Linux Lite 6.0: It's quite pretty, but 'lite' it is not Linux Lite has been around since 2012 and version 6, codenamed "Fluorite", is one of the first Ubuntu-based distros to offer a version built on Ubuntu 22.04 "Jammy Jellyfish", released just last month. This is unapologetically a distro aimed at Windows users. For instance, unlike some distros, there are no difficult questions …
I like how having a task bar with window buttons with text labels is classed a "retro" I had a good laugh at that one, a quaint little opinion you have there. So Max Zorin OS is your go to, well that just proves you don't do any work involving anything other than a web browser.
So for all the people who have actual work to do I'm glad there's still plenty of "retro" desktop environments around so we can get our work done involving more than one windows done.
When I am "doing UNIX", I like a simple desktop. I will be opening xterms, usually lots of xterms. I might have vi open in a few of them. In a virtual desktop I will likely have a bunch more xterms, maybe with multiples of clusterssh on 40 machines at the same time. A minimal desktop saves me space here. I'm not interested in some new desktop wallpaper or Ubuntu's font. I want a minimal window and small window title bar.
Where is an epitome of this minimal desktop which doesn't get in my way? TWM. I don't use daily it but I fire it up for old times' sake once in a while in xnest. Some people with their clunky memory-hogging Windows 10 desktop and something like Putty or MobaXterm or Xshell may laugh. They cannot even begin to compete with my efficiency when "doing UNIX". If you want to manage UNIX machines, use UNIX.
If you want a UNIX (or these days Linux) desktop to resemble Windows or to appeal to Windows users, then it will have to look like Windows (or Mac) today. Average desktop users don't want Windows 3.1 or TWM or Motif.
As someone usually as fed up as the next person with your prolific and obsessive rants about the diversity of the desktop Linux ecosystem, I (partially) agree with you on this one.
But it really doesn't matter that much to me which Linux distro I'm using, because I don't actually want a "desktop" - I'll stick Fluxbox on it and have pretty much the same stay-out-of-your-way user experience whatever the distro.
...I don't ask for much, but this cannot be niche request.
There's an entire GUI for handling SELinux error message diagnostic and reporting, but not a (built-in) option to have a task switcher at the bottom of a screen with a button to bring up a menu with installed Applications?
-> the developers wanted to shield users from too many package managers
Welly welly welly welly welly welly well. Some of the droogs stopped drinking their Linux drencrom and saw the light.
-> FOSS evangelists
FOSS nutcases. I am a FOSS evangelist and don't suffer these hangups.
-> why not bundle Microsoft Edge for Linux
I haven't tested it on Linux, but on Mac it did a lot of phoning back home to Microsoft.
-> the powerline Bash shell prompt
I've seen this around, sometimes in programming tutorials. I think some people like to post screenshots of it for vanity reasons.
-> a new Windows migrant probably won't care
Yep. Some people just want a good introductory experience and to get stuff done, rather than have their ears roasted with barbed comments about free speech and not free beer.
-> The pre-installed productivity suite is LibreOffice ... we were surprised this wasn't something more akin to modern MS Office, such as WPS Office
Applixware disappeared a long time ago. WPS Office, I've seen it, but not preinstalled. Don't say Calligra, just don't. The last time I looked at WPS Office (the free version) there were some limitations which I can't remember. If you want the whole, unlimited suite you have to pay (which I am fine with).
-> one far more popular than Firefox
That is mostly the fault of Firefox for taking so many detours off its path that it forgot what its path was.
-> Finally, Linux Lite is not a lightweight distro
This is a common trait with a lot of Linux distros these days. It's bigger so it must be better, right?
-> we prefer LibreOffice's traditional menus-and-toolbars user interface to the Microsoft or WPS Office ribbon interface
Yep. The ribbon is not good.
-> there are lighter-weight options than Linux Lite
Linux Lite is based in New Zealand. It is one of the most obese countries in the world. Maybe it is considered light over there.
It pains me to say it, but I did give Edge a go on *nix. And it isn't bad. Really, it isn't. If you look past all the fancy "let's interact" social screens: "So what are you trying to do today?". FFS, FO
I agree with Liam that the Firefox Snap is force feeding that shouldn't be allowed to exist. Then again... Chrome? Really? I'm surprised not more are going for Librewolf. After all, it's still Firefox, but it has a ppa, so no "please use me so I'm (still) relevant" Snap, install it and it's updated automagically, and... with rsync between different distros, still has compatibility between (old <22.04) ppa Firefox and (new ≥ 22.04) Librewolf for e.g. your bookmarks (places.js). Although that last one will probably be beyond the targeted users.
I would have thought installing Chrome, Firefox and Edge or none and and provide download options for a selection of browser from a repository and give people a free choice of who they give their browsing life to would be best route. Why do OS developers feel the need to impose their own preferences on users in this way?
An OS should have no additional software other than that required to run the OS, a GUI and a way to install and support applications the user requires. Seems not even Linux based OSes can conform to that.
-> I would have thought installing Chrome, Firefox and Edge or none and and provide download options for a selection of browser from a repository and give people a free choice of who they give their browsing life to would be best route.
Already creating problems for a new user. You can always fork it and make yet another tinpot distro with nothing installed, and no users either. Go ahead, make my day.
Why can't we have a simple setup file like on windows or mac ? Applications should be distributed with everything they need and not have to pull in a metric crapload of other stuff. they should also install in their own container and not throw their stuff everywhere or modify the system.
To run x you need to first install y, z, q , p , r (but only 2.9 unless your kernel is 3.21.4.q.left and the wind comes from the east on a tuesday , but not in april or if the year is divisible by 5 , unless your neighbor just made a fresh cup of tea.. then it is ok to click cancel to proceed -facepalm-
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There are so many flavors out there. this only runs on that, this thing only uses that package manager ... it's infuriating. Self deploying is what we need. without dependencies or prerequisites. the install package contains everything.
Appreciate the article and the screenshot - hadn’t heard of this distro before, learned a new thing. Qq - you say the install occupies approx 6GB - I’m wondering if that’s due to partitions created to prevent filling a partition from hosing the OS (in which case, is it light weight but with some pragmatism to protect the human user, or if there’s 6GB of ‘stuff’ - if so, what ‘stuff’? Anyway, nice article
Thanks. I'm glad you liked it.
No, there is no fancy partitioning here. In fact, on a BIOS-based VM, it created an unnecessary `bios-boot` partition followed by an equally unnecessary EFI partition. Then there is a single big root volume, without so much as a swap partition.
No multi-partition cleverness here at all. That would be hard to achieve on the basis of Ubuntu. I have not yet investigated how Ubuntu DDE's clever partitioning works.
We're all different. I've been trying Linux distros since Slackware in, ooh, 1996-ish (30+ floppy disk install). There are quite a few I respect for their capabilities, but Linux Lite is the only one I've actually liked enough to keep installed. A good newbie-friendly forum for the distro is a plus.
Light vs heavy depends how you measure it - I know everything Debian-based is 64-bit now, but I was able to install the 32-bit Linux Lite distro on an Eee-PC netbook a couple of years back (admittedly the hard drive had been upsized to 64GB) which made it into a perfectly functional web & email device. Not bad for something bought on a whim for £195 from Toys 'R Us. :)
For me it's helpful that being mostly Windows and Mac based at work, there's enough similarity to what I'm already used to that I can just get on with using it.
[Author here]
Yep, 1st distro I tried to install on my own PC was Slackware, too.
I failed.
I still have that ~30Y old laptop in my mum's spare bedroom wardrobe. I should see if it still works, and try again. :-)
Re lightness: bear in mind that there's no 32-bit version any more. What was light 5-10Y ago isn't necessarily now.
The lightest vaguely mainstream distro for an old 32-bit PC now is the Raspberry Pi OS, and it's long overdue for an update. Maybe they haven't because some of the bits of more modern native RasPi OS (e.g. Mutter) aren't 32-bit friendly? TBH I have not looked.
It may well have been a light offering then, but TBH, any Linux would have revived that old PC, and something like Lubuntu or Xubuntu might well have been lighter still.
Reason people often want a Linux alternative to Windows is either to work on a small cpu or to avoid privacy/security issues. Obviously this isn't designed with first reason in mind, so nstalling Edge for Linux would not satisfy users concerned about privacy/security as it is still Windows.
io_uring is getting more capable, and PREEMPT_RT is going mainstream The Register 
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