Welly Wu
June 14th, 2012, 10:18 PM
I read this H Online article:
http://www.h-online.com/open/features/Unity-alternatives-the-many-desktops-of-Ubuntu-1614860.html
I decided to download and install all of the mentioned desktop environments just for giggles today. I have an ASUS N61JV-X2 notebook PC with Crucial 8 GB of DDR3 1,066 MHz PC-8500 SODIMM SDRAM and an Intel 2nd Generation 2.5" MLC NAND FLASH X25-M 160 GB Solid State Drive running Ubuntu 12.04 64 bit Long Term Support GNU/Linux and LXDE X11 desktop environment as my preferred choice. I purchased my ASUS N61JV-X2 notebook PC in late August 2010 and it will nearly be two years later come this August 2012. ASUS is an extremely reliable PC manufacturer and they sell good products aimed at a wide target audience at attractive price points with useful features and capabilities in my opinion. Plenty of ASUS owners install GNU/Linux distributions on their desktop and notebook PCs worldwide without too many problems.
Compared to the default Unity 3D user interface, LXDE X11 consumes precious few resources. For example, I am currently running Google Chrome 20 Beta with 10 tabs and five add-on extensions, Mozilla Thunderbird 14 Beta, Evolution, Nautilus file manager, and the LXDE terminal along with Miro, Dropbox, Zinio Reader Alerter, Weather Indicator, System Load Indicator, TrueCrypt 7.1a with 6 TrueCrypt volumes totaling 10.3 terabytes of USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 storage capacity and speed, and LXDE power manager. My current system load is 0.90, 1.08, 1.05 according to the uptime result. Were I still running Unity 3D, my system load would be 4.16, 3.90, and 4.10 on average. As another example, my ASUS N61JV-X2 notebook PC has a 4400 mAh lithium ion battery that will last 3 hours and 28 minutes while I was previously running Microsoft Windows 7 64 bit Ultimate Edition Service Pack 1 as my default and primary operating system in the past. Today, the same battery lasts 4 hours and 32 minutes while running Ubuntu 12.04 64 bit Long Term Support GNU/Linux with LXDE X11. Mind you, I also have an Energizer Energi to Go / XPAL XP18000 with a 18,000 mAh lithium polymer battery that will last an additional 6 hours directly connected to my ASUS N61JV-X2 notebook PC at all times. It can charge and re-charge a USB 2.0 device and two other electrical devices at the same time.
LXDE X11 is an amazing desktop environment. It is truly a feather weight compared to the other desktop environments. After I installed it and I logged in for the first time, I thought that I was using Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 3. It looks strikingly similar, but we all know that Ubuntu 12.04 64 bit Long Term Support GNU/Linux is a much more modern, reliable, stable, secure, and robust operating system compared to Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 3 which has already reached end of life support by Microsoft Corporation.
I pay for WiTopia personal VPN basic monthly service for $5.99 USD and I am connected to their CISCO IPSec protocol right now. I also have an ASUS EEE Pad Transformer TF101 16 GB tablet running Google Android Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.3 and it is connected to WiTopia personal VPN basic through the L2TP protocol right now too. I have Verizon FiOS fiber optic Internet and TV at home.
LXDE X11 makes everything much much faster and it is much simpler to use compared to the other desktop environments especially Unity 3D. I feel right at home using it. This is my preferred desktop environment of choice. I believe that I can continue to use my ASUS N61JV-X2 notebook PC for an additional 3 more years in the future as a result. I can upgrade to Ubuntu 14.04 64 bit Long Term Support GNU/Linux in April 2014 and I can continue to use LXDE X11 desktop environment at no additional charge and it will run faster, better, and more reliably with greater stability and higher performance along with enhanced privacy and security. This saves me countless amounts of time and money. I no longer have to pay the Microsoft or Apple taxes to do business according to their rules and regulations. This alone is well worth the time and pain that I invested to change my Microsoft mindset to a GNU/Linux mindset over the past year and a half.
I recently purchased Codeweavers CrossOver for Linux 64 bit version 11.1.0 in order to be able to install Intuit Quicken Deluxe 2011 and Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus 32 bit Service Pack 1. These are my essential Microsoft Windows software applications that I still need to use daily in order to connect to my financial accounts at various financial institutions and I need Microsoft Word 2010 in order to complete the Masters of Arts in English Writing Studies degree program at Montclair State University in Upper Montclair, New Jersey 07043 as I prepare myself to take the Graduate Record Examination and to submit my graduate application for January 2013 admission. I have a Bachelor of Arts in English Creative Writing from Montclair State University in 2004 so I anticipate that they will re-admit me since I am an alumnus. I am thinking that I can get away with using LibreOffice Writer since it is compatible with Microsoft Word 2010 and I will essentially be using the most basic word processing tasks to write American Fiction and Poetry as well as essays as a part of my masters degree program.
LXDE X11 is a modern desktop environment that allows software applications to connect to the cloud. It is also the most energy efficient desktop environment available to GNU/Linux and BSD UNIX users. Today, my ASUS N61JV-X2 notebook PC runs dead quiet and it is cool to the touch because I am running LXDE X11 right now. Previously, Unity 3D would make my fan kick into high gear and it would get loud and my notebook PC would get quite warm to the touch. Unity 3D requires a modern PC and it consumes a moderate amount of system resources. LXDE X11 works great on low end, budget, and older generation desktop and notebook PCs as it extends their useful service life considerably. The other great benefit of LXDE X11 is that it is really reliable and stable. Fewer software applications or components break and crash as a result. I looked into the software source code for LXDE X11 and it contains a much smaller and less critical attack surface. This is critical to me as I have my CompTIA A+, Network+, Security+, (ISC)2 CISSP CBK, and Certified Ethical Hacker IT certifications under my belt. Knowing what little I do know about information assurance, my mind is at peace knowing that my data is safe and secure and my operating system and desktop environment are not high priority and high value targets for attackers worldwide. LXDE X11 is much simpler and smaller in scale as a desktop environment which makes it safer and more secure to use on a daily basis especially in production environments worldwide with an Ubuntu 32 or 64 bit Long Term Support release.
If you value simplicity, stability, reliability, speed, performance, and energy efficiency, then I urge you to check out LXDE at http://www.lxde.org to learn more about it.
I am a bit concerned about the future that Canonical is heading toward especially with its Unity desktop environment. I am a realist and I understand Mark Shuttleworth and Jane Silber want Ubuntu to ship on 5 percent of PCs worldwide by 2015. I also understand that Ubuntu powered smart phones, High Definition TVs, and tablets are under development right now and products will ship in the future. They are putting a lot of their eggs into the Unity desktop environment and it leaves them with little room to maneuver. As I see it now, Unity is expected to ship with Ubuntu 14.04 64 bit Long Term Support in April 2014. Canonical has got to figure out ways to lower system requirements and resources consumed if it wants to stay competitive especially after Microsoft Corporation launches Windows 8 ecosystem sometime this October 2012 worldwide. People have got to see Ubuntu and Unity as a viable alternative that is faster, more secure, more reliable, and more robust while at the same time lowering hardware requirements and system resources consumption in order to give it a try in a dual-boot configuration on their computers worldwide.
The problem is that I just do not see this happening in the near future. I expect Unity to add more unique capabilities and features like the Heads up Display in future Ubuntu releases. I expect the software source code to get more complex and bigger which will make quality assurance and security audits more challenging especially if Canonical succeeds in shipping Ubuntu on 5 percent of PCs worldwide by 2015. I also see the attack surface growing larger with Unity.
LXDE X11 does not have these problems whatsoever. It is mature and well supported software technology. I know that it will extend the useful service life of my ASUS N61JV-X2 notebook PC by an additional 3 years until December 31st, 2015. One of the things that I like most about it is the fact that it is so flexible and it can be customized. I can choose to load software applications and modules at will instead of loading up everything by default which is the problem with Unity. I prefer scrolling through menus, sub-menus, and lists rather than typing in key words and using fuzzy matching technology that delivers imprecise results. The other feature that I like about LXDE X11 is that it is strikingly similar to Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 3. To be more accurate, it closely resembles the older GNOME 2 desktop environment. I understand that change is constant in this world, but I just do not have a practical need for multi-gesture and multi-touch user interfaces and support in the next few years. Abandoning traditional desktop PC users with keyboards and mice is foolish and it seems that everybody is migrating to this new paradigm shift at full speed ahead. Apple, Microsoft, Canonical, Red Hat, SUSE, etc. are all migrating their users to these new multi-gesture and multi-touch interfaces that are primarily designed for mobile devices and software applications. Take this with the abundance of cloud service providers offering public, private, and hybrid mesh cloud infrastructures, products, and services and you are pretty much looking at intrusions into user privacy, data security, and more expensive cost structures for the next few years guaranteed. Yet, this is the direction in which the world seems to be heading toward.
Finally, LXDE X11 is less annoying to use on a daily basis compared to other desktop environments. Everything is clearly laid out and accessing software applications and data is simple and easy. There is no steep learning curve involved. I just installed it today and I am sure that I will master LXDE X11 tomorrow. That might just well be its greatest feature and benefit especially for users switching from Microsoft Windows or Apple Macintosh OS X or who are looking to install Ubuntu GNU/Linux in a dual-boot or within a guest virtual machine.
I wish that more people would install LXDE X11 and post their replies and opinions after using it for some time. It has solved numerous problems for me as of today.
http://www.h-online.com/open/features/Unity-alternatives-the-many-desktops-of-Ubuntu-1614860.html
I decided to download and install all of the mentioned desktop environments just for giggles today. I have an ASUS N61JV-X2 notebook PC with Crucial 8 GB of DDR3 1,066 MHz PC-8500 SODIMM SDRAM and an Intel 2nd Generation 2.5" MLC NAND FLASH X25-M 160 GB Solid State Drive running Ubuntu 12.04 64 bit Long Term Support GNU/Linux and LXDE X11 desktop environment as my preferred choice. I purchased my ASUS N61JV-X2 notebook PC in late August 2010 and it will nearly be two years later come this August 2012. ASUS is an extremely reliable PC manufacturer and they sell good products aimed at a wide target audience at attractive price points with useful features and capabilities in my opinion. Plenty of ASUS owners install GNU/Linux distributions on their desktop and notebook PCs worldwide without too many problems.
Compared to the default Unity 3D user interface, LXDE X11 consumes precious few resources. For example, I am currently running Google Chrome 20 Beta with 10 tabs and five add-on extensions, Mozilla Thunderbird 14 Beta, Evolution, Nautilus file manager, and the LXDE terminal along with Miro, Dropbox, Zinio Reader Alerter, Weather Indicator, System Load Indicator, TrueCrypt 7.1a with 6 TrueCrypt volumes totaling 10.3 terabytes of USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 storage capacity and speed, and LXDE power manager. My current system load is 0.90, 1.08, 1.05 according to the uptime result. Were I still running Unity 3D, my system load would be 4.16, 3.90, and 4.10 on average. As another example, my ASUS N61JV-X2 notebook PC has a 4400 mAh lithium ion battery that will last 3 hours and 28 minutes while I was previously running Microsoft Windows 7 64 bit Ultimate Edition Service Pack 1 as my default and primary operating system in the past. Today, the same battery lasts 4 hours and 32 minutes while running Ubuntu 12.04 64 bit Long Term Support GNU/Linux with LXDE X11. Mind you, I also have an Energizer Energi to Go / XPAL XP18000 with a 18,000 mAh lithium polymer battery that will last an additional 6 hours directly connected to my ASUS N61JV-X2 notebook PC at all times. It can charge and re-charge a USB 2.0 device and two other electrical devices at the same time.
LXDE X11 is an amazing desktop environment. It is truly a feather weight compared to the other desktop environments. After I installed it and I logged in for the first time, I thought that I was using Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 3. It looks strikingly similar, but we all know that Ubuntu 12.04 64 bit Long Term Support GNU/Linux is a much more modern, reliable, stable, secure, and robust operating system compared to Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 3 which has already reached end of life support by Microsoft Corporation.
I pay for WiTopia personal VPN basic monthly service for $5.99 USD and I am connected to their CISCO IPSec protocol right now. I also have an ASUS EEE Pad Transformer TF101 16 GB tablet running Google Android Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.3 and it is connected to WiTopia personal VPN basic through the L2TP protocol right now too. I have Verizon FiOS fiber optic Internet and TV at home.
LXDE X11 makes everything much much faster and it is much simpler to use compared to the other desktop environments especially Unity 3D. I feel right at home using it. This is my preferred desktop environment of choice. I believe that I can continue to use my ASUS N61JV-X2 notebook PC for an additional 3 more years in the future as a result. I can upgrade to Ubuntu 14.04 64 bit Long Term Support GNU/Linux in April 2014 and I can continue to use LXDE X11 desktop environment at no additional charge and it will run faster, better, and more reliably with greater stability and higher performance along with enhanced privacy and security. This saves me countless amounts of time and money. I no longer have to pay the Microsoft or Apple taxes to do business according to their rules and regulations. This alone is well worth the time and pain that I invested to change my Microsoft mindset to a GNU/Linux mindset over the past year and a half.
I recently purchased Codeweavers CrossOver for Linux 64 bit version 11.1.0 in order to be able to install Intuit Quicken Deluxe 2011 and Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus 32 bit Service Pack 1. These are my essential Microsoft Windows software applications that I still need to use daily in order to connect to my financial accounts at various financial institutions and I need Microsoft Word 2010 in order to complete the Masters of Arts in English Writing Studies degree program at Montclair State University in Upper Montclair, New Jersey 07043 as I prepare myself to take the Graduate Record Examination and to submit my graduate application for January 2013 admission. I have a Bachelor of Arts in English Creative Writing from Montclair State University in 2004 so I anticipate that they will re-admit me since I am an alumnus. I am thinking that I can get away with using LibreOffice Writer since it is compatible with Microsoft Word 2010 and I will essentially be using the most basic word processing tasks to write American Fiction and Poetry as well as essays as a part of my masters degree program.
LXDE X11 is a modern desktop environment that allows software applications to connect to the cloud. It is also the most energy efficient desktop environment available to GNU/Linux and BSD UNIX users. Today, my ASUS N61JV-X2 notebook PC runs dead quiet and it is cool to the touch because I am running LXDE X11 right now. Previously, Unity 3D would make my fan kick into high gear and it would get loud and my notebook PC would get quite warm to the touch. Unity 3D requires a modern PC and it consumes a moderate amount of system resources. LXDE X11 works great on low end, budget, and older generation desktop and notebook PCs as it extends their useful service life considerably. The other great benefit of LXDE X11 is that it is really reliable and stable. Fewer software applications or components break and crash as a result. I looked into the software source code for LXDE X11 and it contains a much smaller and less critical attack surface. This is critical to me as I have my CompTIA A+, Network+, Security+, (ISC)2 CISSP CBK, and Certified Ethical Hacker IT certifications under my belt. Knowing what little I do know about information assurance, my mind is at peace knowing that my data is safe and secure and my operating system and desktop environment are not high priority and high value targets for attackers worldwide. LXDE X11 is much simpler and smaller in scale as a desktop environment which makes it safer and more secure to use on a daily basis especially in production environments worldwide with an Ubuntu 32 or 64 bit Long Term Support release.
If you value simplicity, stability, reliability, speed, performance, and energy efficiency, then I urge you to check out LXDE at http://www.lxde.org to learn more about it.
I am a bit concerned about the future that Canonical is heading toward especially with its Unity desktop environment. I am a realist and I understand Mark Shuttleworth and Jane Silber want Ubuntu to ship on 5 percent of PCs worldwide by 2015. I also understand that Ubuntu powered smart phones, High Definition TVs, and tablets are under development right now and products will ship in the future. They are putting a lot of their eggs into the Unity desktop environment and it leaves them with little room to maneuver. As I see it now, Unity is expected to ship with Ubuntu 14.04 64 bit Long Term Support in April 2014. Canonical has got to figure out ways to lower system requirements and resources consumed if it wants to stay competitive especially after Microsoft Corporation launches Windows 8 ecosystem sometime this October 2012 worldwide. People have got to see Ubuntu and Unity as a viable alternative that is faster, more secure, more reliable, and more robust while at the same time lowering hardware requirements and system resources consumption in order to give it a try in a dual-boot configuration on their computers worldwide.
The problem is that I just do not see this happening in the near future. I expect Unity to add more unique capabilities and features like the Heads up Display in future Ubuntu releases. I expect the software source code to get more complex and bigger which will make quality assurance and security audits more challenging especially if Canonical succeeds in shipping Ubuntu on 5 percent of PCs worldwide by 2015. I also see the attack surface growing larger with Unity.
LXDE X11 does not have these problems whatsoever. It is mature and well supported software technology. I know that it will extend the useful service life of my ASUS N61JV-X2 notebook PC by an additional 3 years until December 31st, 2015. One of the things that I like most about it is the fact that it is so flexible and it can be customized. I can choose to load software applications and modules at will instead of loading up everything by default which is the problem with Unity. I prefer scrolling through menus, sub-menus, and lists rather than typing in key words and using fuzzy matching technology that delivers imprecise results. The other feature that I like about LXDE X11 is that it is strikingly similar to Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 3. To be more accurate, it closely resembles the older GNOME 2 desktop environment. I understand that change is constant in this world, but I just do not have a practical need for multi-gesture and multi-touch user interfaces and support in the next few years. Abandoning traditional desktop PC users with keyboards and mice is foolish and it seems that everybody is migrating to this new paradigm shift at full speed ahead. Apple, Microsoft, Canonical, Red Hat, SUSE, etc. are all migrating their users to these new multi-gesture and multi-touch interfaces that are primarily designed for mobile devices and software applications. Take this with the abundance of cloud service providers offering public, private, and hybrid mesh cloud infrastructures, products, and services and you are pretty much looking at intrusions into user privacy, data security, and more expensive cost structures for the next few years guaranteed. Yet, this is the direction in which the world seems to be heading toward.
Finally, LXDE X11 is less annoying to use on a daily basis compared to other desktop environments. Everything is clearly laid out and accessing software applications and data is simple and easy. There is no steep learning curve involved. I just installed it today and I am sure that I will master LXDE X11 tomorrow. That might just well be its greatest feature and benefit especially for users switching from Microsoft Windows or Apple Macintosh OS X or who are looking to install Ubuntu GNU/Linux in a dual-boot or within a guest virtual machine.
I wish that more people would install LXDE X11 and post their replies and opinions after using it for some time. It has solved numerous problems for me as of today.