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A Journey from Windows to Linux

Kubuntu Apps

Once Kubuntu is running you should see an unfamiliar desktop picture with a task-bar along the bottom.

The "Application Launcher" at the left of the task-bar gives access to the installed apps. The familiar Microsoft apps are roughly equivalent to the following which come pre-installed:

Microsoft Office > LibreOffice;
File Explorer > Dolphin;
Notepad > Kate;
Edge > Firefox (and you can install Google Chrome as well);
Outlook > Thunderbird for emails and calendar (use the Flatpak version);
App Store > Discover;
The list of pre-loaded games may look sparse but KPatience offers 14 card games within one app.

If you want more apps, ideally install them via the "Discover" App Store. I used this to obtain free of charge:

Clapgrep for searching folders for a file containing a certain search string;
GIMP and Inkscape in addition to LibreOffice Draw for editing images;
Boomaga for printing in A5 booklet format (alternatively you can organise the pages e.g. 4,1,2,3 in Master PDF editor, then open the PDF with Firefox and print 2 pages per sheet, flipped on short edge);
FileZilla for uploading files to my website;
Master PDF Editor for editing pdfs (and OCR, not tested);
the Zoom online meeting client;
the Spectacle screengrab app has OCR built-in;
Wine which is the base app for running Windows programs on a Linux machine.

Opening most apps (e.g. Libe Office Writer) creates a new blank document, rather than the one already open, which is a nuisance. To manage your open windows, use the Window List widget; it is an item on your taskbar which, when clicked, lists all your open apps and documents. To obtain this widget, right-click a blank area of the task-bar, select "Add or Manage Widgets"; a list of available widgets appears. Select the very last item "Window List".

For printer control, use the built-in generic printer or a printer from the list in System Settings > printers, and the scanlite app. The HP bespoke software didn't find my printer.

For making password-protected folders I use Veracrypt which is available online at https://veracrypt.io/en/Home.html for both Windows and Linux (use the Debian version) systems.

Two programs emulate Windows so that you can run your favourite programs such as games and utilities: Dosbox (which I have not tried) offers environments from DOS up to Windows XP, and Bottles (installed from the app store) covers Windows 7 to Windows 11. A Bottle is a subdirectory containing a folder "drive_c". You can copy the installation files for a Windows program into "drive_c" and run the setup; it will create its own folders in "drive_c/Program files" or "drive_c/Program files (x86)" containing the .exe to run the program. The users group recommends creating a separate Bottle for each program, to avoid confusion.