Linked by Thom Holwerda on Tue 12th Sep 2006 13:37 UTC, submitted by chrishaney
Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu The endless stream of Ubuntu derivatives just refuses to end. "Fluxbuntu is a Ubuntu-based derivative that uses FluxBox as the desktop environment. It is lightweight, swift and efficient compared to Gnome or KDE. These features makes Fluxbuntu suitable for vast range of computers, from low-end to high-end." There's a screenshot gallery as well. Laugh at me all you want, but I want a ROXbuntu. I'm not kidding. Anyone?
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IceUbuntu?
by ozonehole on Tue 12th Sep 2006 14:12 UTC
ozonehole
Member since:
2006-01-07

That's cool, but I'm still waiting for IceUbuntu myself.

Reply Score: 4

RE: IceUbuntu?
by esper on Tue 12th Sep 2006 17:21 UTC in reply to "IceUbuntu?"
esper Member since:
2005-07-08

There is already ubuntu lite, which uses icewm as its wm.

http://www.ubuntulite.org/

Reply Score: 4

RE[2]: IceUbuntu?
by diskinetic on Tue 12th Sep 2006 20:07 UTC in reply to "RE: IceUbuntu?"
diskinetic Member since:
2005-12-09

No offense, but that project's home page looks a tad rough. Of course, it is cited that it's a work in progress, but "enyoj"?

Reply Score: 1

RE[3]: IceUbuntu?
by biteydog on Wed 13th Sep 2006 08:52 UTC in reply to "RE[2]: IceUbuntu?"
biteydog Member since:
2005-10-06

I don't think English is his native language - "j" is pronounced "y" in many central European languages. This shouldn't reflect per se on the quality of the distro

Reply Score: 1

RE[2]: IceUbuntu?
by pepa on Wed 13th Sep 2006 04:38 UTC in reply to "RE: IceUbuntu?"
pepa Member since:
2005-07-08

It will take over your entire harddrive, and warn you only once. I couldn't believe it was serious, and thought there would be other configuration questions to follow, but it filled the start of my harddrive before I caught it.

Reply Score: 1

As long as it's something new....
by Devilotx on Tue 12th Sep 2006 14:33 UTC
Devilotx
Member since:
2005-07-06

from what I read, this isn't going to be "Ubuntu with Flux and as the Default Environment" that would be ubsurd in my book.

I can see a reason behind Ubuntu/Kubuntu, as KDE/Gnome are IMO the leaders in Linux desktops, with the lesser/lighter DE's available via apt.

If this becomes something along the lines of like, DSLinux or Puppy, in it does away with the heavyness and gives a sharp fast system, then that would be cool. but if its Ubuntu booting into Fluxbox, then that is just a waste, IMO.

and I dig flux, I'm not a hater, I triple boot DSLinux, Fedora Core 5 and Ubuntu.

Reply Score: 4

BlueEyedOS
by Beta on Tue 12th Sep 2006 14:47 UTC
Beta
Member since:
2005-07-06

I guess if BlueEyedOS ever started up again, it could be HaikUbuntu.

Reply Score: 5

Cool...
by 1c3d0g on Tue 12th Sep 2006 14:54 UTC
1c3d0g
Member since:
2005-07-06

...but I prefer Openbox myself.

Reply Score: 2

RE: Cool...
by blixel on Tue 12th Sep 2006 14:58 UTC in reply to "Cool..."
blixel Member since:
2005-07-06

same here ... though I'm not sure I'd bother with OpenBoxuntu vs. just installing Debian core and apt-get'ing what I wanted.

Reply Score: 1

Yet Another *Buntu?
by da_Chicken on Tue 12th Sep 2006 15:29 UTC
da_Chicken
Member since:
2006-01-01

Does this Fluxbuntu have any advantage over DSL-N? http://damnsmalllinux.org/dsl-n/

IMO, they should use another gtk2-engine -- the default gtk2 theme doesn't look very attractive in the screenshots.

I'm still waiting for someone to build a Debian- or Ubuntu-based live-cd with Ion as the default WM. (Yeah, I already know about grml and I like it. Still, Ion is not the default in grml. http://wiki.grml.org/doku.php ) And, of course, I'd like this Ion live-cd to use my own special customized keybindings. :-P

Reply Score: 2

RE: Yet Another *Buntu?
by Goweropolis on Tue 12th Sep 2006 15:57 UTC in reply to "Yet Another *Buntu?"
Goweropolis Member since:
2006-04-27

One major advantage of Fluxbuntu over DSL-N is probably the ability to use apt-get/aptitude/synaptic to update packages. I love DSL, but I love Debian/Ubuntu's ability to update to new packages easily even more!

Reply Score: 2

evilubuntu
by vegai on Tue 12th Sep 2006 15:52 UTC
vegai
Member since:
2005-12-25

I want EvilUbuntu.

http://www.6809.org.uk/evilwm/

Reply Score: 4

ROX would be better than Flux
by abraxas on Tue 12th Sep 2006 16:11 UTC
abraxas
Member since:
2005-07-07

I think ROXbuntu would make more sense than Fluxbuntu. Flux is just a windowmanager. ROX is actually a lot closer to a desktop environment. There are applications for it and an overall cohesive way of doing things. Maybe someone should just package a large array of windowmanagers and all non KDE/GNOME dependant applications with it.

Reply Score: 1

RE: ROX would be better than Flux
by sorpigal on Tue 12th Sep 2006 16:21 UTC in reply to "ROX would be better than Flux"
sorpigal Member since:
2005-11-02

ROX would be better, but it has a problem: Packaging. Ubuntu uses APT and ROX uses app folders. Rox really needs its own distribution to shine properly, not to be bolted onto a Debian-based.

Reply Score: 3

Mr_Impossible Member since:
2006-09-13

There was a ROX-OS distribution project that started:

http://roxos.sunsite.dk/dev-contrib/guido/Blog/

This was due to build a whole distribution around ROX, with a complete new appdir based file system hierarchy (somewhat similar to Gobolinux). But it appears to have stalled due to lack of contributors and developer time.

ROX already has a mature and advanced application packaging and delivery mechanism with zero-install:

http://zero-install.sourceforge.net/

All both projects need are more enthusiastic developers with Linux hacking skills and enough free time. Zero install particularly just needs willing volunteers to package applications and make them available.

Reply Score: 2

And Yet Another *Buntu
by da_Chicken on Tue 12th Sep 2006 16:42 UTC
da_Chicken
Member since:
2006-01-01

There seems to be another Ubuntu-based distro, nUbuntu, that also uses fluxbox but specializes in security testing.

http://nubuntu.org/
http://shots.osdir.com/slideshows/slideshow.php?release=691&slide=3...

Reply Score: 2

Ratbuntu and Olvwmuntu
by sbergman27 on Tue 12th Sep 2006 17:36 UTC
sbergman27
Member since:
2005-07-24

I just want to get my votes in for these two sorely needed OSes.

Reply Score: 2

fvwm...
by beowuff on Tue 12th Sep 2006 18:14 UTC
beowuff
Member since:
2006-07-26

Well, maybe I should start looking into fvwmbuntu... Or, maybe we all just need a *buntu distro...

Reply Score: 1

*buntu?
by devurandom on Tue 12th Sep 2006 18:27 UTC
devurandom
Member since:
2005-07-06

Seriously, this is getting silly.
It is quite ridicolous that everyone packages his own distro just by switching *buntu desktop environments.

Ubuntu, Kubuntu and Xubuntu make sense because they are consistently different - Ubuntu is geared towards GNOME tools, Kubuntu towards KDE tools etc., and they try to do this consistently, creating a smooth experience for the end user. But, AFAIK, while there are KDE and GNOME/Gtk apps, there are no "fluxboxish", nor "icewm-ish" apps.

So, where's the point?

Reply Score: 4

RE: *buntu?
by beowuff on Tue 12th Sep 2006 18:30 UTC in reply to "*buntu?"
beowuff Member since:
2006-07-26

I agree, wich is why I brought up *buntu... I would say that maybe we need a non-desktop geared *buntu for people who want to run fluxbox/icewm/whatever... except wouldn't that be debian? :-P

Or, perhaps, ubuntu-server...

Edited 2006-09-12 18:32

Reply Score: 1

somebodystopitUbuntu!
by viton on Tue 12th Sep 2006 19:03 UTC
viton
Member since:
2005-08-09

What is the point of making a zillions of clones instead of 1-2 flexible distributions?

Reply Score: 4

RE: somebodystopitUbuntu!
by arctic on Wed 13th Sep 2006 16:50 UTC in reply to "somebodystopitUbuntu!"
arctic Member since:
2006-04-19

Agreed. It is really getting silly. Next we will see washmyclothesbuntu and domyironingbuntu, too. ... Hm... not such a bad idea after a second thought. ;)

Reply Score: 1

Is Flux* really faster?
by Gryzor on Tue 12th Sep 2006 19:11 UTC
Gryzor
Member since:
2005-07-03

than <insert your preferred DE/WM> ?

Reply Score: 1

RE: Is Flux* really faster?
by da_Chicken on Tue 12th Sep 2006 20:13 UTC in reply to "Is Flux* really faster?"
da_Chicken Member since:
2006-01-01

I don't think that fluxbox's popularity has so much to do with its speed but, rather, with its balance of providing features many users like and still staying light-weight. Fluxbox doesn't take much hard disk space and it doesn't eat much RAM. If you've got a computer with little RAM, fluxbox is certainly faster than a heavy-weight desktop environment that requires lots of RAM. In such comparison fluxbox leaves you with more RAM for running applications.

The man page of fluxbox is a great introduction to its many features and also a helpful guide for configuring it.

Reply Score: 1

Hyperbole
by diskinetic on Tue 12th Sep 2006 19:27 UTC
diskinetic
Member since:
2005-12-09

"The endless stream of Ubuntu derivatives just refuses to end..."

An endless (official) stream of Kubuntu, Edubuntu (if that even counts), Xubuntu, and Fluxbuntu (if that even counts). So a box of one dozen eggs is three endless streams of eggs?

Linux, and all of open source, as far as I can discern, is all about derivative work with incremental improvements. Why reinvent the wheel when all you need are knobbier tires? If this opening remark is supposed to indicate the author's eyes rolling, it's inflammatory.

Now, if we're remarking upon the conversion of Mepis and the abovementioned Ubuntulite, there may appear to be a burgeoning stream, but in some way it gives me heart that Linux developers and packagers are beginning to agree on more than they disagree upon. We've picked an OS, it is Ubuntu (OK, OK, Debian) and now we're skinning it. Sounds like the tuner market to me, and that's promising.

Reply Score: 2

Complexity/Debian
by DigitalAxis on Tue 12th Sep 2006 20:11 UTC
DigitalAxis
Member since:
2005-08-28

I seem to recall someone commenting in the Shuttleworth article last week, that if Ubuntu tried to become Debian it would inherit its broad internal diversity and disagreement, hence why EVERYTHING is available in Debian.

Well, looks like despite his original intentions, Ubuntu's basically going the same route. This is Linux's "problem"- everyone has their own preferred way of doing things, and there's no Microsoft- or Apple- like corporate entity standing there saying NO, YOU MUST DO IT THIS WAY AND ONLY THIS WAY.

Sooner or later I think they're going to have to rebrand these things, and have Ubuntu be the name of the base system, and perhaps default to the Gnome desktop version...

Reply Score: 2

RE: Complexity/Debian
by suslik on Tue 12th Sep 2006 23:06 UTC in reply to "Complexity/Debian"
suslik Member since:
2005-07-27

if Ubuntu tried to become Debian it would inherit its broad internal diversity and disagreement, hence why EVERYTHING is available in Debian.

That's why god gave us Novell and Rad Hat. I don't get to say that often, but... "Gee, Thanks Pal!!!"

Reply Score: 1

Wrong approach
by apanloco on Tue 12th Sep 2006 20:36 UTC
apanloco
Member since:
2006-04-01

I _really_ think this ubuntu/kubuntu/xubuntu/fluxbunto is the wrong approach. Why not stick to vanilla ubuntu and maintain the kde-desktop packages etc? It is such a waste of time. What I mean is, that it's no difference to install ubuntu and then add another desktop. No need for all these distribution that underneath is the same thing.

BR/D

Reply Score: 1

RE: Wrong approach
by Sphinx on Tue 12th Sep 2006 21:12 UTC in reply to "Wrong approach"
Sphinx Member since:
2005-07-09

Struck a chord, I always thought Ximian had the right approach to the linux desktop. Letting go of the underpinning and focusing on the user experience could only hasten the arrival of the linux desktop. The ubuntu/kubuntu/xubuntu/fluxbunto 's all have the right idea and direction, they just need another degree of isolation. The os and the desktop should be two separate entities. Then we can address making them all cross-compatible.

Reply Score: 1

AkiFoblesia
Member since:
2006-07-25

o yes! the same story! want a specific feature? then do a full installation of an OS again. don't see it as your final OS though. it's sure that another linux flavor would invite you for another full OS installation for another cool feature...

Reply Score: 1

ebuntu (E17)
by de_wizze on Wed 13th Sep 2006 02:22 UTC
de_wizze
Member since:
2005-10-31

Thats that I want to see ....

Reply Score: 1

Do we need...
by mwtomlinson on Wed 13th Sep 2006 10:57 UTC
mwtomlinson
Member since:
2005-11-06

I've been running Ubuntu since 2004 (pre-release 4.10) and I have to say the proliferation of forks, take-offs, "based-ons", etc. is getting a little, um, embarrassing. I guess it's a form of flattery - but do we really need a "*buntu for red-headed, left-handed gilwickies"?

Reply Score: 1