Regular readers will know of my contempt for Ubuntu Linux‘s standard “Unity” interface. Sadly I could find no simple way to transition to the Mint distro (which keeps Ubuntu’s simplicity but ditches the abomination that is Unity) and so thought I had no choice but to live with it.
But, bluntly, Unity was making the computer I am typing this on all but unusable – it was like a trip back 15 or more years in computing performance – thrashing, long delays, the whole “run Windows 3.1 on a 640KB box” experience. Unity had to go or the laptop (a vintage and a long way from the top of the range machine – but with 2GB RAM and two Athlon TK-57 processors not quite ready for the scrap yard) had to go.
In desperation this morning I installed Xfce (Xubuntu-desktop) – I wish I had done that years ago. The computer is usable again and I get to work with a clean and entirely functional desktop.
Related articles
- Good-bye Ubuntu. Sort of. (nexcess.net)
- Xfce-Based Xubuntu Will Not Ship XMir For 13.10 (phoronix.com)
- UberStudent, A Linux Distribution For Learners (unixmen.com)
cartesian product ... stuff about computing mostly 
3 responses to “Saving a computer with Xfce”
I’ve seen arguments for and against, but I am now a believer in creating a separate partition for /home. If you have that, I suspect that the instructions I posted to myself for updating and reinstalling Mint (http://orinanobworld.blogspot.com/2010/02/mint-reloading-os.html) should also work for switching to Mint, should you still be interested. Haven’t tested this, though.
Well, it’s the lack of a separate /home partition that has discouraged me from switching to Mint. But after 12 hours of xubuntu I am pretty happy right now – I feel like this laptop is a decent machine again while before I was just thinking of chucking it away.
Which brings us to an aphorism populare on this side of the pond: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Enjoy xubuntu!