Ever since the Unity came on board Ubuntu, clamor for alternatives started. One alternative was Linux Mint with Cinnamon or mate. The option to remove Unity manually from Ubuntu 12.04 did not work as Update Manager messed up and rendered the system unstable. Thus over all Ubuntu now sucks like windows. The very purpose of choosing Ubuntu was stability and speed but it stands defeated with Unity.

The Linux Mint is the best alternative to Ubuntu with Unity Desktop but it had one problem. Ubuntu One, the cloud service of Ubuntu does not work thereon and error remained unresolved. Officially there is no word, either way. Second is the problem with older machines. Dual core machine with 2 Ghz speed are now old machines. Anything less than that is obsolete. Hence Linux Mint, also runs a little slower. Add a decade old LCD Monitor and we have compounded the problem. Alternative is Lubuntu.

Short review of Lubuntu:

Lubuntu is fastest distro. In installation it took less than 20 minutes, without Internet connection. I always prefer to install without Internet connection by disabling it. Half of this time was spent in comparing and deleting older files as I was reusing the /Home partition from previous installation of Linux Mint. Lubuntu 12.10 supports Ubuntu One through its own “Lubuntu Software Manage“, which is a new feature in latest version. So far I have found it to be reliable and performing well. It comes with LXDE Desktop, which may be slightly better in looks then Windows 95 but is way ahead in performance. This is the official statement from Lubuntu dot net:

Lubuntu is a fast and lightweight operating system developed by a community of Free and Open Source enthusiasts. The core of the system is based on Linux and Ubuntu . Lubuntu uses the minimal desktop LXDE, and a selection of light applications. We focus on speed and energy-efficiency. Because of this, Lubuntu has very low hardware requirements.

Lubuntu is a mini world of its own, with small Programs for everyday task. Abiword as word processor. Sylpheen is the email client, Chromium is the browser and Pidgin as instant messenger. Pcmanfm is the file manager. Though not as great as nautilus but it does all basic jobs well.
Mediaplayer works fine straight out of box. No gstreamer plugin installation blues. Audacious is for music. Default tiny Penguin games work fine but there is no undo or any menu in any of the games. Do not press F1 as it will only crash the game.

The looks and speed:

The picture on the top reflects the default theme which happens to be the best. Alternative themes which come with package are worst. But looks are no indication of its lightening speed. Programs open and close in a zip. All the kudos to developers for performance. It appears that they have left the looks for us to tweak and improve.

Caution for installation:

There is one caution. While installing the Lubuntu, at the stage of partitioning the drives, the format command is immediately executed. Installer/Partitioner does not wait for clicking “Next” button. So be careful. I mis selected a partition and it was formatted immediately.

Netbook Edition

Besides the above standard edition there is also a Netbook edition, which can be chosen from LightDM login options at bottom left. The Netbook Edition looks like this:

So far so good. In last 72 hours, it has caused no trouble. Who will not love such a work horse. Shall revert here after more experience. So far the only regret is, why I waited so long?
BTW my Desktop now looks like this: