Lubuntu Looks Good
September 11th, 2009 by ComputerBob
If you’re like me — and I know I am — you’re a little tired of all of the cutesie variations on Ubuntu Linux: Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Edubuntu, Xubuntu, Eeebuntu, Gobuntu and so on and so on.
Personally, I prefer to use Debian Linux. Debian is “what’s under the hood” of Ubuntu and many other distros. Like many distros, Debian lets me choose to use any one of several different desktop environments and/or window managers (e.g., KDE, GNOME, Fluxbox, LXDE, etc.). But, unlike Ubuntu, Debian doesn’t pretend that each DE or WM deserves its own separately named distro (e.g., Kedian, Gedian, Fedian, Ledian, etc.).
Despite my slight annoyance at the proliferation of ‘buntu names, last night, I read an article that made me want to try the latest beta version of Lubuntu, a new ‘buntu that uses the lightweight LXDE desktop environment.
So I downloaded Lubuntu 9.10, beta 23 (360MB), burned it to a CD, and then, since it’s a Live CD, booted up my secondary PC with it.
A couple of minutes later, when it had finished booting, Lubuntu had already correctly configured that PC’s LCD monitor and its DSL Internet connection. Its default desktop looks very clean, and its application menu, though less populated than most Linux distros, probably contains every basic application that anyone would need, plus several utilities and configuration tools.
Ubuntu variation Xubuntu was supposed to be a low-memory ‘buntu that would run well on older PCs, but it disappointed a lot of people when they discovered that it uses as much — or maybe even more — memory than Ubuntu itself uses.
In contrast, Lubuntu looks like it’s going to work just fine on older PCs with as little as 256MB of RAM, and will probably fly like the wind on newer PCs with more RAM.
And, no matter what name you give it, that’s good news for all Linux users.
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Tags:
Consumer Info, Linux