I have to give Xubuntu a 10 but there's room for improvement. I give it a 10 because I have used this distro about 10 years. I switched from Ubuntu to Xubuntu where Gnome 3 entered and it removed all of my panel apps in Ubuntu 10.10. Look, those customized panel apps are gold. Everything is right there, not taking up much space or resources!
The GUI is fast, responsive, low resource. Gaming on Xubuntu is exceptional.
The desktop is so easy to customize with rotating backgrounds right out of the box. Few others do that.
On Xubuntu, you can download the Kernel from kernel.org and compile it yourself easily. I tried on Manjaro- no luck and the Kernel dev more or less mocked me for wanting to do that. Not with Xubunut. I'm running the latest bleeding edge Kernel with the latest AMD GPU modules and optimized specifically for my Ryzen 5800x.
Complaints:
* I wish some of the graphic libraries were newer. What we have now are very stable ones and that's good. However, I have an AMD GPU now and it benefits from every update!
* Like another user said, Thunar could benefit from actions. Pyrenamer's development death has meant that arranging files is a chore. I'd love to order files by EXE data and then mass rename them. That's not difficult to do. I would code something if I could. I take photos on my phone then I want to file them into folders by year. You really can't do that without some external tool like the defunct Pyrenamer. Oh well.
* We could use some bling. I have never gotten Compiz to work on Xubuntu but maybe that has since changed but we could really use that option. Linux is too beautiful and customizable to waste.
I think that Xubuntu is underappreciated. Instead of complaining about snaps, remove snapd and enjoy the fact that so many things have been already configured and prepared for you.
The system is snappy and competitively light on resources. It can easily be tweaked to one's taste to a super looking and acting system.
Pros
Rich repositories, archive versions for a sentimental trip to the past. Software center. Automatically mounted partitions.
Cons
Themes, panel, icons, wallpapers, windows that have had the same uninspired look for years.
"Open as root" could have been added to Thunar actions. It's only one line of code.
Synaptic and Gparted could be there among the most important apps (maybe it's there already in newer versions?).
Where I'm coming from is Windows from 3.2 to 7, then Linux. Started with Mint 19. It was ok until I got to know Linux better, then it felt restrictive. Tried several distros and eventually settled Lubuntu 18.04. If that version were still actively supported, i'd still be there. I really do not like LXQT.
I have used Xubuntu and XFCE on and off for several releases, usually satisfactorily. There have been some not so good releases, but those were much improved one point release later.
Xubuntu 23.04 is excellent right out of the box. I did make one change: deleted Thunar and installed PCManFM.
As always Xubuntu shines. It very fast and easy to use distro.
Also what puts it apart is that it has sane defaults: It packages with `Synaptic package manager` which says a lot about Xubuntu developers: it means that they do not treat users as idiots who don't know what to do, but treat them as equals.
Pros:
- XFCE 4.18 is brand new and nice
- Xubuntu packaged and configured XFCE very well (whisker menu, dark themes, wallpapers)
- Xubuntu single panel is very easy to use and is much nicer than default XFCE 2 panel layout
- LaF is nice
- the system is stable (which is cool, cause no need to get back to 22.04)
- the system is lightweight & fast
- the default apps are awesome
Cons:
- it would be nice workspaces to be configured (by default there is only a single workspace)
- as always on XFCE need to install redshift manually (while in other desktops GNOME/KDE/Cinnamon it is bundled)
i did the upgrade form 22.10 to 23.4 with the update-manager feature. Its worked very fluid in 15 Minutes. So i did before frome 22.4 to 22.10 . So my Xubuntu is going to be like a rolling release.
I am using Xubuntu for years now. Its a working xfce with regular updates at short intervals and the small collection of features i really need.
Another plus point for me is the speed with which the computer starts up and shuts down again. This makes Xubuntu amazingly fast and so is only comparable to Artix Linux with the runit init.
Well, and there is the look and feel - strictly speaking - no look and feel. Thus, Xubuntu is really only an offer for users who always customize the desktop according to their own taste anyway, or who don't care about the appearance. I guess they could get much more users, if they would spend much more time on a good looking look and feel - there is still a lot possible.
Some points I deduct because of Snap and forcing Firefox to be Snap.
For many years Xubuntu was my flavour of choice, but sadly 22.04 LTS is the game breaker for me. There are so many issues I even don't know where to start.
Of course, many pros that always stood out are still here, in particular in terms of configurability. On paper, that is. But in the end the problems largely outweigh the advantages, to name a few:
- Snap support for Firefox is not only bothersome but broken when it comes to sound output
- Qt and Xfce seem to have a somewhat difficult relationship, resulting in constant LMMS appimage crashes.
- The same goes for xfwm and wine.
- Lots and lots of unresolved dependencies and broken packages in the repositories that synaptic fails to resolve. I did not even know that it is possible to run into unresolved dependencies in the native distro reps. Why do they refer packages if they rely on others that are outdated or plainly missing?
- random behaviour of the session manager, asking for a login password despite autologin one out of three starts.
Thus I am calling it quits.
I've always liked Xubuntu. I wanted it to work. Unfortunately, I began my journey with Xubuntu 22.04. It was awful, and beta. In particular, the Software Catalog was laggy and unusable. Inexplicably, I lost audio after two days. Not to be deterred, I researched the problems, and found several concurrent recommendations to instead try Xubuntu 20.04.5 LTS, and to decline any upgrades. Ah, what an improvement, this is what I imagined Xubuntu would be like. First thing I did was get rid of Snaps, before I installed any apps. I checked the Software Catalog, it was simpler, and pleasantly functional. Xubuntu runs a standard Xfce desktop, so Xubuntu was easy to configure to my liking. I had an issue with Restart. The computer would shut down, and start from off normally, but a Restart would hang during boot on a blinking cursor. Fortunately, I recognized this blinking cursor on my machine, a Core 2 Duo, so I appended the boot command line with EDD=off, then the problem went away. After that I loaded up the applications and turned this installation into a tool kit. A loaded Xubuntu booted 12 seconds faster than similar Linux Mint 21.1 Xfce. I recently needed to move data off my Android phone, so I tested my 10 Linux test distros to see which could do the task. Xubuntu performed this task better than all others, in fact, the task would have failed had I not used Xubuntu. I respect that Claude LeFebvre has declined to continue support for Snaps packaging for Linux Mint. I feel the same way. If Canonical insists on continuing that single-minded line of development, I will not be coming along for the ride. In the meantime, I will enjoy this version of Xubuntu, sans Snap, for as long as it works.
PRO
1 not buggy and laggy like Xubuntu 22.04
2 functional Software Catalog, makes a difference
3 user ability to remove Snap
4 easy config with standard Xfce desktop tools
5 relatively faster boot, with smooth and stable operation
6 large selection of applications
CON
1 older version is decidedly superior
2 EDD snag on Restart
3 Snap packager removal requires research
4 Boot menu has obsolete entries that require removal
5 possible issue with pulseaudio and ALSA working together
The version of Xubuntu I replaced was plagued by Firefox constantly crashing. I did a clean install of the newest LTS release and am still experiencing the same problem. This distro is unusable. Ubuntu and its family of flavors has fallen a very long way over the last few years. Ubuntu at one time was the best-engineered, most reliable distribution available. I've used Ubuntu Mate and Xubuntu for years. No more. At least we have Distrowatch to use as a guide. It looks like I will be relying on the wisdom of the crowd and trying MX Linux, too.
I recently installed the newest LTS version. Compared to the older version I replaced, what a disappointment this is. Based on the professional reviews, all flavors of Ubuntu have suffered from stability issues over the past few releases. This one is no different. Unfortunately, the panel crashes regularly. Restarting the session to restore the panel is annoying, but when the panel disappears completely and a hard restart is required, this becomes dangerous and is unacceptable. In addition, Snaps deserve all the criticism they get. If I'm trying to get work done, I regularly get confronted with a desktop notification that a new Firefox Snap has just been installed and if I don't restart Firefox, I'm likely to experience problems. This reminds me of Linux Mint, which constantly runs its software updater. This is just stupid. I wish I had installed MX Linux instead.
I use Linux around 15 years and every few month i am formatting my laptop and installing new ver of Linux.
tried a lot of Ubuntu base and manjaro.
To the final were 3 Linux system
Lite 6.0 very good but always i have the feeling that something is missing don't know to say what.
Ubuntu mate 22.04 grate option and was difficult for me to choose between Xubuntu and Mate.
Xubuntu 22.04
all of them more of the same
but i have found that Xubuntu is the fastest and smooth Linux system.
it is so simple to get the theme,background and all other stuff to make this Linux as you want.
grate Ubuntu base.
I use Linux since 2009, starting with Ubuntu and Kubuntu.
After the change to unity and gnome 3 i went to XFCE an i never regret it.
XFCE is fast, very snappy and easy to use. I like the possibilities to customize it and - after experimenting with other desktops and distributions, i came back everytime.
I like to have my own customized user interface and not a windows replacement and certainly not mac-os.
Xubuntu is my way to go, after purging snap and some other crap. I use flatpak and appimages and it works fine for me.
I will never, NEVER change back to windows. Now i am free and happy.
Have been using versions of Xubuntu off and on for the past few years. But then I settled into a pattern of mostly using Zorin and Pop. I thought I would give the new 22.04 LTS of Xubuntu a try on a relatively new Toshiba laptop.
The installation worked very well. I'm very happy with XFCE as the DE. It seems to be pretty light on resource use and it's easy to navigate.
I liked the software/app store, and I added Snap and Snap Store to chase down a few applications. I also was able to install some deb pkgs very easily by using the built-in software install program.
I am very happy that I am easily able to install and run Devede NG program, as I have found going back to DVDs very useful for teaching, since it's a robust technology in the classrooms (so long as there are BD or DVD players that work). I have to shift back to the classroom from all that online teaching, and this is a great way to transition a lot of the content and save it too. It's easier to carry a few DVDs to class than an entire laptop with all the necessary cables.
I think this would make a great distro to put on those Win 10 computers that can't upgrade to Win 11. I tried Win 11 for a bit on two newer computers but decided that it stunk and just wiped it. Instead, Ubuntu is on the new mini-PC and Xubuntu is on the new laptop.
A light install didn't install the software store on another computer, so I had to add that. I think the better way to do it would be to do a full install, and then just use the software store and install program to uninstall the stuff you don't need (if you need to save drive space). For me, that would mean uninstalling some game apps.
Opinions and experiences vary, but of all the Ubuntu distros--Ubuntu, Ubuntu Mate, Lubuntu, Kubuntu, and Xubuntu--I would probably recommend Xubuntu the most even though I like all of them.
I have tried several distributions, but Xubuntu is my favorite. I really like the configurability of Xfce and the small number of bugs in this distribution. I also like the lack of eye candy and the speed of the user interface.
I had previously used Linux Mint Xfce but switched to Xubuntu. One advantage is that I can download the release months sooner, thus getting the latest and greatest software. I found that I can configure Xubuntu to be as much like Linux Mint Xfce as I want, without the wait. Also, Xubuntu comes with snap, which I prefer not to use, but it came in handy for getting the latest release of the Deja Dup backup software.
After a few years I thought I would give Xubuntu a try again.
I very recently bought a new Intel NUC, Intel Atlas Canyon NUC11ATKPE (I think Intel only started manufacturing them in March 2022, so really new Hardware), got myself 16GB RAM plus a 500 GB SSD and with this Xubuntu 22.04 was working out of the box so to speak, everything was working straight away like Monitor, Wireless, sound etc.
System is snappy, quick boot, well typical for XFCE.
However there were some niggles, otherwise I woujld have given 10/10.
For example the Network Applet kept disappearing, if I try to save panel preferences that leads to a crashed window, I tried GPG and that also seemed to crash initially with windows frozen, installing software from the Gnome Software centre is obviously possible but when then trying to uninstall from Gnome software it says that the package doesn't exist (note some software versions on Gnome software really old and not functioning that well, for example there is this fantastic Gnome Authenticator app for 2FA OTPs, but the "Xubuntu" version (version 3.x) is around 15 secs behind vs the "correct" timing, compared per other 2FA apps and the authenticator version 4.x that is now available on flatpak, I accept that this isn't the fault of Xubuntu but still...)
I have found Xubuntu on this occasion a bit more difficult to configure (repeated crashes, thank goodness for timeshift!!) than in the past (I think I had tried the 18.04 version before) ans also perhaps in contrast to Linux Mint where it seemed much less configuration was needed.
Still after some work I have a snappy, lightweight system that works very well.
This is my usual go to 'buntu. It is small, light on resources and you can then install anything else you like. One problem I have heard people express with Ubuntu (the main "Buntu") is that Gnome is something of a pain. I get that. On older hardware KDE and Gnome are just non-functional because they are too much like Windows in the resource hog category. Xubuntu and Lubuntu aid with that. I will also note here that on older computers like my Gateway FX (Intel Quad Core processor) even Mate chokes a bit and has problems. Not sure if that is the older nvidia card or the processor, but Mate, Gnome and KDE are horrible on that system. Xfce, IceWM, JWM, Cinnamon (weird that Cinnamon runs, but not Mate or Gnome) and TDE (basically KDE 3.5) all run beautifully on it.
The great thing about this flavor of the 'buntus is that Xfce works and you can then install Cinnamon as a second desktop and it works too. You can also go to the Cinnamon Remix of Ubuntu, but the advantage of installing Xubuntu as the base is that you get a solid, low resource running GUI that will work on most computers. Starting out with Cinnamon or other more resource heavy GUI may result in a non-bootable or non-usable system on that old computer. With Xubuntu, if you install a heavier GUI, you have Xfce as the fallback so you can still use the system.
Also, the 'buntus are generally a good set of distros. I have come to prefer the LTS releases, however. As expected, 22.04 seems to work reasonably well. I had an issue on a Dell laptop with it working with my larger monitor that was attached via HDMI port, but I was able to find a way to fix that through the command line. One thing about the 'buntus that is hard to find elsewhere is the community support. Debian, 'buntus and Arch are three communities that are good to work with, but the 'buntu community is second to none.
Let's face it...Linux is pretty much similar across the board. If you know what you are doing, you can get Slackware to do everything Debian, Fedora, a 'buntu or any other does. The place where Xubuntu and the rest of the 'buntu line shines in support for those that are new or have only limited experience. After installing 22.04 on my laptop and having the monitor problem, I had only to go to the community and ask questions. The 'buntu community came to my aid with no muss, no fuss and no berating, insults or venom (some other distro's communities give a lot of attitude to people having questions). I had the problem fixed in a day (most of that was just waiting on a response). The solution was given in a step by step manner and the directions were easy.
Why spend time on this point? Simple. An integral necessity for any OS is tech support. One thing the 'buntus have going for them is a community that provides that tech support for free and with a real sense of kindness toward newbies.
I recommend using Xubuntu as the base for any 'buntu based system and then installing an alternate GUI (if you want one), if you are on a computer that is 5 years old or older. For the most part, though, Xfce is everything most people need in a GUI. Granted there are more polished Xfce distros out there, but most lack in the community support.
Ever popular Ubuntu distro with the tried and tested, lightweight, stable and highly customizable XFCE desktop environment.
Pros:
Very polished but lightweight distro with high customization potential.
Most stable of all the Ubuntu flavors I have used.
Workflow is very intuitive for a DE with high customization potential.
Bundled apps are all neat, stable and work great, Thunar file manager, Mousepad etc.
Overall a joy to use.
Cons:
Only con for me is the lack of XFCE support for Wayland, with the roadmap not ensuring anything for the near future.
Pros: A very fast, stable and beautiful distribution, that i use for both productivity and daily use.
Xfce is better than in the past.
snap slow. I like firejail for sandboxing.
sudo apt autoremove --purge snapd
sudo apt-mark hold snapd
I downloaded Firefox-esr tarball from Mozilla website and unpack it in /opt/
and manually create a firefox-esr.desktop shortcut in /usr/share/applications/
That's it.
After any release of new version - (Help -> about) -, i delete the old firefox folder in /opt/ and download the new tarball version and unpack it in /opt/
Xubuntu was the first distro distribution I really warmed to and loved to use as a daily-driver, back in the days of 16.04. However, after a while I thought, I maybe could find something better and hopped around a bit, but never got used to another operatingsystem, the way I got used to Xubuntu. With the release of 22.04, I suddenly thought about giving Xubuntu another spin and all I can say is: Wow! I haven't had a single issue with it and have yet to come across any bugs. Everything is incredibly light on resources, fast and responsive and the system is extremely reliable. It just gets out of the way and it's such a joy to work with Xubuntu 22.04! I certainly won't switch away any time soon and Xubuntu got me back as a happy user.
I'd really like to thank the devs for their great work and highly recommend Xubuntu 22.04 to everyone. Especially if you need to get actual work done and are looking for a set-and-forget OS, Xubuntu is definitely worth considering.
Xubuntu is back! The last ~4 years I've found all the *buntus a bit buggy and..."finicky". 22.04 has been a solid and trouble free release for me. The best since about 16.04. I am not fond of the "forced" snap packages and really not liking the Firefox snap preinstalled (Firefox is fine, just not a snap version), but it's not too much trouble to remove all that and put it back the way I like it.
Other than that I find Xubuntu to be the closest Xfce distro to what I want, not to stripped or too bloated. So it is really not too much hassle to remove a couple unwanted things (snaps, gigolo, timeshift), then add a few more that I use. This is the first *buntu in a few years that I did not have to go hunting for ways to fix several things right after install. Looking at you Nvidia
Xubuntu is still one of the best distributions. Very stable and fast. If someone doesn't like snap, they can easily remove it and use flatpak or appimages. As for Firefox, you can download a tarball from the Mozilla website, create a directory in your home directory and unpack it there. It will update itself. You will only need to create a shortcut manually. Or install Librewolf from a flatpak. Xubuntu is also one of the best distros for gamers. Now I use two Debians (64 bit and 32 bit) Xubuntu, PopOS. I used also Arch, Void, MX, Sparky, Antix, Arco, Parrot, Slackware, EndevourOS, Mint, Peppermint and a few more. So... yes, Xubuntu - very good Linux, but may be not for begginers now,
I've installed Xubuntu 22.04 on a Dell Latitude E 7250. Very good and very fast. No crash or bug since I installed it. I started by Ubuntu 22.04 but there was stuttering on the right side of the screen. So, I went Xubuntu route. No tearing. Since the computer is for work, I didn't watch movies on it.
For me, Ubuntu base is needed for stability. The computer is for data analysis and report writing 8 to 10 hours a day, so I must set it up and forget. I downloaded Firefox and Vivaldi and I removed all things related to snap (sudo apt autoremove --purge snapd). I removed LibreOffice (crash often) and installed OnlyOffice. There are other data analysis professional softwares installed on it (R, Anaconda, SPSS) and one through wine (Stata). One more thing I really appreciate is the default wallpaper, it is very nice.
I have stability, reliability, beauty, efficiency, and speed. So, 10.
I installed Xubuntu 22.04 in Gnome Boxes to test drive it before committing to full blown desktop install. During the installation, I selected "minimal" which doesn't load a lot of applications that I would just remove anyway. So far, so good. It hasn't changed much from 20.04 except for Firefox is now a snap, and for some reason, a Chromium snap .desktop file is in /usr/share/applications, but it still requires installation. I'm not a fan of snaps, so I installed Brave. Otherwise, any Xubuntu fan will find the same dependable system they are used to.
I like speed and straight forward operation.
Xubuntu 21.10 is the best distro since Lubuntu 18.04 (LXDE). I stayed with Lubuntu until 18.04.5, when things didn't quite work right. I would have continued with Lubuntu but can not stand LXQT and its needless complexity.
Like most everyone, you come from the Windows world and like me, you want to find a familiar and very configurable desktop environment; Xfce of course! reliable, fluid, very stable, not complicated! Xubuntu LTS will be forgotten for 3 years to better focus on productivity, surfing, leisure ..., It is a light and very malleable distribution with regular updates; security and others.
I have tried quite a few distributions, notably based on the Xfce environment, and I still find problems that bother me; like some dependencies when I want to uninstall or install programs and I don't like exotic repositories .. other than those from, Debian and Buntu; for various reasons ... therefore, I always come back to Xubuntu LTS, and there, I finally understood that it is the best alternative, which I do not regret since version 16.04.
The essential is there. We uninstall the little that we don't need and we install a few more applications as needed; synaptic is very easy to learn.
security side, the UFW firewall is there, AppArmor is there, we can add Firejail.
What else? objectively? deserves to be ranked higher!
If you are a fan of Xfce you will also love this distribution. Easy to install, god selection of default apps, efficient and lean to your machine and beautiful. My favourite of all distributions!
I picked up a older notebook about ten years old. Its got a Intel 3427u Ivy Bridge CPU, 8 GB RAM and I replaced a spin drive with a Sata SSD. Been trying several Linux distro's and even Neverware CloudReady OS
A Chrome OS clone that runs Chromium OS. All of them run perfectly fine but a tad slow because in fact they are developed for today's hardware not that of a decade ago. Thought I would try a Xfce desktop Linux to see if performance improved. Actually I do notice the desktop performance improving but apps like Firefox actually are slower at least when I can perform some tests. Then you have the trouble of browsers hit or miss on hardware acceleration and I feel like things go south from there. Not saying Linux desktops are all terrible. But in the end only the desktop environments really have any bearing on performance. I will say so far the hardware in this notebook seems very friendly to all Linux distro's I have tried. But is there a Goldilocks distro that really works well, isn't buggy, has long term support and still tweaks older hardware? I always feel that using a Linux desktop OS feels like a second class OS compared to a Mac OS or Windows. Nothing really un-kept but also nothing really that stands out either.
After trying several distros that all failed to complete installation, *replacing* ChromeOS, on a Dell Chromebook (incl: Debian 10 and Gallium OS - the latter supposedly optimised/the best for the Chromebook h/w) I tried Xubuntu, seeking a Goldilocks option and, indeed, everything worked perfectly except, as predicted, sound. Despite trying every suggested fix, I gave up and settled for bluetooth with ear buds when sound really is required (though even then the bluetooth is a bit patchy at times). Other than that, the stable 20.04 Xubuntu runs sweetly on the
I tested both minimal and full installations of Xubuntu. It's a very polished distro, and leaves nothing left to be desired. Recently, I have been trying out several Ubuntu based distros and have come to the conclusion that they are all similarly good in 2021. 15-20 years ago, the differences were quite significant in terms of stability and practicality, but it's not the case anymore, because what is under the hood has improved so much, and the implementation has also improved a lot. Xubuntu is as good as any other Ubuntu based distro, just lighter. It boots within seconds on SSD. It's the fastest booting Ubuntu based system that I have used so far. I am very pleased with it.
Like the reviewer beneath me, i've been running Linux since the late 90's. Started with Redhat 5.0 and Corel Linux.(Dependency Hell, but a fortunate simplicity, and reliability nevertheless)
Downloaded 20.04 from Australian mirror today - AARNET. Installation went ok apart from confusion over correct mount point syntax, not explained with a tool-tip in the installer. Hints would be nice.
Similar experience to review before me. Looks great after boot, everything working fine.
Installed updates from closer official mirror here in NZ, in terms of hops, and after patches are applied (not a full upgrade), I'm greeted with a permanent hard lock in XFCE I cannot get out of, which seems to be a blank screensaver with a working mouse pointer. Control-Alt-Backspace won't drop to system shell, despite being enabled at install. Cannot turn off without forced hardware powerdown - bios override by holding power key for 5 seconds.
Utterly hopeless, and I've had far better stability with Q4OS, Devuan, and for that matter Puppy FatDog-64. If you're looking for a 'lite' distro, I'd recommend those apart from Fatdog 64, which is fast but lacks easy updates. Those 2 recommendations, do require some tweaking though out of the box. For example Q4OS won't preview thumbnails of image files without installing a plugin for KDE derived TDE window manager. However Q4 boots much faster than Xubuntu, and does not lock after normal updates. Devuan is bearable if you can tolerate Openbox window manager, which is not my cup of tea. Best of luck !
Cons: Download/installed updates on 11 Jun, now will not run more than a few minutes without locking up.
I installed Kubuntu in February. It locked up repeatedly and the only way to get out was to power cycle. Rather than spend a lot of time trying to figure out the problem, I installed Xubuntu, and was VERY happy with it.....until updates were pushed out 11 Jun, which I installed; now I have the same problem I had with Kubuntu. I've gone through Lubuntu, Kubuntu, and now, Xubuntu, and they all have issues. My first Linux was RedHat, about 22 years ago, I'm thinking of trying it again, or maybe CentOS,
I installed this non LTS version expecting a number of glitches and annoyances. I was wrong. It runs every bit as good as 20.04, slightly more responsive & with up to date packages. Congrats to the Xubuntu team. As others have said, theming leaves a lot to be desired, I head straight over to xfcelook.org and download the Qogir theme & icons. Other than that easily put right thing, installs and runs brilliantly.
Xubuntu is already for a long time my favorite distro. But last time
there was snap.
In the 21.4 version are after installing the OS no snaps are installed. I typed in the terminal
snap list - there was no installed snaps.
snapd was installed, so I typed in the terminal sudo apt-get purge snapd
and deleted snap.
So the users have the simple way to choose if the want snap or not.
The only thing missing now is runit as init.
Then Xubuntu would really be the best of all distros.
Discussions about the look and fell are not necessary - XFCE is the best desktop to customize it
to your own flavor.
Xubuntu war schon lange meine Lieblingsdistro. Aber mit den Snaps beim letzten Mal gab es einen kleinen faden Nachgeschmack.
Bei der 21.4 Version waren nach der Installation des Betriebssystems keine Snaps installiert - die Eingabe von snap list zeigte keine installierten Snaps.
snapd war installiert, so habe ich im Terminal sudo apt-get purge snapd eingegeben und so Snap gelöscht.
Somit haben die Nutzer eine einfache Möglichkeit zu Wählen, ob sie snaps haben wollen oder nicht.
Jetzt fehlt nur noch runit als init, und Xubuntu wäre wirklich die beste Distro von allen.
Diskussion über das Aussehen sind überflüssig. XFCE ist der beste Desktop, um ihn nach dem eigenen Geschmack einzurichten.
Arguably the best of the Ubuntu flavours. Xfce isn't as light on RAM as it used to be, but thankfully it's still gentle on the CPU and the fans are whisper-quiet. Moreover, it seems quite stable & responsive. My biggest criticism is that - out of the box - it looks somewhat dated, and there are minor annoyances such as the menu not being mapped to the super key by default. Easily rectified, though. I'd also suggest adding Slick Greeter (for login screen), Plank Dock, the appmenu applet (global menu), SkippyXD (for window expose), and changing the theme to Materia & icons to Papirus. With a small amount of effort you'll end up with fast, good-looking and stable system.
Version 21.04. makes a very good impression. Have been using various derivatives of Ubuntu for years, so Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Ubuntu, ...
Now it was time for me to test Xubuntu.
The general impression: A great release! The LTS version still looked a bit "old-fashioned", the 21.04. more modern.
I still installed "plank", so that I have a dock at the bottom with DeepL access. I guess the team didn't get rid of one plague: The first time I try to connect to a BlueTooth device, I get the usual "sorry" error. After a reboot, however, everything is fine again.
And after the installation you have to enter the WLAN password once again, this was not taken over by the installer.
But otherwise: Booted on a Lenovo V110 (8GB RAM, 2x1.2Ghz, SSD) in a few seconds and the system is much more performant compared to Ubuntu.
Xubuntu is the best ubuntu version from all other flavours. If anyone looks for a light weight distro with systemd, xfce DE this the best choice. The only thing i would add in xubuntu after install is synaptic. This distro got everything you need for a great experience. I like the fact when i drag windows they become trasnparent (you have to set it up it's not by default this way) The only draw back is that firefox the main browser get updated with a big delay that can take even 7 days till they patch to the latest ff version. For example ff 88 was realesed in april 19 and only today 26 they updated. If i can change something i would install Xterm instead of xfce terminal that looks amazing for example in linux lite. Would make more sense Xubuntu, Xterm but this can be done very easily. Even i'm on arch based distro once in a while i check Xubuntu when i need more convenience. Cheers to Xubuntu team!
The start was promising, installed it to download updates and proprietary drivers. Touchpad was moving ok after few settings. I've had some troubles moving the taskbar from top to bottom that can be achieved by unchecking the lock panel from preferences and drag taskbar from the left side where there is a special field to catch and drag it to bottom. Reboot was fast and after that tried to update from terminal. Update was working great till i left my laptop few minutes and after i returned screen was black, moved mouse, arrows left right, nothing. All i could get was my mouse pointer on a black screen. Got into a tty tried to restart display, didn't worked. Tried to reboot did not work as in the background the system was making updates. Restarting xfce sent me into a never ending xubuntu loading logo loop. Xubuntu seems to be lighter than it's brother lubuntu but it's nowhere near antix wich is still the champion. On low end/old laptops xubuntu still works sluggish but still is better than linux lite or linux mint that i tried also. So if your pc is powerful enough to run xubuntu flawlessly you better try MXlinux if not try antix.
Pretty much the ideal Linux distro for me. Works out of the box, easy to use, fast and responsive. Xubuntu is my go-to recommendation for anyone looking to switch to Linux.
I want to give Xubuntu a 10/10. Been using for a month and the only hitch has been that the Snap Store failed to install VLC. No problem, installed the .deb package instead. Anyway, Xubuntu is fast, light and stable. It's not the perfect absolute beginner distro, Mint includes more applications by default. They should consider adding applications like GParted, Synaptic, a USB writer like mintstick, and backup applications like DejaDup and Timeshift. Other than that, Xubuntu is really a fantastic distro that is ideal for use on older computers and still very easy to use.
Seriously, I know the Xubuntu team is small, but they've missed some bugs that are just annoying, such as one with suspend and the screensaver! Apparently a bad interaction between the new XFCE4 version 16 and the lightdm and lightlocker and x-screensaver (c'mon just put sleep/suspend/lock in ONE location!) Plus, certain panel accessories no longer work (after I had finally made them work on previous versions... seriously you don't use a "notifier" to run what should be a standalone monitoring application.) Also, can't theme it the way I did in 18.04, as support for GTK2 is apparently missing, and GTK3 is way too complicated to deal with customizatons.
Most of the common themes I have used before don't work and don't have replacements! After using this for a week trying to make it work properly I got such bad crashes in common programs and when the display went wonky after a suspend, I'm back on 18.04, which I at least was finally able to tweak so it worked as well as 16.04 or 12.04 (which was probably the best but not up to modern standards.)
Common to Ubuntu, there is no 32-bit. Start looking elsewhere if you're wanting toinstall Xubuntu 20 plus on older hardware, those days are gone.
I
Xubuntu 20.10 has few big problems for me.
Firstly it is impossible to use MS Teams on Xubuntu 20.10 becouse that app is totally freezing PC. I had to remove it via Recovery Mode becouse I can not use PC at all ( Teams was added on startup automatically )
The same situation takes place when I want to play Ski Jump game in browser.
XFCE sometimes freezes for a second, what is a bit annoying
The next major problem is with my HP 3525 printer, which do not want to print on dedicated drivers installed via Printer settngs. Printer is not responding when I want to print something. Default drivers are a bit problematic. There are some problems with duplex, and printer is a bit slow in my opinion. I do not know if scanner is working out of the box becouse I did not tested that.
I went back to 20.04 and everything is working fine. I will stuck with 5.4 kernel for some time, becouse 5.8 is not stable enoguh for me, so Xbuntu 20.04.2 may be problematic too.
I have to give Xubuntu a 10 but there's room for improvement. I give it a 10 because I have used this distro about 10 years. I switched from Ubuntu to Xubuntu where Gnome 3 entered and it removed all of my panel apps in Ubuntu 10.10. Look, those customized panel apps are gold. Everything is right there, not taking up much space or resources!
The GUI is fast, responsive, low resource. Gaming on Xubuntu is exceptional.
The desktop is so easy to customize with rotating backgrounds right out of the box. Few others do that.
On Xubuntu, you can download the Kernel from kernel.org and compile it yourself easily. I tried on Manjaro- no luck and the Kernel dev more or less mocked me for wanting to do that. Not with Xubunut. I'm running the latest bleeding edge Kernel with the latest AMD GPU modules and optimized specifically for my Ryzen 5800x.
Complaints:
* I wish some of the graphic libraries were newer. What we have now are very stable ones and that's good. However, I have an AMD GPU now and it benefits from every update!
* Like another user said, Thunar could benefit from actions. Pyrenamer's development death has meant that arranging files is a chore. I'd love to order files by EXE data and then mass rename them. That's not difficult to do. I would code something if I could. I take photos on my phone then I want to file them into folders by year. You really can't do that without some external tool like the defunct Pyrenamer. Oh well.
* We could use some bling. I have never gotten Compiz to work on Xubuntu but maybe that has since changed but we could really use that option. Linux is too beautiful and customizable to waste.
I think that Xubuntu is underappreciated. Instead of complaining about snaps, remove snapd and enjoy the fact that so many things have been already configured and prepared for you.
The system is snappy and competitively light on resources. It can easily be tweaked to one's taste to a super looking and acting system.
Pros
Rich repositories, archive versions for a sentimental trip to the past. Software center. Automatically mounted partitions.
Cons
Themes, panel, icons, wallpapers, windows that have had the same uninspired look for years.
"Open as root" could have been added to Thunar actions. It's only one line of code.
Synaptic and Gparted could be there among the most important apps (maybe it's there already in newer versions?).
Where I'm coming from is Windows from 3.2 to 7, then Linux. Started with Mint 19. It was ok until I got to know Linux better, then it felt restrictive. Tried several distros and eventually settled Lubuntu 18.04. If that version were still actively supported, i'd still be there. I really do not like LXQT.
I have used Xubuntu and XFCE on and off for several releases, usually satisfactorily. There have been some not so good releases, but those were much improved one point release later.
Xubuntu 23.04 is excellent right out of the box. I did make one change: deleted Thunar and installed PCManFM.
As always Xubuntu shines. It very fast and easy to use distro.
Also what puts it apart is that it has sane defaults: It packages with `Synaptic package manager` which says a lot about Xubuntu developers: it means that they do not treat users as idiots who don't know what to do, but treat them as equals.
Pros:
- XFCE 4.18 is brand new and nice
- Xubuntu packaged and configured XFCE very well (whisker menu, dark themes, wallpapers)
- Xubuntu single panel is very easy to use and is much nicer than default XFCE 2 panel layout
- LaF is nice
- the system is stable (which is cool, cause no need to get back to 22.04)
- the system is lightweight & fast
- the default apps are awesome
Cons:
- it would be nice workspaces to be configured (by default there is only a single workspace)
- as always on XFCE need to install redshift manually (while in other desktops GNOME/KDE/Cinnamon it is bundled)
i did the upgrade form 22.10 to 23.4 with the update-manager feature. Its worked very fluid in 15 Minutes. So i did before frome 22.4 to 22.10 . So my Xubuntu is going to be like a rolling release.
I am using Xubuntu for years now. Its a working xfce with regular updates at short intervals and the small collection of features i really need.
Another plus point for me is the speed with which the computer starts up and shuts down again. This makes Xubuntu amazingly fast and so is only comparable to Artix Linux with the runit init.
Well, and there is the look and feel - strictly speaking - no look and feel. Thus, Xubuntu is really only an offer for users who always customize the desktop according to their own taste anyway, or who don't care about the appearance. I guess they could get much more users, if they would spend much more time on a good looking look and feel - there is still a lot possible.
Some points I deduct because of Snap and forcing Firefox to be Snap.
For many years Xubuntu was my flavour of choice, but sadly 22.04 LTS is the game breaker for me. There are so many issues I even don't know where to start.
Of course, many pros that always stood out are still here, in particular in terms of configurability. On paper, that is. But in the end the problems largely outweigh the advantages, to name a few:
- Snap support for Firefox is not only bothersome but broken when it comes to sound output
- Qt and Xfce seem to have a somewhat difficult relationship, resulting in constant LMMS appimage crashes.
- The same goes for xfwm and wine.
- Lots and lots of unresolved dependencies and broken packages in the repositories that synaptic fails to resolve. I did not even know that it is possible to run into unresolved dependencies in the native distro reps. Why do they refer packages if they rely on others that are outdated or plainly missing?
- random behaviour of the session manager, asking for a login password despite autologin one out of three starts.
Thus I am calling it quits.
I've always liked Xubuntu. I wanted it to work. Unfortunately, I began my journey with Xubuntu 22.04. It was awful, and beta. In particular, the Software Catalog was laggy and unusable. Inexplicably, I lost audio after two days. Not to be deterred, I researched the problems, and found several concurrent recommendations to instead try Xubuntu 20.04.5 LTS, and to decline any upgrades. Ah, what an improvement, this is what I imagined Xubuntu would be like. First thing I did was get rid of Snaps, before I installed any apps. I checked the Software Catalog, it was simpler, and pleasantly functional. Xubuntu runs a standard Xfce desktop, so Xubuntu was easy to configure to my liking. I had an issue with Restart. The computer would shut down, and start from off normally, but a Restart would hang during boot on a blinking cursor. Fortunately, I recognized this blinking cursor on my machine, a Core 2 Duo, so I appended the boot command line with EDD=off, then the problem went away. After that I loaded up the applications and turned this installation into a tool kit. A loaded Xubuntu booted 12 seconds faster than similar Linux Mint 21.1 Xfce. I recently needed to move data off my Android phone, so I tested my 10 Linux test distros to see which could do the task. Xubuntu performed this task better than all others, in fact, the task would have failed had I not used Xubuntu. I respect that Claude LeFebvre has declined to continue support for Snaps packaging for Linux Mint. I feel the same way. If Canonical insists on continuing that single-minded line of development, I will not be coming along for the ride. In the meantime, I will enjoy this version of Xubuntu, sans Snap, for as long as it works.
PRO
1 not buggy and laggy like Xubuntu 22.04
2 functional Software Catalog, makes a difference
3 user ability to remove Snap
4 easy config with standard Xfce desktop tools
5 relatively faster boot, with smooth and stable operation
6 large selection of applications
CON
1 older version is decidedly superior
2 EDD snag on Restart
3 Snap packager removal requires research
4 Boot menu has obsolete entries that require removal
5 possible issue with pulseaudio and ALSA working together
The version of Xubuntu I replaced was plagued by Firefox constantly crashing. I did a clean install of the newest LTS release and am still experiencing the same problem. This distro is unusable. Ubuntu and its family of flavors has fallen a very long way over the last few years. Ubuntu at one time was the best-engineered, most reliable distribution available. I've used Ubuntu Mate and Xubuntu for years. No more. At least we have Distrowatch to use as a guide. It looks like I will be relying on the wisdom of the crowd and trying MX Linux, too.
I recently installed the newest LTS version. Compared to the older version I replaced, what a disappointment this is. Based on the professional reviews, all flavors of Ubuntu have suffered from stability issues over the past few releases. This one is no different. Unfortunately, the panel crashes regularly. Restarting the session to restore the panel is annoying, but when the panel disappears completely and a hard restart is required, this becomes dangerous and is unacceptable. In addition, Snaps deserve all the criticism they get. If I'm trying to get work done, I regularly get confronted with a desktop notification that a new Firefox Snap has just been installed and if I don't restart Firefox, I'm likely to experience problems. This reminds me of Linux Mint, which constantly runs its software updater. This is just stupid. I wish I had installed MX Linux instead.
I use Linux around 15 years and every few month i am formatting my laptop and installing new ver of Linux.
tried a lot of Ubuntu base and manjaro.
To the final were 3 Linux system
Lite 6.0 very good but always i have the feeling that something is missing don't know to say what.
Ubuntu mate 22.04 grate option and was difficult for me to choose between Xubuntu and Mate.
Xubuntu 22.04
all of them more of the same
but i have found that Xubuntu is the fastest and smooth Linux system.
it is so simple to get the theme,background and all other stuff to make this Linux as you want.
grate Ubuntu base.
I use Linux since 2009, starting with Ubuntu and Kubuntu.
After the change to unity and gnome 3 i went to XFCE an i never regret it.
XFCE is fast, very snappy and easy to use. I like the possibilities to customize it and - after experimenting with other desktops and distributions, i came back everytime.
I like to have my own customized user interface and not a windows replacement and certainly not mac-os.
Xubuntu is my way to go, after purging snap and some other crap. I use flatpak and appimages and it works fine for me.
I will never, NEVER change back to windows. Now i am free and happy.
Have been using versions of Xubuntu off and on for the past few years. But then I settled into a pattern of mostly using Zorin and Pop. I thought I would give the new 22.04 LTS of Xubuntu a try on a relatively new Toshiba laptop.
The installation worked very well. I'm very happy with XFCE as the DE. It seems to be pretty light on resource use and it's easy to navigate.
I liked the software/app store, and I added Snap and Snap Store to chase down a few applications. I also was able to install some deb pkgs very easily by using the built-in software install program.
I am very happy that I am easily able to install and run Devede NG program, as I have found going back to DVDs very useful for teaching, since it's a robust technology in the classrooms (so long as there are BD or DVD players that work). I have to shift back to the classroom from all that online teaching, and this is a great way to transition a lot of the content and save it too. It's easier to carry a few DVDs to class than an entire laptop with all the necessary cables.
I think this would make a great distro to put on those Win 10 computers that can't upgrade to Win 11. I tried Win 11 for a bit on two newer computers but decided that it stunk and just wiped it. Instead, Ubuntu is on the new mini-PC and Xubuntu is on the new laptop.
A light install didn't install the software store on another computer, so I had to add that. I think the better way to do it would be to do a full install, and then just use the software store and install program to uninstall the stuff you don't need (if you need to save drive space). For me, that would mean uninstalling some game apps.
Opinions and experiences vary, but of all the Ubuntu distros--Ubuntu, Ubuntu Mate, Lubuntu, Kubuntu, and Xubuntu--I would probably recommend Xubuntu the most even though I like all of them.
I have tried several distributions, but Xubuntu is my favorite. I really like the configurability of Xfce and the small number of bugs in this distribution. I also like the lack of eye candy and the speed of the user interface.
I had previously used Linux Mint Xfce but switched to Xubuntu. One advantage is that I can download the release months sooner, thus getting the latest and greatest software. I found that I can configure Xubuntu to be as much like Linux Mint Xfce as I want, without the wait. Also, Xubuntu comes with snap, which I prefer not to use, but it came in handy for getting the latest release of the Deja Dup backup software.
After a few years I thought I would give Xubuntu a try again.
I very recently bought a new Intel NUC, Intel Atlas Canyon NUC11ATKPE (I think Intel only started manufacturing them in March 2022, so really new Hardware), got myself 16GB RAM plus a 500 GB SSD and with this Xubuntu 22.04 was working out of the box so to speak, everything was working straight away like Monitor, Wireless, sound etc.
System is snappy, quick boot, well typical for XFCE.
However there were some niggles, otherwise I woujld have given 10/10.
For example the Network Applet kept disappearing, if I try to save panel preferences that leads to a crashed window, I tried GPG and that also seemed to crash initially with windows frozen, installing software from the Gnome Software centre is obviously possible but when then trying to uninstall from Gnome software it says that the package doesn't exist (note some software versions on Gnome software really old and not functioning that well, for example there is this fantastic Gnome Authenticator app for 2FA OTPs, but the "Xubuntu" version (version 3.x) is around 15 secs behind vs the "correct" timing, compared per other 2FA apps and the authenticator version 4.x that is now available on flatpak, I accept that this isn't the fault of Xubuntu but still...)
I have found Xubuntu on this occasion a bit more difficult to configure (repeated crashes, thank goodness for timeshift!!) than in the past (I think I had tried the 18.04 version before) ans also perhaps in contrast to Linux Mint where it seemed much less configuration was needed.
Still after some work I have a snappy, lightweight system that works very well.
This is my usual go to 'buntu. It is small, light on resources and you can then install anything else you like. One problem I have heard people express with Ubuntu (the main "Buntu") is that Gnome is something of a pain. I get that. On older hardware KDE and Gnome are just non-functional because they are too much like Windows in the resource hog category. Xubuntu and Lubuntu aid with that. I will also note here that on older computers like my Gateway FX (Intel Quad Core processor) even Mate chokes a bit and has problems. Not sure if that is the older nvidia card or the processor, but Mate, Gnome and KDE are horrible on that system. Xfce, IceWM, JWM, Cinnamon (weird that Cinnamon runs, but not Mate or Gnome) and TDE (basically KDE 3.5) all run beautifully on it.
The great thing about this flavor of the 'buntus is that Xfce works and you can then install Cinnamon as a second desktop and it works too. You can also go to the Cinnamon Remix of Ubuntu, but the advantage of installing Xubuntu as the base is that you get a solid, low resource running GUI that will work on most computers. Starting out with Cinnamon or other more resource heavy GUI may result in a non-bootable or non-usable system on that old computer. With Xubuntu, if you install a heavier GUI, you have Xfce as the fallback so you can still use the system.
Also, the 'buntus are generally a good set of distros. I have come to prefer the LTS releases, however. As expected, 22.04 seems to work reasonably well. I had an issue on a Dell laptop with it working with my larger monitor that was attached via HDMI port, but I was able to find a way to fix that through the command line. One thing about the 'buntus that is hard to find elsewhere is the community support. Debian, 'buntus and Arch are three communities that are good to work with, but the 'buntu community is second to none.
Let's face it...Linux is pretty much similar across the board. If you know what you are doing, you can get Slackware to do everything Debian, Fedora, a 'buntu or any other does. The place where Xubuntu and the rest of the 'buntu line shines in support for those that are new or have only limited experience. After installing 22.04 on my laptop and having the monitor problem, I had only to go to the community and ask questions. The 'buntu community came to my aid with no muss, no fuss and no berating, insults or venom (some other distro's communities give a lot of attitude to people having questions). I had the problem fixed in a day (most of that was just waiting on a response). The solution was given in a step by step manner and the directions were easy.
Why spend time on this point? Simple. An integral necessity for any OS is tech support. One thing the 'buntus have going for them is a community that provides that tech support for free and with a real sense of kindness toward newbies.
I recommend using Xubuntu as the base for any 'buntu based system and then installing an alternate GUI (if you want one), if you are on a computer that is 5 years old or older. For the most part, though, Xfce is everything most people need in a GUI. Granted there are more polished Xfce distros out there, but most lack in the community support.
Ever popular Ubuntu distro with the tried and tested, lightweight, stable and highly customizable XFCE desktop environment.
Pros:
Very polished but lightweight distro with high customization potential.
Most stable of all the Ubuntu flavors I have used.
Workflow is very intuitive for a DE with high customization potential.
Bundled apps are all neat, stable and work great, Thunar file manager, Mousepad etc.
Overall a joy to use.
Cons:
Only con for me is the lack of XFCE support for Wayland, with the roadmap not ensuring anything for the near future.
Pros: A very fast, stable and beautiful distribution, that i use for both productivity and daily use.
Xfce is better than in the past.
snap slow. I like firejail for sandboxing.
sudo apt autoremove --purge snapd
sudo apt-mark hold snapd
I downloaded Firefox-esr tarball from Mozilla website and unpack it in /opt/
and manually create a firefox-esr.desktop shortcut in /usr/share/applications/
That's it.
After any release of new version - (Help -> about) -, i delete the old firefox folder in /opt/ and download the new tarball version and unpack it in /opt/
Xubuntu was the first distro distribution I really warmed to and loved to use as a daily-driver, back in the days of 16.04. However, after a while I thought, I maybe could find something better and hopped around a bit, but never got used to another operatingsystem, the way I got used to Xubuntu. With the release of 22.04, I suddenly thought about giving Xubuntu another spin and all I can say is: Wow! I haven't had a single issue with it and have yet to come across any bugs. Everything is incredibly light on resources, fast and responsive and the system is extremely reliable. It just gets out of the way and it's such a joy to work with Xubuntu 22.04! I certainly won't switch away any time soon and Xubuntu got me back as a happy user.
I'd really like to thank the devs for their great work and highly recommend Xubuntu 22.04 to everyone. Especially if you need to get actual work done and are looking for a set-and-forget OS, Xubuntu is definitely worth considering.
Xubuntu is back! The last ~4 years I've found all the *buntus a bit buggy and..."finicky". 22.04 has been a solid and trouble free release for me. The best since about 16.04. I am not fond of the "forced" snap packages and really not liking the Firefox snap preinstalled (Firefox is fine, just not a snap version), but it's not too much trouble to remove all that and put it back the way I like it.
Other than that I find Xubuntu to be the closest Xfce distro to what I want, not to stripped or too bloated. So it is really not too much hassle to remove a couple unwanted things (snaps, gigolo, timeshift), then add a few more that I use. This is the first *buntu in a few years that I did not have to go hunting for ways to fix several things right after install. Looking at you Nvidia
Xubuntu is still one of the best distributions. Very stable and fast. If someone doesn't like snap, they can easily remove it and use flatpak or appimages. As for Firefox, you can download a tarball from the Mozilla website, create a directory in your home directory and unpack it there. It will update itself. You will only need to create a shortcut manually. Or install Librewolf from a flatpak. Xubuntu is also one of the best distros for gamers. Now I use two Debians (64 bit and 32 bit) Xubuntu, PopOS. I used also Arch, Void, MX, Sparky, Antix, Arco, Parrot, Slackware, EndevourOS, Mint, Peppermint and a few more. So... yes, Xubuntu - very good Linux, but may be not for begginers now,
I've installed Xubuntu 22.04 on a Dell Latitude E 7250. Very good and very fast. No crash or bug since I installed it. I started by Ubuntu 22.04 but there was stuttering on the right side of the screen. So, I went Xubuntu route. No tearing. Since the computer is for work, I didn't watch movies on it.
For me, Ubuntu base is needed for stability. The computer is for data analysis and report writing 8 to 10 hours a day, so I must set it up and forget. I downloaded Firefox and Vivaldi and I removed all things related to snap (sudo apt autoremove --purge snapd). I removed LibreOffice (crash often) and installed OnlyOffice. There are other data analysis professional softwares installed on it (R, Anaconda, SPSS) and one through wine (Stata). One more thing I really appreciate is the default wallpaper, it is very nice.
I have stability, reliability, beauty, efficiency, and speed. So, 10.
I installed Xubuntu 22.04 in Gnome Boxes to test drive it before committing to full blown desktop install. During the installation, I selected "minimal" which doesn't load a lot of applications that I would just remove anyway. So far, so good. It hasn't changed much from 20.04 except for Firefox is now a snap, and for some reason, a Chromium snap .desktop file is in /usr/share/applications, but it still requires installation. I'm not a fan of snaps, so I installed Brave. Otherwise, any Xubuntu fan will find the same dependable system they are used to.
I like speed and straight forward operation.
Xubuntu 21.10 is the best distro since Lubuntu 18.04 (LXDE). I stayed with Lubuntu until 18.04.5, when things didn't quite work right. I would have continued with Lubuntu but can not stand LXQT and its needless complexity.
Like most everyone, you come from the Windows world and like me, you want to find a familiar and very configurable desktop environment; Xfce of course! reliable, fluid, very stable, not complicated! Xubuntu LTS will be forgotten for 3 years to better focus on productivity, surfing, leisure ..., It is a light and very malleable distribution with regular updates; security and others.
I have tried quite a few distributions, notably based on the Xfce environment, and I still find problems that bother me; like some dependencies when I want to uninstall or install programs and I don't like exotic repositories .. other than those from, Debian and Buntu; for various reasons ... therefore, I always come back to Xubuntu LTS, and there, I finally understood that it is the best alternative, which I do not regret since version 16.04.
The essential is there. We uninstall the little that we don't need and we install a few more applications as needed; synaptic is very easy to learn.
security side, the UFW firewall is there, AppArmor is there, we can add Firejail.
What else? objectively? deserves to be ranked higher!
If you are a fan of Xfce you will also love this distribution. Easy to install, god selection of default apps, efficient and lean to your machine and beautiful. My favourite of all distributions!
I picked up a older notebook about ten years old. Its got a Intel 3427u Ivy Bridge CPU, 8 GB RAM and I replaced a spin drive with a Sata SSD. Been trying several Linux distro's and even Neverware CloudReady OS
A Chrome OS clone that runs Chromium OS. All of them run perfectly fine but a tad slow because in fact they are developed for today's hardware not that of a decade ago. Thought I would try a Xfce desktop Linux to see if performance improved. Actually I do notice the desktop performance improving but apps like Firefox actually are slower at least when I can perform some tests. Then you have the trouble of browsers hit or miss on hardware acceleration and I feel like things go south from there. Not saying Linux desktops are all terrible. But in the end only the desktop environments really have any bearing on performance. I will say so far the hardware in this notebook seems very friendly to all Linux distro's I have tried. But is there a Goldilocks distro that really works well, isn't buggy, has long term support and still tweaks older hardware? I always feel that using a Linux desktop OS feels like a second class OS compared to a Mac OS or Windows. Nothing really un-kept but also nothing really that stands out either.
After trying several distros that all failed to complete installation, *replacing* ChromeOS, on a Dell Chromebook (incl: Debian 10 and Gallium OS - the latter supposedly optimised/the best for the Chromebook h/w) I tried Xubuntu, seeking a Goldilocks option and, indeed, everything worked perfectly except, as predicted, sound. Despite trying every suggested fix, I gave up and settled for bluetooth with ear buds when sound really is required (though even then the bluetooth is a bit patchy at times). Other than that, the stable 20.04 Xubuntu runs sweetly on the
I tested both minimal and full installations of Xubuntu. It's a very polished distro, and leaves nothing left to be desired. Recently, I have been trying out several Ubuntu based distros and have come to the conclusion that they are all similarly good in 2021. 15-20 years ago, the differences were quite significant in terms of stability and practicality, but it's not the case anymore, because what is under the hood has improved so much, and the implementation has also improved a lot. Xubuntu is as good as any other Ubuntu based distro, just lighter. It boots within seconds on SSD. It's the fastest booting Ubuntu based system that I have used so far. I am very pleased with it.
Like the reviewer beneath me, i've been running Linux since the late 90's. Started with Redhat 5.0 and Corel Linux.(Dependency Hell, but a fortunate simplicity, and reliability nevertheless)
Downloaded 20.04 from Australian mirror today - AARNET. Installation went ok apart from confusion over correct mount point syntax, not explained with a tool-tip in the installer. Hints would be nice.
Similar experience to review before me. Looks great after boot, everything working fine.
Installed updates from closer official mirror here in NZ, in terms of hops, and after patches are applied (not a full upgrade), I'm greeted with a permanent hard lock in XFCE I cannot get out of, which seems to be a blank screensaver with a working mouse pointer. Control-Alt-Backspace won't drop to system shell, despite being enabled at install. Cannot turn off without forced hardware powerdown - bios override by holding power key for 5 seconds.
Utterly hopeless, and I've had far better stability with Q4OS, Devuan, and for that matter Puppy FatDog-64. If you're looking for a 'lite' distro, I'd recommend those apart from Fatdog 64, which is fast but lacks easy updates. Those 2 recommendations, do require some tweaking though out of the box. For example Q4OS won't preview thumbnails of image files without installing a plugin for KDE derived TDE window manager. However Q4 boots much faster than Xubuntu, and does not lock after normal updates. Devuan is bearable if you can tolerate Openbox window manager, which is not my cup of tea. Best of luck !
Cons: Download/installed updates on 11 Jun, now will not run more than a few minutes without locking up.
I installed Kubuntu in February. It locked up repeatedly and the only way to get out was to power cycle. Rather than spend a lot of time trying to figure out the problem, I installed Xubuntu, and was VERY happy with it.....until updates were pushed out 11 Jun, which I installed; now I have the same problem I had with Kubuntu. I've gone through Lubuntu, Kubuntu, and now, Xubuntu, and they all have issues. My first Linux was RedHat, about 22 years ago, I'm thinking of trying it again, or maybe CentOS,
I installed this non LTS version expecting a number of glitches and annoyances. I was wrong. It runs every bit as good as 20.04, slightly more responsive & with up to date packages. Congrats to the Xubuntu team. As others have said, theming leaves a lot to be desired, I head straight over to xfcelook.org and download the Qogir theme & icons. Other than that easily put right thing, installs and runs brilliantly.
Xubuntu is already for a long time my favorite distro. But last time
there was snap.
In the 21.4 version are after installing the OS no snaps are installed. I typed in the terminal
snap list - there was no installed snaps.
snapd was installed, so I typed in the terminal sudo apt-get purge snapd
and deleted snap.
So the users have the simple way to choose if the want snap or not.
The only thing missing now is runit as init.
Then Xubuntu would really be the best of all distros.
Discussions about the look and fell are not necessary - XFCE is the best desktop to customize it
to your own flavor.
Xubuntu war schon lange meine Lieblingsdistro. Aber mit den Snaps beim letzten Mal gab es einen kleinen faden Nachgeschmack.
Bei der 21.4 Version waren nach der Installation des Betriebssystems keine Snaps installiert - die Eingabe von snap list zeigte keine installierten Snaps.
snapd war installiert, so habe ich im Terminal sudo apt-get purge snapd eingegeben und so Snap gelöscht.
Somit haben die Nutzer eine einfache Möglichkeit zu Wählen, ob sie snaps haben wollen oder nicht.
Jetzt fehlt nur noch runit als init, und Xubuntu wäre wirklich die beste Distro von allen.
Diskussion über das Aussehen sind überflüssig. XFCE ist der beste Desktop, um ihn nach dem eigenen Geschmack einzurichten.
Xubuntu is the best ubuntu version from all other flavours. If anyone looks for a light weight distro with systemd, xfce DE this the best choice. The only thing i would add in xubuntu after install is synaptic. This distro got everything you need for a great experience. I like the fact when i drag windows they become trasnparent (you have to set it up it's not by default this way) The only draw back is that firefox the main browser get updated with a big delay that can take even 7 days till they patch to the latest ff version. For example ff 88 was realesed in april 19 and only today 26 they updated. If i can change something i would install Xterm instead of xfce terminal that looks amazing for example in linux lite. Would make more sense Xubuntu, Xterm but this can be done very easily. Even i'm on arch based distro once in a while i check Xubuntu when i need more convenience. Cheers to Xubuntu team!
Version 21.04. makes a very good impression. Have been using various derivatives of Ubuntu for years, so Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Ubuntu, ...
Now it was time for me to test Xubuntu.
The general impression: A great release! The LTS version still looked a bit "old-fashioned", the 21.04. more modern.
I still installed "plank", so that I have a dock at the bottom with DeepL access. I guess the team didn't get rid of one plague: The first time I try to connect to a BlueTooth device, I get the usual "sorry" error. After a reboot, however, everything is fine again.
And after the installation you have to enter the WLAN password once again, this was not taken over by the installer.
But otherwise: Booted on a Lenovo V110 (8GB RAM, 2x1.2Ghz, SSD) in a few seconds and the system is much more performant compared to Ubuntu.
Arguably the best of the Ubuntu flavours. Xfce isn't as light on RAM as it used to be, but thankfully it's still gentle on the CPU and the fans are whisper-quiet. Moreover, it seems quite stable & responsive. My biggest criticism is that - out of the box - it looks somewhat dated, and there are minor annoyances such as the menu not being mapped to the super key by default. Easily rectified, though. I'd also suggest adding Slick Greeter (for login screen), Plank Dock, the appmenu applet (global menu), SkippyXD (for window expose), and changing the theme to Materia & icons to Papirus. With a small amount of effort you'll end up with fast, good-looking and stable system.
The start was promising, installed it to download updates and proprietary drivers. Touchpad was moving ok after few settings. I've had some troubles moving the taskbar from top to bottom that can be achieved by unchecking the lock panel from preferences and drag taskbar from the left side where there is a special field to catch and drag it to bottom. Reboot was fast and after that tried to update from terminal. Update was working great till i left my laptop few minutes and after i returned screen was black, moved mouse, arrows left right, nothing. All i could get was my mouse pointer on a black screen. Got into a tty tried to restart display, didn't worked. Tried to reboot did not work as in the background the system was making updates. Restarting xfce sent me into a never ending xubuntu loading logo loop. Xubuntu seems to be lighter than it's brother lubuntu but it's nowhere near antix wich is still the champion. On low end/old laptops xubuntu still works sluggish but still is better than linux lite or linux mint that i tried also. So if your pc is powerful enough to run xubuntu flawlessly you better try MXlinux if not try antix.
Pretty much the ideal Linux distro for me. Works out of the box, easy to use, fast and responsive. Xubuntu is my go-to recommendation for anyone looking to switch to Linux.
I want to give Xubuntu a 10/10. Been using for a month and the only hitch has been that the Snap Store failed to install VLC. No problem, installed the .deb package instead. Anyway, Xubuntu is fast, light and stable. It's not the perfect absolute beginner distro, Mint includes more applications by default. They should consider adding applications like GParted, Synaptic, a USB writer like mintstick, and backup applications like DejaDup and Timeshift. Other than that, Xubuntu is really a fantastic distro that is ideal for use on older computers and still very easy to use.
Seriously, I know the Xubuntu team is small, but they've missed some bugs that are just annoying, such as one with suspend and the screensaver! Apparently a bad interaction between the new XFCE4 version 16 and the lightdm and lightlocker and x-screensaver (c'mon just put sleep/suspend/lock in ONE location!) Plus, certain panel accessories no longer work (after I had finally made them work on previous versions... seriously you don't use a "notifier" to run what should be a standalone monitoring application.) Also, can't theme it the way I did in 18.04, as support for GTK2 is apparently missing, and GTK3 is way too complicated to deal with customizatons.
Most of the common themes I have used before don't work and don't have replacements! After using this for a week trying to make it work properly I got such bad crashes in common programs and when the display went wonky after a suspend, I'm back on 18.04, which I at least was finally able to tweak so it worked as well as 16.04 or 12.04 (which was probably the best but not up to modern standards.)
Common to Ubuntu, there is no 32-bit. Start looking elsewhere if you're wanting toinstall Xubuntu 20 plus on older hardware, those days are gone.
I
Xubuntu 20.10 has few big problems for me.
Firstly it is impossible to use MS Teams on Xubuntu 20.10 becouse that app is totally freezing PC. I had to remove it via Recovery Mode becouse I can not use PC at all ( Teams was added on startup automatically )
The same situation takes place when I want to play Ski Jump game in browser.
XFCE sometimes freezes for a second, what is a bit annoying
The next major problem is with my HP 3525 printer, which do not want to print on dedicated drivers installed via Printer settngs. Printer is not responding when I want to print something. Default drivers are a bit problematic. There are some problems with duplex, and printer is a bit slow in my opinion. I do not know if scanner is working out of the box becouse I did not tested that.
I went back to 20.04 and everything is working fine. I will stuck with 5.4 kernel for some time, becouse 5.8 is not stable enoguh for me, so Xbuntu 20.04.2 may be problematic too.
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