE. It has many great features for editing plain text or writing code in many different languages.

Ark is the default tool for handling archives of files such as tar, gzip, bzip2, zip, rar and 7z.

Klipper is a clipboard to hold copied text for later use. Unlike other clipboards it will hold your entire copied text, rather than just one line.

Knotes is a sticky-note application to post notes on your desktop.

KCalc offers basic calculator functions and much more.

Konsole is the KDE terminal emulator, it can be used to run console shells.

Bash

Bash is the default shell in Konsole and the terminals. Click for more on using the Terminal.

Firewall configuration

Ufw is the default commandline configuration tool for the firewall. Ufw stands for Uncomplicated Firewall. It is developed to ease iptables firewall configuration. For more information about ufw see: UFW

Return to Kubuntu Home