Introducing Xubuntu core

May 6, 2015 —

Xubuntu core is a slimmed down version of Xubuntu that doesn’t come with all the additional features of a full and modern desktop. We essentially only ship Xfce and the basic look and feel of Xubuntu, so there will be no office suite, media players, et cetera.

The obvious benefit is that this ISO (about 600MB) will be faster to download – especially interesting for those with limited connectivity – and fit on a CD.

We have been working on this for a while, which is why you can already install it starting with Utopic. There are community ISOs for Vivid (see below), and starting with Wily, our plan is to produce official release ISOs!

Is this related to Snappy, Ubuntu Core, or Convergence?

Nope, sorry for the confusion in the name!

OK, so how do I install it now?

The recommended way is to download the mini.iso, install, and when prompted, install the Xubuntu minimal installation task. If you’d prefer to wait until after the installer finishes to install the Xubuntu core task, you can simply type sudo apt-get install xubuntu-core^ (don’t forget the caret!) and away it’ll go.

Optionally for Vivid, if you don’t want to use the mini ISO or won’t have internet during install, you can install from the community ISOs, made available by a Xubuntu developer.

Xubuntu 12.04 End of Life

April 29, 2015 — —

A few days after we welcomed Vivid Vervet 15.04 as the latest stable version, we see the oldest of our LTS versions go EOL. Xubuntu 12.04 “Precise Pangolin” had a three-year support cycle which concluded on April 26.

While it will continue to receive updates from the repository, we will no longer be providing any Xubuntu support for packages. Packages provided via Xubuntu-owned PPAs will also be discontinued.

All users are advised to upgrade their installation to the current LTS, Xubuntu 14.04 “Trusty Tahr”. This version will continue to receive support from Xubuntu until April 2017. See our article for 5 things to do after upgrading from 12.04 to 14.04.

Please reach out to us via one of our various support channels if you need assistance upgrading.

Xubuntu 15.04 released!

April 23, 2015 — , —
Xubuntu 15.04 Vivid Vervet
Xubuntu 15.04 Vivid Vervet

The Xubuntu team is pleased to announce the immediate release of Xubuntu 15.04!

The release is available for download by torrents and direct downloads from http://xubuntu.org/getxubuntu/.

As the main server will be very busy in the first days after the release, we recommend using the Torrents wherever possible.

For support with the release, navigate to Help & Support for a complete list of methods to get help.

Highlights and Known Issues

Highlights

Xubuntu now uses Xfce 4.12, which was released on February 28. The new release has brought both some new features and many bug fixes over the old 4.10/4.11 components. For a complete changelog for Xfce 4.12, see the 4.12 changelog on Xfce.org.

In addition to the new Xfce release, the 15.04 release has the following highlights:

  • New/Updated Xubuntu Light/Dark colorschemes in Mousepad, Terminal
  • Mousepad colorscheme set to Xubuntu Light by default
  • Better appearance for QT applications out of the box (default to GTK theme)
  • Redundant File Manager (Settings) menu entry removed

Known Issues

When upgrading, the notes plugin is removed from the panel (Bug 1446598) To work around this, simply add the notes plugin back to the panel. Your data is kept intact.

For a complete changelog between Xubuntu 14.10 and 15.04, including a list of new package versions, please refer to the Release Notes.

Xubuntu 15.04 Beta 2

March 26, 2015 — , —

The Xubuntu team is pleased to announce the immediate release of Xubuntu 15.04 Beta 2. This is the final beta towards the release of 15.04 in April.

Please note the important install known issue at Bug 1436715: “Vivid DVD fails to reboot or shutdown w/o hard reset”

If you are at all unsure about a hard reset, the options are

  • Install Beta 1 and dist-upgrade
  • Wait for the bug to fix and install from a daily
  • Wait for Release Candidate

The Beta 2 release is available for download by torrents and direct downloads from
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releases/vivid/beta-2/

Highlights and known issues

New features and enhancements

Between Beta 1 and now, the final release of Xfce 4.12 has been packaged and uploaded to 15.04.

Known Issues

The detailed release note including other less critical known issues can be found here.

New application versions in the Xubuntu packageset

  • Thunar (1.6.6)
  • tumbler (0.1.31)
  • Xfwm4 (4.12.1)
  • xfce4-panel (4.12.0)
  • xfconf (4.12.0)
  • xfdesktop4 (4.12.0)
  • xfce4-panel (4.12.0)
  • xfce4-settings (4.12.0)
  • xfce4-session (4.12.0)
  • xfce4-power-manager (1.4.3)
  • libxfce4ui (4.12.1)
  • libxfce4util (4.12.1)
  • garcon (0.4.0)
  • Parole (0.8)
  • Mousepad (0.4)

Xubuntu 15.04 Beta 1

February 26, 2015 — , —

The Xubuntu team is pleased to announce the immediate release of Xubuntu 15.04 Beta 1. This is the first beta towards the final release in April.

The first beta release also marks the end of the period to land new features in the form of Ubuntu Feature Freeze. This means any new updates to packages should be bug fixes only, the Xubuntu team is committed to fixing as many of the bugs as possible before the final release.

Please note the important install known issue below and at Bug 1425690: “New windows are created offscreen”

The Beta 1 release is available for download by torrents and direct downloads from
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releases/vivid/beta-1/

Highlights and known issues

New features and enhancements

  • LightDM GTK Greeter Settings tool added
  • development wallpaper introduced
  • xfce4-power-manager now handles light-locker’s settings in its “Security” tab
  • xfce4-panel now has an intelligent hiding mode
  • xfwm4 has window previews, better support for CSD and corner-tiling
  • the display dialog now has improved support for multiple monitors
  • the appearance dialog shows previews of themes’ palettes and icon-themes
  • Thunar now has improved keyboard navigation

Known Issues

Currently installing is only functioning correctly from the livesession install icon.

  • From either the boot screen OR the try/install dialogue – directly installing has windows created offscreen, this can be either the first install option screen, or where that works – the final Installation Complete dialogue goes offscreen. (1425690)
  • It is possible to move the offscreen windows, ensure that ubiqity is focused (alt+tab) then with alt+space+m and then Move the offscreen dialogues can be moved so they are visible.
  • If you boot to Try from the boot screen or from the Try/Install dialogue – tests have shown that these options function correctly.

Other Known Issues

  • wrapper bug on clean installs (1425401)
  • Mugshot camera does not initialize (1414443)

New application versions in the Xubuntu packageset

  • Thunar 1.6.5
  • Catfish 1.2.2.1
  • Xfwm4 4.11.3
  • xfce4-panel (4.11.2)
  • lightdm-gtk-greeter (2.0.0)
  • xfce4-settings (4.11.4)
  • xfce4-power-manager (1.4.2)
  • xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin (1.4.3)
  • Menulibre (2.0.6-1ubuntu1)
  • Mugshot (0.2.5.1)

Other changes

  • Albatross, Bluebird, and Orion are no longer installed by default

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