From Now on: lubuntu Linux is An Official Derivative of Ubuntu!

Lubuntu is another derivative of Ubuntu which aims on giving a fast loading GNU/Linux for those of us who has older or low-end PCs. But of course, even if you have a newer Laptop or a PC you can still use Lubuntu since it comes with the latest GNU/Linux Kernel and other popular software.

Lubuntu... uses the excellent LXDE desktop, even faster than Xfce!.

Anyhow, for a longtime, they've been a separate project and in their web site they used to "say" that, among their main objectives is to become accepted into the Ubuntu's official support and now, according to them the day has finally arrived!.

For their Launchpad project page, there seems to be about 460 developers/users, willing to help Lubuntu into Canonical at the moment.This was first announced by Mark Shuttleworth (of course ;) ) by saying...

"Thanks for the great work and progress of Lubuntu in the past 2 years. The fact that you are now 100% in the archive, and using PPA's and other tools effectively, makes it possible for us to consider recognising Lubuntu as an official part of the project. ... with the other desktop environments making greater demands on PC resources, LXDE has a continued role to play."

If you're interested in helping Lubuntu in their process of "Canonicalizing" ;-) then you can do so by through their official Launchpad page. And if you're a bit new to this, you don't have to be a developer to help them, if you're a bit of a risk taker, then you can help Lubuntu by participating in beta testing for instance.

Although I could be wrong, but for those of use who wants a fast running server with all the features offered by "ubuntu virtualization" framework currently, but if you want an Ubuntu server with a decent GUI, again without making the PC any slower, then I think Lubuntu may have a shot!. You go guys and gals!.

SliTaz, Another Fast Loading Lightweight GNU/Linux Distribution!

SliTaz is so light in size and system resources... say that you burned the 30MB of the full OS into a CD and created a live CD... then when running you can even eject that CD still SliTaz is so small it'll still run within your RAM!. Impressed??.

Don't get fooled by the 30MB of size, it does come with a graphical environment called OpenBox + several other programs such as...

*. Midori - Fast loading web browser written in GTK+.

*. TazPkg - A graphical package manager similar to the Debian's Apt-Get. Easy to use and installs software within the GUI such as Adobe flash, proprietary codecs, etc with ease.

Package manager...

*. Comes with an audio player (including encoding capability as well).

*. Boot from USB sticks... support.

*. Chat/Mail client.

*. After installed, takes about 100MB of disk space.

*. PDF viewer.

*. mPaint - A paint application.

*. CD/DVD burning applications.... are just a few to mention (seriously... for that 30MB... these guys have included a LOT of packages).

So, if you're looking for a fast loading, light in your PC's resources type GNU/Linux distribution then why not give a try for SliTaz!. After all, it's just 30MB ;-).

Here Comes the Lubuntu 11.04!, Yep It's also Out Out!

If you don't know much about Lubuntu, then it is another derivative of Ubuntu that's designed for PC users with low-end hardware. It's not an official Ubuntu project and not more than two years of age, yet, the OS is already widely used by users with OLD PCs (no need to feel bad, I do have a very old Laptop, no can't even discuss the hardware with you :P).

Lubuntu 11.04, looks very promising...

Anyway, recently they announced a new theme (which looks awesome btw) that gives a much better professional touch to the OS in general and the new 11.04 version comes with few main applications that are again aimed at low-end computers such as:

*. Abi-Word - An old word processor written in GTK+. Loads faster than OpenOffice or LibreOffice and lets you do almost anything that other word processors let you do.

*. Chromium - Again, both Chromium and Chrome are well known for loading fast. So it's not a surprise that they've chosen the Chromium over Firefox4.

*. Pidgin - This is actually one of the best messaging clients available for GNU/Linux that supports almost all the major chat-protocols. Extremely popular.

*. Audacious - The default music player. Easy to use, loads fast and written in GTK+ and supports album management, album art downloading, last.fm integration, etc...

*. Sylpheed - The mailing client, has a reputation of being faster than most others.

These are few of the main packages... and if you want to give a try at Lubuntu 11.04, then first try this Torrent link first or can use this direct download link if you like. And while as Lubuntu team has been saying in their web site that, they're hoping that someday Canonical will consider supporting them "officially"..., simultaneously with this launch... Mark Shuttleworth has said something very intersting that's gonna thrill the Lubuntu fans without a doubt...

“The fact that you are now 100% in the archive, and using PPA’s and other tools effectively, makes it possible for us to consider recognising Lubuntu as an official part of the [Ubuntu] project. “

It seems that the Lubuntu, if they keep their current hardworking style... they're gonna have a much brighter future without a doubt. Congrats dudes (and dudes), well done :).

How To Install XFCE Desktop 4.8 in Ubuntu 10.10

First of all, Xfce is not for everyone. Even if you're willing to bear few of the difficulties that Gnome imposes, yet in comparison Xfce is an even more "simplified" version of the Gnome. But that being said, if you have an old PC and looking for a GNU Linux distribution that ships with up to date complete desktop but willing to accept some of the "simplifications" it comes with, in that sense Xfce actually is a must have!.

If you've installed Ubuntu 10.10 and don't like to install Xubuntu (official Xfce desktop of Ubuntu) but still would like to keep Xfce as an alternative desktop, then you can easily install Xfce 4.8 in Ubuntu by giving the below command.

    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:koshi/xfce-4.8
    sudo apt-get update
    sudo apt-get install xubuntu-desktop

Hi, I'm the Xfce mouse :)

Once installed, reboot your PC and when you're greeted with the login window, you should see Xfce as a "desktop" choice in the GDM log-in manager.