The Linux for old stuff quest: Xubuntu

The quest might just be over. Shortly after I wrote last night’s post, I grabbed the Xubuntu install iso and went to work. Under an hour later, I had a functional and usable install of Linux on the ol’ laptop. Not sure yet if everything is perfect (I know my sound still isn’t working, but that’s common for this model laptop with every distro I’m learning) but in general, looking good. And as a side effect, I’m apparently running the latest beta version even.

As a side note, apparently there are two different ways to get Xubuntu. There’s one version as found in the Ubuntu Wiki. Basically, you start with an Ubuntu install CD and do the intial install as “server”. Then work your way up to an apt-get install xubuntu-desktop. Or, head to the Xubuntu Releases page and grab the iso. I took the latter route just for grins.

Basically, this is built around Xfce4 for the desktop environment. I’ll confess I’d never really made much effort to learn about it in the past, but now that I’ve seen it run on an older machine I’m rather impressed. From the creator:

Xfce is a lightweight desktop environment for various *NIX systems.
Designed for productivity, it loads and executes applications fast, while conserving system resources.

In general, he seems to be on the right track. I’m impressed. The interface is very easy to get used to — feels (to uneducated me) pretty “gnome’ish”. I have assorted panels and menus and all that cruft, just like I’m used to. The Thunar file browser seems rather spiffy too. Ok, maybe spiffy isn’t the right word, but it is quite fast to load and use.

No OpenOffice in this install, but AbiWord pops up reasonably. Firefox is a bit sluggish to get rolling, but once it is up all seems fine. I might toss Opera on it and see how that works.

Think I’ll play with this for a few days and decide if it is “good enough” or if I should go for the Ubuntu/Fluxbox thing next.  At some point I should figure out the sound thing too. And then wifi. *sigh*

Possibly Related posts:

1. Quick update on the linux / old machine quest
2. DSL to Zenwalk and back to Xubuntu
3. Linux Can Still Frustrate
4. Another Laptop to Toy with Xubuntu
5. The Quest for Noise