3 Update The System

Before we go on, we should check if there are any updates available for our system. Start the KPackageKit package manager (System > Software Management):

Click on Software Updates. This will show you a list of available updates. Mark the checkboxes of all updates that you want to install (it is recommended to install all updates) and click on Apply:

Type in your password:

Afterwards the updates are being downloaded and installed:

When the update is complete, you can leave KPackageKit (if a new kernel was amongst the updates, a system restart is required to make the changes effective. If this is necessary, you will see a Restart button. Click on that button to restart the system.).

The system is now up-to-date.

4 Inventory Of What We Have So Far

Now let's browse all menus to see which of our wanted applications are already installed:

You should find the following situation ([x] marks an application that is already installed, where [ ] is an application that is missing):

Graphics:
[ ] The GIMP
[ ] Shotwell Photo Manager
[ ] Picasa

Internet:
[ ] Firefox
[ ] Opera
[ ] Chromium
[ ] Flash Player
[ ] FileZilla
[ ] Thunderbird
[ ] Evolution
[ ] aMule
[x] KTorrent
[ ] Vuze
[x] Kopete
[ ] Skype
[ ] Google Earth
[x] Quassel IRC
[ ] Gwibber Social Client

Office:
[x] LibreOffice Writer
[x] LibreOffice Calc
[ ] Adobe Reader
[ ] GnuCash
[ ] Scribus

Sound & Video:
[x] Amarok
[ ] Audacity
[ ] Banshee
[ ] MPlayer
[ ] Rhythmbox Music Player
[ ] gtkPod
[ ] XMMS
[ ] dvd::rip
[ ] Kino
[ ] Sound Juicer CD Extractor
[ ] VLC Media Player
[ ] RealPlayer
[ ] Totem
[ ] Xine
[ ] Brasero
[x] K3B
[ ] Multimedia-Codecs

Programming:
[ ] KompoZer
[ ] Bluefish
[ ] Quanta Plus

Other:
[ ] VirtualBox
[ ] TrueType fonts
[ ] Java
[x] Read/Write support for NTFS partitions

So some applications are already on the system. NTFS read-/write support is enabled by default on Kubuntu 11.04.

5 Configure Additional Repositories

Some packages like the Adobe Reader are not available in the standard Kubuntu repositories. The easiest way to make such packages available to your system is to add the Medibuntu repository.

First we open a terminal (System > Terminal):

First off, we edit /etc/apt/sources.list...

sudo kate /etc/apt/sources.list

... and enable the natty partner and Ubuntu Extras repositories (if they are not already enabled):

[...]
## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from Canonical's
## 'partner' repository.
## This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is offered by Canonical and the
## respective vendors as a service to Ubuntu users.
deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu natty partner
deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu natty partner

## This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is offered by third-party
## developers who want to ship their latest software.
deb http://extras.ubuntu.com/ubuntu natty main
deb-src http://extras.ubuntu.com/ubuntu natty main
[...]

Then save the file.

To enable the Medibuntu repository, please do the following:

Import the repository:

sudo wget http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/$(lsb_release -cs).list --output-document=/etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list

Import the gpg-key and update your package-list:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install medibuntu-keyring && sudo apt-get update

6 Installing The Synaptic Package Manager

I prefer the Synaptic Package Manager over Kubuntu's built-in package manager, therefore I install it as follows (still in the terminal):

sudo apt-get install synaptic

Then run

sudo update-apt-xapian-index

to make Synaptic display packages from third-party repositories.