What did I miss?

Story: I need a distribution more customisable than UbuntuTotal Replies: 19
Author Content
notbob

Aug 19, 2013
10:28 AM EDT
And so he settles on xubuntu, a direct variant of ubuntu?? Apparently, I missed something. ;)
gary_newell

Aug 19, 2013
11:36 AM EDT
The requirement was for something more challenging than Ubuntu, customisable and still fully functional.

Xubuntu fits that mold perfectly. There is slightly more to do than there is with Ubuntu, customisation is a breeze and all the main features work straight away.

The difficulty I found when writing the article was to define challenging. Challenging can mean two things.

1. It requires a different thought process but ultimately you get more reward or 2. It doesn't work properly so the challenge is to get it working.

I really wanted to put more emphasis on point 1. If it doesn't work so well then I see little point in spending hours or days solving a problem already solved by other distributions unless you get something alot better when you have finished solving the problem.
jdixon

Aug 19, 2013
11:52 AM EDT
> Xubuntu fits that mold perfectly. There is slightly more to do than there is with Ubuntu, customisation is a breeze and all the main features work straight away.

So why not the XFCE version of Mint?
vainrveenr

Aug 19, 2013
4:23 PM EDT
Quoting:1. It requires a different thought process but ultimately you get more reward or 2. It doesn't work properly so the challenge is to get it working.


Perhaps the Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE) is another viable option for a distribution that is "more customisable than Ubuntu". As the Linux Mint Debian 201303 released! blog entry specifically notes:
Quoting:4. How does LMDE compare to the Ubuntu-based editions?

Pros:

* You don’t need to ever re-install the system. New versions of software and updates are continuously brought to you.

* It’s faster and more responsive than Ubuntu-based editions.

Cons:

* LMDE requires a deeper knowledge and experience with Linux, dpkg and APT.

* Debian is a less user-friendly/desktop-ready base than Ubuntu. Expect some rough edges.

* No EFI, GPT or secureBoot support.


While the above caution to expect some rough edges could be an indication of LMDE's challenge to just "get it working", at the same time, LMDE's requirement for "a deeper knowledge and experience with Linux, dpkg and APT" could also be a good indication of a slightly different thought process that may ultimately yield significant "reward". As a natural extension of this -- through a user's moving much further away from a possible "Ubuntu-centric comfort level" -- even trying Debian GNU/Linux itself might be warranted as a sufficiently acceptable challenge here.



gary_newell

Aug 19, 2013
4:28 PM EDT
The XFCE version of Mint provides no challenge at all really. Every piece of software you might require is already installed and if it isn't the software centre in Mint makes it easy to install.

Xubuntu comes with less out of the box meaning there is at least the requirement to install the restricted extras, update the repositories and then install meatier applications (if that is what the user wants to do).

As I said above defining what is a challenge is a challenge in itself. For some people a challenge would be Linux From Scratch or installing Gentoo, for others it might be simply working out how to update repositories and install software. I guess it depends on your starting point.
kikinovak

Aug 19, 2013
4:39 PM EDT
Customisable:

http://www.slackware.com

Customised:

http://www.microlinux.fr/slackware

Enjoy.
jdixon

Aug 19, 2013
4:46 PM EDT
> The XFCE version of Mint provides no challenge at all really.

You've obviously never tried to get Mint update working behind a authenticating proxy.

But I'd say those concerns are met by the LMDE version. And if they really want a challenge and configuration options, I'd recommend Arch.
notbob

Aug 19, 2013
5:33 PM EDT
> Customisable: http://www.slackware.com

I think he meant to say brain-dead-easy customizable.

BTW, "challenge" != never-done-it-before ;)
JaseP

Aug 19, 2013
6:58 PM EDT
I've switched to Xubuntu 12.04 for my server and HTPCs... Fits the bill nicely with low overhead and few conflicts that need resolving... Was using Kubuntu,... still like it for laptop/desktop machines, but not server/HTPC use...
jdixon

Aug 19, 2013
9:55 PM EDT
> Fits the bill nicely with low overhead...

Low overhead on any version of Ubuntu is a relative term. :)

JaseP

Aug 19, 2013
10:21 PM EDT
OK,... how's this?!?! Runs fine on an Atom N270?!?!
BernardSwiss

Aug 20, 2013
12:46 AM EDT
> OK,... how's this?!?! Runs fine on an Atom N270?!?!

That's more like it.

Or an Atom 450, or a single-core Pentium (what does Debian still support?).
Bob_Robertson

Aug 20, 2013
12:04 PM EDT
> (what does Debian still support?)

http://www.debian.org/ports/

Looks like 13 different hardware architectures, but the base i386 install only does the "686" any more. That would be Pentium 1, AMD-K6, or later.
gus3

Aug 20, 2013
4:56 PM EDT
Alas, no dead badger option.
Bob_Robertson

Aug 20, 2013
5:03 PM EDT
> Alas, no dead badger option.

Not for a default install, no. However, I'm sure a Raspberry Pi would fit.
caitlyn

Aug 20, 2013
6:15 PM EDT
Quoting:OK,... how's this?!?! Runs fine on an Atom N270?!?!
I have an HP Mini 110 with an Intel Atom N270. It runs pretty much any distro you want. Ubuntu will run, sure, but other distros are faster, including vanilla Debian.
JaseP

Aug 21, 2013
12:38 AM EDT
Caitlyn,... It depends on what you're running on it... Trying to use a machine with that processor as an HTPC while running a KDE interface yields an experience that leaves a little more to be desired... XFCE?!?! A bit snappier...
caitlyn

Aug 21, 2013
1:31 AM EDT
I agree that XFCE is faster than KDE in most cases. However, having run both SalixOS and Xubuntu (both XFCE based) on that machine I can tell you that SalixOS is noticeably faster and consumes less memory idling.
jdixon

Aug 21, 2013
6:17 AM EDT
> However, having run both SalixOS and Xubuntu (both XFCE based) on that machine I can tell you that SalixOS is noticeably faster and consumes less memory idling.

Exactly. I'm sure there are at least half a dozen distros with XFCE that will be faster out of the box than Xubuntu. The obvious one being Debian.
Bob_Robertson

Aug 21, 2013
8:46 AM EDT
> Ubuntu will run, sure, but other distros are faster...

causes me to wonder what Ubuntu is doing, very likely in the name of "convenience", that causes such hogging of resources.

Preloading? Monitoring background processes? Maybe their customized really ugly interface is, to put it politely, not particularly optimized?

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