Xubuntu or Lubuntu?

[SeePU]

I was interested in trying one of these out, at the Lucid version, though.

I noticed that Lubuntu isn't listed on the Ubuntu page, that it's still at beta 1. Is Ubuntu going to encompass Lubuntu as part of the group eventually?

Which DE do you think is lighter? I have read of some people saying Xubuntu is more resource heavy than xfce installed in other distros, Debian, for e.g. While others have claimed that Xubuntu and Lucid is a much improved version. Who to believe?

Anyway, I know, try them out and see for myself but I thought I'd ask for opinions.

I like the lighter DE but because I am used to and like particular software, I often 'install what I like and need.' even though the DE started off with default programs/applications and quite light.

I mostly need/use Kaffeine and/or MPlayer, Synaptic (must have even for just checking visually what is available and installed), Amarok (if you know of a better sound player, by all means, suggest one) and Kate/Kwrite or Gedit (either one will do). I guess xfce and LXDE will have a decent GUI editor? I don't have an overwhelming preference for any of the File Managers. As long as they're not annoying or can do what I want, I can try new ones.

Anyway, which OS would you choose? (Assuming you're letting your preference of Gnome or KDE be set aside to choose between XFCE and LXDE).

[Seren]

Lubuntu won't be officially supported for 10.04 because it lacks some applications/integrations.

Hopefully, it should be ok for 10.10.

That being said, you can probably still use Lubuntu + a few missing gtk/gnome/kde applications.

[uRock]

<snip>

Lubuntu is the lightest version. It isn't going to be official until 10.10, but I am testing it and it runs great.

Xubuntu has a lot of gnome apps packaged in with it, which steels from its lightness.

Follow the instructions on this page after installing Lubuntu Lucid to get the proper updates. http://forum.phillw.net/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=54 or https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Lubuntu#Download

The Lucid team is small, but they are doing a great job with this release. They currently had to wait for Beta2 Ubuntu to come out so that they could update their image.

Good luck and I hope you Lenovo has better luck than it did with Kubuntu 9.10.

Cheers & Beers,
Ronnie

[The Thunder Chimp]

I'd go for Xubuntu, I just like the way it looks on 9.10. Xfce is great.

[dyltman]

I think you're looking for xubuntu. I would recommend LXDE on incredible old computers, you can try both out however and see which one you like most.

Lubuntu isn't on the front page because it's not officially supported yet

[RTrev]

Lubuntu won't be officially supported for 10.04 because it lacks some applications/integrations.

Hopefully, it should be ok for 10.10.

That being said, you can probably still use Lubuntu + a few missing gtk/gnome/kde applications.

If it's likely to be part of the family for 10.10, then perhaps we can expect to begin seeing alphas of it appearing shortly after Lucid is launched?

It's my daily driver now, so I'm psyched. <g>

[uRock]

If it's likely to be part of the family for 10.10, then perhaps we can expect to begin seeing alphas of it appearing shortly after Lucid is launched?

It's my daily driver now, so I'm psyched. <g>

Right now Lubuntu's betas are only a couple of days behind Ubuntu's.

[snowpine]

Amarok, Kaffeine, Kate, etc. are going to pull in a whole bunch of KDE dependencies anyways, so IMHO you are best off installing Kubuntu (or a minimal install plus the basic KDE).

If you're dead-set against, using KDE, then my advice is, just pick the desktop environment you like best and that maximizes your productivity. Unless your computer is incredibly old (in which case you shouldn't be using anything based on Ubuntu anyway) "lightness" is largely an overated concept.

[SeePU]

Sounds good for either.

Maybe I'll install Xubuntu on my Quad Core desktop and Lubuntu on my older laptop.

I'm familiar with KDE having installed Kubuntu. But, I was going to install Ubuntu this time around until I tried Debian and another debian-based distro on my laptop installed with LXDE and IceWM, respectively. I like the idea of a low resource desktop and then installing the packages/applications/programs I want or use.

[julianb]

Here's my experience with Xubuntu, Lubuntu, and standard Ubuntu:

Standard Ubuntu (9.10 and 10.04beta) "just works" with the largest number of things ... no problems with "double click a file to open it with appropriate application" etc etc. Lucid Beta is fast but not bug-free.

Xubuntu 9.10 - most of the time it "just works" like Ubuntu, BUT when I used it on a few different Asus netbooks it wasn't any faster than Ubuntu. Tweaks like auto-login, changing the desktop appearance, etc., may be difficult and getting support may be difficult too, with the smaller user base. Xubuntu is supposed to be light, but in my experience its performance is no better than standard Ubuntu.

Lubuntu 10.04 beta - runs noticeably faster. still needs some bug fixes, for example, I wanted it to automatically log me in to my housemate's encrypted wireless network, but it would not save the password. every re-start, I would be prompted to create a password for my "keyring", and the wireless network key was never stored, nor the "keyring" password.