Distro still going strong after two decades
By Larry Cafiero
Back in April, I wrote an article for FOSS Force about the release of Ubuntu 26.04 in which, overall, I enjoyed running the latest version, code-named Resolute Raccoon.
Although I recall lamenting the fact that Ubuntu 26.04 required a minimum – a minimum – of 6 GB of RAM, which if I recall correctly is more than the Windows 11 RAM minimum, the Ubuntu site also claimed that some of the other *buntu offspring, like Lubuntu or Ubuntu Mate, would run on less memory.
With that in mind, enter Xubuntu 26.04, complete with its 20th anniversary this year. As far as system requirements go, they are far less than its larger Isle of Man sibling. The system requirements for Xubuntu 26.04 are a 64-bit hardware processor, 2 GB or more of RAM, and 15 GB or more of storage.
Installing Xubuntu 26.04
The ISO for the Xubuntu 26.04 download is a relatively hefty 5 GB, which took about 20 minutes to download. From there, we placed the ISO onto a USB drive and we were ready to upload it to our hardware.
Uploading Xubuntu 26.04 is fairly straightforward, thanks to the Ubuntu Desktop Installer, common to all *buntus. It asks various questions like keyboard, language, WiFi setup – you don’t need to be online to install, but it helps – disk setup, login/password and time zone before performing its usual magic. About 15 minutes later we were ready to go.
The reason the ISO was larger than normal must be because of the amount of software included with the distro. For example, along with the usual Xfce 4.20 suspects in the tools department – including but not limited to the Thunar file manager, Catfish file search, and Synaptic package manager, for starters – there’s the latest standard-issue Firefox web browser, the Thunderbird email client, the GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP, for short) for photo editing, and the LibreOffice suite of software. There’s also some unique software inclusions like Ubuntu’s App Center, based on Snap, and the Parole media player, for good measure.
The only thing I added to the distro was the VLC media player to listen to tunes while writing the article. Having done that using the App Center, we were ready to go.
Test-driving Xubuntu 26.04
The Xfce 4.20 desktop environment – the X in Xubuntu, for those of you keeping score at home – greets the user with a clean interface. After the customary update of the distro, the user is confronted with the typical Xfce fare: The menu icon sits in the top left in the top panel, while at the right is a collection of icons: Bluetooth, WiFi, Notifications, Battery, and Volume, ending with the date/time.
Using the menu icon, we were ready to explore the options available in Xubuntu 26.04. The software programs came up quickly after selecting them from the menu, and switching between programs was effortless.
Once again – like its Ubuntu brethren – the terminal types out asterisks when you type your password while running a sudo command, where before it used to be nothing. While it threw me at first when I did the Ubuntu review in April, I was ready for it this time.
Nevertheless, the daily use for this distro was nothing short of amazing for day-to-day tasks. Xubuntu 26.04 hardly broke a sweat even under the most dire of daily-use circumstances. The RAM never reached above 2.8 GB while multitasking on several programs simultaneously, which is a far cry from the 6 GB of RAM requirements for the Ubuntu 26.04 setup I tested in April. Additionally, the distro plays nice with online programs like Google Docs and Google Drive.
Xubuntu 26.04 does not disappoint as a daily driver. Surfing the internet with Firefox while sending and receiving email with Thunderbird were both effortless and flawless. Listening to music on either the Parole media player that was included in the install or the VLC media player was remarkable. Using the LibreOffice suite of software while sizing photographs with GIMP – both native to this distro – writing this article was a breeze.
The final word
As many who have read Distro of the Week in the past, you know that I am a dyed-in-the-wool Xfce guy when it comes to a desktop environment, although – as an aside – I am warming up to KDE Plasma, where at one time I would run to the hills to avoid it. But that’s neither here or there. Long story short, Xfce and I have a “history,” and even today it is my go-to desktop environment, even when it used to get me in trouble at FOSS Force.
But I digress.
Of all the *buntus, Xubuntu 26.04 is unmistakably a solid and reliable option for those who have a hankering for the Ubuntu experience, but perhaps don’t have the latest hardware upon which to run it. The lower RAM requirements are truly a plus, and along with the reliability of Xfce 4.20, this combination makes Xubuntu an ideal distro.
That said, Xubuntu 26.04 is more than an adequate distro for everyone. With Ubuntu under the hood beneath a pristine desktop environment, the distro easily caters to new Linux users, while intermediate users and “greybeards” would have a field day with the selection of software, and ways to add others, which the distro provides.
Don’t take my word for it. Give it your own test-drive. Download Xubuntu 26.04 at the Xubuntu download site. You won’t be disappointed.
Do you have a distro you think would make a great feature for Distro of the Week? Don’t be shy—let me know! Email me at larry.cafiero@gmail.com and I’ll make an effort to make your choice available to the wider public … No suggestion is too mainstream!