Lubuntu versus Xubuntu
Ubuntu has a number of different flavors, including Lubuntu and Xubuntu. Both of these Ubuntu flavors offer lightweight desktops, but which one is better?
A writer at Linux and Ubuntu recently weighed the pros and cons of Lubuntu and Xubuntu:
Over the years, Lubuntu and Xubuntu have been two popular flavors that have provided an alternative to a lot of folks who have preferred something other than vanilla Ubuntu with the Unity desktop. Lubuntu and Xubuntu have been the choice of Linux enthusiasts and users who would rather have a lean or lightweight Linux distro or one that will provide the best performance on an old desktop or laptop. But how do these two distros compare, which one would I recommend and why?
If you are looking for the most lightweight, Lubuntu is the choice to go. It uses the least system resources and comes with the fewest installed applications, unlike Xubuntu which packs some punch in polish and features meaning a lot more resource use. Xubuntu is relatively lightweight, as in, it's lighter than Ubuntu and Kubuntu but Lubuntu is actually lightweight.
If you prefer some polish or can spare little more system resources, then go with Xubuntu. Xubuntu is more elegant and better looking, and it comes with more features and is more user-friendly than Lubuntu which looks outdated and bare allowing very minimal customization. Unless you have a very old PC with some pretty old specification.
Linux and Ubuntu readers shared their thoughts about Xubuntu and Lubuntu:
Randy Fry: “If you want to a better experience than Lubuntu there is a respin called LXLE. You can get it at lxle.net. It is a miser with resources, with a more modern look. It has a great set of applications too.”
Keyikedalube Ndang: “Bought my new notebook recently. And on intel i3, Xubuntu is the best one but truly not a big deal with resources. Just want speed and customizability!”
Roger Parkinson: “We run both. Mrs has a smaller spec'd laptop and uses it mostly for writing. She moved from XP so Lubuntu suited her just fine. She installed Libre Office though, the bundled applications weren't enough.
I run Xubuntu, migrated when Ubuntu made Unity the default. It's a bit customised but not much. Both work well.”
Jymm: “Having tried Lubuntu and Xubuntu and Mate, I think Mate was the best choice. I certainly seems as "Light" as the other two and is much easier to configure than Xubuntu or Lubuntu. Actually I have never found great performance on my boxes using Xubuntu.”
The article about Xubuntu and Lubuntu also caught the attention of folks in the Linux subreddit and they shared their opinions about both distros:
Willnay98: “Xubuntu is light, very usable and customizable. Lubuntu is lighter, ugly and not customizable. ”
Ztjuh: “LXDE is lighter than XFCE.”
Waregen: “the discussion how light is DE became waste of time the moment browsers started to be unusable on 512MB ram machines.
who cares which one is on 80MB and which one is 112MB or ram in the world where the machine needs bare minimum 1GB for basic usage?”
Silencer6: “I've always thought of LXDE as desktop environment designed for CRT monitors. It's perfect for 15" with 800x600 and 17" with 1024x768.”
Wilnay98: “Should have said "easily" customizable. I ran it for a while. Simple things like changing keyboard shortcuts are not intuitive. Doesn't seem to have that professional polish users expect that XFCE does. ”
Kill a process from the command line
The command line is a powerful tool in Linux. It can do many useful things, including killing processes. A writer at Linux.com has a helpful overview of how to use the command line to kill a process.
Jack Wallen reports for Linux.com:
Picture this: You’ve launched an application (be it from your favorite desktop menu or from the command line) and you start using that launched app, only to have it lock up on you, stop performing, or unexpectedly die. You try to run the app again, but it turns out the original never truly shut down completely.
What do you do? You kill the process. But how? Believe it or not, your best bet most often lies within the command line. Thankfully, Linux has every tool necessary to empower you, the user, to kill an errant process. However, before you immediately launch that command to kill the process, you first have to know what the process is. How do you take care of this layered task? It’s actually quite simple...once you know the tools at your disposal.
Let me introduce you to said tools.
ReactOS 0.4.5 released
ReactOS is a distribution that features Windows binary compatibility. Version 0.4.5 of ReactOS has just been released, and a writer at Softpedia has a look at the changes you'll find in this update.
Marius Nestor reports for Softpedia:
ReactOS 0.4.5 is a maintenance update that adds numerous changes and improvements over the previous point release. The kernel has been updated in this version to improve the FreeLoader and UEFI booting, as well as the Plug and Play modules, adding support for more computers to boot ReactOS without issues.
The Memory Manager and Common Cache areas of the kernel have been improved as well in ReactOS, which no longer becomes unbootable when creating a system partition, and it now avoids attempts to reinstall a driver during reboot when a previous attempt already failed.
Taking about drivers, ReactOS 0.4.5 includes various fixes and speedups for the FAT32 driver, addresses a BSoD (Blue Screen of Death) that occurred when changing floppy drives, correctly reports processors to the system, and patches some USB leaks.
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