Okay, with a few exceptions, I’ve spent much of my day trying to get my Kubuntu install working the way I’d like. The primary challenge remaining (as far as I know right now) is to get PGP working.
And in trying to get it working, an embarrassing, dispiriting thought came to me ... what if I’m a luser who isn’t capable of handling being outside the proprietary corral?
I’m trying not to be clueless, but it’s frustrating to track down clues when a system’s behavior changes unpredictably. For example, multiple Linux users recommended installing Gnome alongside the KDE that’s built into Kubuntu, because some of the stuff in Gnome is better than some of the stuff in KDE. I’d used Gnome before, years ago under Red Hat, and that seemed reasonable. So I did that on the original drive, and didn’t have any known problems with it. Today, I did it again, on the new hard drive, and upon restarting I learned that Gnome had promoted itself to the default window manager! That wouldn’t’ve been so bad if it had been a more familiar GUI, but it’s very different from my last experience. It took about an hour to extricate myself from that mess, and I’m still wanting to find a way to keep that from happening again.
Part of it has to do with MAL, too ... I think I’ve come to rely on him more than is good. In fact, I said something to that effect, and while he acknowledged it, he added that he enjoys (mostly) solving problems and playing with code, and that he usually can accomplish results faster than I can. And since my machine is vital to almost all my work, faster is definitely better. So I’m not sure how to find a better balance here. But one does need to be reached.
Relax..
This is just a little bump in the road. It sounds like you might have done something different between the two installs...Perhaps you installed Ubuntu-Desktop vs. default Gnome or vice-versa? Ubuntu reconfigures the default Gnome interface to something that they think is better. The problem is that the two are different enough to be confusing.
As far as getting help goes, there is definitely nothing wrong with that, just make sure that you fully understand what he did when he is finished, or as soon as possible thereafter. That way you won't have to ask twice for the same problem.
One thing to remember is that you can easily run Gnome apps in KDE and vice-versa. I used Gnome originally, but found that I used so many KDE apps that I switched to KDE and found that I preferred it. I still prefer some Gnome apps, though. Firefox, Totem, Audacity, and Synaptic come to mind. I also may switch back to the Eye of Gnome image viewer. But I do not have the Gnome (default or Ubuntu) desktop installed. My hard drive's really small, and I need the room.