
Lubuntu Linux 20.04 LTS (Focal Fossa) - jrepinc
https://lubuntu.me/focal-released/
======
chirau
I have maybe dumb questions...

I have been using Linux for for almost 15 years now. Mint, RHEL, CentOS and
most recently Ubuntu. For some reason, though, I can't understand all these
variations in Ubuntu flavors. For example, other than the Desktop Environment,
what else does Lubuntu offer that vanilla Ubuntu doesn't? Can't one just
install the desktop environment on Ubuntu? Isn't this stuff modular, take in
what you want take out what you don't?

So what exactly is Lubuntu's value proposition over Ubuntu?

~~~
hannob
I think you have a wrong view of things here.

Lubuntu isn't really a "different distribution". The different "flavors" of
Ubuntu are all the same distribution, they just differ in their default
install and settings.

If you remove lxqt from lubuntu, install kde you can morph it into kubuntu.

~~~
chirau
Where did i call it a "different distribution"?

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zamadatix
"Note, due to the extensive changes required for the shift in desktop
environments, the Lubuntu team does not support upgrading from 18.04 or below
to any greater release. Doing so will result in a broken system. If you are on
18.04 or below and would like to upgrade, please do a fresh install."

Is quite a surprising note for an official Ubuntu flavor.

~~~
bgorman
Honestly the only Linux distros worth trying are Gentoo, Arch, Fedora and
RHEL/Oracle/CentOS. With anything else you are just wasting your time with
amateur hour attempts to cobble together a Windows/Mac OS competitor without a
good understanding of how all the components fit together.

~~~
connorgutman
Under no circumstance should anyone listen to this user nor should they run
Gentoo or Arch on a production machine. I use Arch on my personal computer but
for work I find Debian testing to be the perfect distro. Stability is a trait
which matters.

~~~
linsomniac
(Many) years ago I knew someone who was very happy running their business off
Gentoo. "It took two weeks to "make world" with the ultimate optimization
settings. "But it runs great!"

I never could bring myself to ask if they were ok with being down for 2 weeks
if they needed to re-install. Say, in a case where they had an intrusion and
didn't trust their backups...

~~~
kick
There's no reason they'd have to be down for two weeks in that case. They
could use a binary distribution to immediately get back into shape, and then
switch over after compilation's finished, or they could compile without -OX
and it'd take almost nothing, and then they'd be good to go.

Really, though, nowadays compiling everything, even compiling things for
optimal performance, doesn't take that long. Your production machines
shouldn't have web browsers, and without the C++ garbage behemoths on it,
compilation takes like half an hour on most machines.

I'm not a Gentoo user, but it's kind of silly to act like it makes recovering
substantially harder than any other distribution.

~~~
linsomniac
This was at a time when compiling just the kernel took 30 minutes, so YMMV.
But obviously, I don't know. Just didn't seem to me like the choice is want to
make for running a business. Again, ymmv...

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non-entity
I dont know how LXDE was, but I've been running "new" Lubutbu with LXQt for a
bit now and I find the various components that make up the desktop a bit odd.

I accidentally deleted my desktop background once while I don't remember
exactly which component failed, I remember my desktop wouldnt properly start.
I think it was something about pcmanfm-qt (which would no longer start) being
so coupled the desktop environment.

~~~
DoingIsLearning
I used LXDE in a lot of older machines. It is not very glamorous because the
selection of themes icons is not that vast but it uses GTK unlike LXQt.

I have never experienced any odd behaviour or faults. It certainly is not the
most beautiful desktop environment but it is stable and very very performant.

(This was using Debian + LXDE)

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znpy
I'm looking forward to Xubuntu 20.04

~~~
rrmm
Same here. XFCE seems nice and reasonable especially after GNOME went all
crazy-pants user hostile.

~~~
mekster
What happened to gnome?

~~~
rrmm
They started removing features for the sake of branding and their "desktop
vision". They cut down on customization options that a lot of people were used
to when they moved from gnome2 to gnome3.

To me, it felt like they started believing themselves to be great innovators
in an Apple model of "we know what's best for you, this is revolutionary.
You'll take it and you'll like it. Witness our works and tremble." [1]

I may be slightly hyperbolic there, but I worked on minor bits of the gtk code
base and the way some of lead devs were talking I found frankly alienating.

To be fair there were also practical reasons to limit customization for
greater testing coverage and I think some of the changes were driven by
RedHat's move towards being an enterprise vendor. But those changes in
addition to the change in tone I was hearing was jarring.

In any case several efforts attempted to move forward with the earlier code
base or at least with the earlier philosophy. And I found one that was near
enough to ok.

[1] and eventually stuff like [https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2019/05/open-
letter-stop-gtk-the...](https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2019/05/open-letter-stop-
gtk-theming-distros)

~~~
znpy
No hyperbola, you are spot on.

Whereas apple stuff generally just works on the desktop, is super polished and
generally fast, gnome3 is cumulatively an amass of crap.

Which is very bad because gnome2 used to be very functional.

They tried to become Apple, but they are not.

They literally dumbed down the whole thing.

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cies
Questions. (1) What Lubuntu's stance on snap? (2) Is Lubuntu currently less
focused on older hardware than it used to be?

~~~
pojntfx
Please, Canonical, just for once use the default and stick with Flatpak like
everyone else. We don't need another Mir, Upstart, Unity, ...

~~~
acqq
> stick with Flatpak like everyone else

Can you please write who "everyone else" is?

~~~
geodel
"Everyone Else" sounds like some Ubuntu release :-)

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qwerty456127
If only LXQt had built-in (not a 3-rd party dock) support for modern
Win7/Unity-style taskbar that lets you pin taskbar buttons and use the same to
launch and to switch I would certainly give it a try.

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rcarmo
I recently tried reinstalling Lubuntu on a netbook with a very small EMMC (4GB
if I’m not mistaken) and couldn’t find a way to slim down the install to the
bare essentials.

(It was running 14.04, and that, I think, had a CLI installer with package
selection)

Anyone know if 20.04 lets you install without LibreOffice and the like or have
some tips on how to get to the old installer?

~~~
bsg75
Try the "mini.iso" netboot install, then install the desktop you want:
[http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/focal/main/installer-...](http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/focal/main/installer-
amd64/current/legacy-images/netboot/)

This is an old Xubuntu article, but describes the general approach for a
minimal install: [https://xubuntu.org/news/introducing-xubuntu-
core/](https://xubuntu.org/news/introducing-xubuntu-core/)

~~~
rcarmo
Thanks, I forgot about the netboot ISO.

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narag
I gave up on Linux desktop when Lubuntu file manager removed its tree view. A
few months ago I read somewhere that it was restored. These news sound
promising so I've taken a look and... it turns out that lxde is gone. Out of
luck.

~~~
makapuf
It's gone, but has been replaced by lxqt, perfectly usable (unless you
specifically prefer gtk)

~~~
narag
The thing I liked was the file manager tree view. PCMan had Windows 95 style
tree. That's my favourite file manager arrangement, the one that suits my
workflow.

Even in Windows 10 it's possible to more or less have the original behaviour
after some tweaking.

In Linux, tree support comes and go in file managers. For me that's really
infuriating. Programmers in charge of desktop environments wake up some day
and decide that I shouldn't be working the way I've been working last 25 years
and _deprecate_ it. Not cool.

Edit: it seems PCMan got a qt version. It seems I'll take a look after all.

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tipoftheiceberg
Swapped Lubuntu 18.10 on an old dell book w xp and was really impressed by
everything. Well, everything except the boot time ( and bootloader ) for that
matter.

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sudhirkhanger
How soon do these new Ubuntu server releases come of AWS?

~~~
m1keil
already out [https://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/locator/ec2/](https://cloud-
images.ubuntu.com/locator/ec2/)

~~~
sudhirkhanger
These don't seem to be available for Lightsail. Do they?

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Aeolun
An I the only one that thinks it’s a bit ridiculous to not have an upgrade
path from 18.04 to 20.04?

~~~
Anthony-G
It's quite understandable given that they're completely changing the
distribution from one with software built from GTK libraries (LXDE) to one
based on Qt libraries (LXQt). Such a dramatic change is pretty much a once-off
event.

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thepra
I sincerely use it as my mini server, lightest and friendly DE so far

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vivab0rg
Already installing/upgrading to Ubuntu Budgie 20.04 on my notebooks after a
surprisingly nice experience with Ubuntu Budgie 18.04.

And I did give Xubuntu, Lubuntu and Unity an sincere chance.

For hardcore work sessions nothing beats i3wm productivity tho.

~~~
derrick_jensen
Agreed on i3. Are there any Ubuntu distributions that have i3 OOTB with
reasonable integrations?

~~~
lurker_primo
Not official Ubuntu, but there is Regolith-linux[0], which is a i3 based
system built on Ubuntu. I use it regularly. It is good, but I'm not a power
user.

[0] [https://regolith-linux.org/](https://regolith-linux.org/)

