Lubuntu 11.04 Alpha 2 Released, Removes Cheese And Xarchive

Lubuntu is an unofficial LXDE Ubuntu flavor designed to run on old hardware.

Lubuntu 11.04 alpha 2 was released today with a bit of a delay due to some issues with the hardware on the computer that generates the ISO.

There aren't major changes since alpha 1 except for two default packages which have been removed: Cheese is no longer in the default Lubuntu 11.04 install and Xarchive has been replaced with file-roller.

Ozone, a theme proposed to become default in Lubuntu 11.04 is not default in the latest alpha 2 and its status regarding Lubuntu is still unknown.

Since we didn't cover Lubuntu 11.04 alpha 1, there's one more really important change since Lubuntu 10.10 that I have to mention (this change came with Lubuntu 11.04 alpha 1): Aqualung has been replaced with Audacious:

Both Aqualung and Audacious are great, lightweight music players but Audacious was probably the Lubuntu developers choice thanks to its plugins and versatility.

Since there is no changelog available for the latest Lubuntu 11.04 alpha 2, I'm not aware of any under-the-hood changes but we'll continue to watch the Lubuntu development and let you know of any major change that may happen.

Download Lubuntu 11.04 alpha 2 (remember, this is alpha software so do not use it on production machines): direct download | torrent

Also, if you plan on installing Lubuntu 11.04 alpha 2, read the following warning from the Lubuntu mailing list:

A quick warning, be careful if you install it. Ubiquity (the installer) will ask you for keyboard configuration. Be sure to say No, so you will be able to configure properly your keyboard and select your layout. Otherwise, you may not be able to use your keyboard after the reboot.

ADeskBar 0.4, Available For Download [Lightweight Application Launcher]

If you use Lubuntu or another LXDE / Openbox based Linux distribution, you could give ADeskBar - a lightweight application launcher for Openbox -, a try. Even though it's especially designed for Openbox, ADeskbar also works great under Gnome or XFCE.

The latest ADeskBar version (0.4) which has been released 2 days ago, comes with a new menu and easy configuration.

ADeskBar has most features other popular docks have, such as a panel mode, different styles (Edgy, Floaty and 3D) and icon effects, autohide and intellihide, configurable screen position, transparency (including fake transparency when compositing is not available) and many other features. Of course, ADeskBar also comes with some built-in applets such as a menu, show desktop icon, terminal, volume mixer or digital clock. There's also a notification area applet - to use it, make sure you firstly remove any other existing notification areas or else it won't work.

Besides the standard "tasklist" way of displaying your open windows, ADeskBar also comes with a "Window list" plugin (like the Window List plugin for the Gnome panel - I'm not sure if there's one for LXpanel as well) which can display the running applications in a list.

And finally, every bit of the way ADeskBar looks can be configured through the advanced options:

Here is a quick screencast with the latest ADeskBar 0.4 in action (recorded by the ADeskBar developer, ADcomp):



(Video available in HTML5 if you've enabled it on YouTube)


Download ADeskBar 0.4.1 (includes Debian / Ubuntu / Linux Mint / CrunchBang Linux .deb as well as source files)

Thanks to Marcin Mach @ Netbit73 for the tip!

New Artwork For Lubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat [Screenshots]

In case you don't know, Lubuntu is using LXDE and is designed for computers running old hardware or netbooks.


Lubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat, the unoficial LXDE flavor of Ubuntu got an artwork update last week. I'm posting this only now because I had some issues downloading the latest Lubuntu development ISO.

Almost every element of the Lubuntu arwork was updated: backgrounds (panel and menu), the Openbox theme, Lubuntu menu logo, splash images (LXDM and logout dialog banner) and wallpaper.

There are no changes to the Live CD artwork because these changes are only available for those who are using the Lubuntu Desktop PPA (comes enabled by default in Lubuntu). All these should be available in the next Lubuntu 10.10 Alpha release (Alpha 3).

New Lubuntu (Ubuntu w/ LXDE) 10.10 Maverick Meerkat artwork screenshots

LXDM login screen

Lubuntu 10.10 new wallpaper

Logout dialog

New panel background and Lubuntu menu logo

The new default Openbox theme

The new default Openbox theme

The icons didn't change: the Elementary monochrome icons are still default.

The Lubuntu Plymouth theme also remains unchanged for now, but it should soon look to something like this:

If you want to try out the latest Lubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat Alpha 2, download the ISO via Bittorrent.

Lubuntu (w/ LXDE) 10.04 Lucid Lynx Beta 3 Available For Download

Lubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx Beta 3 is available for download. Why beta 3 instead of RC you may ask. Here is why:

The status of this final release is not determined yet ("beta stable", "rc final"), that's why its a beta and not a RC like other *buntu. However, final release is still planned for the end of this month, or in very early May.

New in Lubuntu 10.04 Beta 3 since Beta 2:

• Many translations directly included.
• Lubuntu-desktop PPA added by default on installation - finally!
• Up-to-date libfm and pcmanfm2.

Download Lubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx Beta 3:

• Torrent (not working for now)
• Direct download

See also: Lubuntu (w/ LXDE) 10.04 Lucid Lynx Alpha 3 Released With 4 New Default Apps And New Artwork (Screenshots)

Lubuntu (w/ LXDE) 10.04 Lucid Lynx Alpha 3 Released With 4 New Default Apps And New Artwork (Screenshots)

The most important changes in Lubuntu Alpha 3 are 4 new default applications: Chromium for the browser, gnome-mplayer as the default media player, Wicd has been replaced with the Network Manager and Pcmanfm2 as the default file manager but we've already told you about that about a week ago.

Lubuntu 10.04 Alpha 3 new artwork

-A new menu icon and basically a whole new look for the panel:

-A new default theme: Clearlooks with Elementary Monochrome icons:

-A new login screen:

The new artwork made by Rafael Laguna.

Lubuntu Lucid Lynx 10.04 Netbook Session

Lubuntu Alpha 3 also comes with a netbook session (lxlauncher). To try it out, log out and select Lubuntu-Netbook, enter "ubuntu" for the username and no password:

To set icons only for the taskbar window list, simply right click the panel and select Taskbar "Window List" Settings and then "Icons Only":

And unlike the Gnome Panel, the Lubuntu (LXDE) panel can be set to 16 pixels in height which is simply amazing for netbooks:

To view some screenshots with the previous alpha (2), see our Lubuntu 10.04 Alpha 2 post.

More info and downloads for Lubuntu 10.04 Alpha 3.

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No Official Lubuntu 9.10, But You Can Install A Prototype Via Ubuntu Multiverse Repository

Although a beta version of Lubuntu was released a few months ago, a blog post makes it clear Lubuntu 9.10 won't be released:

"For people who want a Lubuntu 9.10 ISO, don't search too much, there is no official release of Lubuntu 9.10. Instead, you can try it by installing the lubuntu-desktop package (you need the 'multiverse' repository activated). Additionally, if you want to test a minimal installation of Lubuntu then install a command-line system with an Ubuntu alternate ISO and install lubuntu-desktop. Lubuntu 9.10 is more of a prototype than a real release, more will come with Lucid Lynx - new shiny packages, new artwork, and maybe new default applications. If you want to help, all informations are available on the Wiki page, and on the mailing list."

Those interested in installing Lubuntu can activate the Multiverse repository in Ubuntu, and then:

sudo apt-get install lubuntu-desktop

In case you don't know, Lubuntu will be (hopefully) a LXDE based Ubuntu. LXDE is a very lightweight and minimal desktop environment using the openbox window manager, the PcManFM file manager, and a very select list of default applications. It is compatible with basic freedesktop standards and all needed parts are already packaged in Ubuntu today. Some tests show that Lubuntu is the fastest Ubuntu yet.

Please note that Lubuntu 9.10 is just a prototype and a 'real' version should come with Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx.

[via viva linux]

The First Lubuntu ISO Was Published

The Lubuntu project (Ubuntu based on LXDE) just published it's first ISO. LXDE is a very lightweight and minimal desktop environment using the openbox window manager, the PcManFM file manager, and a very select list of default applications. It is compatible with basic freedesktop standards and all needed parts are already packaged in Ubuntu today.

Lubuntu is based on Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) and these are some of the applications that come with it:

· Linux Kernel 2.6.31 RC8
· Openbox 3.4.7.2
· Firefox 3.5.2
· Pidgin 2.5.8
· Aqualung R-1061
· Xfburn 0.4.2

The final version is planned to be synchronized with the Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala, and is scheduled for the 29th of October, 2009.

The Lubuntu project started in March 2009, with the purpose of creating a lighter and less resource demanding alternative to the Xubuntu operating system, using the LXDE desktop environment. The ultimate goal of this project is to join the ranks of Kubuntu and Xubuntu and become an officially supported derivative of Ubuntu.

The developers claim that, while Xubuntu is often represented as a lightweight distro, it actually fails to run on older hardware, so they are targeting their Linux distribution at older legacy computers and devices with less than 256 MB of RAM.

While this project hasn't received too much attention until now, the LXDE project received an invitation to become a self-maintained component of Ubuntu back in February 2009, straight from the Ubuntu founder, Mark Shuttleworth.

You can download Lubuntu from the following locations: lubuntu | softpedia

[Credits: softpedia]