Xubuntu 12.04 End of Life

April 29, 2015 — News — 12.04

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 — News, Release Announcements — 15.04

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 — News, Release Announcements — 15.04

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 — News, Release Announcements — 15.04

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

Xubuntu at Mexican collection agencies

February 22, 2015 — Articles — Xubuntu at...

The Xubuntu team hears stories about how it is used in organizations all over the world. In this “Xubuntu at..” series of interviews, we seek to interview organizations who wish to share their stories. If your organization is using Xubuntu and you want to share what you’re doing with us please contact Elizabeth K. Joseph at lyz@ubuntu.com to discuss details about your organization.

Late last year we heard from developer Greg Blumenthal when he told us that he’d been deploying Xubuntu to customers who were “extremely happy” with their new systems. This month we took some time to ask him some questions about his work and the deployments.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself and the organizations you work with?

I am a freelance LAMP developer. Most of my clients are Mexican debt collection agencies, although I also work with food processing companies, telemarketers, and B2B VoIP companies.

What influenced your decision to use Free/Open Source Software for your customers?

Stability, ease of installation, ease of management, timely security updates. Interestingly, cost is NOT an issue here, as pirate copies of Windows are readily available.

What made you select Xubuntu specifically?

Low memory footprint, ease of installation on older systems, and ease of configuration to appear as familiar as possible to the end-users.

Can you tell us a bit about your Xubuntu setup?

I remove games, xchat, and other work distractions, and add openssh-server (allowing remote management), ntp, samba, and a SIP client (usually Zoiper or SFLphone). Everything is configures for Spanish with either Spanish or Latin American keyboards. I even install it in Spanish, even though English is my first language.

Is there anything else you wish to share with us about your work or how you use Xubuntu?

The biggest challenge is always sound. Whether it is ALSA or PulseAudio, I spend more time and effort managing sound issues for my clients than all other issues combined.

Huge thanks to Greg for taking the time to talk to us, and best of luck in his continued work with Xubuntu!

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