LXLE 14.04 Review: The best LXDE distro I've used till date

LXLE's USP in previous releases used to be Lubuntu with long term support, as Lubuntu didn't have a LTS spin till recently. And hence, the acronym LXLE from Lubuntu eXtra Life Extension. However, in 2014 with Lubuntu itself releasing an LTS version, I wanted to check how LXLE can entice users to continue using it over Lubuntu. As Ronnie Whisler's release notes states, it is time for the distro to evolve:

"LXLE acronym change, originally 'Lubuntu eXtra Life Extension' which made sense before Lubuntu had an official LTS release, since 14.04 however, LXLE will now adopt the nomenclature 'LXDE eXtra Luxury Edition' and we think this release doubles down on that; to better support 32-bit hardware we updated 12.04.4 to be virtually identical to LXLE 14.04 64-bit release including features, updated software and system components; PCManFM additions such as open directories and text as root, create shortcuts, rename base icon names, copy to folder, right click desktop trash to empty; Launch (Fehlstart), Run (Gexec), and Terminal (RoxTerm) all have hotkeys enabled to open them using the keyboard for faster access...."

From LXLE 14.04 http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.com

On 14th June, 2014, LXLE released it's 64-bit spin, LXLE 14.04. There is no 32-bit spin yet. I guess I can understand the reason why these days even lightweight operating systems prefer 64-bit OS over 32-bit. Just check any e-commerce site for low budget laptops, you'll see the market is flooded with Windows 8 laptops under $500 with Intel Celeron/Pentium/Atom processors and under 4 GB RAM. I could not install 32-bit version in Secureboot and UEFI enabled systems. However, 64-bit worked with elan. Possibly, these distros are targeting users who bought these modern low powered systems but will soon get tired of Windows 8's crazy desktop and switch to Linux. I know quite a few people did it, even I did it myself!

Anyway, coming back to the topic, I downloaded the 64-bit ISO, about 1.5 GB in size. I created a live USB with Linux Mint Image Writer and booted it on my test laptop, Asus K55VM. LXLE 14.04 ships with LXDE desktop with Linux kernel 3.13.0 and PCManFM 1.2.0bas the default file manager. It is based on Ubuntu Trusty Tahr, the recently released LTS spin with 5 years of support. I am not sure if the support on LXLE 14.04 is also 5 years just like it used to be earlier or is it 3 years like Lubuntu 14.04.

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Zorin OS 8 "Lite" Review: Super efficient LXDE spin but released a bit late!

The "Lite" edition of Zorin OS 8, an i386-only variant of the beginners-friendly distribution that features the LXDE desktop, has been released: "The Zorin OS team is pleased to release Zorin OS 8 Lite and Business. Zorin OS 8 Lite is the latest evolution of the Zorin OS Lite series of operating systems, designed specifically for Linux newcomers using old or low-powered hardware. This release is based on Lubuntu 13.10 and uses the LXDE desktop environment to provide one of the fastest and most feature-packed interfaces for low-spec machines. This new release includes newly updated software out-of-the-box. Zorin OS 8 Business introduces a myriad of changes to the business-oriented edition of Zorin OS including updated software, improvements to the user interface and entirely new software."

From Zorin OS 8 "Lite" http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in

I downloaded the 905 MB 32-bit ISO, created a live USB using Linux Mint Image Writer and did a live boot on my Asus K55VM laptop with 2.3 Ghz Core i7 processor, 8 GB DDR3 RAM and 2 GB NVIDIA GeForce 630M hybrid graphics. Indeed, my test laptop is way powerful to test an LXDE distro. Hence, I checked it out on my Asus 1101HA netbook with 1.33 Ghz Intel Atom Z520 processor and 1 GB DDR2 RAM. It is a weak machine unable to run Windows 7.

Zorin OS 8 "Lite" is based on Ubuntu 13.10, which is supported till July 2014. It ships with Linux kernel 3.11.0 and LXDE 0.5 as desktop environment. PCManFM is the default file manager and it is fast.

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LXLE 12.04.4 Review: Much more than a lightweight distro!

While using LXDE for last one week or so, I noted that I haven't reviewed a single LXDE distro for last 4 months. The last LXDE distro I reviewed was Lubuntu 13.10 32-bit edition. In between I refrained from trying out LXDE distros, possibly waiting for LXDE-Qt to release sometime in 2014. However, when the 4th update of LXLE 12.04, the LXDE distro with 5 years of support, got released in Feb, I couldn't resist myself. This is perhaps the best LXDE distro I've ever used and somehow I never managed to find time to pen down a review on it! Now I am making up for it.

From LXLE 12.04.4 http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in

For this review, I downloaded the 64-bit ISO of LXLE 12.04.4. As mentioned, it is a LXDE distro with long term support (LTS), based on Ubuntu Precise Pangolin. The Lubuntu 12.04 didn't have support for more than 18 months and hence, LXLE has the advantage of longer support (5 years, till April, 2017), over Lubuntu. Unlike Ubuntu Precise, LXLE ships with the Linux kernel 3.2.0 (Ubuntu Precise now has kernel 3.11.0). The release note states of the following improvements:
"After patiently waiting for Ubuntu to officially announce their 12.04.4 update and once the number of seeders of LXLE grew to an adequate level to 'serve' it, LXLE 12.04.4 has been released. This particular release builds on the idea that many 'at idle' processes can be replaced by 'on demand' solutions, such as weather, battery, updates, power management, etc. It also introduces microcode kernel updates for your processor and preload, a readahead daemon, by default. Notable new features: LXLE PPA enabled by default; updated core LXDE components; updated BleachBit, Catfish, MiniTube; updated Elementary icon set; added Steam, VokoScreen, Schedule Tasks; GNOME Commander replaced with Sunflower; Fast Forecast replaced with Typhoon; GDiskDump replaced with Startup Disk Creator; enhanced Firefox and bookmarks toolbar...."

I used my Asus laptop K55VM with 2.3 Ghz Core i7 processor, 8 GB DDR3 RAM and 2 GB NVIDIA GeForce graphic card as the test machine. First I created a live USB using Unetbootin and then used it to live boot & finally install on the Asus laptop. I'll take you step by step the experience I had with LXLE in the subsequent sections.

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Lubuntu 13.10 "Saucy Salamander" Review: Offers fantastic performance and possibly the best Lubuntu release I have used

The Ubuntu 13.10 release is out a couple of days ago and it is named as "Saucy Salamander" in continuation with the tradition of naming each release with an "Adjective Animal". I downloaded all five of the main releases: Ubuntu, Ubuntu GNOME, Kubuntu, Xubuntu and Lubuntu. However, I start my review with my favorite of the Ubuntu flavors: Lubuntu.

Lubuntu combines the goodness of Ubuntu with the lightweight X11 desktop (LXDE) and lightweight applications. Lubuntu's website states that the target segment for Lubuntu are the "normal" PC users running on low spec hardware. However, Lubuntu has found acceptance among Linux users on account of a couple of things: (1) lower resource consumption, (2) relatively stable LXDE desktop (possibly becomes more relevant if I consider the changes going through in GNOME 3 and KDE 4, and not to forget Ubuntu's own Unity). Constraints are there as well - LXDE may not be the easiest DE to configure for Linux novices.

From Lubuntu 13.10 http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in

The release note of Lubuntu 13.10 in Distrowatch states of the following improvements:

"Julien Lavergne has released Lubuntu 13.10. Features: based on the lightweight LXDE desktop environment; PCManFM - a fast and lightweight file manager; Openbox -a fast and extensible default windows manager of LXDE; LightDM using a simple GTK+ greeter; Firefox as the new web browser for Lubuntu 13.10; based on Ubuntu 13.10. Improvements since Lubuntu 13.04: new version of PCManFM and libfm (1.1.0) including a built-in search utility; artwork improvements, including new wallpapers, community wallpapers and new icons; removed Catfish since PCManFM has its own search utility; fixed a very old bug causing GNOME MPlayer to crash with some CPUs; several fixes for the GPicView image viewer."

I downloaded the 700 MB 32 bit ISO for review. Generally I find 32-bit with pae kernel offer better performance over the 64 bit versions. Further, a lot of applications work better with 32-bit versions. I used Unetbootin to create a live USB and then install it on my Asus K54C laptop with 2.2 Ghz Core i3 processor, 2 GB DDR3 RAM and Intel HD 3000 graphics. I used a 10 GB partition to install the distro. Lubuntu 13.10 comes with LXDE 0.5 desktop with Linux kernel 3.11.0 and PCManFM 1.1.2 as file manager.

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Zorin OS 7 "Lite" Review: Beautiful and functional LXDE operating system

Zorin has a history of creating pretty refined Ubuntu spins specifically targeted to newcomers. Their recent release Zorin OS 7 is based on Ubuntu 13.04 and it has 6 months of support. I earlier reviewed the Zorin OS 7 Core (with GNOME desktop) and found it to be very good in terms of functionality, stability and aesthetics. Zorin, as a tradition, first releases the core or GNOME distro and follows it up with "Lite" and "Educational Lite", two lightweight Zorin OS variants with LXDE desktop. Both are actually Lubuntu 13.04 spins. I, myself, am a big fan of LXDE desktop as it is possibly the most efficient of all fully featured DEs. However, LXDE requires the users to have a little bit of expertise in Linux; simple things such as autologin, adding programs to start up, setting up compositing manager, etc. are easier in other desktop environments (DEs) like XFCE, KDE & GNOME. However, of late, I saw LXDE control center in PCLinuxOS and ROSA which actually makes these things easier for the users.

From Zorin 7 Lite http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in

With that prelude, I thought of checking out the LXDE "Lite" spin of Zorin OS 7. The release note states:

"The Zorin OS team is proud to release Zorin OS 7 Lite and Educational Lite, the latest evolution of the Zorin OS Lite series of operating systems, designed specifically for Windows users using old or low-powered hardware. This release is based on Lubuntu 13.04 and uses the LXDE desktop environment to provide one of the fastest and most feature-packed interfaces for low-specification machines. This new release includes newly updated software out-of-the-box, the introduction of new software and a new desktop theme. We also include our innovative Zorin Look Changer, Zorin Internet Browser Manager, Zorin OS Lite Extra Software and other programs from our earlier versions in Zorin OS 7 Lite"

I downloaded the 800 MB ISO from Zorin site. Only 32-bit ISO is available (with pae-kernel) for Zorin OS "Lite" as it is targeted to older hardware (which are mostly 32-bit machines). My mode of testing is the usual one: first a live boot followed by installation in my Asus K54C with 2.2 Ghz Core i3 processor and 2 GB RAM.

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Fedora 19 Review: Not flashy but very dependable, KDE being the best of the lot!

2013 has been an exceptional year in a sense that Ubuntu, Fedora and Debian, the three major Linux distros, had their releases this year. Debian 7 finally got released, Ubuntu came up with a better Unity along with more social integration and it is now turn of Fedora to showcase it's latest offering. I was really interested to know Fedora 19 - whether the latest Fedora is able to live up to the other two illustrious counterparts plus what's brewing in RHEL stable.

From Fedora 19 http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in

With the Fedora 19 release note coming out on 2-July-2013, I was quick to download the 32-bit versions of all available variants - KDE, GNOME, XFCE and LXDE. The release note states of incremental improvements for developers, like:

"The Fedora Project is delighted to announce the release of Fedora 19. What's new? Developer's Assistant is a tool for new developers that helps you to get started on a code project by offering templates, samples, and toolchains for a variety of languages; 3D modelling and printing are supported with OpenSCAD, Skeinforge, SFACT, Printrun, RepetierHost, and other tool options; OpenShift Origin makes it easy for you to build your own Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) infrastructure; MariaDB offers a truly open MySQL implementation and is now the default MySQL option in Fedora...."

I am no developers and my review is from an ordinary Linux user perspective. I first created live USB using Unetbootin for all the variants and then installed each of them in my Asus K54C with Core i3 processor and 2 GB RAM, one by one. I tested each, for a day or two, for this review. Fedora 19 has Linux kernel 3.9.5, which gets upgraded to 3.9.8 post installation. Major differences between them are the desktop environments and some applications (e.g. LXDE was loaded with primarily lightweight applications), with essentially the basic structure remaining the same. The DEs used in Fedora 19 are:

• GNOME 3.8 with Files 3.8.2 as file manager
• KDE 4.10.4 with Dolphin 2.2 as file manager
• XFCE 4.10 with Thunar 1.6.3 as file manager
• LXDE with PCManFM 1.1.0 as file manager

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ROSA 2012 R1 Desktop Fresh LXDE Review: Another super cool LXDE spin with added integrated control center!

As I wrote in my last article about LXDE though being very efficient, is a bit tough for a Linux newbie to handle. I was very happy with the latest PCLinuxOS 2013.06 LXDE spin as it made LXDE relatively simpler by adding an integrated LXDE control center along with quite a few other customizations. This week I used another LXDE distro, ROSA 2012 R1 Desktop Fresh LXDE. Incidentally, both ROSA and PCLinuxOS are/were Mandriva based.

ROSA has been giving Mandriva based very attractive looking distros for quite sometime and their Desktop Fresh series was released last year in KDE, Gnome and LXDE spins (I am not sure whether they have any XFCE spin or not). My review is based on my experience with ROSA 2012 R1 Desktop Fresh LXDE for last 7 days.

From ROSA 2012 R1 Desktop Fresh LXDE http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in

ROSA LXDE release announcement states of a lightweight simple to use distro:

ROSA is glad to announce a further expansion of ROSA Desktop Fresh R1 distribution series - an update of its distribution based on lightweight desktop environment, LXDE. This distribution uses the same code base as the recently-released ROSA Desktop Fresh R1. The main difference is a tendency to be minimalistic while preserving flexibility and usability. The new version includes only really necessary software and is built with the 'the easier the faster' principle in mind - high work speed is achieved at the expense of simple interface and absence of effects. The release is based on the time-proved GTK+ 2 framework, though some components are using the latest developments from GTK+ 3 and GNOME 3

ROSA LXDE ISO is around 670 MB and using Linux Mint Image Writer, I created a live USB of the same. I first did a live boot on my Asus K54C laptop with Core i3 processor and 2 GB RAM followed by installation. 

ROSA's latest update comes with Linux kernel 3.8.12 and Openbox 3.5.0. PCManFM 1.1.0 is the default file manager. PCManFM is fast, lightweight and performs well in limited resources. Also, it provides majority of the functionalities expected from an advanced file manager.

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PCLinuxOS 2013.06 LXDE Review: Fast, attractive and easy to use Lightweight rolling release distro

Of all the desktop environments I have used till date, LXDE definitely ranks among the most efficient ones. Just to give a proof of how much it is efficient than other desktop environments, I have used till date 13 LXDE distros and their combined average RAM utilization is ~ 116 MB (all 32-bit OS), to load the default desktop with task manager running. LXDE consumes less than half of the resources what a normal KDE 4.10 or a GNOME 3.6 distro would consume under similar conditions. Further, it is 44% more efficient than it's nearest rival XFCE 4.10. 

Desktop Environment	Average  Ram Usage (MB)	# Of OS reviewed
E17	100	4
Openbox	108	7
LXDE	116	13
Gnome 2.32	134	5
XFCE 4.8	137	9
Mate 1.6.0	147	2
XFCE 4.10	167	13
Mate 1.4	187	5
Mate 1.2	199	2
Cinnamon 1.4	200	1
Cinnamon 1.8	209	2
Cinnamon 1.6	214	3
Gnome 3.6	248	8
KDE 4.10	255	4
Gnome 3.4	279	5
Gnome 3.8	280	1
KDE 4.8	295	11
Unity	311	4
KDE 4.9	337	11

Still LXDE is not the most popular desktop environment. Even personally, I prefer to use a KDE over LXDE though I know that LXDE is more resource friendly. The reason is plain and simple - customization in LXDE is not as easy as in other desktops. For example, adding an application to autostart in LXDE requires me to hit the terminal; whereas in other desktops, I just add another application to autostart by the click of a mouse. Similarly, the settings manager in KDE and GNOME are integrated but not in LXDE. Even enabling compositing is not an easy task in LXDE. Also, the desktop is so bland! Many users prefer not to tamper with the default desktop settings and hence like desktops which are attractive right from the first boot!

If you see the number of distros I reviewed for KDE, GNOME or XFCE outnumber LXDE distros. ROSA and Comfusion came to be attractive LXDE distro but didn't have the functional elements that I mentioned. The rest were plain vanilla LXDE with the missing attraction factor. Even Linux Mint didn't create an LXDE spin for quite sometime (I guess the last one was Linux Mint 12 LXDE). However, the PCLinuxOS 2013.06 LXDE spin made me hopeful about LXDE. PCLinuxOS 2013.06 LXDE is attractive, it is fast and very easy to use! Plus, it has a rolling release. 

From PCLinuxOS 2013.06 LXDE http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in

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Ubuntu 13.04 vs Kubuntu 13.04 vs Xubuntu 13.04 vs Lubuntu 13.04 vs Ubuntu 13.04 GNOME: A brief comparison

Every Linux novice goes through this phase - confusion to decide which Ubuntu to install when now you've got so many versions of Ubuntu coming out of the stable. The aim of this article is to facilitate taking decision by briefing about what distro has to offer and a comparison of their performance.

I take up here the latest Ubuntu release 13.04, codenamed "Raring Ringtail". Released in April 2013, it comes in five distinct desktop environments

Unity in Ubuntu 13.04
It started as a net-book OS environment and gradually gained favor from Canonical. The much criticized (and rightly so because of its initial instability) desktop environment is now gradually improving in terms of performance and stability. It is kind of a minimalistic desktop with a left hand side strip, accommodating the user's favorite applications, along with a heavy integration to social networks (like Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, etc.) through its unique dash. It is still not as stable as I would like it to be but, I feel, Unity has the potential to challenge the operating system biggies like Windows and Mac OS X. It is intuitive and very easy to use but not as customizable as a KDE. Right now, its use is limited only to Ubuntu. Unity leverages the Gnome 3 ecosystem of applications with Files (forked from Nautilus) as the file manager. My review of Ubuntu 13.04.

From Ubuntu 13.04 http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in

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Customize to Create desktop cube with Compiz in Ubuntu, Fedora, Linux Mint

As I have been saying in my last few articles, Linux desktops like Gnome, KDE, LXDE, XFCE, etc. (except Unity) can be customized - so much that even at times it becomes difficult to identify what desktop environment (DE) actually it is! In my last article I covered whatever is written here, just separating out the compiz bit so that it is easier to search in google.

From Enabling Desktop Effects in Linux http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in

The finest of all customization is, to me, compiz. However, to run compiz with, say Xubuntu 12.04.1 LTS, your system needs a bit of RAM and CPU power. Compiz works really well in modern laptops with 2 or more cores and I have tested that compiz works well with Gnome fallback, KDE, LXDE and XFCE.

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How to customize and decorate Ubuntu desktop? Simple steps to customize Linux Desktop: Give your Fedora or Ubuntu a face-lift!

As I have been saying in my last few articles, Linux desktops like Gnome, KDE, LXDE, XFCE, etc. (except Unity) can be customized - so much that even at times it becomes difficult to identify what desktop environment (DE) actually it is! I do some very basic level customization to give a face lift to otherwise bland DEs like LXDE, XFCE, Openbox, etc. and in this article I'll take you through customization involving

• Transparent panels (LXDE, XFCE)
• Docky or Cairo dock
• Conky
• Compiz and desktop cube (couldn't do it in Unity, other than that it works will rest of the DEs)

From Enabling Desktop Effects in Linux http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in

From Enabling Desktop Effects in Linux http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in

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Fedora 18 Spherical Cow LXDE Review: Among the best in LXDE

Fedora has always intrigued me to keep track of the latest happenings in the Linux world and especially what's brewing at the RHEL stable! Also, if I think of a comparable distro to Ubuntu, Fedora is the only legitimate choice! Just like Ubuntu, Fedora also inspires innumerable spins (like Kororaa, Fuduntu, of which I am a big fan now!). So, when the release note of Fedora came on 15th Jan, I was quick to download all the four versions (Gnome, KDE, XFCE and LXDE). I have already covered the Gnome, KDE and XFCE spins in my earlier reviews. The final review is on one of my favorite desktop environments - the LXDE.

From Fedora 18

My assessment is based on installation on Asus K54C laptop with 2.2 Ghz Core i3 processor and 2 GB RAM and experience of using it for the last 3 days. I downloaded the 32-bit ISO (686 MB in size) for this testing. Fedora 18 has LXDE DE with Linux kernel 3.6.10, which gets updated to 3.7.2 on first update. With kernel 3.7.4 released, I guess within a couple of days, even this will be upgraded as well. PCManFM 1.1.0 is the default file browser and it is one of the lightest file browsers available in the Linux world.

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Linux Mint 12 LXDE Revisited: Create Linux Mint 14 Nadia LXDE from Lisa LXDE

I really love the Linux Mint 12 LXDE edition. But, because of some reasons, LXDE ran out of favor and the Mint developers preferred KDE, Cinnamon, Mate and XFCE for the future releases. So, versions 13 (Maya) and 14 (Nadia) never saw an LXDE release. That is where I decided to do an experiment - install the Linux Mint 12 LXDE version and upgrade it to Mint 14. I could have also installed an LXDE desktop to a Nadia installation. But, I choose the difficult path just to experiment if, by replacing the old ppa's with the updated ones in Package Source list, one can actually upgrade a system with no harms done.

From Linux Mint 14 LXDE

For my forward approach, i.e. upgrade from Lisa to Nadia, I booted up a 32-bit Linux Mint 12 LXDE installation. It has primarily the Oneiric and Mint's own Lisa packages. What I did is to add the Quantal and Nadia repositories to /etc/apt/sources.list and replace the old Lisa list.

deb http://packages.linuxmint.com/ nadia main upstream import backport romeo
deb-src http://packages.linuxmint.com/ nadia main upstream import backport romeo
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal-updates main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal-security main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ quantal partner
deb http://packages.medibuntu.org/ quantal free non-free

# deb http://archive.getdeb.net/ubuntu quantal-getdeb apps
# deb http://archive.getdeb.net/ubuntu quantal-getdeb games

Basically what I did here is too add the archives and packages from Ubuntu 12.10 and Mint 14 Nadia. To do it just go to the terminal and type

sudo leafpad /etc/apt/sources.list

then type password and then do a repo update by

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

It took some time to do so. All the upgraded Nadia system files were now be added and obsolete Lisa files were be moved out. It will run for sometime. I allowed it to run. However, post completion, I noted that some dependencies were not met and quite a few lib files not installed. Hence, again I ran a forced upgrade

sudo apt-get -f upgrade

This time it worked and all essential files were upgraded to Nadia. Then I upgraded the distro using

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Again, it took about an hour in my system to replace the old Lisa kernel (3.0.0) with the new Nadia (Linux kernel 3.5.0-21) along with a host of other library files. Major upgrades which happened in course were:

• VLC 1.1.12 got replaced with VLC 2.0.4, 
• GIMP 2.6 got replaced with GIMP 2.8, 
• Firefox 7 was replaced with Firefox 17
• Dropbox 0.6.9 replaced by Dropbox 1.4.0
• PCManFM 0.9.8 replaced by PCManFM 1.0.1
• Mint Installer 7.3.5 upgraded to Mint Installer 7.4.4

From Linux Mint 14 LXDE

From Linux Mint 14 LXDE

From Linux Mint 14 LXDE

To check if things are working, I installed LibreOffice. By default LibreOffice 3.6 from Quantal/Nadia library got installed. I restarted with the apprehension that something would break and my entire 5 hours of effort would be ruined. But, to my luck, it started with LXDE plus OpenBox and with the updated Linux kernel 3.5.

Two broken packages were reported when I used the Software update GUI. I allowed it to install and repair broken packages with the detailed display open. It asked for permissions in certain cases to replace the broken packages with the latest ones from Nadia and Quantal repositories. It ran for about 30 minutes but couldn't resolve the couple of packages. However, I checked all my programs ran perfect. Software manager icon on the main menu was broken but System Tools -> Software Manage and Synaptic Package Manager were working great. Because it was unable to upgrade everything, the software update icon in the right hand side of the panel wouldn't show a tick (as it normally shows) but all applications worked right out of the box. Even I could install LibreOffice 3.6 and Skype 4 without any fuss.

From Linux Mint 14 LXDE

From Linux Mint 14 LXDE

One issue I faced is that even after restart, Linux kernel 3.0.0 was being used as default. So, I updated grub by

sudo update-grub

and it worked! Next reboot took me straight to Linux kernel 3.5.

In nutshell, all the existing packages got upgraded to the Nadia packages. LXDE is still there as the only desktop environment (along with the minimal Openbox, of course) and I got a brand new updated Linux Mint 14 Nadia LXDE from Linux Mint 12 Lisa LXDE within a matter of few hours! I checked for resource usage as well. Both Linux Mint 12 and 14 had the same 120 MB RAM and 0-1% CPU usage with only task manager running. Net result for me was a successful upgrade from Linux Mint Lisa LXDE to Linux Mint Nadia LXDE.

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Comfusion 4.1 Review: Lightweight, attractive and feature packed Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS spin

I heard of Comfusion as the Spanish version of Ubuntu earlier but have never used it before last week. Essentially it combines Ubuntu core with LXDE, Openbox & Mate desktops and some cool 3D effects using compiz. The latest version is Compiz 4.1, based on Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS with Linux kernel 3.2.0.

From Comfusion 4.1

The 32-bit ISO DVD I downloaded is about 882 MB, which, I would say, is a moderate sized ISO considering most of the Ubuntu spins these days shell out ISOs exceeding 1 GB in size. Post download, I had to unzip the ISO to make it work. It's release note came on 8th December 2012.

Post downloading the ISO, I didn't go for a live-boot test this time but straight away installed it on the 8 GB partition I have for Linux testing on my Asus K54C 2.4 Ghz Core i3 with 2 GB RAM laptop. Comfusion offers three desktop GUI options, Openbox only, Openbox with LXDE and Mate 1.4.2. Openbox and LXDE have PCManFM 0.9.10 as file manager and Mate option has Caja 1.4.0. PCManFM is lightweight and blazing fast whereas Caja offers more functionalities.

From Comfusion 4.1

From Comfusion 4.1 with Mate 1.4.2

From Comfusion 4.1with minimalistic Openbox desktop

Installation
Installation is pretty similar to Ubuntu 12.04.1 and as simple as it can be. It just took me half an hour to install it with the latest updates and third party softwares like Adobe flash plugin, multimedia codecs, etc. Comfusion was up and running once I rebooted and without any hiccups. There is a post installer script to update the repositories and download additional updates without hitting the terminal. Unfortunately it is written in Spanish whereas the entire distro, incl. package manager GUI are in English, in the ISO I booted up. 

From Comfusion 4.1

Applications
Comfusion offers an interesting choice of applications. More or less the applications provided by default cover most of the basic needs, except office. A default list is provided below:

• Internet: Firefox 17 with Adobe flashplugin 11, Pidgin, TeamViewer 7 running on Wine, Thunderbird 17 and Tor secure browser (essentially Firefox 10 ESR)
• Graphics: Image Viewer, Simple Scan
• Office: Dictionary, Document viewer, Gnumeric spreadsheets
• Multimedia: Audacious for music, Gnome MPlayer to play videos, guvcview webcam, Record my desktop, TV on Linux
• Accessories: Archive manager, Compiz & Emerald on off icons, leafpad, screenshot, terminal emulator, calculator, etc.

From Comfusion 4.1

There are a couple of other entries in the internet menu, namely Airdoid and Bump, which I hesitate to call as applications. Essentially these are links which open on Firefox or any other default browser. Functionality offered by these applicatons is really good if you own an Android device or iPhone. In case of Airdroid, I successfully browsed and edited the contents of my Android phone from my computer by just plugging both the devices to the same Wifi network. Same with bump, if you want to save the pictures taken by your smartphone to your computer without having to plug in. Good options indeed but it can be done on any OS with a browser and capable of connecting to a Wifi network.

From Comfusion 4.1

From Comfusion 4.1

From Comfusion 4.1

Tor browser bundle is the secure browsing option but it is tad bit slow for my taste. Otherwise, it can help in anonymous browsing, if you prefer to do so. Even the default Google page is encrypted on the Tor browser.

From Comfusion 4.1

One of the glaring misses I noted is a missing document editor. Another is PlayonLinux and some gaming softwares.The release note talks of Angry bots but I didn't any such game in the ISO itself. I imagine people who would like to see cool effects on their desktop would be interested in playing some cool games as well. Otherwise, Comfusion offers a decent set of basic applications.

Repository
Comfusion4 Software Center is the Lubuntu Software Center GUI, modified and is compatible to the rich Ubuntu Precise repository. Further, synaptic package manager is also provided for users preferring synaptic. And it has some good news for users like me who prefer terminal to download applications. Comfusion offers a "apt-fast install" option for quicker download of applications. I tested it to download quite a few apps and it is at least 20% faster. And it is not available in Ubuntu or Linux Mint, I checked it! Essentially apt-fast, instead of apt-get, splits the package file into smaller pieces and then downloads them, thereby saving a lot of time.

From Comfusion 4.1

From Comfusion 4.1

3D Effects and Attractiveness of the distro
The main USP of Comfusion, over other Ubuntu derivatives, is the oomph factor it renders to Ubuntu. I know Ultimate OS also does the same but it is too ugly to look at. Whereas Comfusion looks clean, bright and professional. Plus, you can switch on and off the effects very easily. Accessories -> Compiz & Emerald, switches on the special effects with a transparent lower panel, transparent terminal, wobbly windows and you can make desktop cubes rotate with Ctrl+Alt+Right or Left key. Again, Accessories -> Compiz & Emerald switch off stops it. Very easy even for Linux newbies.

From Comfusion 4.1

These 3D effects work on all the three desktop options provided. The default desktop is LXDE and it looks best of the lot. Openbox is as usual minimalistic and would certainly save some RAM & CPU for you over LXDE/Mate. Mate 1.4 on the other hand, looks, exactly like Gnome 2 and it gels well with compiz effects.

Emerald themer too didn't work good for me and I could make use of it well. TV on Linux was also not of much interest to me, there are quite a few better live stream options available online.

From Comfusion 4.1

Wbar with shaded icons actually looks good on the desktop but a docky is a more preferred option for me. Wbar has limitation in the number of apps you can put, plus if you are to add there any new app that you downloaded, you would need a suitable icon image for it. Difficult considering if you put a different icon from the blackish theme, it will look real funny and ugly. Docky or cairo dock doesn't have such limitations and has a lot of themes available to choose from.

These apart, a lot of theme and look n feel customization options are available in compiz, I experimented with quite a few, some worked but others didn't. Still, I don't mind as already what is in plate is quite awesome.

CPU and RAM Usage
Another USP of Comfusion, apart from the special effects, is very low RAM and CPU usage. Openbox and LXDE took about 110 MB RAM to load desktop with 1-5% CPU usage. Both LXDE with openbox / Openbox are actually lighter than Lubuntu 12.10 or ROSA 2012 LXDE. Mate 1.4 desktop took slightly higher at 180 MB RAM and about 1-10% CPU. Still quite decent, I would reckon. However, CPU and RAM usage are considerably higher once the desktop effects are switched on. Preferably I would keep them off to save resources, unless I want to impress someone with "the power of Linux"!

Overall
Comfusion offers an unique proposition among the Ubuntu derivatives with a clean and elegant interface and lots of special effects. Added incentive is it's really low resource consumption, much lower than Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS with Unity. Stability wise, without effects there are no issues and things run smoothly. But, with effects on, at times, the system just froze and I had to hard reset. Look and feel is very refined with boot up and login screens really looking good. Further, Comfusion provides users a lot of options to manipulate settings and desktop as per individual taste. Apt-fast is a real good addon on Compiz and I wish it was there in every Ubuntu derivate!

Bottomline, Comfusion is lightweight and packs a punch above its weight. The developers have done a great job in packing three desktop options in a less than 900 MB ISO. Comfusion looks cool, is great to use and feature packed. Definitely recommended and worth giving a shot.

You can download the ISO from here.

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Bridge Linux 2012.12 Review: Arch Linux a bit simplified

I haven't tried out Arch Linux yet but I plan to do so next year. Mostly my experience is concentrated on Ubuntu, Fedora and their derivatives. Now with every passing release all these distributions are getting heavier and resource consuming. Puppy is a definite saving grace, no doubt. But, as an user I want to create my own lightweight all purpose operating system using Arch. Further, the rolling release of Arch is a definite advantage, once you set your system, you don't need to re-install every alternate year.

KDE Bridge Linux 2012.12

Bridge Linux is kind of an intermediate step between Arch and Ubuntu. It provides all the resource friendliness that Arch is characterized by and in addition provides an out of the box system with most of the things like soundcard, touchpad, graphic display, a desktop environment, etc. configured to save your time and energy. 

LXDE Bridge Linux 2012.12

XFCE Bridge Linux 2012.12

Bridge Linux has a release every four months and for December 2012, it had to offer four flavors - Gnome 3.6, KDE 4.9.3, XFCE 4.10 and LXDE. I downloaded 32 bit versions of all four but could run only three - the Gnome 3.6 won't boot to a GUI and failed every time I tried. For the rest three, I live-boot all of them on my Asus K54C with 2.4 Ghz Core i3 processor and 2 GB RAM. I installed only the XFCE version on my system to try it out.

Live-Boot
Why I kept this separate section unlike my other reviews? Because a live-boot of Arch Linux runs into all kinds of trouble, if you use Unetbootin. I tried quite a few but none of them would work. So, I started my Windows 7 OS after quite a few months and installed Universal USB installer but that too failed! Finally after a brief search, I got reference of Linux Live installer for Windows OS and it worked! Though the interface is not simple and it may start downloading virtualbox, but I found it works for Arch. Bridge was not one of the specified distros in its list, however, given it works for Arch Linux, it worked for Bridge Linux as well. I created live boot of all the four ISOs that I downloaded.

Comparison

Parameters	Bridge KDE	Bridge XFCE	Bridge LXDE
ISO size	1 GB	696 MB	547 MB
Linux kernel	Linux 3.6.7-1-ARCH
Desktop	KDE 4.9.3	XFCE 4.10	LXDE
File Manager	Dolphin 2.1	Thunar 1.4.0	PCManFM 1.1.0
CPU Usage	2-10%	2-5%	1-3%
RAM Usage	330 MB	130 MB	80 MB
Installation	30 min	30 min	30 min
Programs – Internet	Chromium, Kopete, Bittorrent client, Kmail, Internet Dial up tool	Chromium, Thunderbird 17, Transmission	Chromium, Transmission
Programs – Multimedia	Amarok, Dragon Player, Kmix	AudioMixer, DeaDBeef, Xfburn	Exaile, Gnome Mplayer, Xfburn
Programs – Office	Complete LibreOffice 3.6 suite, Okular	Abiword, Gnumeric, Dictionary
Programs – Graphics	GIMP 2.8, Gwenview, Ksnapshot	GIMP 2.8, Shotwell	Imageviewer
Programs – Others	Qtdesigner, Archiving tool, Nepomuk backup, Kate, Kwrite	Archive manager, bulk rename, calculator, Leafpad, Screenshot	Archive manager, calculator, Leafpad
Wifi detection	Immediate	Immediate	Immediate

LXDE version is the lightest but thin on application as well. KDE version is the most complete with KDE centric applications and Chromium browser. In fact, all Bridge Linux versions have Chromium as the main browser.

All three of them boot pretty quickly and are very smooth to use. Given there is no package manager (pacman) on live-boot, user experience is pretty limited. Even flashplugin is not by default, neither multimedia codecs - so, the best option with bridge is to install and then try it out.

From Bridge Linux 2012.12

One thing about the KDE distro that surprised me, is there are no Restart or Shut down buttons. It has only options for logging out or locking the screen! A bit amusing, how am I supposed to shut the system down?

Luckily XFCE and LXDE editions had the conventional options of restart and/or shut down. XFCE is my preferred desktop these days and hence, to further check the OS, I installed XFCE version on an 8-GB partition.

Installation
Installation is simple, though not as simple as a Ubuntu or Linux Mint. It will ask for Language, Location, disc to partition (create two partitions - one for boot and another for swap, else things may not work as you desired), target for installation, installation of grub and finally configuring root and user. It took me about 30 min. to complete the installation without any major/minor hiccups.

Post-installation
After installation, I ran the post installation script and it downloaded pacman, plus updated the OS. However, I didn't find any pacman GUI and so, resorted to terminal to download my favorite applications. Arch forums and documents really helped me for the same. You can download all the desired applications, Adobe flashplugin, etc. using Pacman via terminal. I tried downloading the pacman GUI but none of the packages given here could be downloaded.

From Bridge Linux 2012.12

From Bridge Linux 2012.12

However, for experienced Linux users, terminal is not an issue. I downloaded VLC, codecs, Adobe flashpluginInkscape, Teamspeak, Skype 4.1, Quastrocam, etc. from the repos. All of them worked with my hardware. Linux kernel, desktop environments and applications are all latest and up to date, no complains there.

From Bridge Linux 2012.12

CPU and RAM Usage
The table in the comparison section already highlights that LXDE is the lightest and KDE the heaviest of the versions. Presumably, Arch Linux is supposed to be among the lightest Linux around. If I take the KDE 4.9 version and compare to the 32-bit operating systems that I used in 2012, definitely XFCE and LXDE versions score above the rest in terms of low RAM and CPU usage.

RAM Usage (32-bit)	KDE 4.9	XFCE 4.10	LXDE
Bridge Linux	330 MB	130 MB	80 MB
Ubuntu 12.10	300 MB	160 MB	134 MB
Linux Mint 13	300 MB	160 MB	-
Manjaro 0.8.2	440 MB	160 MB	-
OpenSUSE 12.2	340 MB	-	-
Sabayon 10	270 MB	-	-
Linux Lite 1.0.0	-	140 MB	-
ROSA 2012	-	-	122 MB
Zorin Lite 6.1	-	-	130 MB
Peppermint 3	-	-	135 MB

CPU Usage (32-bit)	KDE 4.9	XFCE 4.10	LXDE
Bridge Linux	2-10%	2-5%	1-3%
Ubuntu	2-10%	1-5%	1-5%
Linux Mint	2-10%	1-5%	-
Manjaro 0.8.2	5-7%	0-8%	-
OpenSUSE 12.2	1-5%	-	-
Sabayon 10	5-10%	-	-
Linux Lite 1.0.0	-	1-5%	-
ROSA 2012	-	-	1-10%
Zorin Lite 6.1	-	-	5-8%
Peppermint 3	-	-	1-5%

LXDE is surprisingly low (80 MB), most of LXDE distros I used consumed about 120-130 MB to load desktop with task manager running. KDE too is at par with other operating systems, if not lower.

From Bridge Linux 2012.12

From Bridge Linux 2012.12

From Bridge Linux 2012.12

Overall
I definitely recommend the XFCE and LXDE versions. Both of them are resource friendly and customizable. I really liked the KDE version, KDE 4.9 looks damn smashing but where the hell restart/shut down buttons go? Else, it is recommended. Gnome 3.6 version didn't work for me and hence, not recommended from my side. From both out-of-the-box applications and resource friendliness point of view, XFCE version seems to the most balanced and best of the lot.

The heading of the article says a bit simplified because even Bridge doesn't simplify Arch enough for a newbie and it takes a bit of Linux knowledge to get going on bridge. Manjaro is better for a newbie. However, for an experienced user, I would safely recommend Bridge over Manjaro for being a lighter distro. Manjaro seems to be a bit heavy for an Arch distro!

All in all, I am quite contented with both XFCE and LXDE versions and will use XFCE installation as the main distro in one of the machines I have. It is damn good!

You can download Bridge Linux from here.

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