Review Ubuntu 16.04-Part 2-Xenial Xerus General Information
Ubuntu 16.04 is a LTS (Long term support) release, meaning it will be supported for five years.
That sounds great in theory, but I distro-hop so much the thought of five years with one Linux distro isn't even conceivable for me. I guess there's people that do that. But not this guy.
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| No settling down here... |
Besides, if you want to stay with an OS for five years....run Debian. It's definitely nice if you're running a server, but I come at things from a desktop perspective. Regardless, it's a great commitment from Ubuntu and it's nice to know it's there if that's what you're looking for.
Flavors/Desktop Environments:
Ubuntu has a few officially supported options, plus countless respins and other distros that are based off of it.
16.04 changes, additions, features.
The addition of Snap applications. I'm not even touching this in this review.
Various upgraded software packages
Some people might get into the specifics here, but from this desktop user's perspective, nothing really worth mentioning except the addition of Snap. And time will tell if that really revolutionizes anything.
Also worth mentioning are:
The stupid online scopes are now disabled by default.
For those that don't know, for a couple years Canonical, the parent company of Ubuntu, in it's never-ending quest to figure out how to actually make money, started monetizing Ubuntu by incorporating a few online things into the main search box, like Amazon. When you would search for Thunderbird or a program, it would bring up amazon search results as well.
Without surprise, people went nuts (rightfully so) and they eventually decided to disable it by default. That's a good thing.
Secondly, through the Unity-tweak-tool (a must have), you can now move the menu-bar from the left side of the screen to the bottom. I got used to it on the left, but I definitely like it better on the bottom.
New release development cycle
Ubuntu comes out with a new release every six months. A new LTS (Long term support) release every two years.
Ubuntu comes out with a new release every six months. A new LTS (Long term support) release every two years.
Hardware requirements and recommendations
From: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/SystemRequirements
Minimum system requirements:
Ubuntu Desktop Edition
This is laughable in my opinion. A few years ago, I was running a 2Ghz intel dual-core processor laptop with 2Gig of ram and it was too slow for most Gnome and KDE distros. I honestly can't imagine trying to run a full Ubuntu desktop with these specs. Maybe one of the super light Desktop environments, but even still...
Minimum system requirements:
Ubuntu Desktop Edition
- 700 MHz processor (about Intel Celeron or better)
- 512 MiB RAM (system memory)
- 5 GB of hard-drive space (or USB stick, memory card or external drive but see LiveCD for an alternative approach)
- VGA capable of 1024x768 screen resolution
- Either a CD/DVD drive or a USB port for the installer media
- Internet access is helpful
This is laughable in my opinion. A few years ago, I was running a 2Ghz intel dual-core processor laptop with 2Gig of ram and it was too slow for most Gnome and KDE distros. I honestly can't imagine trying to run a full Ubuntu desktop with these specs. Maybe one of the super light Desktop environments, but even still...
My hardware
I run a Dell Inspiron 7737 17 laptop. I bought this beast (not really) specifically because I distro-hop compulsively and I got tired of dealing with hardware issues.
- Intel core i5-1.7GH
- Integrated Intel graphics card
- 8 Gig Ram
- 250 Gig SSD Hard drive (I added this)
Before getting this laptop, I had to accept a few "hard truths". Namely I don't "need" high-end hardware.
I don't need a Nvidia graphics card, as much as I like to pretend I do. I don't do any gaming or anything graphics intensive whatsoever. To be honest, at this point, I could simply use a chromebook for all my work. So I made the decision to stop messing around with Nvidia driver installation every time I switch distros and just get an intel card. I am thrilled I did that.
Also, before selecting the laptop, I checked the Ubuntu certified hardware page, figuring that if it was Ubuntu certified I would likely have less overall problems doing any Linux installs. I was correct. Dell and Ubuntu have some history, and EVERYTHING on this laptop "just works" with Ubuntu. Including the touchscreen, which of course I never use.
Review Ubuntu 16.04-Part 2-Xenial Xerus General Information
Reviewed by cptr13
on
8:24 AM
Rating:
Reviewed by cptr13
on
8:24 AM
Rating:
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