What year is this? 2008?
I’ve never heard of ubuntu being described as light weight.
only thing it was ever described as, is as an easy to use distro for first time linux users… and even thats not entirely applicable anymore
I’ve never understood the point of these articles.
What does anyone gain by attacking other linux distro’s? It’s not like people don’t give Linux Mint a chance… I’m not a fan of Snap, but, there are many who are…
Ubuntu also offers SLA’s to companies (15 years support) and Linux Mint doesn’t offer paid support, and there are likely many other reasons to use Ubuntu over LinuxMint.
Use what best suits your requirements.
It is an essential aspect of being Linux users that we claim our preferred distro is the absolute best and others are garbage not worth using. It’s in the terms I’m pretty sure.
Theo De Raadt, is that you?
I’ve never heard Ubuntu claiming to be lightweight.
Ubuntu’s initial claim to fame was a normie (non-techie) could install it and the stuff they wanted to work would Just Work- there’d be a little option during install ‘do you want to install closed source or proprietary or patent encumbered shit?’ and you’d click yes and then your graphics card would work and your MP3s would play and your sound card worked without having to fuck around with kernel modules and command lines.
If you want lightweight install Xubuntu (xfce environment).
I don’t recall Ubuntu being a lightweight distro or ever aiming to be. It was always Debian with more stuff.
yep, user friendly, easy install, gooey install, proprietary drivers; extra stuff.
i think they were aiming to loss lead, capture user base and ultimately get some b2b sales - oh well :( OP author even ignores stuff like Lubuntu and Xubuntu, which i assume canonical have at least some contribution to. OP gets downvote from me, worthless article.
Ubuntu is the enterprise distro if you need something Debian based you can get a proper enterprise support contract for.
They have had light official flavors (Lubuntu, Xubuntu, Netbook remix). But primary distro that has always been either Gnome or Unity has been fully-featured. It’d only consider it “light” compared to Windows.
Neither are lightweight. If you want lightweight then get debian
How debian is lightweight ? Isn’t it have too many bloats pre-installed ?
A distro i can build myself is actually lightweight. Like Arch or Void.
Both arch and debian fresh out the box is minimal. Debian minimum requirement is 1160MB for Hard Disk, I’d imagine something similar for arch. From scratch, neither comes with bloat. You’re probably conflating debian with ubuntu or linux mint out the box.
When was Ubuntu “lightweight”? I’m not saying it was always bloated, but it was never supposed to be minimalist either. It was just an easy works-out-of-the-box Linux experience.
It was only lightweight in comparison to Windows, but every other OS is.
When they first started, they had a list of promises. One of them was to always fit on a 800meg CD.
In the early 2000s, that wasnt particularily lightweight. I believe it came with openoffice and the full gnome desktop. That was not really minimal in any way.
ChatGPT, write me an article about Linux that gets traffic.
So XDA developers page too is affected by AI Slop.
Yea they got bought out recently, right?
Not recently I think. It’s around in 2022. Acquired by Valnet Inc.
Ah, that explains why everything I see from them is clickbait now.
As others have stated, Ubuntu was never a minimalist distribution.
When Ubuntu first came out, most common CD drives could only work with CDs of a about 700Mb capacity, but assuming that the tech would keep improving, it was reasonable to suggest this. It was never because Ubuntu was touted as “lightweight”, though. Then writable DVDs became almost ubiquitous, and they eventually migrated to that. In the meantime, USB flash drives were getting cheaper, and Linux installer tech was also improving, so eventually (quite early actually) these were supported too. But this was simply a logical progression of tech development and catering to the predominant baseline capacities of storage media.
If you want a proper minimalist, try PuppyLinux or DamnSmallLinux. If you want to run on a Raspberry Pi (or one of their other supported SBCs) try DietPi.
Even better for a minimal system, try tinycore linux
There wasn’t a single second between now and 1970 where even the most delusional people could’ve seen Ubuntu as “lightweight”.
Not saying lightweight but Ubuntu 10.10 booting was fast at least even on HDD.
Compared to what “heavyweight” distro at the time?
Compared to Ubu…
Back when they were still fucking around with upstart and mir its was light enough. Today its just another windows.
It’s basically bearing the brunt of Windows heads using Linux. It’s a very common disto on WSL.
When they first started, they had a list of promises. One of them was to always fit on a 800meg CD.
why would it stop when it never was to begin with? lol
My exact thought. Always been at least mid weight, if not flipping heavy as.
IMO that’s why it became popular at the time. It was a Linux distro anyone can install and use right away after installation.
Easy install with drivers included and a rich guy willing to mail you installer CDs in a nice jacket for free. Every computer club in any school had a stack of them to give out.
Right, it had everything built in and ready to go
When they first started, they had a list of promises. One of them was to always fit on a 800meg CD.
Is it kind of weird to respond to every thread with this same claim? A CD iso with full gnome desktop and openoffice wasnt minimal at the time.
Bot
No, probably just a really passionate human determined to tell people where that alleged “lightweight” claim comes from. Don’t underestimate how persistent nerds can be when they think they’re right.
Yeah, possibly. One might ask what the difference between such person and a bot is…
The same as the difference between my rambles and AI slop: One is natural, the other artificial. One is organic, the other mechanic. One is passionate, the other soulless.
True, true. The one-dimensional layer of text forums covers up the means to differentiate.
You are all falling for the rage bait
Yup
Same for you.
Sure, why not? Isn’t that the whole point of the internet?
God, I hope not
Mint has always been the better Ubuntu.
Prove me wrong.
And Zorin is above both
Did someone mentioned Ubuntu was never lightweight yet?
When they first started, they had a list of promises. One of them was to always fit on a 800meg CD.
That wasn’t “light weight Linux” for 2004. Back then I would have probably been looking at Slackware or some other era appropriate minimalist distro if I wanted a minimalist Linux.
Back in 2004 USB thumb drives were realtively new, and Ubuntu would have failed fitting on any available on the market. Yet a handful of minimalist distros could (depending on if the minimalist distro had a DE or not, and the overall package goals).
Ubuntu stopped being a viable desktop distribution 15 years ago, light or heavyweight.
GNOME 3 and afterwards didn’t help. And Snap was the last nail in the coffin.
