Keith Drummond

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Distro Hopped Again – Hello Xubuntu and XFCE

5 January 2021

Keith

Like all things, my hardware keeps getting older, but nothing’s stopped working yet so until things go bang let’s make the most of what we have.

KDE and Kubuntu were fantastic, I do really enjoy that desktop environment, and it shows as I have been hopping between that Gnome (and Unity) since 2007. Out of curiosity over December I installed Xubuntu onto a Live USB to give it a test ride. It is one of those things I have kept putting off for a few years now, just kept telling myself that my hardware is not old enough for XFCE yet, but just like me it really did benefit from this change.

XFCE.org describes the desktop environment as;

“Xfce is a lightweight desktop environment for UNIX-like operating systems. It aims to be fast and low on system resources, while still being visually appealing and user friendly.”

Xubuntu also says;

“Xubuntu is perfect for those who want the most out of their desktops, laptops and netbooks with a modern look and enough features for efficient, daily usage. It works well on older hardware too.”

My slightly personalised Xubuntu desktop

Let’s be honest, that sums up exactly what I need and would like. KDE is less of a resource hog than Gnome, but XFCE is in a whole different ballpark. Since installation my PC feels brand new, everything happens straight away when I click, with the only lag being when opening the web browser (Brave) for the first time. Using menu to search for an application usually means it is racing ahead of me rather than trying to keep up. Under KDE that sluggish feeling would remain while the browser was running but that is not the case with XFCE, things remain snappy and quick. When Kup would run for a backup the system would slow right down, but I am using Timeshift under XFCE and when it runs without me noticing a drop in performance.

I did look at Manjaro XFCE, albeit briefly. I have used Opensuse in the past, and more recently KDE Neon (which is not a rolling release, but is bleeding edge with respect to the KDE software). I always enjoy the getting the latest software, but if something goes wrong when I need the computer then I end up reaching for a Live USB with a Ubuntu LTS installed as it’s quicker than searching for a solution online. Ubuntu based distros do benefit from a very large community of users and chances are whatever issues I have bumped into have already been solved. Do not misunderstand me, I have always been able to find an answer to a problem with any other distro I have tried, but the Ubuntu based distro’s just seem to been more front and centre.

Fedora even offer a ‘spin’ of XFCE, actually chances are whatever your favourite distro is there is probably a XFCE desktop environment available. So at least that way you can remain within a familiar eco-system of getting things done.

There was an issue, I could not get Xubuntu 20.10 to install. I kept getting an error at the end of the installation saying Grub experienced a fatal error and the installation would end. I tried downloading from a few different locations, but just could not get it to finish the installation. Next I tried going back to the previous various, but since that is a LTS then it’s also around and fully-supported for several years.

*Update* – It looks like I was affected by bug #1893964. So it may just be an issue for those manually partitioning. I have marked myself affected. Comments #8 & #9 suggest a workaround for those wanting to complete the process with 20.10

With Xubuntu 20.04 LTS it installed first time, no problems. LTS versions are probably the safer choice versus the 6 monthly interim versions if you are looking for stability, and do seem to be by far the preferred choice for users. I probably should have started with that first, I may try to upgrade to 20.10 on the laptop as it is less in demand.

Installation, with 20.04 LTS, went smooth partitioned my normal way;

/swap – sized at 8GB as that’s twice my RAM
/root – sized at 20GB, which is overkill, but I have the space
/home – the rest of my HDD space

Partitioning manually is obviously optional, you can just let the installer do all the work for you and not think about it. I prefer having a /home partition as I do like to try other distros and it acts like a ‘soft’ backup always having it there. I always make sure I have an up-to-date backup and do make one before doing anything like this!

Plank just needed to be added to the startup options

After installation, I used the panel profiles to change the look to the Ubuntu 18.04 option. Then installed the ‘Plank’ software to have a simple dock. Installing Plank does add it to the startup applications, so I just had to add it to the list myself. Very simple, a new entry called Plank and command is plank. Then it is just a process of installing my favourite applications, the only ones that take any work installing are the Brave browser, Tutanota desktop and Minecraft as I have to go online and download. Everything else can be found within the included Xubuntu store. I tend to uninstall the Mozilla software (Firefox and Thunderbird) then my top applications are;

Evolution (still the best groupware suite IMO)
Synaptic package manager (still the most transparent way to find packages for me)
Bitwarden (password manager)
Authy (2 factor authentication)
Timeshift (for backups – simple rsync backups)

My favourite applications

It has taken me 14 years of using Linux to finally arrive at XFCE, but since this PC is going 12 years old, and the laptop 6 years, it is probably time. Xubuntu has given this hardware a new lease of life and I can keep working away without needing to upgrade or replace. My user case does not require much more than day-to-day basics, no heavy graphics or gaming. But that’s most of us I would suspect.

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Comments

6 responses to “Distro Hopped Again – Hello Xubuntu and XFCE”

Friday Candour

18 March 2021

Am using a 2gig laptop please help me choose a light Linux distribution

Reply
Keith Drummond

18 March 2021

You should definitely start by looking at Xubuntu and Lubuntu, two very good starting points with good support. Might even find users with the same specifications as you.

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Thomas Jeremy

12 June 2021

What town is in the desktop image?

Reply
Keith Drummond

12 June 2021

Its Symi in Greece, took it on a visit in 2019. Its a boat trip from Rhodes, small island, but stunning.

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alleyoopster

23 January 2022

How are you getting on with the change in apps or the more complete desktop experience with plasma? Do you miss Okular, Dolphin, Kate, Krita etc? By the way, Bitwarden has a 2fa built in

Reply
Keith Drummond

23 January 2022

At the start of this year, I actually reinstalled Kubuntu (21.10). I had been reading that Plasma was not as resource hungry as it was. I am finding that to be true, not noticing any real performance difference between Plasma and Xfce, but with the caveat that the computers are only used for documents, web browsing, photo management (not editing, or anything like that). If I needed to do more, then maybe the lighter Xfce setup might start to edge ahead.

That said, all the Xfce alternatives to Okular, Dolphin, Kate, are all perfectly adequate. Much more streamlined and the defaults tend to be just enough (power user will always want more options though). Krita I do not use. I use Thunderbird across all my systems for legacy email monitoring, so do not need Kontact. I would use Tutanota as my day-to-day (appimage). Xfce is a great desktop, that and Plasma would be the only desktops I would recommend to a new user.

They both offer a complete desktop experience, I would say Xfce offers everything you need and you can find everything you want. Kde definitely throws much more at you in all areas which for the most part you do not need to pay attention to, or if you know how you like things then 10-15 mins making those tweaks will see you right.

Yes, I know bitwarden has the 2fa built in, and I like the idea of having the passwords and authenticator separate. If for any reason, bitwarden was down I can still always access an account with password reset and authenticator (in most cases).

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Keith Drummond

Distro Hopped Again – Hello Xubuntu and XFCE

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6 responses to “Distro Hopped Again – Hello Xubuntu and XFCE”

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