Ubuntu Linux has millions of fans. What's not to like? A
free operating system with ten thousand free applications, websites covering everything you might
ever want to know, tutorials, active forums, and more. Yet for all these benefits, situations pop up when you want a
faster, lighter operating system. Perhaps
you have an older computer, or maybe a netbook or
a mobile device. Wouldn't it be great
to have a lightweight Ubuntu?
That day has finally arrived. Lubuntu offers a way to stay in the Ubuntu family -- with a product that performs better and uses
fewer resources.
Post a Comment
Member since:
2005-07-11
Lubuntu is a nice upgrade for the original palmtops from Acer, the 701-4G. Access to more modern apps than the bastardised Xandros that ships with them, without negatively affecting the experience too much. It's very tempting to migrate all our 701s to this ... if only it didn't take so long to install/configure 100 of them. 
Unfortunately, there's a small glitch with the Intel video driver that causes the entire screen to flicker/redraw when opening apps, or moving windows, and such. Not sure which version of Ubuntu brought this driver, but it's a little annoying.
I debated using Lubuntu on my Acer 1005, but went with KDE4 and the plasma-netbook interface.
Member since:2010-03-08
Member since:2005-07-11
Member since:2009-12-27
Member since:2005-07-11
You'd still have to touch 100 machines.
We're a diskless shop, where everything is installed on the server and accessed via NFS. Our desktop setup is "edit dhcpd.conf; turn on desktop".
Schools bought the eeePCs against our wishes, so we're very hands-off on them. Now that they've reached the limits of the Xandros install, they want them upgraded, but we really don't have the time to spend on them.
Even 10 minutes per system to clone/test them ... is a couple days of a tech's time doing nothing but cloning.
We're considering options for dealing with these over the summer, though.
Member since:2005-11-10
Member since:2005-07-11
We've floated that suggestion a couple of times, but it's always been shot down by either the teacher, the school, or the school board.
These are in elementary schools, where you'd think it would get students interested in technology by seeing the inner workings of an OS install ... but it's been poo-poohed by the higher ups.
Member since:2005-06-29
Gotta love the education system. We're dealing with overt cheating here in Atlanta, with the school board actively threatening teachers who attempt to report it. Makes me embarrassed to admit I live here, and I'm just in the metro area, not even the city limits.
As for the netbook issue, well if your team didn't want them in the first place why did the school buy them? Do they not listen to their IT staff? Call me ornery, but I would approach the board like this: Let the kids help us install upgrades in a win-win scenario (educational and free), or buy us exactly what we recommend as suitable replacements and drain the budget in doing so.
You wouldn't even need to go with Ubuntu based distros since you said it has video problems; you can create a fully customizable Tiny Core Linux image, or go with one of the Puppy Linux variants.
Member since:2005-07-11
Yeah, you gotta love politics.
I'm a lower-man on the totem pole, so all I do is make the suggestions to management, provide options, and handle the follow-through on what they decide. Yeah, it's not a perfect system, and rarely does the best solution get picked, but it's what we have to work with.
I'm just waiting for enough of them to die that it becomes feasible to replace them all. Or for the teacher to leave and the replacement to not want to use them. 
Member since:
2006-01-08
I run Ubuntu 10.4 on my main machine at home, and recently picked up a top-of-the-line G4 (PPC) Mac Mini (because I wanted a PPC machine, and didn't want to have to haul around another tower), which was about to get the Ubuntu treatment.
Does Lubuntu support PPC? It seems it would be a better fit, as the G4 runs at only 1.5 Ghz, has a half-gig of RAM (and tops out at 1gig). Its probably equivalent to a fast PIII or so.
Member since:2006-11-19
Member since:2007-04-08
The official ppc builds are gone, but there is a port over here: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ports/releases/10.04/release/
You can also find the newest release here:
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ports/releases/10.10/release/
A minimal or netinstall is possible. You can get the lubuntu desktop then by typing apt-get install lubuntu-desktop. This should work pretty fine.
Member since:2006-01-08
Member since:2005-07-06
Unofficial, but it works.
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ports/releases/maverick/release/
Member since:2011-03-01
Member since:2005-07-06
Member since:2010-05-14
Probably because it runs well. Since it uses GTK+ instead of a scripting language like XUL+Javascript it tends to be more responsive than Firefox, especially on low end machines and especially on Linux.
It is believed by alot of Firefox users (as I did once) that freezing/stalling is a result of taking up more CPU & RAM resources. This is because Firefox has had bugs where it takes up 100% CPU on Windows and freezes. But if Chrome is taking up more resources than Firefox without freezing the cause must lay elsewhere.
Member since:2008-10-22
I use the stable Debian PPC port with LXDE; http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/6.0.0/powerpc/iso-cd/debian-6.0...
Also, I thought the maintainer of U-Lite had joined the Lubuntu team but I see a post from him on the ulite.org from October...
Member since:2009-01-03
Member since:2005-11-15
MorphOS is worth a try, OWB is a pretty good webrowser, a new version released today. The OS is fast, although it must be said, not for everyone. It's not as rock solid as a stable Linux, or heck, OS X install, and there's not a good flash player for it, but then I suppose there's not a good flash player for PPC Linux either.
If you want you can download it and instructions from http://www.morphos-team.net/downloads.html
It works from the CD, Live CD style, so it's worth a some of your time. you might like, or maybe not.
Member since:2010-05-19
Member since:
2006-11-19
Lubuntu's goals are great, but I think they could be met with a program rather than another freaking distro.
Why not just write some sort of control panel / configuration manager type thing (yes I know synaptic) that removes the fat bits and replaces them with lean bits?
Same goes for all the other *buntus.
Choice is great, but I think it can be achieved with some collaboration. What I mean is I think it would be great if all the *buntu developers worked together a bit better, and come up with something sort of like Microsoft's browser ballot box type thing to install the relevant bits.
Member since:2005-07-11
Uh, it is just like that.
You can install any *buntu. Once installed, you just:
aptitude install lubuntu-desktop
aptitude purge kubuntu-desktop
Put any *buntu-desktop into the lines above to make it work.
Each "distro" is just a single meta-package in the standard Ubuntu repositories.
Member since:
2008-09-14
I actually put Lubuntu on a Thinkpad 570. This thing is a PII 366 with 192 MB RAM... hardly a powerhouse. Lubuntu is quite usable on the machine. I can do basic web browsing using a modern web browser, listen to music, play back most standard-def videos full screen, view and edit most documents... most everything you would do on any other machine. The only things it won't do are Flash (which sucks under Linux in general), high-def video, and 3D games. All in all, I couldn't be happier about how usable this 12 year old machine is.
Member since:
2005-07-06
Member since:2009-12-05
On older computers, having everything "light", is good ofcourse. But if you are the type that run "light" for maximum speed on modern computers, I've found a shaved kernel, to impact performance, in much a more noticable way, than just having a "light" distro. For instance, in my current config, I turned off everything I suspected to increase os-jitter. I can now run 0.363 latency in audio applications, on my firewire card, with little dropouts. On old computers this can ofcourse be good too, but you may want to leave a few of the features on, that I turned off then. Like swapfile, memory compaction and other things.. (http://www.paradoxuncreated.com/tmp/.config)
Member since:2010-05-19
You _still_ haven't read any of the papers on what "OS Jitter" is???
How many cores does your computer have?
If it's less than 4, there's _zero_ chance that "OS Jitter" is a concern.
You're blaming something that has _nothing_ to do with the problems you are undoubtedly experiencing.
"Shaved"?
Please just post in Nyorsk or Bokmål. I'm sure I could do better with a some basic translation tools, like a dictionary and grammar guide.
I'm being _generous_ in trying to assume that it's a language barrier causing all your posts to be utter nonsense.
Member since:
2006-07-12
I know LXDE has matured for a while, but i am pretty certain that Leszek Lesner has made Lubuntu videos on youtube for a certain while. ( i think for over a year ) And it feels like it is just gnome. The speed difference in my oppinion is not that different either.
If you want fast, easy to use and rather pretty, pick ubuntu net-boot, install amiwm and Xorg, slap a good wallpaper on it and pick the prettiest non-pixbuf gtk+theme you can find on gnome-look.org. Then install whatever apps you like, disable the system tray functionality on app basis, then learn to use the awsomeness of virtual screens in amiwm.
This is what i would do on a 500mhz pc, not use Lubuntu. But i digress, i am not like most other people on this matter.
Member since:2008-06-03
Agree with you. Mini.iso is the way to go, though I'd personally go with a Debian netinstall if I wanted apt.
Slitaz would still get my vote over any other "out-of-the-box" distro for older hardware, though. Crux would be a good choice if you could find the time to get it configured.
Member since:2005-07-27
Member since:2005-08-27
Yes it is a bit old news since Lubuntu has been around for about a year or so.
I for one installed Debian "Lenny" from a net-install disk and installed Xorg plus LXDE, on a old Pentium II compatible with only 64 MiB EDO-RAM. Of course this isn't a speed demon but hey it works :-)
Thanks for your information on amiwm. Sounds Amigaish. Will give it a try.
The minimal system requirements for Lubuntu are 128 MiB RAM.
Member since:
2006-01-26
Member since:
2011-03-01
GALPon MiniNo is better for ten years old computers, it's impossible to install Lubuntu in my old Toshiba, for example, because Lubuntu shares kernel with Ubuntu and Ubuntu has its kernel optimized for new computers.
Minino is easy to use too, it has a lot of facilities for newbies (and for experts) users, that is not present in Lubuntu, Puppy or Damnsmall by default.
Minino is easy to install and really fast, and the most of hardware configuration is automatic like most of distributions.
It's opensource and has long support, like Debian and share its repository :-)
And it has a good support too.
Wiki: http://minino.galpon.org
Characteristics: http://minino.galpon.org/wiki/doku.php?id=galpon_minino_characteris...
Minino in action: http://gruvi.galpon.org/minino/miscelanea/promo.mpeg
Downloads: http://minino.galpon.org/wiki/doku.php?id=descargar_galpon_minino
Member since:
2006-02-19
Member since:
2008-03-10
Someone seems to have forgotten to check if this already existed: http://www.xubuntu.org/
Also the hardware requirements are practically the same, so this is pretty pointless. You could probably just install the alternate desktop this uses from xubuntu too.
Member since:2007-12-26
Member since:2005-11-22
Member since:2006-04-07
Member since:2010-03-30
Member since:
2007-06-16
I remember reading here and every other Linux site about not needing to have antivirus/malware in Linux because it was oh so secured!
I kept saying that obscurity on the desktop kept it secured. Now that Android (Linux) has become so popular with phones, the cat is out of the bag boys. Better get some protection for your phone or will be rooted and all data stolen.
Read this article and check your own phone:
http://www.podcastingnews.com/content/2011/03/maybe-apples-app-revi...
Member since:2010-03-08
Member since:2009-09-17
you can't patch stupid. If you download and run malicious code onto your machine it can and will hurt you no matter your OS. Social engineering and stupid users will always find a way to get bad code onto machines. This does not change the fact that Linux has fewer exploits and venerabilities compared to other OS as well as a better security model that limits the extent of the damage clueless users can do by mistake, and when exploits are found they tend to be fixed faster and in a more open manner. I see no new information that changes this.
TLDR: The best locks in the world won't help you if you let the bad guy in willingly. And if you do, don't blame the locks.
Member since:
2008-05-03
Member since:
2005-09-09
Member since:
2011-03-04
LXDE works well in terms of slimness, but in terms of light weight + elegance there is no beating the Enlightenment desktop. Bodhi Linux utilizes this and runs on hardware with as equally lows specs as Lubuntu does - http://www.bodhilinux.com/
Cheers,
~Jeff Hoogland
Member since:
2006-12-05
"Ubuntu Linux has millions of fans. What's not to like?"
Ouch, what a way to start an article... a lot of things could be listed as *not* to like about Ubuntu. I could list a bunch myself; distros like Linux Mint seem to agree and are doing excellent not following all of Ubuntu's quirky ways. Otherwise, why would there be tons of Ubuntu-derivatives like there are now? Of course, on the other hand, Ubuntu does have many desired features and can provide a solid base OS to build new distros from.
So yeah... I would say that like anything, Ubuntu certainly has its flaws, as well as some desired traits. As for what's not to like? Well, I'll refrain from going over that again, and complaints are all over the Web... it's certainly not ideal for everyone, and it has been straying further and further from my interest for the last several versions now. I honestly don't really care about it any more, but some of its spawns are pretty nice.
Member since:
2010-06-16
Member since:2005-08-27
Well, I think Lubuntu is quite a interesting distro for Windows converts. LXDE looks quite Win9x-ish. My Lover for example hates all those eye candy stuff on Win Vista/7, KDE etc..
Then I installed LXDE on Ubuntu on one of his laptops and he loved it.
There for IMO it's a good decision of Canonical supporting it as a official branch.
Member since:
2005-07-06