Distro Watch Very favorable first impressions of Xubuntu 11.10
Very favorable first impressions of Xubuntu 11.10
Cool! I am here now with the 100% completed release upgrade of Xubuntu from release 11.04 to release 11.10. In the new release, LightDM replaces gdm as the login display manager (but you can choose, during installation, to continue to use gdm if you so prefer it).
I went with LightDM, and the new version shows “Ubuntu 11.10″ (but curiously, not Xubuntu 11.10) as the version, on a black muted background with evenly spaced dots.
The desktop, since I did a release upgrade, retains the characteristics of the previous release, and that is good, because that is the way that I want it.
The system consumes 153 MB of memory (out of 2 GB available) on my Lenovo laptop, so there is plenty of headroom. That’s not the absolute best number I’ve seen, but it’s pretty good for a complete Xfce-based system with nice extras and a full set of features.
With the Firefox 7.0.1 Web browser started, 326 MB are used with two tabs open, and composing this note in a third tab, memory use for the system climbs to 353 MB, with peaks a bit higher, but still under 375 MB, and they nicely return, indicating that the new Firefox release is being careful in its use of memory.
It all works very well and I am happy with it, and I recommend this Xubuntu 11.10 release, as I have the Xubuntu 11.04 release before it, as a very good choice for someone who does want a desktop environment, but really does not need or want the added complexity that KDE brings or the less traditional approaches now used in GNOME 3 and in Unity, Canonical’s controversial interface used in Ubuntu. This Xubuntu 11.10 release is a fresh relief for those who simply want a nice, functional system. Xubuntu 11.10 delivers, and excels in providing a functional, no frills or surprises, responsive, and usable desktop system.
