The flavors of Ubuntu from A to Z—or at least from Kubuntu to Xubuntu

Gallery: Just how many different Ubuntus are there? More than you might think.

Read the whole story

 

[nucho]

"Gallery-type" posts are far beneath a site like ArsTechnica. Please let this be a freak occurrence.

 

[Petruchio]

nucho[/url]":19oit3ru]"Gallery-type" posts are far beneath a site like ArsTechnica. Please let this be a freak occurrence.

This. Either write an article or don't.

 

[Rashedul]

nucho[/url]":cdfsz0lq]"Gallery-type" posts are far beneath a site like ArsTechnica. Please let this be a freak occurrence.

Agreed. The internet is littered with articles like this. These types of articles have their place, just didn't expect them on a site like Ars.

Edit: even the section under which the article appears has the title "IN-DEPTH REPORTS"

 

[adinb]

At the very least throw in a "view all" button!

 

[vogelabv]

I don't mind seeing flavors, but I think a bit more information about them (mini reviews?) would be helpful. Also, I don't consider myself an Ubuntu enthusiast, and I didn't encounter anything new here except Ubuntu Studio. I was expecting a list of like 20 different Ubuntu builds - not a half dozen commonly known ones.

 

[Lodorand]

There are sites for ADD browsing and quick-glance information, Ars has distinguished itself by not being one of them. So what gives?

 

[Swarley]

I'm not wholly against gallery style articles. But there needs to be some damn "article" to them. 2 sentences about each of a series of screenshots easily obtainable from Google image searches is a waste of time. A list of homepage URLs to open each in a new tab and look at the homepages "gallery style" would have been more useful and informative than this.

 

[Doddler]

The gallery is completely unusable from the mobile interface, which is a bit of a problem.

 

[vistazifta]

You guys are missing a key edition Goobuntu. Its not available to the public but it shows the level that Ubuntu has reached.

 

[NoTimeForTrolls]

I'd rather hear about a flavor that doesn't fone home with a list of user searches. I wiped and reloaded all my systems with a legacy version without it. Yes, I've read the ars reader comments about how it's a good deal, but no thanks. I'd move to another OS if I had to if that was the only way to get around it.

 

[Evolution]

Like the NASA site, as well as many other astronomy sites, hey I like this gallery presentation style. It give me a brief information on subject and a short comment from the author. Those comments help me to get to know more about the different distributions and what to look for and compare. Been an Ubuntu user for the last two years. Love it. Great presentation. Thanks.

 

[jbrodkin]

vistazifta[/url]":1ta88w1t]You guys are missing a key edition Goobuntu. Its not available to the public but it shows the level that Ubuntu has reached.

That's a good point, I had considered that one. I wish it was publicly available!

 

[sPOiDar]

NoTimeForTrolls[/url]":1xkr7ohc]I'd rather hear about a flavor that doesn't fone home with a list of user searches. I wiped and reloaded all my systems with a legacy version without it. Yes, I've read the ars reader comments about how it's a good deal, but no thanks. I'd move to another OS if I had to if that was the only way to get around it.

That would be all of them that don't use Unity. And you can just uninstall the search provider, or in later versions of Ubuntu, disable it via the privacy settings.

 

[Deleted member 174040]

jbrodkin[/url]":3cfbcetq]

vistazifta[/url]":3cfbcetq]You guys are missing a key edition Goobuntu. Its not available to the public but it shows the level that Ubuntu has reached.

That's a good point, I had considered that one. I wish it was publicly available!

If you carefully read between the lines of Jons response to the Goobuntu post, you'll see what he thinks of the nine preceding posts about whether this article is Ars worthy or not.

 

[lukewiwa]

I'm more inclined to load vanilla Ubuntu then just load the Cinnamon desktop environment. I don't feel the need to move to a separate distro such as Mint.

 

[bsphil]

I use a Lubuntu virtual machine at work every day on my Win7 desktop. Run seamless mode and get my development environment along with the traditional exchange server office setup.

 

[corrosive231]

NoTimeForTrolls[/url]":87ej2rdc]I'd rather hear about a flavor that doesn't fone home with a list of user searches. I wiped and reloaded all my systems with a legacy version without it. Yes, I've read the ars reader comments about how it's a good deal, but no thanks. I'd move to another OS if I had to if that was the only way to get around it.

Or you could just remove the lens. In 13.04 there is an on/off switch for the shopping search.

 

[issor]

RockDaMan[/url]":34yvysw6]

jbrodkin[/url]":34yvysw6]

vistazifta[/url]":34yvysw6]You guys are missing a key edition Goobuntu. Its not available to the public but it shows the level that Ubuntu has reached.

That's a good point, I had considered that one. I wish it was publicly available!

If you carefully read between the lines of Jons response to the Goobuntu post, you'll see what he thinks of the nine preceding posts about whether this article is Ars worthy or not.

That was my thought as well. To be fair, I expected that it would take a page or so of such comments dog piling on before it was addressed, not every disappointed commenter will be responded to.

For my part, the article just seemed slapped together and unfinished, like there is some sort of quota. I was hunting for page two, because surely the screenshots weren't it.

 

[birdmun]

So, no Bodhi Linux love?

 

[fluxtatic]

vistazifta[/url]":10yo62pv]You guys are missing a key edition Goobuntu. Its not available to the public but it shows the level that Ubuntu has reached.

How is a distro used only internally at Google relevant?

Also, seriously disappointing "article" - slideshows are crap, and the content was lacking, to say the least. I don't use or really even follow Linux and I was already aware of all of these.

 

[hmaarrfk]

What about the stock version of Ubuntu, you know the one that comes with Unity?

I thought Ars technica was good at writing articles that could be read by first time readers and all out fans....

 

[Rostov]

Add my vote for no more slideshows.

 

[npz]

I think all but one of them stick with the stock Ubuntu kernel.

AFAIK, Ubuntu Studio is the only derivative that uses a custom low latency kernel

 

[kamiller42]

I use Ubuntu on my desktop and Lubuntu in a VM for Android work. I'm excited about 13.04. Nothing revolutionary but a good spit and polish release.

 

[DarkReality]

I would have liked to see a bit more content per distro as well. But it seems to me that Linux distributions are a lot like Android ROMs -- the differences are trivial to start with, more so when you consider the differences can be mixed and matched. Don't like Unity? You can get Gnome, KDE, Xfce, and other desktop environments from the software centre.

I wanted to get into Linux, but I got into PC gaming instead. I hope one day I can have the best of both, but I don't see my favorite games getting ported to Linux (namely the Fallout and Elder Scrolls games) any time soon. If I build a new computer and take my graphics card with me, I'll put Windows 7 on it and put Ubuntu (probably just the regular one) on what I build from what's left (dual core AMD Phenom II, 4GB DDR3) for my wife. She would just be using it for the web anyway. And I think all web-only users should take a long, hard look at Linux. I know a lot of Linux faithful don't want their kind, but if Linux sees a massive influx of "newbs", maybe it will attract more software and hardware support, and we all benefit from that.

 

[aleph_nought]

A proper review of each Ubuntu flavor would be nice, comparing usage on a high end machine vs. an older machine with meager specs like 512MB RAM. It would also be interesting to try out the Unity-based distros on a touchscreen laptop to see if they could replace Windows 8. I don't mind the slideshow layout because the largest difference between these distros is visual but more text please

 

[Stickmansam]

aleph_nought[/url]":2jb4yupe]A proper review of each Ubuntu flavor would be nice, comparing usage on a high end machine vs. an older machine with meager specs like 512MB RAM. It would also be interesting to try out the Unity-based distros on a touchscreen laptop to see if they could replace Windows 8. I don't mind the slideshow layout because the largest difference between these distros is visual but more text please

Planning to put lubuntu with a p4 + 512mb ram. Another other suggestions would be appreciated. its going to be for people used to XP/7 and I don't want to walk them through it too much.

 

[Joesus2]

I concur with wanting to see more alternative flavors.

Though, unlike some others here, I actually appreciate being able to actually look at the final form of an OS/DE, even if you aren't necessarily locked in to it. I occasionally find fun or useful programs via articles like this, so that's a nice little bonus.

Edit: Just realized I hadn't really addressed the concerns of others. Relative to how every single setup here is possible to create starting from an installation of practically every other one, there's not a lot that needs to be said other than describing what you get out of the box.

 

[Meathim]

Stickmansam[/url]":3fd4uq3d]

aleph_nought[/url]":3fd4uq3d]A proper review of each Ubuntu flavor would be nice, comparing usage on a high end machine vs. an older machine with meager specs like 512MB RAM. It would also be interesting to try out the Unity-based distros on a touchscreen laptop to see if they could replace Windows 8. I don't mind the slideshow layout because the largest difference between these distros is visual but more text please

Planning to put lubuntu with a p4 + 512mb ram. Another other suggestions would be appreciated. its going to be for people used to XP/7 and I don't want to walk them through it too much.

Lubuntu will work very well there. It's lighter than Xubuntu, and looks good. Any distro with LXDE would work really. I think there is a pre configured Fedora based one around somewhere..

 

[FatAndrew]

"Ubuntu Studio's Blender"?? I thought that Blender was run by the "Blender Foundation" and worked on multiple platforms like Win, Mac and Linux. Or are you saying that was a screenshot of the Ubuntu version of Blender?

 

[Batmanuel]

FatAndrew[/url]":162f2x7g]"Ubuntu Studio's Blender"?? I thought that Blender was run by the "Blender Foundation" and worked on multiple platforms like Win, Mac and Linux. Or are you saying that was a screenshot of the Ubuntu version of Blender?

I read it as Blender being one of the preloaded apps that came with Ubuntu Studio.

 

[armandh2]

I first "discovered" Ubuntu around 7.04
it was like winning the trifecta
a nix with Gui, sound, and network; all OOTB

that may not seem like much by today's standards
but for 7.04 it was stunning to me.
prior to that time nix had been "pick two"
I never got all 3 in the same distro

yea I went distro shopping in the beginning
and I have a stack of coasters to show for it
these shopping trips also occurred around points of great change for Ubuntu
Compiz, and now Unity were significant changes and a bit over the top for some older hardware.
but I always seemed to drift back to stock Ubuntu. a known entity that "just works"

however, even after all these years, and a lot of installs, things can go wrong, and provide "experience"
like yesterday adding a dual boot to my new laptop. AHCI sucks [with out the correct utilities, I presume]

I promote Ubuntu to the "older residents computer club" and my wife prefers Ubuntu to vista,
but this is not THE YEAR, nor next, nor any after. there is no profit motivation for that wide adoption.

still it is the replacement OS of choice for older hardware, and there is a lot of older hardware

 

[Alfonse]

I wish Linux Mint would focus on being able to upgrade without having to reinstall the OS. Did they ever fix that problem?

 

[Scallywag]

Beside the obvious visual differences, are there any fundamental differences between all these flavors of Ubuntu? For instance, will Steam work on all of them, including Mint, or is it restricted just to plain old Ubuntu?

 

[theevilsharpie]

Scallywag[/url]":b5m4fd74]Beside the obvious visual differences, are there any fundamental differences between all these flavors of Ubuntu? For instance, will Steam work on all of them, including Mint, or is it restricted just to plain old Ubuntu?

There are no fundamental differences, except for perhaps the customer kernels in Ubuntu Studio and Ubuntu Server. An application that works in one *buntu should work without issue in another, you would just need to install any library or application dependencies needed (which is done automatically).

Now as for whether the vendor will support someone using an Ubuntu derivative, that's up to them.

 

[guntherv]

Alfonse[/url]":jw6sgpuz]I wish Linux Mint would focus on being able to upgrade without having to reinstall the OS. Did they ever fix that problem?

more info is here http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/2
basically the are providing a tool to keep all you settings /data between installs, sounds not a to bad idea to me.
Better than trying to fix "random" issues when upgrading 3 times . (had that with ubuntu, 2 identical laptops, used in similar way, from same HDD image, after 3 upgrades one started to give issues with notifications , never managed to fix it, the other was fine until i now reinstalled them both to Mint)

 

[bug77]

As far as I know, none of those distros are backed by Canonical anymore. For tham, it's just Ubuntu from now on. I think that's worth mentioning in the article.

I don't like using less known DEs because there are no apps written for them. Whatever you install, will bless your hard drive with a ton of dependencies. It happens to Qt ad GTK as well. You want Firefox on KDE? You need GTK. You want Krusader on Gnome? Qt is for you. Using other DEs, pretty much guarantees you'll have no less than 3 toolkits installed.
Don't get me wrong, I think choices are key to further progress, it's just that I find it hard to motivate myself to go through all of them.

 

[pitmonster]

adinb[/url]":2zzt0w8d]At the very least throw in a "view all" button!

This!