Windows 8.1 and Kubuntu 13.10 dual boot

I have following specification for my system:

Dell Xps laptop without pre-installed Windows 8, 4GB RAM, 128 GB HDD, no DVD drive

You need to get Windows 8.1 installation file...genius...

you have couple of options, to get that. i assumed you could do that part, if not please see our ghinj customer service.

I have Windows 8.1 ISO file. if you want to install from USB memory stick, you need Windows 7 USB DVD Download Tool, from Microsoft website. this tool is easy to use you just follow the steps and it creates a bootable memory stick for you. 

On the other hand, if you don't have USB memory stick you have other option. in my case, i have a external hard drive which connects to USB 2 or 3 port by  cable. 

connect your external hard drive to your machine then extract the Windows ISO file to that. 

then follow this steps to make it bootable:

1- to run command prompt---> type 'cmd' in search box then enter or 
    windows logo key+ r ---> cmd

2- navigate to your external hard dive ---> e.g if your hard drive is H, the h:

3- then 'cd boot'

4- run this command: bootsect h:

then reboot your machine, and go through the Windows installation, which is pretty straight forward.

so far so easy.

now to install Kubuntu 13.10 or Ubuntu. first download it from Ubuntu or Kubuntu website.

installation file is not as big as Windows, so you can use usual USB memory stick.

there are tools to create a bootable memory stick for your installation, like Universal USB Installer, or Unetbootin, which i used unetbootin.

download and run Unetbootin. select the 'DiskImage', then browse to your image file and make sure the program has recognized your USB memory stick, hit 'OK' and let the program do its job.

when finished, do not reboot. there is one more step. you need to make some room for Ubuntu.

you need to run the 'Disk management' tool in Windows. 
quick way is -> win logo key+ r  -> diskmgmt.msc

or

right click on 'Computer' icon on your desktop, then choose 'Manage'. in the opened windows select 'Disk Management'. you can also go through control panel.

you may need administrator permission.

while inside disk management, right click on your windows drive and hit 'Shrink'. let it calculate the space then choose how much space you need then hit OK. you don't need to format that.

now put your bootable Ubuntu USB memory stick and reboot your machine. you need to make sure that your machine boot from USB first...check your boot menu for boot order...

if everything is fine you should see Ubuntu installation page. select install now. first a few steps are pretty straight forward like choosing your language, connecting to wireless network, etc. important part is partitioning your empty space on your hard drive. here we want to have dual boot so you should choose ' Something else' then it shows your hard drive lay out. you should be able to see the unpartitioned space in the list with other partitions. click on that, to create the partitions, here's what i created:
1- 250 Mb ..... EXT2 as /boot
2- 4096 Mb .... swap area ....depends on the size of installed RAM
3- rest of the space .... EXT4 journaling file system as /

for bootloader option, don't choose any drive, and leave it unchanged. you should have the format tick box for /boot and / drive. swap drive can't be formatted.
then go through the rest of installation. you need to reboot and you should see the GRUB menu which shows you the Windows and Ubuntu to choose. if not, then there are 3 situations here:
1- you go to Windows
2- you go to Ubuntu
3- or nothing 

i was lucky it worked for me in my first installation so i'm not going through how to fix those issues.
Windows secure boot, fast boot caused problem, and it needs to be turned off. or you go to Ubuntu then you need repair the boot loader, which can be done by installing boot repair software on Ubuntu and run that. it should fix the problem.

Good Luck 

p.s: couple of points:
 - Kubuntu and Ubuntu are same...almost. you can install KDE on Ubuntu or directly install Kubuntu.
 - i tested this steps and it worked for me.
 - i should have put some picture to make it more clear...blame me
 - i tried to be clear, if it wasn't, blame someone else
 - if you could follow these steps and then you see OS selection menu, then buy yourself a candy...:)
 - if you see an error, or if you know a better working way to achieve this, let the others know by sharing your experience.

How to install Viber on Kubuntu 13.10

you have 2 options to get the package
1- by using wget command 
or 
2- navigate to viber.com and download your suitable viber version.
after getting the package which is in .deb format....in my case...
open up the terminal then go to the directory you have downloaded viber then you must run :

sudo dpkg -i viber.deb

dpkg is debian package manager and -i switch install the package...check for other switches if you'd like. and that's it

p.s: if viber installation file is in zip format you need to unzip it then run the installer

How to configure shortcut key for Konsole on Kubuntu 13.10

There are couple of ways to do that, here I just give one of the many ways.

1. right click on kick off application launcher
2. choose 'Edit Application'
3. in left hand side of the windows, select System, then Konsole(Terminal)
4. when you select that, on the right hand side of the window, click on 'Advanced' tab
5. at the bottom of that tab you can set whatever short cut key you like.

then save the changes and start using.
as I said there are other ways as well, however, I tried  this and it worked for me.