6 ms·

Introducing Xubuntu core

91 points by bsg75 11y ago

buro9 11y ago
This seems like the perfect desktop for i3. Edit: i3 window manager: https://i3wm.org/ https://i3wm.org/
- ido 11y ago
  Assuming you mean Intel i3 CPUs - these are more than fast enough for plain vanilla Ubuntu (not that there aren't other reasons to want a minimal system). Even (new) celeron/sempron are probably plenty fast for Ubuntu.
  - sauere 11y ago
    Pretty sure he is refering to i3, the tiling window manager software.
    - ido 11y ago
      Ah ok! Never heard of it.
      - buro9 11y ago
        Yeah the window manager. I only want a tiling window manager, a couple of browsers, Sublime Text 3, and access to the internet. My personal opinion is that i3 rocks, and and that I don't need all of Ubuntu or Xubuntu. I don't even need Rhythmbox or Thunar. Just give me the bare bones of a modern Linux upon which I can install i3 and add just the few things I need.
        jhalstead 11y ago
        Any recommendations/guides for how to get i3 running in Xubuntu Core using VirtualBox on a MacBook Pro?
        mmozeiko 11y ago
        http://i3wm.org/docs/repositories.html http://i3wm.org/docs/repositories.html
        a3n 11y ago
        I probably followed the instructions on that page for using the i3 repos, but it's been long enough that I can't remember doing it or how I did it. But I am using their repos. I don't notice anything explicitly different or better, but i3 isn't one of those things where you're waiting for a new gizmo with anticipation; it just puts up your windows and shuts up about it. I'm on LinuxMint.
        atmosx 11y ago
        All window-managers are pretty straight forward under linux. Read the documentation.
        karmakaze 11y ago
        Just did this myself. The i3 docs didn't cover the topic. sudo apt-get install i3; xfconf-query -c xfce4-session -p /sessions/Failsafe/Client0_Command -t string -s "i3wm" -t string -s "--replace" -a # logout, login The problem was then that the Alt key wasn't being recognized, possibly due to VirtualBox.
        globuous 11y ago
        Well, that just means that an regular (x/k)ubuntu isn't necessarily the distro you're looking for. Back in the days when I was using Linux on my main computer, canonical shipped a stripped down version of ubuntu (ubuntu server maybe ?) where you could install just what you need and nothing else (I beleive it came without a window manager for instance). What you're describing was pretty much my Archlinux setup btw. It was just more convinient for me to build it from an archlinux than a regular ubuntu. You could with an ubuntu though, it'd just be a lot more work I feel like. EDIT: turns out I'm pretty much explaining you what you already know.... I'll leave my comment up anyway, maybe it'll help someone else. > My personal opinion is that i3 rocks, and and that I don't need all of Ubuntu or Xubuntu
        vidarh 11y ago
        Getting there with Ubuntu was pretty much "apt-get install" when I made the switch to i3wm. Sure, you end up carrying along hundreds of MB of "junk", but I just didn't find it worth the hassle to trim it down - I have far more junk than that in form of data of my own I could delete...
        listic 11y ago
        You would be better off using an Alternate Lubuntu CD or netinstall (mini.iso) Both have a text-based installer with the option to 'Install a command line system', then go from there. I'm figuring how to install an awesome WM with MATE, lately. https://awesome.naquadah.org/wiki/Quickly_Setting_up_Awesome_with_Gnome https://awesome.naquadah.org/wiki/Quickly_Setting_up_Awesome... http://askubuntu.com/questions/616520/how-do-i-set-up-awesome-with-mate http://askubuntu.com/questions/616520/how-do-i-set-up-awesom...
- ExpiredLink 11y ago
  The X in Xubuntu has a dedicated meaning.
  - thrownaway122 11y ago
    Supposedly XFCE plays quite nicely with other window managers replacing xfwm.
- pyrophane 11y ago
  Or any window manager that isn't part of the Gnome/KDE environment, for that matter. Personally, I love the idea of a trimmed down distro that allows you to install whatever packages you want on your own. Package managers make that easy, and I hate the bloat on most standard desktop distros.
- karmakaze 11y ago
  Very much so that I'm trying them both right now.
jtolds 11y ago
>> Is this related to Snappy, Ubuntu Core, or Convergence? > Nope, sorry for the confusion in the name! this answer is missing a troll face emoticon
STRiDEX 11y ago
Great for a slimmer virtual machine.
malkia 11y ago
Should try it out in crouton.
mk44 11y ago
I love this for a development VM! I wanted this for a long time: an ubuntu-based linux that doesn't have the non-development application. Thank you for creating this!
pvdebbe 11y ago
Not a many years back one could easily include an office suite and usual round of apps in 600 MB. What's up with the bloat?
- akhilcacharya 11y ago
  Exactly what I was thinking. Did Ubuntu stop shipping their OS's on 700 meg CDs? When did that happen?
  - exprL 11y ago
    A couple of years ago.
    - josteink 11y ago
      If that is true, the message on this page is hilarious: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/current/ http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/current/ I quote: "Warning: This image is oversized (which is a bug) and will not fit onto a standard 703MiB CD. However, you may still test it using a DVD, a USB drive, or a virtual machine." I guess it's not a high-priority bug then :)
      - listic 11y ago
        Tangentially, there are still netinstall (mini.iso) and Lubuntu Alternate images (which allow to install a basic command-line system and go from there) with a text-based installer which DO fit on a CD.
- dimitar 11y ago
  Knoppix in 2004: http://media.lug-marl.de/doc/fsub-edu-knoppix/KNOPPIX/index_en.html http://media.lug-marl.de/doc/fsub-edu-knoppix/KNOPPIX/index_... It had room for "Edutainment", "Emulators", "Toys" and "Development": http://img33.photobucket.com/albums/v98/prodmaster/TONS_OF_APPZ.jpg http://img33.photobucket.com/albums/v98/prodmaster/TONS_OF_A...
- 72deluxe 11y ago
listic 11y ago
What's the meaning of a caret here?
- floriancargoet 11y ago
  It's not a real package name, it's a tasksel task. Quick explanation: http://askubuntu.com/q/211912 http://askubuntu.com/q/211912 Differences between apt-get and taskel: http://askubuntu.com/a/257172 http://askubuntu.com/a/257172
  - koenigdavidmj 11y ago
    This used to be done by metapackages (a .deb containing no files but having dependencies on everything in...GNOME, for instance). Why this new thing?
Sir_Substance 11y ago
That's excellent, the first thing I have to do with new machines is always strip out the distros favorite tools and install the ones I use.
- beefsack 11y ago
  If the first thing you're doing is removing packages then you might want to consider a different distro. Arch is a brilliant choice for people who want minimal footprint high performance installations.
  - Sir_Substance 11y ago
    Arch goes too far the other way. For example, it doesn't support my wireless card(s) out of the box. There's nothing particularly power user about preferring to use VLC over Parole, when I install new windows machines I remove windows media player and install VLC. My ideal os comes with: A desktop All the drivers I need A tool to get extra software (Internet explorer will do for windows, a terminal + apt-get/yum/pacman/pkgng for nixes) If I wanted to start at a command line and build my way up, I'd definitely pick FreeBSD. Really what I want though is just the desktop. Anything that sets file preferences will probably get uninstalled.
- Gracana 11y ago
  Yeah! I don't want to use one of the super-customizable distros (which force me to have to worry about things like drivers and fonts), but I still like to do a bit of customization. A solid base like this sounds pretty cool.
davidp 11y ago
FYI, this is not available for Trusty Tahr (14.04). I only skimmed to find the link to mini.iso and didn't notice the article omitted references to 14.04. My mistake, but sharing here in hopes of saving someone else some time.
- bsg75 11y ago
  https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/MinimalCD https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/MinimalCD: Ubuntu 15.04 "Vivid Vervet" Ubuntu 14.10 "Utopic Unicorn" Ubuntu 14.04 LTS "Trusty Tahr" Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin"
travjones 11y ago
The netinst allows you to download the packages you manually select during the install. Wouldn't this allow you to install a minimal system with only the packages/apps you want? So this ~600MB "core" option is really for people with unreliable internet connections, or otherwise don't want to install via TCP/IP, right? Or, am I missing something?
k__ 11y ago
Wonderful. I already switched to Xfce on Mint/Ubuntu.
jebronie 11y ago
Somebody needs to disrupt the Ubuntu deployment.
theandrewbailey 11y ago
I tried this last week, but I canceled the install because the mini.iso didn't have NIC drivers for what I was installing it on. I decided to use the official Xubuntu image instead. (I didn't see/remember the community core images.) My hope is the proper images will have the same driver set as the official ones.

91 points by bsg75 11y ago

buro9 11y ago

This seems like the perfect desktop for i3. Edit: i3 window manager: https://i3wm.org/ https://i3wm.org/

ido 11y ago
Assuming you mean Intel i3 CPUs - these are more than fast enough for plain vanilla Ubuntu (not that there aren't other reasons to want a minimal system). Even (new) celeron/sempron are probably plenty fast for Ubuntu.
- sauere 11y ago
  Pretty sure he is refering to i3, the tiling window manager software.
  - ido 11y ago
    Ah ok! Never heard of it.
    - buro9 11y ago
      Yeah the window manager. I only want a tiling window manager, a couple of browsers, Sublime Text 3, and access to the internet. My personal opinion is that i3 rocks, and and that I don't need all of Ubuntu or Xubuntu. I don't even need Rhythmbox or Thunar. Just give me the bare bones of a modern Linux upon which I can install i3 and add just the few things I need.
      - jhalstead 11y ago
        Any recommendations/guides for how to get i3 running in Xubuntu Core using VirtualBox on a MacBook Pro?
        mmozeiko 11y ago
        http://i3wm.org/docs/repositories.html http://i3wm.org/docs/repositories.html
        a3n 11y ago
        I probably followed the instructions on that page for using the i3 repos, but it's been long enough that I can't remember doing it or how I did it. But I am using their repos. I don't notice anything explicitly different or better, but i3 isn't one of those things where you're waiting for a new gizmo with anticipation; it just puts up your windows and shuts up about it. I'm on LinuxMint.
        atmosx 11y ago
        All window-managers are pretty straight forward under linux. Read the documentation.
        karmakaze 11y ago
        Just did this myself. The i3 docs didn't cover the topic. sudo apt-get install i3; xfconf-query -c xfce4-session -p /sessions/Failsafe/Client0_Command -t string -s "i3wm" -t string -s "--replace" -a # logout, login The problem was then that the Alt key wasn't being recognized, possibly due to VirtualBox.
      - globuous 11y ago
        Well, that just means that an regular (x/k)ubuntu isn't necessarily the distro you're looking for. Back in the days when I was using Linux on my main computer, canonical shipped a stripped down version of ubuntu (ubuntu server maybe ?) where you could install just what you need and nothing else (I beleive it came without a window manager for instance). What you're describing was pretty much my Archlinux setup btw. It was just more convinient for me to build it from an archlinux than a regular ubuntu. You could with an ubuntu though, it'd just be a lot more work I feel like. EDIT: turns out I'm pretty much explaining you what you already know.... I'll leave my comment up anyway, maybe it'll help someone else. > My personal opinion is that i3 rocks, and and that I don't need all of Ubuntu or Xubuntu
        vidarh 11y ago
        Getting there with Ubuntu was pretty much "apt-get install" when I made the switch to i3wm. Sure, you end up carrying along hundreds of MB of "junk", but I just didn't find it worth the hassle to trim it down - I have far more junk than that in form of data of my own I could delete...
      - listic 11y ago
        You would be better off using an Alternate Lubuntu CD or netinstall (mini.iso) Both have a text-based installer with the option to 'Install a command line system', then go from there. I'm figuring how to install an awesome WM with MATE, lately. https://awesome.naquadah.org/wiki/Quickly_Setting_up_Awesome_with_Gnome https://awesome.naquadah.org/wiki/Quickly_Setting_up_Awesome... http://askubuntu.com/questions/616520/how-do-i-set-up-awesome-with-mate http://askubuntu.com/questions/616520/how-do-i-set-up-awesom...
ExpiredLink 11y ago
The X in Xubuntu has a dedicated meaning.
- thrownaway122 11y ago
  Supposedly XFCE plays quite nicely with other window managers replacing xfwm.
pyrophane 11y ago
Or any window manager that isn't part of the Gnome/KDE environment, for that matter. Personally, I love the idea of a trimmed down distro that allows you to install whatever packages you want on your own. Package managers make that easy, and I hate the bloat on most standard desktop distros.
karmakaze 11y ago
Very much so that I'm trying them both right now.

jtolds 11y ago

>> Is this related to Snappy, Ubuntu Core, or Convergence? > Nope, sorry for the confusion in the name! this answer is missing a troll face emoticon

STRiDEX 11y ago

Great for a slimmer virtual machine.

malkia 11y ago

Should try it out in crouton.

mk44 11y ago

I love this for a development VM! I wanted this for a long time: an ubuntu-based linux that doesn't have the non-development application. Thank you for creating this!

pvdebbe 11y ago

Not a many years back one could easily include an office suite and usual round of apps in 600 MB. What's up with the bloat?

akhilcacharya 11y ago
Exactly what I was thinking. Did Ubuntu stop shipping their OS's on 700 meg CDs? When did that happen?
- exprL 11y ago
  A couple of years ago.
  - josteink 11y ago
    If that is true, the message on this page is hilarious: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/current/ http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/current/ I quote: "Warning: This image is oversized (which is a bug) and will not fit onto a standard 703MiB CD. However, you may still test it using a DVD, a USB drive, or a virtual machine." I guess it's not a high-priority bug then :)
    - listic 11y ago
      Tangentially, there are still netinstall (mini.iso) and Lubuntu Alternate images (which allow to install a basic command-line system and go from there) with a text-based installer which DO fit on a CD.
dimitar 11y ago
Knoppix in 2004: http://media.lug-marl.de/doc/fsub-edu-knoppix/KNOPPIX/index_en.html http://media.lug-marl.de/doc/fsub-edu-knoppix/KNOPPIX/index_... It had room for "Edutainment", "Emulators", "Toys" and "Development": http://img33.photobucket.com/albums/v98/prodmaster/TONS_OF_APPZ.jpg http://img33.photobucket.com/albums/v98/prodmaster/TONS_OF_A...
72deluxe 11y ago

listic 11y ago

What's the meaning of a caret here?

floriancargoet 11y ago
It's not a real package name, it's a tasksel task. Quick explanation: http://askubuntu.com/q/211912 http://askubuntu.com/q/211912 Differences between apt-get and taskel: http://askubuntu.com/a/257172 http://askubuntu.com/a/257172
- koenigdavidmj 11y ago
  This used to be done by metapackages (a .deb containing no files but having dependencies on everything in...GNOME, for instance). Why this new thing?

Sir_Substance 11y ago

That's excellent, the first thing I have to do with new machines is always strip out the distros favorite tools and install the ones I use.

beefsack 11y ago
If the first thing you're doing is removing packages then you might want to consider a different distro. Arch is a brilliant choice for people who want minimal footprint high performance installations.
- Sir_Substance 11y ago
  Arch goes too far the other way. For example, it doesn't support my wireless card(s) out of the box. There's nothing particularly power user about preferring to use VLC over Parole, when I install new windows machines I remove windows media player and install VLC. My ideal os comes with: A desktop All the drivers I need A tool to get extra software (Internet explorer will do for windows, a terminal + apt-get/yum/pacman/pkgng for nixes) If I wanted to start at a command line and build my way up, I'd definitely pick FreeBSD. Really what I want though is just the desktop. Anything that sets file preferences will probably get uninstalled.
Gracana 11y ago
Yeah! I don't want to use one of the super-customizable distros (which force me to have to worry about things like drivers and fonts), but I still like to do a bit of customization. A solid base like this sounds pretty cool.

davidp 11y ago

FYI, this is not available for Trusty Tahr (14.04). I only skimmed to find the link to mini.iso and didn't notice the article omitted references to 14.04. My mistake, but sharing here in hopes of saving someone else some time.

bsg75 11y ago
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/MinimalCD https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/MinimalCD: Ubuntu 15.04 "Vivid Vervet" Ubuntu 14.10 "Utopic Unicorn" Ubuntu 14.04 LTS "Trusty Tahr" Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin"

travjones 11y ago

The netinst allows you to download the packages you manually select during the install. Wouldn't this allow you to install a minimal system with only the packages/apps you want? So this ~600MB "core" option is really for people with unreliable internet connections, or otherwise don't want to install via TCP/IP, right? Or, am I missing something?

k__ 11y ago

Wonderful. I already switched to Xfce on Mint/Ubuntu.

jebronie 11y ago

Somebody needs to disrupt the Ubuntu deployment.

theandrewbailey 11y ago

I tried this last week, but I canceled the install because the mini.iso didn't have NIC drivers for what I was installing it on. I decided to use the official Xubuntu image instead. (I didn't see/remember the community core images.) My hope is the proper images will have the same driver set as the official ones.