Pondering the future of the Gnome classic session beyond Ubuntu Precise

[kansasnoob]

Well there is always Linux mint and MATE

I did mention both Cinnamon and Mate in my OP

I personally dislike Mint itself because of how they've chosen to handle kernel updates that Ubuntu considers "security level" updates but Mint does NOT!

And Cinnamon's Muffin window manager is not an acceptable alternative to Metacity.

The kindest thing I can say about Mate is, "why not just use Lucid with a newer kernel"?

I have serious security concerns with Mate!!!

[exploder]

I personally dislike Mint itself because of how they've chosen to handle kernel updates that Ubuntu considers "security level" updates but Mint does NOT!

You are free to use Synapic to install kernel updates if you want. Mint Update is there to help new users from having breakage they may not know how to fix.

And Cinnamon's Muffin window manager is not an acceptable alternative to Metacity.

What is wrong with Muffin?

The kindest thing I can say about Mate is, "why not just use Lucid with a newer kernel"?

Mate is just a desktop environment. The underlying system is just as new and up to date as any given release.

I have serious security concerns with Mate!!!

Mate is just as secure as any other desktop environment. Mate actually has fixed many of the longstanding bugs that were in the Gnome 2x series.

Certainly Ubuntu is going to be more popular on the Ubuntu forum, that's a given but to say that there are security issues with Mate or Cinnamon is unfounded. Mint is based off Ubuntu and is just as secure by default.

[Cheesemill]

What is wrong with Muffin?

From the OP:

* Ubuntu with Cinnamon - they’ve forked a version of Mutter renamed Muffin for use with the Cinnamon DE which does include a “2D” session, but I’ve tested it on a box with P4M800 graphics and the performance is horribly sub-par compared to Metacity or Openbox.

[exploder]

There have been some bug fixes since Mint 14 was released. There were problems found in the themes that have been fixed. It might be worth taking another look.

Lubuntu looks to be the most promising solution for these particular computers and users though. Peppermint being based on Lubuntu might also be something to consider.

[Cheesemill]

Have you considered a distro switch?

This thread has mainly been about Ubuntu (+Mint) so far but one option would be to switch to Debian. The current Debian Stable still uses the original Gnome 2 as a DE and still has a couple of years left in it, there is no official EOL date yet but it will be 1 year after Wheezy becomes stable.

If you really want to go extreme then take a look at Scientific Linux. The latest version which is a rebuild of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 uses Gnome 2 as its DE and will be supported until November 2020.

[snowpine]

And don't forget Fuduntu, with Gnome 2 desktop and "rolling release" updates so you never need to reinstall.

[Uncle Spellbinder]

And don't forget Fuduntu, with Gnome 2 desktop and "rolling release" updates so you never need to reinstall.

Indeed. Great, stable distro for me. never any breakage and all the apps I use are available. Great distro, in my opinion.

[monkeybrain2012]

I install lubuntu on some machines for only one reason, namely that these machines are so weak that only lubuntu is light enough to give good perfomance so something like kde is out of the question (maybe xubuntu too but if lubuntu works why bother) I love Unity so there is no desire to stick to some retro DE on my part.

As snowpine said as long as the main security stuffs are getting updated through Ubuntu 12.04's repository and software through ppa it is not an issue any more. I always remove chromium and install Firefox anyway so that is not an issue either.

[kansasnoob]

You are free to use Synapic to install kernel updates if you want. Mint Update is there to help new users from having breakage they may not know how to fix.



What is wrong with Muffin?



Mate is just a desktop environment. The underlying system is just as new and up to date as any given release.



Mate is just as secure as any other desktop environment. Mate actually has fixed many of the longstanding bugs that were in the Gnome 2x series.

Certainly Ubuntu is going to be more popular on the Ubuntu forum, that's a given but to say that there are security issues with Mate or Cinnamon is unfounded. Mint is based off Ubuntu and is just as secure by default.

Muffin is super slow with the aforementioned P4M800 graphics ............. I mean "get up and walk around waiting" slow

It's the equivalent of rolling back to dial-up from DSL.

I really have no further comment regarding Mint, I prefer Ubuntu. I find it odd that you'd use Ubuntu's water cooler to discuss or promote another distro

[sudodus]

I think I understand your situation. I also prefer LTS versions and I was disappointed, when Lubuntu 12.04 was not an LTS version.

Anyway, you have 4 years to go until you have to start to upgrade the systems for yours friends. By that time, some of their computers have probably broken and been replaced, and some of them, for example those without pae, should be possible to replace with nicely priced newer second-hand computers (or 'inherited' from younger relatives).

At that time, maybe it will be feasible to use some desktop environment of the new [KLX]Ubuntu LTS. Let us hope and work for full long time support of all flavours. As was written in this thread, there are rather few packages, that need to be included for Lubuntu to get LTS.