Lubuntu 10.04
In previous reviews, I looked at the latest versions of Ubuntu and Kubuntu. Now it’s time to look at a lightweight alternative to both of them, Lubuntu. Lubuntu uses the Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment (LXDE) instead of the chunkier GNOME or KDE desktops.
Lubuntu 10.04 is not an official derivative of Ubuntu; it is not supported by Canonical. However, it is serves a very important purpose by providing an Ubuntu distro geared toward older or less powerful computers.
What’s New In This Release
Lubuntu 10.04 is based on Ubuntu 10.04 so it shares some similar new features such as faster boot time, etc. This release also includes a rewrite of PCMan File Manager that brings it to 0.9.5, LXDM, and Chromium as the default browser.
Beyond that, there’s not much more in the way of new features in this release of Lubuntu, according to the release notes. I’d really like to see Lubuntu (and a lot of other distro developers) emulate how Linux Mint presents new features. Linux Mint makes it very easy on reviewers by providing a comprehensive new features page.
So many distros have information scattered all over the place that it ends up being a huge pain in the ass to try to find out all of the significant new features. Make it easy on us guys; feed us the information we need to write a comprehensive review. Don’t make us scour your site looking at this page or that blog entry to try to find out what’s new and why our readers should care.
Thanks.
Chromium is the default browser in Lubuntu 10.04.
Lubuntu's file manager PCManFM.
On the next page, I’ll look at the hardware requirements and the install routine.
(5 votes, average: 4.60 out of 5)
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I am using Peppermint OS One right now. It seems to me that Peppermint is quite similar to Lubuntu, but Peppermint has both Ubuntu and Mint repos serving it with package updates. If you are a Mint fan, you may appreciate the simple, but artistic opening page, which is still quite lightweight.
I may grab the image, now that I have a USB drive again, but I don’t see anything that Lubuntu is likely to offer that differs significantly from Peppermint, and I kind of like the responsiveness and everything else about Peppermint. I’d likely rate both of them well for systems needing light (or fast) setups.
I would have to agree. Lubuntu seems like a nice effort, but Peppermint is still the lightweight king.
You got linked already by LXer, so that’s pretty good Jim!
I tried the live CD on a Dell Latitude with an ATI Technologies Inc Rage Mobility M3 AGP 2x (rev 02) graphics card. The best resolution is 800×600. I heard of other problems with old computers and non-Intel graphics cards. If there is a solution, Hooray, Lubuntu; Otherwise, BOO! Screen resolution was fine with Mandriva 2009 Live CD so I know it can be done.
[...] Lubuntu Linux 10.04 Review | Desktop Linux Reviews In previous reviews , I looked at the latest versions of Ubuntu and Kubuntu. Now it’s time to look at a lightweight alternative to both of them, Lubuntu. Read more: Lubuntu Linux 10.04 Review | Desktop Linux Reviews [...]
Q1. If not officially supported by Ubuntu, How come it is allowed to use the owrd “Ubuntu” in its distro name?
Q2. Thanks to the previous posters, I have learnt that there is Peppermint which is also base on Ububtu + LXDE. Some weeks ago, I have also heard of PuppyLinux, how do these 3 Ubuntu + LXDE compare?
Q3. What happen if I run a Gnome application? And for the sake of education, let’s imagine that this application is Gnome only and doesn’t have an LXDE equivalent.
Thanks in advance for any help.
Before Lubuntu came into being, it was discussed by Canonical, including Mark Shuttlesworth, and it was approved. Not sure where or how far it is in the process of becoming an officially sponsored or sanctioned distribution. At this point, the name is recognized, but the corporate support is not there.
Peppermint OS One is based on Linux Mint 9, which also has its roots above in Ubuntu, and in particular, the 10.04 release, so Peppermint and Lubuntu are VERY CLOSE in capabilities since they use the same desktop environment. Personally, I like Peppermint; more tools, slightly more refined, and just as fast.
You can run whatever you want with either Peppermint or Lubuntu. Both have the Lucid Lynx repos of Ubuntu behind them.
Puppy is much more minimal than these distributions, but the recent Puppy derivative from Barry Kauler will allow the use of packages from other systems, whereas Puppy uses either its own, or at a stretch, Slackware based packages. Future Puppy derivatives from Barry are likely to be able to use Ubuntu packages.
Peppermint based on Mint, Mint based on Ubuntu and Ubuntu based on Debian.
I am getting tired. Any distro out there not based on another distro?
@ Innocent Bystander:
Q1: Lubuntu has been pushing for official Canonical sponsorship and it’s very possible that they’ll have it for the 10.10 release.
Q3: Gnome apps run just fine as LXDE also uses GTK and the file manager utilizes gvfs. Some Gnome apps will bring a bunch of dependencies, but they’ll run fine.
@ Brian Masinick:
Peppermint OS is actually a fork of Lubuntu 10.04 Alpha 3. It does use some Mint tools and some of the lower level configuration files from Linux Mint. Without Lubuntu, it would be very difficult for Peppermint to exist as it presently does. See the Launchpad site for more details: https://launchpad.net/~kendalltweaver/+archive/peppermint
@ Earl Violet:
The Buntu’s and ATI parted ways after version 8.10. They supply an open source driver which is not fully baked yet. The bad news is, getting your wifi to work with 8.10 and prior is a major chore.
Buntu does work well with Intel and Nvidia GPU’s.