# xubuntu over ubuntu?



## gallup (Oct 26, 2007)

I have screwed up my ubuntu installation by forgetting my username and password on a pc that was traded to me for work done. Nice old 98 pc with amd k6 550 processor with 512 ram. Didn't do too well with Ubuntu anyhow, and since I can't get into my installation as I seem to have used a diff logon and password than my norm...would xubuntu do any better on this hardware configuration? I have burned the live cd and it checksums good and runs fine live. I have not as of yet tried installing over a version of lenux with a diff distro. Can I leave my partitions the same and only install to the root, leaving swap file and windows dual boot partitions in place? Any suggestions? 
I would just try a password recovery, but that seems to be impossible to figure out and if reinstalling isn't xubuntu a leaner program?
thanks


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## nepsis (Feb 29, 2008)

Yes xubuntu uses the beautiful xfce and it is lighter-weight than gnome that comes with the standard Ubuntu install. So it should run slightly better on older kit as it doesn't require as much beef, so to speak. 

To be on the safe side you'd want to reformat all the Linux partitions but you can leave the windows one as it is. The ubuntu installer should make that easy enough for you to go through!


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## Sugi (Mar 6, 2008)

Yea, Xfce is quite amazing. I say try xubuntu or some other light weight distro. DSL or Puppylinux is both beautiful distro with a heavy punch for a light weight OS. It can do all the things that the heavy hitters can do (ubuntu, fedora, SUSE, and even Vista) but 10 times faster. I say try DSL linux first if you are interested and than PuppyLinux second, and maybe xubuntu. 
Faster & Lighter to slower & heavier

DSL
damnsmalllinux.org
TEENpup base off of PuppyLinux (Amazing OS) Has everything you could ever think of and more. IPOD, AVIs, Codecs, MP3s, Image Editing Supprt, and more (just to name a few)
http://linux.softpedia.com/progDownload/TeenPup-Download-31563.html
PuppyLinux
www.puppylinux.org
DSL & Puppy Linux uses a even lighter Desktop Environment (JVM) than xubuntu for faster speed.

Sugi


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## gallup (Oct 26, 2007)

thanks for all the great info. I chose to install xubuntu over ubuntu...I now have no panel at the top? I used this live cd on a diff pc and thought that xubuntu looked more like ubuntu. I must go to bed earlier so as not to hallucinate while trying something new! xubuntu, if my install went right, looks way diff than ubuntu of the same release. Can you add panel (taskbar) in xubuntu?
Is teen pup really that good? not any more terminal based is it? I have several old 98's around I would like to get a decent linux distro on, but I am not that good on it yet. Learning thing going on here in my old head, and all this help is very much apprreciated.


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## K-B (Oct 24, 2005)

Xubuntu uses a completely different desktop environment, Xfce, Ubuntu uses GNOME.


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## gallup (Oct 26, 2007)

K-B said:


> Xubuntu uses a completely different desktop environment, Xfce, Ubuntu uses GNOME.


Sure appreciate your help on this, I have decided to try some other than Ubuntu. PCLinux looks interesting, and Mandriva is the first distro that I actually downloaded but found Ubuntu to have more readily available help. Ubuntu just seems too slow, although I do like Gutsy.
What do you personally like about PCLinux and what are recommended sys req for minimum and recomended sys req. to run it right?
thanks again


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## K-B (Oct 24, 2005)

I liked PCLinuxOS because everything worked out of the box, media codecs pre-installed, java, Flash player, 3D accelerator driver could be installed with a mouseclick, etc. Minimum requirements are 256mb RAM, 800MHz processor, 6gb of free hard drive space.

I'm not using PCLinuxOS anymore though, I have a new wireless internet connection and I have not been able to get it working in any Linux distro


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## gallup (Oct 26, 2007)

I feel for you on Linux' ability to work on all connections. I gave up on dial up linux and use a windows pc to network my dial up through wireless router to be able to use linux at home. I am hoping to get dsl in the next few months so not investing in sat or cell broadband.
I am going to give PCLinusOS a try. I like that you say most apps work out of the box or easily afterward. I do some pc work and in this depressed area an easy distro to offer folks with 98/me/2000 or an xp built with too little resources is what I am looking for. I like the snapshot feature I read about, I'll have to try that after I get one up and running to avoid having to get everything right each time.
thanks for the great input.


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## Pensive Koala (Mar 14, 2008)

I've tried a few different distros in the past few months, gallup (Fedora, OpenSuSE, Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, PCLOS) and found that PCLinuxOS was hands down the best. Its interface is great, the install is both customizable and defaults to an out-of-the-box good install, it runs nearly every app you'll ever need very well. However, it does use KDE. KDE, while not as much a resource hog as Gnome, does use up a fair amount of memory. But I only have 512MB RAM (though admittedly I'm using an Intel Centrino Duo processor, 3.46 GHz), and it runs great for me. If you're used to Ubuntu's long boot time, PCLinuxOS will be a pleasant surprise in that regard as well.

One more thing - I recommend you use JFS rather than ext3 as the filesystem for your root partition if you're going to customize your partitioning anyway. JFS is hands down better than ext3 by the numbers (so is XFS, but JFS is a lot easier on your processor).


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## gallup (Oct 26, 2007)

I have been looking over PCLOS and am impressed by the look of it off the live cd, but...I used the tinyme 08 version. Which version are you both referring to as being your favorite? 07 final version? tinyme looks nice and is fast but I will have to take my tower to a dsl location to get programs and such added as I can only get half speed dialup for now. tinyme is a bit too light. You are right in that Ubuntu is too slow and seems to even be slower browsing the internet?
anyone with experience with pclos gnome? how does it compare with standard kde based. newby here even though I have been using ubuntu for a year, just recently started exploring other distros.


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## Pensive Koala (Mar 14, 2008)

I've never tried TinyMe 08 or the Gnome version...I'm a KDE man, so PCLOS 2007 is what I'm talking about. Gnome is generally accepted to be KDE's inferior, especially given that PCLOS by default has Compiz Fusion working with KDE (it's usually a ***** and a half to set up).


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## Sugi (Mar 6, 2008)

gallup said:


> thanks for all the great info. I chose to install xubuntu over ubuntu...I now have no panel at the top? I used this live cd on a diff pc and thought that xubuntu looked more like ubuntu. I must go to bed earlier so as not to hallucinate while trying something new! xubuntu, if my install went right, looks way diff than ubuntu of the same release. Can you add panel (taskbar) in xubuntu?
> Is teen pup really that good? not any more terminal based is it? I have several old 98's around I would like to get a decent linux distro on, but I am not that good on it yet. Learning thing going on here in my old head, and all this help is very much apprreciated.


Sorry for the late reply. >.<
TEENpup is directed towards teens using linux and provides an entire GUInterface for the users that are unsure of the terminal base commands. You will love it, I promise.  Try it on a live cd.









http://bp2.blogger.com/_RNREcwdqBrE/Rx7m4w43aFI/AAAAAAAAAd4/5aH3ViE1eB4/s400/TEENpup+2.14.jpg
Just installed/liveCD boot up. It's loaded with applications.



> -Windows Media supported EG: Flash, Java, AVI, MP4, MP3, MPEG, WMA, QUICKTIME, REALMEDIA plus more.
> -Watch Encrypted DVD's
> -Edit many different media formats
> 
> ...


Enjoy,
Sugi


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## gallup (Oct 26, 2007)

this teenpup sounds very interesting for the older pc's, I am a bit excited about it as well as release of plcos08 whenever that is going to be.
I am also looking at the various diff distros for the new Eee I bought my wife, all the desktop icons on teenpup reminds me of the way you navigate on the Eee, although just barely. Not used to seeing all the icons on any form of linux I am used to.
GREAT info folks, sure appreciate all the fine instructions here,
Mike


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