Linux is an operating system offering an alternative to Windows, Android and the like. I wanted to master it for several years, but made little progress. Recent frustrations with Windows taking several minutes to boot, and several seconds to open a context menu, made the quest more urgent.
Linux is a free, open-source suite of programs, and several individuals and groups have created a variety of versions. I first tried "Linux Mint", but found the lack of a graphical interface daunting, and the strange file structure incomprehensible.
Several versions of Linux have emerged whose user interfaces are related to those in Windows and Android. They now "plug and play" many peripheral devices such as printers and screens. I chose to try Kubuntu which appears to have a wide following.
I bought a cheap second-hand laptop (its processor has only 2 cores running at 1GHz) to play with, and installed Kubuntu on it in place of Windows. The results were very encouraging, after much internet research and a few false starts due to inadequate instructions for some steps. I then installed Kubuntu on a better laptop which I now use.
The purpose of these pages is to help anyone attempting such a conversion to do so with more confidence and less trouble. The result is a computer that boots much quicker, uses free software, yet can carry out most office and leisure tasks. The pages that follow cover:
© David Billin 2026