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.
-
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
- Contemptuous Law Firm Accusing Others of Contempt of Court
- Keeping a running tally can help
- Links 10/10/2026: Let's Encrypt Making Changes (Problem for Small Sites/Operations), Quartz is Officially a Slopfarm (Busted)
- Links for the day
- Brigading Against Women - Part XXV - No Anonymity for People Who Did Illegal Things
- "Empathy is the sunlight to the vampire of culture."
-
- Anderon Is Not a Real Company, It's an IBM Bailout Dressed Up or Wrapped Up In Buzzwords
- It certainly does seem like they receive money from taxpayers for nothing, or for IBM to do mass layoffs/closure at Albany under the guise of "making a new spinoff"...
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Saturday, October 10, 2026
- IRC logs for Saturday, October 10, 2026
- Gemini Links 10/10/2026: Radio Romania International, Avoiding GAFAM, Open Camera, and Another Palm
- Links for the day
- The 2026 Slop Prediction (Slopfarms Perishing)
- Morality in the "digital world" has deteriorated profoundly
- netsplit.de (Survey of IRC Networks and History) Only Partly Functional This Month
- Get well soon, netsplit.de
- Microsoft Cuts
- GAFAM enshittification
- NVIDIA Acts Like It Cannot Pay Salaries (Too Many Obligations, Sales in Circular Financing, or Basically Accounting Fraud)
- Masters of acting as clients of themselves
- Paying for elections, Reform UK illegal confession in High Court
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- Microsoft Abuses PERM and Lays Off Workers in India
- The US government has made it easier for Microsoft to hide the mass layoffs
- The GAFAM Elections in the United States
- If the election is run by platforms that have back doors "baked-in" and if the communications are overseen by GAFAM, you would not have to be a "nutty MAGAt" to dispute the outcome
- More GAFAM Layoffs (Late on Friday Night)
- They say they are worth trillions, but they don't even make money
- Male-Dominated EPO Fails to Have "Concrete Measures to Support Female Staff"
- Being a female at the EPO is exceptionally hard
- Production Freeze at the European Patent Office (Opposing Monarchy, Institutional Maladministration and Corruption)
- Eight reasons to participate
- Links 10/10/2026: Microsoft 'Open' 'AI' Silencing Critics, "Data Centres are the New Front Line in the Russia-Ukraine War"
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Friday, October 09, 2026
- IRC logs for Friday, October 09, 2026
- Gemini Links 10/10/2026: Optimism, Stargazing, "Life Without Smartphone", and Fairphone 4
- Links for the day
- Links 09/10/2026: Stranded Busan Shark Still a 'Circus', Endangered Monkey Rescued, BBC Shells Out Money
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 09/10/2026: Manifesto, Slop, Geminispace, and "Cryptography of the Internet"
- Links for the day
- Betanews is Still a Slopfarm, Articles About "Linux" Are Fake and Plagiarism by LLMs
- Cheaters and plagiarists aren't journalists; they're people who rip off and harm journalists
- The Register MS Sponsored to Hype Up "Datacenters" and "AI" (Bubble, Pyramid Scheme)
- "Sponsored by Cisco" with "AI" 26 times in this page
- James Bottomley Has Promoted Microsoft-Controlled Restricted ('Secure') Boot, His Blog Has Just Been Cracked
- Does this meet IBM's and Microsoft's standards for "distinguished" (in security)?
- Links 09/10/2026: "Internet Archive to Demo Wayback Machine at Friday’s Uniqlo Street Festival", France Wages Censorship War via DNS
- Links for the day
- Controlled Opposition
- The underlying concept is hardly new
- More Stallmans
- We need more Stallmans, we don't need to change Stallman
- SUEPO Munich (EPO Staff Union in the Main Headquarters) Opposes Monarchy ('Cocaine King' Campinos), Plans Online Meeting Next Week
- They may have about 1,000 workers joining in
- World Mental Health Day is Tomorrow and EPO Staff Talks About What the Job Does to Workers
- In recent years we've written a great deal about mental health consideration in relation to work, with a focus on "IT"
- GNU/Linux Flirts With 20% "Market Share" in North America Overnight
- Who should we trust on GNU/Linux? Microsofters on an armchair or Cloudflare Radar?
- You Definitely Do NOT Wish to Live Close to a Datacentre
- put aside for a moment the noise, the pollution...
- New Site Makes the Case Against Adoption of Omarchy, But Focuses Almost Entirely on Politics
- Let's examine what the page says and what points it focuses on
- Brigading Against Women - Part XXIV - Nobody's Name is Unspeakable
- Names are not sacred
- Microsoft is in Trouble (With the Regime It Sponsored)
- It seems like Microsoft paying the existing regime/dictatorship wasn't enough
- GGG Pot Calls the Kettle Black
- "It means a situation in which somebody accuses someone else of a fault which the accuser shares, and therefore is an example of psychological projection, or hypocrisy. Use of the expression to discredit or deflect a claim of wrongdoing by attacking the originator of the claim for their own similar behaviour (rather than acknowledging the guilt of both) is the tu quoque logical fallacy."
- In the United Kingdom, Rising Cost of Hardware Benefits GNU/Linux
- GNU/Linux rose from about 4% to almost 6% in one year
- Japanese Targets of Cyber Breaches or Insider Threats
- Japanese government bureau and major firms experience data breaches
- Gemini Links 09/10/2026: Optimism, Stargazing, and Solar MiniServer
- Links for the day
- The Microsoft Ban Should Go Further (Telecommunications Cybersecurity and Resilience Act Incompatible With Back Doors)
- it's not difficult to see where to start
- When Americans Export a 'Suicide Mission' to Other Continents
- I worry that this culture of debt-taking and overconsumption is being spread from the US to Europe
- The Register MS: "AI" Several Times in Same Headline, 31 Times in Page. The Register MS Was Paid to Do This.
- The phenomenon is commercial (paid media), not scientific
- The Outcome of Microsoft Ban Was Predictable
- told you so
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Thursday, October 08, 2026
- IRC logs for Thursday, October 08, 2026