Been itching to install Lubuntu for a couple years now, but I need the stability of an LTS release for my server and I tend to prefer the same distro on my main computer as well. Lubuntu finally answered my wishes with Lubuntu 14.04 LTS. First such release from Lubuntu and besides needing to add Network Manager (nm-applet is the little icon that shows your connected network) to my list of auto-started applications, everything has been almost Mac-like in installation and setup.

I’m impressed so far and overjoyed my 802.11n Broadcom card works properly again (not a Lubuntu specific fix). 5 GHz networks are a wee bit faster and keeping two more devices (server and netbook) off the crowded 2.4 GHz spectrum is very exciting. I'm moving over from Bodhi Linux. While I could move back when the release built on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS is finalized (in beta currently); after all, I did enjoy Bodhi quite a bit, there's something about Lubuntu that fits just right for me. I tended to use the LXDE file manager on Bodhi anyway.

Anyone made the jump to Ubuntu 14.04 or any in its family of distros? Anyone using Lubuntu 14.04 LTS specifically?

Going to upgrade my server later today to the 64-bit build of Lubuntu. I really did like Bodhi for server duty. Decent GUI for when I can't figure out the command line tasks, but intentionally bereft of stock software. Felt like a "roll your own system" OS. Then again, Lubuntu is basically as light as Bodhi, but comes with a nice compliment of basic apps. Doesn't hurt Lubuntu has already rolled out their latest LTS version and Bodhi 3.0.0 is still in beta.

For you old school PowerPC Mac users, Lubuntu also has PowerPC images for you to try.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/13/2014 05:36AM by silvarios.

Still testing. Had to enable sleep when lid closes and sleep when power gets low on my laptop. Simple adjustment, under Power Manager in Preferences.

Nice - I'll have to give Lubuntu a shot for an old 2GB C2D laptop for my Father-in-Law. While he only needs Chrome, Flash, PDFs, and Word docs, it needs a simple enough UI so he can navigate to his documents without getting lost.

Also, it needs to auto-update for security, but I'm pretty sure Ubuntu does that as well.

Can I test-boot it from a thumb drive before I wipe Windows Vista off the main HD?

What are you guys running this on?

I've been contemplating what to do with some of the older Windows laptops we have for the kids to use now that XP is no longer supported.

I doubt they would be able to handle Windows 7 and the thought of Vista sends shivers down my spine.

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Skill without imagination is craftsmanship. Imagination without skill is Modern Art.

Ubuntu or Lubuntu would both be good options. Historically, the biggest obstacle that I've encountered has been getting wireless to work because the Broadcom drivers are proprietary and they won't support Linux directly.

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timg
What are you guys running this on?

I've been contemplating what to do with some of the older Windows laptops we have for the kids to use now that XP is no longer supported.

I doubt they would be able to handle Windows 7 and the thought of Vista sends shivers down my spine.

Fwiw, depending on what hardware you're talking about, you might be surprised. The schools I've worked at run win7 on stuff as old as a P4, and I used it on a atom based netbook, and it worked fine. I still think linux is a bit of a pain. kj.

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kj
Fwiw, depending on what hardware you're talking about, you might be surprised. The schools I've worked at run win7 on stuff as old as a P4, and I used it on a atom based netbook, and it worked fine. I still think linux is a bit of a pain. kj.

I actually switched back to Linux from running hacked OS X on a lot of my systems. If you think Linux is a pain, try to maintain a hack Mac that falls outside of the strict compatibility lists. I do agree that Linux has a good a good distro for pretty much any vintage of hardware. It is liberating.

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bhaveshp
Can I test-boot it from a thumb drive before I wipe Windows Vista off the main HD?

Yes. Most of your options will have a live distro for testing. Lubuntu certainly does.

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timg
What are you guys running this on?

I've been contemplating what to do with some of the older Windows laptops we have for the kids to use now that XP is no longer supported.

I doubt they would be able to handle Windows 7 and the thought of Vista sends shivers down my spine.

Windows 7 is pretty decent, but something like Lubuntu is really simple compared to even modern versions of OS X, let alone Windows 7/8.

I'm running Lubuntu on an Eee PC 901 (old single core Atom with 2GB RAM and 16GB boot SSD, really low end), and I should be updating my Ivy Bridge NUC later today.

All of a sudden, Broadcom WiFi card had trouble connecting to the Airport Express, but I switched back to my normal router and everything is working alright. Really weird. System said it was connected, but couldn't actually send and receive any packets.

Hey, that's alright, everything is fine now and because I don't need to press the Express into router duty, I can get my server on 802.11n 5GHz with an internal card, my main computer on 5GHz with an internal card, and now the Express can bridge to the 5 GHz network for my Simple.TV (Ethernet only device). Exciting, three less devices to connect to my somewhat flaky 2.4 GHz network.

Seriously, although I do miss the default spotlight-esque launcher (am I missing a setting on Lubuntu?) that Bodhi and other Linux distros often include, I'm still really liking the system. It was user friendly enough that when I showed it to a client as a potential upgrade path from Windows XP, she seems fine with the idea. She needed a little basic web browsing, including interfacing with her webmail, a way to view photos, and the ability to type the occasional word processing document meant for printed output. Lubuntu seems to check those needs quite well.