Lubuntu vs Fedora LXDE

[themarker0]

So i need an LXDE distro, since i can't anything else working.

So i see that Lubuntu is still in beta for 9.10. And i know Fedora LXDE works well, i know people running it.

Can someone that has used both tell me if one is actually better, or if the beta on lubuntu just means new.

[Psumi]

Fedora LXDE has plymouth. :|

You'd better run.

In actuality, installing from the ubuntu Mini.iso and doing these steps for lxde is MUCH better than ANY pre-made ISO for LXDE:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=8754516&postcount=3

[kerry_s]

i'm using lubuntu lucid alpha 3, it's still very much work in progress, but it is usable.
http://lubuntu.net/

if you need stable then go with fedora, but i would suggest pclinuxos for user friendly.
http://www.pclinuxonline.com/?p=174

debian has lxde as well.
http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current-live/i386/iso-cd/

[kerry_s]

So i need an LXDE distro, since i can't anything else working.


what do you mean exactly? is your machine low spec? what are your specs?

[themarker0]

what do you mean exactly? is your machine low spec? what are your specs?
1.5ghz cpu 4gb ram. Yes i know weird combo. I thought i was getting a different model... And a full Ubuntu Fedora or Slackware OS doesn't run well enough for me. So i thought that i'd give LXDE a shot after a friend recommended it to me.

@Everyone else. If it is still under process i won't use it. I was hoping it was just too new to label stable. I will try that link, and i don't like PCLOS so thats out of the question.

[XubuRoxMySox]

Linux Mint has released Linux Mint 8 LXDE Release Candidate (read the announcement here (http://www.linuxmint.com/blog/?p=1325)). I hear it rocks! Unfortunately I don't have the bandwidth allowance to download another iso, so I ordered a CD from On-Disk.com to test. Remember it's a RC1, so it isn't for use on a "mission-critical" machine yet.

-Robin

[themarker0]

Linux Mint has released Linux Mint 8 LXDE Release Candidate (read the announcement here (http://www.linuxmint.com/blog/?p=1325)). I hear it rocks! Unfortunately I don't have the bandwidth allowance to download another iso, so I ordered a CD from On-Disk.com to test. Remember it's a RC1, so it isn't for use on a "mission-critical" machine yet.

-Robin

Can you tell me how stable it is, if you used it? I don't mind using it if its at least finished, just bugged.

[kerry_s]

1.5ghz cpu 4gb ram. Yes i know weird combo. I thought i was getting a different model... And a full Ubuntu Fedora or Slackware OS doesn't run well enough for me. So i thought that i'd give LXDE a shot after a friend recommended it to me.

@Everyone else. If it is still under process i won't use it. I was hoping it was just too new to label stable. I will try that link, and i don't like PCLOS so thats out of the question.

:lolflag: i'm running an atom 1.6ghz 1gb ram nettop, i think your pc would smoke mine. i'm using the lubuntu alpha lxde. i also got a old 450mhz 256mb ram laptop running debian lxde.

just keep in mind linux is what you make it, you can pretty much use whatever desktop you want with your specs, you can make them feel faster by using the lighter programs, turning off the new fangled fancy effects, etc...
speed is about balance, what your willing to give up in usability to have that faster feel.

[Sporkman]

Linux Mint has released Linux Mint 8 LXDE Release Candidate (read the announcement here (http://www.linuxmint.com/blog/?p=1325)). I hear it rocks! Unfortunately I don't have the bandwidth allowance to download another iso, so I ordered a CD from On-Disk.com to test. Remember it's a RC1, so it isn't for use on a "mission-critical" machine yet.

-Robin

I gave it a spin in Virtualbox, it's really nice! Very snappy even in a virtual machine.

[themarker0]

:lolflag: i'm running an atom 1.6ghz 1gb ram nettop, i think your pc would smoke mine. i'm using the lubuntu alpha lxde. i also got a old 450mhz 256mb ram laptop running debian lxde.

just keep in mind linux is what you make it, you can pretty much use whatever desktop you want with your specs, you can make them feel faster by using the lighter programs, turning off the new fangled fancy effects, etc...
speed is about balance, what your willing to give up in usability to have that faster feel.

If i have the ability to, i will try to do so. I'd rather work on my notebook then tweak compiz...

[XubuRoxMySox]

Can you tell me how stable it is, if you used it? I don't mind using it if its at least finished, just bugged.

I have not tried it yet because the CD hasn't arrived yet. It's based on Karmic, so it may have inherited a lot of Karmic bugs... but Mint's versions, especially the community editions, are fixed up quite a bit before being released "when they're ready and not before."

Mint 8 LXDE is a Release Candidate, therefore not finished yet.

Robin

[TBABill]

As previously stated, Lubuntu is not quite there yet if you want stability. It does work and it is quick. However, I had several issues identified as just too annoying to keep playing with it so I decided to wait till it gets some of the bugs worked out. Here are a few issues I remember off the top of my head:

1. Screen resolution on my nVidia card was able to be set up to my laptop max of 1280x800...not a problem at all. But on reboot it would NOT retain the settings and I'd have to go through it all again.

2. If you use a wallpaper the system displays it beautifully....till you go through the resolution settings. One you touch those it then "tiles" the wallpaper to approx 3" from the right side of the screen, then starts another tile of the wallpaper.....which is set to stretch to full screen. This feature to stretch it just did not work after certain things on screen were utilized and the only workaround was a reboot...followed by a reset of the video settings. Just too aggravating to play with for too long.

3. Wireless...picked up my adapter and worked great. However, don't reboot or you have to configure your wireless security settings again. It won't retain those settings on a reboot.

Lubuntu will be awesome when it's progressed a little. It was really snappy when opening or using apps, but those irritating aspects held me off till either late betas or RC's.

Good luck. If those don't bother you much, go for it. It's a great second partition OS to play with and just use for speed purposes. Keep the screen single color with no wallpaper and don't reboot...then you'll love it.

[Simian Man]

Fedora is a great distro, and according to the spins page (http://spins.fedoraproject.org/), 9247 have downloaded the LXDE spin so it is rather well tested. I'm shocked that it's gotten more use than the Xfce spin, but I guess people want to try out LXDE in general since it's a relative newcomer.

I'd grab the Fedora version and see if it fits your needs. If not, then look for something else.

[RabbitWho]

Hi, kinda irrelevant to this but I just tried Lubuntu Jaunty because of this thread and it's very cool. Haven't got any of the graphic glitches I got with XFCE (I'm sure they're not an inherent problem, just a disagreement my computer has with KDE and XFCE) . I'll remember it for next time I need something lightweight :)

[kelvin spratt]

Mint LXDE is rock solid and probably has the best artwork their is and very fast.
If you have the ability Arch Linux with Lxde is faster and a lot lighter but you have to do your own customizing.

[Psumi]

I see no one is considering my option.

[themarker0]

I see no one is considering my option.

It is what i am going to do.

[XubuRoxMySox]

I see no one is considering my option.

"Your" option is a very popular one, actually. Masonux is a minimal Ubuntu with LXDE. I had "Robin's Remix" (also Ubuntu minimal with LXDE) on a shared computer to demonstrate how simple and fast Linux can be.

Like Ubuntu itself, LXDE's performance varies across distros and machines. I found it incredibly buggy on top of Ubuntu on an older Dell machine. But it was awesome on top of Debian on the same machine.

In the "Lightweight Wars," LXDE is just about as light and fast as operating without any desktop environment at all! It lacks a lot of features that the other desktop environments offer, and on my own hardware, "your" option was slower, hungrier, and buggier than Debian Testing with Xfce-4 was.

The more I use Xfce, the better I like it. Done right, it still competes well with LXDE in terms of speed and low demands on resources.

-Robin

[tommcd]

The Lubuntu Lucid beta 1 iso has just been released:
http://lubuntu.net/
I am currently testing out Lubuntu on my laptop. So far, it seems to be working well; and it is much lighter and snappier on my laptop than Ubuntu 9.10.
I just may be switching to Lubuntu. Ubuntu has been getting rather bloated of late imo.

Themarker0,
The specs of your machine (1.5ghz cpu 4gb ram) are plenty fine to run Slackware. My laptop in my sig has a 1.6GHz intel celeron CPU and 1.5GB RAM, and Slackware runs just fine. I can even use KDE in Slackware, although I would recommend XFCE if you want something lighter.
I also run Ubuntu 9.10 without problems on the laptop also. I have removed pulse audio, and installed alsa, since pulse is a huge resource hog. Everything else is pretty much stock.

[Psumi]

The Lubuntu Lucid beta 1 iso has just been released:
http://lubuntu.net/
I am currently testing out Lubuntu on my laptop. So far, it seems to be working well; and it is much lighter and snappier on my laptop than Ubuntu 9.10.
I just may be switching to Lubuntu. Ubuntu has been getting rather bloated of late imo.

Themarker0,
The specs of your machine (1.5ghz cpu 4gb ram) are plenty fine to run Slackware. My laptop in my sig has a 1.6GHz intel celeron CPU and 1.5GB RAM, and Slackware runs just fine. I can even use KDE in Slackware, although I would recommend XFCE if you want something lighter.
I also run Ubuntu 9.10 without problems on the laptop also. I have removed pulse audio, and installed alsa, since pulse is a huge resource hog. Everything else is pretty much stock.

In the main page there, it lists this: gnome-disk-utility

sorry but... why have gnome stuff in LXDE? I have a feeling they'll be using GDM and Plymouth too, this will not bode well with me.

[tommcd]

EDIT:
Crap! Accidental double post while I was editing.
See the next post below this =================>>>>>>

[tommcd]

sorry but... why have gnome stuff in LXDE? I have a feeling they'll be using GDM and Plymouth too, this will not bode well with me.
Ubuntu comes with lots of 'stuff' designed to make it very beginner friendly (which is a good thing imo). Unfortunately, this has resulted in adding a lot of bloat to all the *buntus.
I have installed both Debian and Ubuntu on 3different desktops, plus my laptop. On every system, Debian ran faster, and used fewer resources than Ubuntu. This has been true with all versions of Ubuntu going back to Dapper, and all versions of Debian going back to Sarge.
Also, Phoronix has documented that Ubuntu has become slower with each new release:
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=ubuntu_bench_2008&num=1
In my experience, Ubuntu has become even more bloated since that article was written.
Also, check out this comparison between Xubuntu and Debian with XFCE:
http://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20090427#feature
I have had the similar results as that article on Distrowatch when comparing Ubuntu with Gnome to Debian with Gnome on my systems.
There are 3rd party lightweight variants of *buntu, like Crunchbang, and the still under development Masonux with LXDE:
http://sites.google.com/site/masonux/home

[Psumi]

Ubuntu comes with lots of 'stuff' designed to make it very beginner friendly (which is a good thing imo). Unfortunately, this has resulted in adding a lot of bloat to all the *buntus.
I have installed both Debian and Ubuntu on 3different desktops, plus my laptop. On every system, Debian ran faster, and used fewer resources than Ubuntu. This has been true with all versions of Ubuntu going back to Dapper, and all versions of Debian going back to Sarge.
Also, Phoronix has documented that Ubuntu has become slower with each new release:
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=ubuntu_bench_2008&num=1
In my experience, Ubuntu has become even more bloated since that article was written.
Also, check out this comparison between Xubuntu and Debian with XFCE:
http://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20090427#feature
I have had the similar results as that article on Distrowatch when comparing Ubuntu with Gnome to Debian with Gnome on my systems.

When setting up a debian install, what exactly do you recommend for my IBM T41 system (IE: What exact packages to install so that I have a functioning GUI system...)

RAM: 512 MB (498 Usable)
Wireless: No, it's dying, the card can't pick up many signals anymore.
Graphics: ATI FireGL 9000 (128 MB)
Harddrive: 40 GB
Processor: Pentium M (centrino) 1.60 GHz (Single-core, no logicals.)

I'd like xfce/lxde to be honest, and the ability to install parole media player instead of totem (which I have a deb for somewhere.)

I also need flash...

Also, ubuntu takes up--on a normal day--about half my ram, and flash takes up half my CPU in firefox (yeah, I want firefox too.)

I use the following for my current ubuntu install: http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=8754516&postcount=3

the xfce portion. I also install xsane, hplip, cups, pidgin (because ayttm sucks and takes the same amount of RAM as pidgin), leafpad, unrar, rar, p7zip-full, xarchiver, deluge... and some others.

[tommcd]

When setting up a debian install, what exactly do you recommend for my IBM T41 system (IE: What exact packages to install so that I have a functioning GUI system...)
I have always just done a clean and default install from the first Debian install CD. This installs a ready to use system complete with a Gnome GUI.
Since you are using a laptop, add the laptop-tools packages when you get to the part of the install that asks what extra packages you want to include in the install. Here is a basic tutorial on installing Debian:
http://www.howtoforge.com/perfect_setup_debian_etch


I'd like xfce/lxde to be honest, and the ability to install parole media player instead of totem (which I have a deb for somewhere.)
I also need flash...
The best way to do this would be to do a Debian net install. This will install a command line system. You can then use apt-get to add only the packages you want, and none of the stuff you don't want. A net install just takes a little bit of savvy with the terminal, and a basic knowledge of using apt-get from the terminal. Here is one guide:
http://www.debiantutorials.org/debian-gnulinux-etch-installation-tutorial-debian-gnulinux-etch-208
I have always found the default Debian install with Gnome from the 1st Debian install CD to be much lighter than Ubuntu.

[Psumi]

The best way to do this would be to do a Debian net install. This will install a command line system. You can then use apt-get to add only the packages you want, and none of the stuff you don't want. A net install just takes a little bit of savvy with the terminal, and a basic knowledge of using apt-get from the terminal. Here is one guide:
http://www.debiantutorials.org/debian-gnulinux-etch-installation-tutorial-debian-gnulinux-etch-208
I have always found the default Debian install with Gnome from the 1st Debian install CD to be much lighter than Ubuntu.

sadly, I hate command line text editors. I tried vim once, had to shut down my system to exit it.

[TBABill]

Update to my earlier issues with Lubuntu - I just installed the beta (was running alpha 2 and had too many irritating issues) and it is sweet. I have not encountered any of my earlier issues and the thing just flies. I like the minimalist menus and clean look of Lubuntu, plus it runs videos, navigates the web and just performs "snappier", for lack of a better term, than other distros. I love Mint and Ubuntu (Gnome), but I have to say that the beta is outperforming them so far. I only have a few hours of use with it, but so far I am impressed. VERY low resource usage as well.

[tommcd]

sadly, I hate command line text editors. I tried vim once, had to shut down my system to exit it.
Well, I have never liked vi / vim either.
There are other command line text editors in linux. I pretty much always use nano as my text editor in the terminal. Here is one of many nano tutorials you can find on the net:
http://www.debianadmin.com/nano-editor-tutorials.html
The only thing you really need to know about nano is:
ctrl + X = exit (and prompt to save). Typing "Y" will save the edits to the file. Typing "N" will not save the edits.
Starting nano like this:

nano -w my_file
will disable wrapping long lines of text. I always use nano like this for editing system files.

You will only need terminal based text editors until you have installed a functioning graphical desktop. After that you can use what you want.

[Sporkman]

sadly, I hate command line text editors. I tried vim once, had to shut down my system to exit it.

:lol:

How vi ever became popular I do not know. When I open up a text editor & start typing, I expect characters to start appearing on the screen. :)

[Simian Man]

:lol:

How vi ever became popular I do not know. When I open up a text editor & start typing, I expect characters to start appearing on the screen. :)

They will eventually. You're bound to type an 's' or an 'i' eventually.

[Sporkman]

They will eventually. You're bound to type an 's' or an 'i' eventually.

Not if you're writing a program in this language (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain****)... :)

[Simian Man]

Not if you're writing a program in this language (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain****)... :)

If you're spending your time writing code in esoteric programming languages, vim should be a breeze :).

[Sporkman]

If you're spending your time writing code in esoteric programming languages, vim should be a breeze :).

Touche, fellow primate! :)

[tommcd]

Update to my earlier issues with Lubuntu - I just installed the beta (was running alpha 2 and had too many irritating issues) and it is sweet. ...
I just installed the Lubuntu 10.04 beta also. I agree it is cool. So far it runs much faster and lighter than Ubuntu. All the apps that come with Lubuntu are lightweight apps too (Abiword, Leafpad, Xfburn, Chromium). This is not just the same bloated Ubuntu with the LXDE desktop. And no pulse audio to be found!

The only problem I am having with Lubuntu so far is that it just does not want to mount my mp3 player (Sandisk Sansa Fuze). The player is recognized according to the output of dmesg and lsusb. I can get it to appear in the left pane of the file manager, but trying to open it crashes the file manager. I am still looking into this. The player mounts fine in Slackware and Ubuntu 9.10.

[tommcd]

How vi ever became popular I do not know. When I open up a text editor & start typing, I expect characters to start appearing on the screen. :)
If you really know vi and can figure out and master all of it's arcane workings, there are a lot of things vi can do to increase productivity when editing files. Read any tutorial on vi and see what I mean.
For my basic needs though. The simple text editor nano does everything I need.

[kerry_s]

I just installed the Lubuntu 10.04 beta also. I agree it is cool. So far it runs much faster and lighter than Ubuntu. All the apps that come with Lubuntu are lightweight apps too (Abiword, Leafpad, Xfburn, Chromium). This is not just the same bloated Ubuntu with the LXDE desktop. And no pulse audio to be found!

The only problem I am having with Lubuntu so far is that it just does not want to mount my mp3 player (Sandisk Sansa Fuze). The player is recognized according to the output of dmesg and lsusb. I can get it to appear in the left pane of the file manager, but trying to open it crashes the file manager. I am still looking into this. The player mounts fine in Slackware and Ubuntu 9.10.


check to see you have the lubuntu ppa, it has the updated stuff. when i installed my lubuntu it was missing. if it's missing add it & update.


sudo add-apt-repository ppa:lubuntu-desktop/ppa

here's my script for lxshortcut, adds some gui action. use the script to make a menu entry for it.



#!/bin/bash

# this is a script to add some gui features to lxshortcut for a more user friendly experience
# created on lubuntu 10.04 3/19/2010
# it's a script to fill a need, you may do with it as you please
###

## this part is the choices to choose from ##

chose=`zenity --list --title="Lxshortcut-gui" --column="" "Make Launcher" "Edit Launcher" "Delete Launcher"`

## this part makes the launcher ##

if [ "$chose" == "Make Launcher" ]; then

name=`zenity --entry --text="Enter a Name (example: xterm)
this will not be the name shown, it's only for the *.desktop file"`

if [ "$name" ]; then
lxshortcut -o $HOME/.local/share/applications/$name.desktop
select=`zenity --list --height="400" --text="Choose the Menu Section" --column="" Utility Graphics Network Office AudioVideo System Settings Other`
echo "Categories=$select;" >> $HOME/.local/share/applications/$name.desktop
else
exit 0
fi
fi

## this part is to edit the launcher ##

if [ "$chose" == "Edit Launcher" ]; then

scan=`ls $HOME/.local/share/applications | grep .desktop`
selected=`zenity --list --height="400" --column="" $scan`
if [ $selected ]; then
lxshortcut -i $selected
sed -e '/;$/d' -i $HOME/.local/share/applications/$selected
select=`zenity --list --height="400" --text="Choose the Menu Section" --column="" Utility Graphics Network Office AudioVideo System Settings Other`
echo "Categories=$select;" >> $HOME/.local/share/applications/$selected
else
exit0
fi
fi

## this part is to delete the launcher ##

if [ "$chose" == "Delete Launcher" ]; then

scan=`ls $HOME/.local/share/applications | grep .desktop`
selected=`zenity --list --height="400" --column="" $scan`
if [ $selected ]; then
gvfs-trash $HOME/.local/share/applications/$selected
zenity --info --text="Launcher removed"
else
exit 0
fi
fi
exit 0

[tommcd]

check to see you have the lubuntu ppa, it has the updated stuff.
Do you know of anything in the Lubuntu ppa repos that would mount the mp3 player?
Thus far I have avoided using the ppa repos. I have seen the Ubuntu ppa repos cause a number of problems for a lot of people. Since I am dealing with beta software here, I would rather not complicate things too much unless I have a very good specific reason for doing so.


here's my script for lxshortcut, adds some gui action. use the script to make a menu entry for it.
I am not sure how to use that script to mount my mp3 player. Could you give some examples how I could do that? I don't know much about scripting.
The lxshortcut is already in the Lubuntu repos.
I can get the Sandisk mp3 player to appear in the file manager. When I try to click on it to open that directory the file manager crashes. I am not sure how lxshortcut would help here.
Thanks for the heads up about the ppa repos. I will keep it in mind.

[kerry_s]

Do you know of anything in the Lubuntu ppa repos that would mount the mp3 player?
Thus far I have avoided using the ppa repos. I have seen the Ubuntu ppa repos cause a number of problems for a lot of people. Since I am dealing with beta software here, I would rather not complicate things too much unless I have a very good specific reason for doing so.

I am not sure how to use that script to mount my mp3 player. Could you give some examples how I could do that? I don't know much about scripting.
The lxshortcut is already in the Lubuntu repos.
I can get the Sandisk mp3 player to appear in the file manager. When I try to click on it to open that directory the file manager crashes. I am not sure how lxshortcut would help here.
Thanks for the heads up about the ppa repos. I will keep it in mind.

the ppa will have the most updated pcmanfm2, without the ppa your stuck with with the broken version, does your right click empty trash work? or your applications menu? etc...

the script has nothing to do with mounting, it's to create your own menu entries.
just don't worry about that right now.

you should grab the ppa though for the updated lubuntu programs.

pix of what the script does & the dialog when you plug something in. oops, i got to split the pics

[kerry_s]

the rest of the pic's