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I am currently using Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. There are lot of changes since 14.04 LTS. GUI change is easy to notice at the first time. You will see different look in

I am currently using Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. There are lot of changes since 14.04 LTS. GUI change is easy to notice at the first time. You will see different look in GUI. But, I don't know the GUI somewhat buggy to me sometimes. The screen appears to be black and it will repaint when you are moving your cursor around the black screen. My friend told me that Ubuntu's GUI system was so heavy. He suggested to use Ubuntu Mate or Kubuntu as alternative distro.

0xmohit 10y ago
You need not use Unity. Things are much better with Openbox; the usual problems of compiz and friends eating all the available RAM pretty much goes away.
- pmontra 10y ago
  I didn't get that sort of problems with compiz, but I'm on a 16 GB laptop so maybe I didn't notice. I agree with not needing Unity. I'm on Gnome flashback and 16.04 finally let me get about the same DE I had with 10.04. It's Gnome 3 but it looks like the Gnome 2 desktop, with only one panel to the bottom and the compiz cube. I use the 3D rotation effect to remember which side I came from. A 2D slide doesn't hint me enough and I get lost in the virtual desktops. I don't use the cube for anything else. All considered, I'm happy with 16.04 and I'm staying here at least until 18.04.
  - 0xmohit 10y ago
    All considered, I'm happy with 16.04 and I'm staying here at least until 18.04. Having moved from 14.04 to 15.x, I cannot agree more. However, many packages aren't updated in the LTS releases which prompt one to move over to the intermediate releases. I wish Canonical were more agile about updating compilers and such on LTS versions.
    - Rezo 10y ago
      You can find a PPA (apt repository) for almost any app or tool these days. I find that just adding a few of these for specific cases to a LTS release gives you the best of both worlds. My current ones: git, Google chrome, flux, node, nylas, spotify, tarsnap, blender
      - 0xmohit 10y ago
        I was referring mainly to compilers and system libraries; stuff like gcc, glibc, ...
        pmontra 10y ago
        I went from 12.04 to 16.04. I skipped 14.04 because of the DE which I couldn't bend to my will. I remember that I had similar problems in the last months on 12.04, with some new versions of some programs unavailable on 12.04. I guess that I could have installed them in a 14.04 docker container (would the kernel version have been ok?) Maybe you can do the same for a compiler. I don't know if it would be convenient. I'm more into scripting languages and I use gcc directly only every other year or more, so no big deal for me.
gcp 10y ago
Current Kubuntu with Plasma is anything but lightweight. There's really lightweight alternatives like Lubuntu and Xubuntu. You can give them a spin in a VM. If Linux for you mostly means a browser window and a few terminals, they'll do fine.
- noir_lord 10y ago
  That undersells Xubuntu which is a full DE and very similar to GNOME 2, if you just want a classic stays out the way desktop then Xububtu is excellent.
- Zardoz84 10y ago
  Common! Stop these old black legend about KDE being heavy weight! I saw it running soft and fast even without 2d/3d acceleration!
  - seba_dos1 10y ago
    I don't know what they do, but Kubuntu does seem to be a bit heavy compared to Plasma 5 on other distributions. I seem to recall KDE devs calling out Kubuntu for its poor KDE integration.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - gcp 10y ago
    Tell me, why do I need TWO kwallet daemons? Why do I need to disable a filesystem indexer by default that slows the system to a crawl?
    - Sylos 10y ago
      > Why do I need to disable a filesystem indexer by default that slows the system to a crawl? As far as I'm aware, that's considered a thing of the past. I haven't seen it recommended for any recent version anywhere and at least for me, it runs perfectly fine without disabling it. I also only have one kwallet daemon running right now. That's on Plasma 5.8.
talideon 10y ago
IIRC, 16.10 has low-resource usage mode that cuts down on the visual effects. If you're seeing that kind of artifacting in Unity, you should consider reporting it as it's a bug with details about your graphics hardware. Personally, the only times I have issues are when exiting games, but that's complicated by the fact that my laptop has a 4K screen. Still, everybody's machine is different, and what works fine on one configuration can be buggy on another.
qznc 10y ago
Unity/compiz uses more RAM than Mate/metacity. I switched my laptop with 4GB RAM over for this reason.
coolspot 10y ago
I had exact problem you have described with black screen. It is gone with latest software update.
- 0x54MUR41 10y ago
  I'm really looking forward for it. Thanks.
fingar 10y ago
Lots of unsubstantiated anecdotes. Ubuntu 16.04 and newer have a feature to auto detect if there is no hardware acceleration and can work with that. If you want fast fast, you can force to work without the nice effects.
fingar 10y ago
Lots of unsubstantiated anecdotes. Ubuntu 16.04 and newer have a feature to auto detect if there is no hardware acceleration and can work with that. If you want fast fast, you can force to work without the nice effects.
vegabook 10y ago
you are almost certainly using some laptop with optimus graphics, given your symptoms. On a standard PC, and I have tried dozens of permutations, the upside of Unity 7 being so "old hat" is that it is absolutely 100% rock solid.

0xmohit 10y ago

You need not use Unity. Things are much better with Openbox; the usual problems of compiz and friends eating all the available RAM pretty much goes away.

pmontra 10y ago
I didn't get that sort of problems with compiz, but I'm on a 16 GB laptop so maybe I didn't notice. I agree with not needing Unity. I'm on Gnome flashback and 16.04 finally let me get about the same DE I had with 10.04. It's Gnome 3 but it looks like the Gnome 2 desktop, with only one panel to the bottom and the compiz cube. I use the 3D rotation effect to remember which side I came from. A 2D slide doesn't hint me enough and I get lost in the virtual desktops. I don't use the cube for anything else. All considered, I'm happy with 16.04 and I'm staying here at least until 18.04.
- 0xmohit 10y ago
  All considered, I'm happy with 16.04 and I'm staying here at least until 18.04. Having moved from 14.04 to 15.x, I cannot agree more. However, many packages aren't updated in the LTS releases which prompt one to move over to the intermediate releases. I wish Canonical were more agile about updating compilers and such on LTS versions.
  - Rezo 10y ago
    You can find a PPA (apt repository) for almost any app or tool these days. I find that just adding a few of these for specific cases to a LTS release gives you the best of both worlds. My current ones: git, Google chrome, flux, node, nylas, spotify, tarsnap, blender
    - 0xmohit 10y ago
      I was referring mainly to compilers and system libraries; stuff like gcc, glibc, ...
      - pmontra 10y ago
        I went from 12.04 to 16.04. I skipped 14.04 because of the DE which I couldn't bend to my will. I remember that I had similar problems in the last months on 12.04, with some new versions of some programs unavailable on 12.04. I guess that I could have installed them in a 14.04 docker container (would the kernel version have been ok?) Maybe you can do the same for a compiler. I don't know if it would be convenient. I'm more into scripting languages and I use gcc directly only every other year or more, so no big deal for me.

gcp 10y ago

Current Kubuntu with Plasma is anything but lightweight. There's really lightweight alternatives like Lubuntu and Xubuntu. You can give them a spin in a VM. If Linux for you mostly means a browser window and a few terminals, they'll do fine.

noir_lord 10y ago
That undersells Xubuntu which is a full DE and very similar to GNOME 2, if you just want a classic stays out the way desktop then Xububtu is excellent.
Zardoz84 10y ago
Common! Stop these old black legend about KDE being heavy weight! I saw it running soft and fast even without 2d/3d acceleration!
- seba_dos1 10y ago
  I don't know what they do, but Kubuntu does seem to be a bit heavy compared to Plasma 5 on other distributions. I seem to recall KDE devs calling out Kubuntu for its poor KDE integration.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- gcp 10y ago
  Tell me, why do I need TWO kwallet daemons? Why do I need to disable a filesystem indexer by default that slows the system to a crawl?
  - Sylos 10y ago
    > Why do I need to disable a filesystem indexer by default that slows the system to a crawl? As far as I'm aware, that's considered a thing of the past. I haven't seen it recommended for any recent version anywhere and at least for me, it runs perfectly fine without disabling it. I also only have one kwallet daemon running right now. That's on Plasma 5.8.

talideon 10y ago

IIRC, 16.10 has low-resource usage mode that cuts down on the visual effects. If you're seeing that kind of artifacting in Unity, you should consider reporting it as it's a bug with details about your graphics hardware. Personally, the only times I have issues are when exiting games, but that's complicated by the fact that my laptop has a 4K screen. Still, everybody's machine is different, and what works fine on one configuration can be buggy on another.

qznc 10y ago

Unity/compiz uses more RAM than Mate/metacity. I switched my laptop with 4GB RAM over for this reason.

coolspot 10y ago

I had exact problem you have described with black screen. It is gone with latest software update.

0x54MUR41 10y ago
I'm really looking forward for it. Thanks.

fingar 10y ago

Lots of unsubstantiated anecdotes. Ubuntu 16.04 and newer have a feature to auto detect if there is no hardware acceleration and can work with that. If you want fast fast, you can force to work without the nice effects.

fingar 10y ago

vegabook 10y ago

you are almost certainly using some laptop with optimus graphics, given your symptoms. On a standard PC, and I have tried dozens of permutations, the upside of Unity 7 being so "old hat" is that it is absolutely 100% rock solid.