Ubuntu Derivatives News: Trisquel, elementary OS, Ubuntu Studio, Linux Mint, Peppermint, Bodhi, and Lubuntu
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2014-04-08 08:36:18 UTC
- Modified: 2014-04-08 08:36:18 UTC
Trisquel
The developers take pride in the fact that Trisquel is a completely free operating system and it will remain free forever. The Linux distribution also doesn't integrate any applications that are not completely free.
elementary OS
Ubuntu Studio
Mint
The biggest challenge for Windows XP users switching to Linux Mint is having to change the programs you've known and used for years. Fortunately, some programs are available on both Linux and Windows. In addition, there are Linux programs that duplicate the functionality of your favorite Windows programs.
Some Windows XP users might be considering Linux MInt as a replacement operating system. But just replacing the operating system isn't enough, you'll also need Linux applications that will replace the ones you used in Windows. ZDNet has a roundup of Linux Mint applications that might fill the void when making your move from Windows XP to Linux Mint.
It's been a while since I've done a review. In fact, it's been a while since I've posted in any form, because this semester has turned out to be a lot busier than I anticipated. It likely will remain so until it ends; the only reason why I can post a review right now is because of spring break, and even that has been busy for me. Anyway, I initially wanted to do a review of Frugalware because it looked intriguing, but I couldn't get the live USB to work. I'm reviewing this (which I had planned for later) instead. If you've passed by this blog, you've probably already seen my thoughts on Linux Mint, so I'll skip the introduction. I tried this updated ISO file as a live USB made with MultiSystem. Follow the jump to see what it's like. There isn't too much that has changed since last year, so I will simply link the review from then, point out any changes, and put out any other thoughts that occur to me about this.
Linux Mint is a Linux distribution based on Ubuntu, but that wasn't always the case. Now, the creator of Linux Mint has just announced Linux Mint 17 “Qiana,” which will be released almost a couple of months after Ubuntu 14.04 LTS (Trusty Tahr) is made available.
The MintBox 2 is a small form factor, fanless PC designed to run quietly at low power.
The machine features a die-cast, solid metal case which acts as a passive heatsink and cools down components without needing any fans. While the case design adds to the weight it reduces noise, with the only sound coming from the internal 500GB SATA hard drive.
Clement Lefebvre, the creator of the Linux Mint distribution, has just announced that the next version of the Mint operating system will be called “Qiana” and it should be available by the end of May 2014.
Linux Mint is one of the most popular Linux distributions out there and it's only superseded by Ubuntu. Actually, Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu and makes use of its repositories, but that may not happen for very long anymore.
Peppermint
This time however I have been lucky enough to get not just one member of the team but two. I recently sent an email to the Peppermint Linux team with a series of questions and what follows are the answers provided by Shane Remington (COO of Peppermint) and Kendall Weaver (CTO of Peppermint).
When I’m introducing someone to Linux, I don’t believe the “all or nothing” approach works, so if you are new to Linux and would like to see the benefits it can offer you, download and burn onto disk the latest version of Peppermint and follow these steps.
As you may or may not know, I have recently acquired a HP Chromebook and my first article about the Chromebook looked at whether it was possible to run another operating system alongside ChromeOS.
Today I am taking a look at Peppermint 4. Peppermint 4 is designed as a hybrid operating system aimed at cloud computing and also average ordinary everyday home use.
I last reviewed Peppermint Linux in August 2012 (Peppermint 3) and my overall impression then was positive. In this review I will review Peppermint Linux from scratch and I will also look at what has changed since version 3 to show how Peppermint has moved on.
Open source makes a lot of sense in rural areas and in third world countries. Lightweight and open source systems that are easy to use, and which allow normal users to become power users and contribute back to the open source community, can be ideal for countries like Cameroon, located in middle Africa.
As the program has grown over the past years, the cost of licensing for the video editing software has grown as well, beyond the operating budget of the organization. Faced with this challenge, PAGE turned to open source technology. Elizabeth McIntosh, a member of the Steering Committee for PAGE, led the charge. "I'd heard about the open source movement through my friendship with Brendan Szulik at Duke, and thought it might be able to help us." PAGE participants historically used Final Cut Pro to document and edit their digital stories, but this year will use open source alternatives Kdenlive and Blender. Both offer a good user experience, without the heavy scale-up costs associated with non open-source solutions. The ability to rapidly learn the technology and to use it as the program continues to grow are the largest benefits.
Bodhi
One of the things I am working on for our Bodhi 3.0.0 release this summer is a simple GUI system update tool written in Elementary and the Enlightenment Foundation Libraries. Today I would like to share an early version of this tool I am calling eepDater (pronounced epp-date-er), which is written in python utilizing the EFLs.
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As promised I've put together our first Bodhi Linux disc that is built on top of the upcoming Ubuntu 14.04 release. Keep in mind this is a very early image not intended for production machines. There will be issues.
Lubuntu
Lubuntu is based on LXDE, a very light desktop environment that probably has even lower hardware requirements than Windows XP. It's a favorite for older systems and it's the lightest distro in the Ubuntu family.
Cleide Isabel! She managed to grab the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th place with her photos: 'Vista Do Fitz Roy', 'Vale', 'Arvore', 'Daisie' and 'Copan02'.
Lubuntu 14.04 LTS Beta 2 (Trusty Tahr) has been officially released and it has joined its brethren from the Ubuntu family, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, and Ubuntu GNOME.
Recent Techrights' Posts
- Gnome Foundation Inc is in Trouble
- the agenda is set GAFAM and IBM rather than donors
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 22 Out of 200: When You Complain People Impersonate You in IRC (But You Yourself Impersonate People in IRC and Lock Them Out of Their IRC Handles)
- We'll cover this with direct evidence some time soon
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- Links 25/03/2026: Nations Return to Russian Oil and Burning Wood
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 25/03/2026: Resisting Authoritarianism and Why Slop Needs to Go Away
- Links for the day
- Fedora Maintainer-ship Using Slop (Mistakes) Would Make Fedora Less Reliable
- It won't produce reliable code or stable systems one can rely upon
- IBM's "Legacy Employees" (Experienced Workers, IBM Management Dubs Them 'Dinobabies')
- This notion of "legacy employees" seems like something overlapping with "expensive" (well paid) staff, even if not entirely equivalent
- EPO's "Current Industrial Actions Are Likely to Intensify Further."
- There is another strike in 5 days
- This Morning The Register MS Published Slop Promotion With the Term "AI" 15 Times In It. The Register MS Was (As Usual) Paid to Do This
- This is not a serious publisher
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 23 Out of 200: We Were Right All Along (for 2 Years) About Third Party Funding and Willingness to 'Break the Bank' in Pursuit of "Revenge"
- How much damage can a person do to oneself in pursuit of cover-up of legitimate technical concerns?
- Links 25/03/2026: Airports Further Militarised, "Slopification and Its Discontents", Microsoft 'Open' 'Hey Hi' Shutting Things Down
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 25/03/2026: Blogging Fright and Absolutely Useless 'Apps' Made by Slop Machines
- Links for the day
- Rise in Energy Prices Will Significantly Accelerate the Death of So-called "AI Companies"
- It should be noted that fake news about Microsoft OpenAI doubling workforce (mere words, not actions) can serve as a nice distraction from the death of Sora due to divestment
- It's Always a Question of Trust
- There's a widespread stigma of lawyers being manipulative and chronically dishonest
- Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Must More Carefully Investigate or Assess the Financial State of Law Firms in the UK
- We'll cover this in depth in the future
- GAFAM Mozilla Removes Theora Support, Now GNU Needs to Re-encode Videos
- Mozilla used to mean something to Free software advocates
- An Open Admission Profits Depend on Addiction
- Proprietary software tends to be like this
- IBM Americas President Ayman Antoun Comes to OpenText, Weeks Ahead the Mass Layoffs Begin
- Is that what IBM will be good at?
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, March 24, 2026
- IRC logs for Tuesday, March 24, 2026
- Gemini Links 24/03/2026: Junk Drawer Time Capsule and Building Outside Alire
- Links for the day
- Not Much LLM Slop About "Linux" Lately, It Only Ever Comes From the Same Few Sites
- As long as only few such sites use LLM slop we can skip and avoid them
- Links 24/03/2026: "Epic Lays Off Over 1000 Employees" and US in Financial Trouble According to the Fed
- Links for the day
- The "Media" Does Not Only 'Miss' Mass Layoffs
- "The Treasury just declared the U.S. insolvent. The media missed it"
- The Empty Suits of IBM Managers (NIH or "Nothing Invented Here")
- IBM's management adopted the business model of parasites
- 2012: 'Secure' (Microsoft-Controlled) Boot Has Not (Yet) Been Made Obligatory. 2026: systemd Has Not Implemented Age Verification
- should we stop calling "nazi" everyone we don't agree with?
- More Threats (Including Physical Threats) Against Us Are a Dumb Move
- It's like a "hit list" (targets list) and I shall keep the police duly informed
- New Example of Pentagon in "Feminist" Clothing Inside Fake News of Publishers Paid to Promote Outsourcing to US ("Clown Computing") and American Slop
- Google now pays money to promote Google as a friend of women
- Hating Techrights is a Career
- but is it good for civil society?
- Dr. Stallman’s Work Will Never be Considered 'Mainstream' Because He Rejects and Works Against the So-called 'Mainstream'
- Try to be more like Stallman
- The New Layoffs: 'Silent Layoffs', 'Secret Layoffs', 'Quiet Layoffs', 'Passive Layoffs' 'Stealth Layoffs', and Unannounced Layoffs Disguised as Return-to-Office (RTO Mandates)
- The US needs to revisit and fix the WARN Act
- EPO "Cocaine Communication Manager" - Part IX - Cocaine Addicts in Charge of the EPO Attacking Families of EPO Staff
- Things like being high-profile and being a serious drug addict aren't opposites
- What Feminism in Science Means (Codes of Conduct Don't Tackle the Real Issues)
- Universality matters, more so in a project or community that's said to build the "universal operating system" (Debian)
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 21 Out of 200: It's About Behaviour Online, Not How Much Money From Shadowy Third Parties Gets Spent on Lawyers and Two Barristers
- 75+ KG of legal papers, 2 cases, 2 barristers (one hiding in the metadata) and maybe two law firms (also hiding in the metadata) against two modest people in Manchester seems disproportionate and vindicative
- Links 24/03/2026: "Airports on ICE" and "Have You Paid Your “Intuit Tax”?"
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 24/03/2026: Slop Interview and Why Slop Makes Lousy Code
- Links for the day
- Richard Stallman to Give Public Talk This Thursday at the University of Bologna (Italy)
- Hardly the first time he speaks in Bologna
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
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- IRC logs for Monday, March 23, 2026
- Gemini Links 23/03/2026: "Mandatory" Bad Things and Dangers of Perfection Aspirations
- Links for the day
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 20 Out of 200: All Roads Lead to Rome and to GAFAM Funding
- Now about 10% into this series
- Last Week's EPO Strike Was the Biggest (Highest Participation Rate), Hours Ago General Assembly Discussed Next (Growing) Intensity of Strikes
- Well done and well attended
- Mass Layoffs at HashiCorp, IBM Hid Them
- The media did not mention those layoffs
- Microsoft Downgraded on Concerns (Lack of Growth) Amid Silent Layoffs in 2026
- The press isn't functioning anymore
- Links 23/03/2026: Gulf Water at Risk, Heatwave in Malaysia
- Links for the day
- Slop Means False, New Article by Cybershow
- "We are living in a world that is rapidly divesting from reality."
- Debianism election 2026 community poll created, everybody can vote
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- Links 23/03/2026: "Shocking Peter Thiel Antichrist Lectures", Robert Mueller Remembered
- Links for the day
- The Scandal Bigger Than IBM/Red Hat Layoffs is the de Facto "Media Blackout" About Those Layoffs
- So we have a media crisis, aside from the economic crises
- Gemini Links 23/03/2026: Geminispace/Elpher Enhancement and the Cerberus Cinco
- Links for the day
- Fear is Not a Legitimate Factor
- Smart people know that trying to prevent moral people from doing the "Right Thing" will backfire
- Fuel Autonomy and What It Teaches Us About Software Autonomy (or Software Freedom)
- Need we wait until a "software Pearl Harbor" or protect ourselves proactively by weaning ourselves off of GAFAMware?
- Scheduled Maintenance This Coming Wednesday
- Other than that, all is the same and we carry on as usual
- Most Press Articles About IBM Are LLM Slop, Sometimes With Slop Images
- IBM basically laid off almost 1,000 people last week [...] At the moment about 75% of the 'articles' we see about IBM (in recent days) are some kind of slop
- Links 23/03/2026: Security Breaches, Energy Shortages, Another SRA Scandal, and Patents on Nature
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
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