If I might intrude, there is the PAE issue which will still make Xubuntu unusable on older hardware no matter how light anyone makes it.
Best, Joan Advincula UoPeople Student Ambassador @iamMJae On Jan 27, 2014 7:11 AM, "Pasi Lallinaho" <p...@shimmerproject.org> wrote: > Hey Robin, > > thanks for your interest and welcome! I've added comments inline. > > On 27/01/14 00:17, Robin wrote: > > Hello, > > > > "Elfy" sent me here from Ubuntu Discourse when I expressed some > > interest in helping with this awesome distro in some small way. > > > > I have no technical expertise to lend, in fact I'm a bit technophobic. > > That's fine! Putting out an operating system (and keep on doing it every > 6 months) requires much more than just technical people. > > > Yet I have become a Xubuntu "fan" since Lucid (10.04), when Xubuntu > > was "the lightweight Ubuntu for older computers." I have a > > 12-year-old Dell Dimension with an old Celeron processor (that > > supports pae) and 512 of RAM. It originally ran Windows XP. > > > > Other than "bragging about Xubuntu," I don't have much to contribute. > > Like most users probably, there are a few things that I always change > > right after an installation to speed things up on this old relic, like > > turning off startup items I don't use and reducing swappiness, that > > sort of thing. > > Ultimately, it always comes to deciding and shipping sane defaults; we > can never please everybody. Whether you needed to tweak the system for > performance or just wanted to change the appearance is a different thing. > > If you are interested in sharing your experiences on getting Xubuntu run > smoother on lower end computers, we do accept guest writer posts for the > blog on our website. Be in touch with me [1] or Elizabeth Krumbach [2] > if this sounds like something you'd like to do. > > > I realize that Xubuntu is no longer "the lightweight Ubuntu for older > > computers" (according to your Strategy Document) since Lubuntu has > > come along, but I would plead with this team to bear a couple of > > things in mind at least for the 13.04 release: > > > > We're about to be joined by a lot of new users - right at the very > > same time that Windows XP reaches EOL. Many many MANY of those folks > > will be looking at the Ubuntu family for a replacement, and the > > majority of them may have "older" hardware. Perhaps not as scrawny as > > mine, but modest nonetheless. While I realize that Xfce lends itself > > to efficiency, I've found that more recent versions of Xubuntu are > > slower and more resource intensive than 12.04 which I'm using now. > > The 14.04 release will be 2 years newer than 12.04 (and much newer than > XP), but the computers stay the same. Newer operating systems will be > slower, and will get slower as we go. > > > While I can add RAM easily enough, a lot of the folks who will be > > joining us soon would rather just buy a new computer. So my plea is, > > please - at least just for 14.04, keep Xubuntu "lean and mean" for all > > the novice users who are sure to be joining us soon! > > While being lightweight isn't our primary focus any more, we aren't > exactly dumping in loads of new stuff. To be exact, many new things the > Xubuntu team has introduced in the last years have probably been making > Xubuntu lighter by being able to remove some depends. > > The main performance burden comes from the Ubuntu core itself; a lot of > that is something we barely can help. Even when we can, we have to try > to balance between being as close to Ubuntu as possible (to avoid > maintaining burden, and because we *are* an official Ubuntu flavor) and > being true to our own ideals and strategy document (which many times > leaves us with more maintaining burden or one-off tasks to be done). > > I do hope Xubuntu 14.04 will be a release that people who are coming > from Windows XP, have a lower end machine and want to try out Linux can > enjoy and use smoothly enough in daily use. For those who can't, I > really don't think Lubuntu is a bad option, or that we're losing > anything if people decide to use Lubuntu (or any other lightweight Linux > OS) instead. > > > I have written about desktop Linux from a "casual" user's perspective > > on my humble little weblog for about 2 years, and while I have strayed > > to other distros, I always "run home" to Xubuntu when the others > > (SalixOS, PCLinuxOS, Mint, even Bodhi) let me down. Lately I've > > decided to stay put and become much more familar with just one, rather > > than bounce around confusing myself. > > It's nice to hear you have found that Xubuntu is the best system for you > and that you have decided to learn more about it. > > > Other than writing about it and once in a while answering a newbie > > question on the forums and installing Xubuntu for a friend or two, I'm > > not sure what else I have to offer, but I'd love to help in some way > > if I can. > > As I said, releasing an operating system requires a variety of different > skills; see the Get Involved [3] section for a listing of different > areas where you can help, and get in touch with us if you need any > further information (the documentation isn't complete, so you probably > will). > > > Very cordially and respectfully, > > Robin > > > > "Robin" - on Ubuntu Discourse > > "robin7" - on Ubuntu Forums > > "adoptedsidekick" - on wordpress.com > > http://adoptedsidekick.wordpress.com > > Our team is pretty active on IRC, so you can find many of us online at > #xubuntu-devel on the Freenode IRC network. In addition to being able to > get to know people, you can always learn much about the way we do things > and communicate. > > Furthermore, we run meetings regularly on Thursdays at 19UTC on the same > channel; if you sould join us, that would be great! Welcome again! > > Cheers, > Pasi Lallinaho > Xubuntu Project Lead > > [1] knome in IRC > [2] pleia2 in IRC, lyz (a) ubuntu.com > [3] http://xubuntu.org/contribute/ > > -- > Pasi Lallinaho (knome) » http://open.knome.fi/ > Leader of Shimmer Project and Xubuntu » http://shimmerproject.org/ > Graphic artist, webdesigner, Ubuntu member » http://xubuntu.org/ > > > -- > xubuntu-devel mailing list > xubuntu-devel@lists.ubuntu.com > https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/xubuntu-devel >
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