In this article we will examine the different Ubuntu Linux spin offs, highlight what each spin off is about, and decide who that spin off would suit. Hopefully, in the end, you will know exactly which *buntu ISO to download, burn with your CD or DVD burning, and install on your computer.

What is a derivative and why would I want to use one?

A derivative takes the original (in this case Ubuntu Linux) and alters it to fit a particular need or audience. As for Ubuntu there are quite a few derivatives and each one targets a very specific need. That specific need is why you would want to use a derivative. Say, for example, you are a teacher and you have specific needs from your operating system. There is a derivative for you. Or say you want KDE instead of GNOME. There i a derivative for you.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at what derivatives are out there and who they are for. First we will look at the officially supported Ubuntu derivatives.

Edubuntu

If you are in the business of education as either a teacher or a student, and you need software to fit those specific needs, Edubuntu contains everything you would need to teach a class, be in a class, or learn about a class. Edubuntu contains software for math, science, writing, educational games, and more. As for target age, Edubuntu is useful for elementary school through graduate school.

Kubuntu

The default Ubuntu “ships” with GNOME. Although GNOME is an outstanding desktop environment, there are those that will prefer the KDE desktop environment. For those fans of KDE who do not want to have to spend the time installing KDE, Kubuntu is for you. Kubuntu is now defaulting to KDE 4.x.

Ubuntu Server Edition

If you are looking for a reliable and fast server installation that contains nearly everything you need for a server by default, the Ubuntu Server Edition is for you. But be warned, this is a text-based install as well as a GUI-less operating system. So to use the Ubuntu Server Edition you best bone up on your command line skills.

And now for the Recognized derivatives.

Xubuntu

If you’re looking for a full-blown Ubuntu installation that has smaller hardware requirements than the stock GNOME or KDE based Ubuntu, Xubuntu might be for you. Xubuntu uses the Xfce window manager to keep system requirments as low as possible while still offering as much user-friendliness as possible.

Gobuntu

If you long to have an operating system completely free of restrictive licensing then Gobuntu is for you. Gobuntu endeavors to hold true to the Free Software Foundations’ four freedoms:

• The freedom to run the program for any purpose.
• The freedom to study how the program and adapt it to fit it to your needs.
• The freedom to redistribute your modified program.
• The freedom to improve the program.

So using Gobuntu you can rest assured that the included software will ahere to the four freedoms. This can cause problems if you have hardare that depends upon restricted drivers (such as NVidia cards).

Ubuntu Studio

If you have serious multimedia needs Ubuntu Studio is for you. This derivative includes: Ardour (professional-level audio tools); Gimp, Inkscape, and Blender (Graphics tools), PiTiVi, Kino, and Cinepaint (Video tools). What Ubuntu Studio does is install all of these tool for you so the end results is an outstanding distrubtion ready to fulfill your multimedia needs.

MythBuntu

If you need a media center PC and you want it based on an open source operating system, Mythbuntu is the OS you’ve been looking for. Once you have met all of the hardware requirements for your media setup, this Ubuntu distribution makes creating a stand-alone PVR system a snap. And because your media center will be powered by Ubuntu, you can bet that media center will serve as a standard desktop or a server. With MythBuntu you can meet many needs with one distribution.

And some unofficial derivatives

Eeebuntu

Eeebuntu replaces the default operating system on your Eee PC. But Eeebuntu isn’t just a replacement for your Eee operating system, it is definitely an upgrade. Eeebuntu will make your Eee PC seem more like a standard PC than many other Netbook respins.

CrunchBang

I hadn’t heard of Crunchbang, but with a name like that I had to look. Of course CrunchBang is a relevant derivative because it uses the OpenBox window manager and GTK+ applications. That means an incredibly light weight distribution (even more so than Xbuntu.)

OpenGEU

This is my favorite Ubuntu derivative because it uses the Enlightenment (E17) window manager. It’s sleek, well done, and chock full of eye candy.

Final Thoughts

Have you found a derivative that would match your needs yet? The above list includes all of the officially supported and the recognized (as well as some unrecognized) derivatives. If one of these derivatives does? not meet your needs you could either roll your own or look at a different distribution. Fortunately Ubuntu and its derivatives cover a lot of ground.

Related posts

• Ubuntu 8 is out (7)
• Ubuntu 7.10 has been released (1)
• My first day with Ubuntu (22)
• Let Eeebuntu Free your Eee PC (10)
• Keep logged in users informed with motd (0)

The first question, why is it Ubuntu 8.04 and not Ubuntu 8 ? There better be a good reason for the .04 at the end of every release. Second, what’s with the “funny” codenames ? I personally would like to see a release named Ubuntu 8 which would perfectly be enough. It’s short and everyone knows what it means.

The releases are available as torrents which should be used to take away some load from the main website and servers. Here is the torrent link for i386 and AMD-64. Those torrents can be downloaded with full speed, at least that’s the case currently.

The Download Squad collected information about some of the changes in Ubuntu 8:

* Firefox 3 beta is the default web browser
* Install Ubuntu from within Windows using Wubi
* Updated Linux kernel and new versions of Gnome and KDE desktops, with the option of using KDE 3.5 or KDE 4 as the default desktop for Kubuntu
* New BitTorrent Client
* New VNC client
* Virtualization software built into the kernel

Cybernet News have additional information about the other editions:

* Kubuntu 8.04 – A KDE version of Ubuntu. There’s now a “cutting edge” version available that includes KDE 4.0!
* Edubuntu 8.04 – Designed for the education setting, and includes iTalc classroom management software allowing for teacher sharing, monitoring, and control of networked workstations.
* Xubuntu 8.04 – Xubuntu uses the Xfce desktop environment which is geared towards less-powerful computers. Have an old computer sitting around? Put it to work with this Ubuntu variant!

Related posts

• Which Ubuntu Derivative Is Right For You? (16)
• Ubuntu 7.10 has been released (1)
• With Ubuntu 9.10 Arrives Wubi 9.10 (2)
• Ubuntu 8 makes it even easier to try out Linux (6)
• Run Linux Live CDs In Windows (4)

The Ubuntu Desktop Edition includes Hardware Management improvements, improved support for display systems especially for laptop users and users with multi monitor systems, an enhanced user interface, windows compatibility including full NTFS support, a desktop search and automatic integration of Firefox plugins that have been validated by Ubuntu before.

Make sure you take a look at the release notes to know what exactly has been changed. They also contain tips on common errors and compatibility issues.

Download Ubuntu 7.10
Ubuntu 7.10 Release Notes

Related posts

• Which Ubuntu Derivative Is Right For You? (16)
• Ubuntu 8 is out (7)
• My first day with Ubuntu (22)
• Adding Windows Vista and Kubuntu to Windows XP (5)
• Yoggie PICO Personal Mobile Security Computer (3)

The first thing that caught my attention was that all my NTFS (Windows file system) hard drives were accessible which is really great. I had an entry on my list of things that I wanted Ubuntu to do and this was one of them. I tried the installation and it worked fine. After selecting a username and password and some general settings like country I had the choice to automatically resize the partitions for Ubuntu or do it manually.

I decided to use the manual approach because I already created the partitions yesterday using the Kubuntu partitioner. I was able to select my Linux partition (ext3) with 30 gigabytes and my linux swap partition with 1 gigabyte. The installation began automatically and did not take long. After rebooting the system and changing the boot sequence again I was able to boot into Linux, Vista or XP using Grub the bootmanager.

My internet connection worked right out of the box, no installation was required. This was great because I needed to take a look at the Ubuntu documentation.

The first thing that I noticed was that many programs were already installed on my new Linux system. Some of them, like Firefox and Open Office, were applications that I was using on my Windows operating systems as well. The only thing that was really missing (at first glance) was support for mp3 files and other restricted formats.

Installing additional packages is slightly more complicated than in Windows. You may use the command line to install software or use a package manager that offers a selection of available software. I decided to use the package manager and took a quick look at software that I wanted to install.

I found Thunderbird, the same e-mail client that I was using in Windows and decided to install it hoping that it was possible to use the Windows profile in Linux as well. Thankfully the software is categorized and you can also use the good search to find something that you are looking for.

I decided to take a look at the ubuntu documentation to find out what I needed to install to be able to play mp3 and other files such as divx movies.

• ffmpeg
• libxvidcore4 (multiverse)
• gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly
• gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse
• gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad
• gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad-multiverse
• gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg
• gstreamer0.10-gl
• ibquicktime0 (universe)

Please note that you need to add the universe and multiverse repositories under settings, repositories before you may install some of the above codecs.

Installing and using Ubuntu was quite easy. The only difficulties inexperienced users might encounter will be the partitioning process and the installation of additional files. Most programs that I use on a daily basis are already preinstalled, if you use your computer mainly for office you are set to go without installing additional packages.

Related posts

• Adding Windows Vista and Kubuntu to Windows XP (5)
• Why you should switch your parents pc to ubuntu (20)
• Which Ubuntu Derivative Is Right For You? (16)
• Use SoundJuicer to rip mp3 directly in Linux (4)
• Ubuntu 8 makes it even easier to try out Linux (6)

I started with the installation of Windows Vista because other users told me that this would be the best way to install both systems. Grub, the Linux bootloader would be installed last this way and pick up all three operating systems, exactly the way I wanted it to be. During the installation of Windows Vista I realized that Vista is still not able to read my SATA drives without additonal drivers. I had this problem back when I was installing Windows XP and hoped that it would be solved in Vista.

I had to go back to Windows XP and download the SATA drivers from my motherboard manufacturer Asus and put them on a CD. I found out later that it would have been possible to add them to a hard drive or usb device as well. I had to load the drivers and was able to continue with the installation which took very long, and I mean long. Seemed like an hour before Vista was installed. Had not much time to play around because I still needed to install Kubuntu as well on the same drive.

I was prepared and created a Kubuntu CD before the Vista installation. A nice feature is that it functions as a live cd and installation cd at once. It booted fast into the gui and I had the chance to play around a little bit. I was looking for gparted, the partitioner that I intended to use but it was not there. Kubuntu had QTParted installed, I guess it does not make much of a difference.

I created a EXT3 partition of 30 gigabytes and a Linux Swap partition of 1 gigabyte. Kubuntu has a installation shortcut on its desktop, I double-clicked it and the installation started. Unfortunately the manual selection of the partitions failed and I had to choose that the partition would be automatically resized.

I’m still waiting that the resizing of the partition finds an end and the installation of Kubuntu can begin. Would say it took almost an hour until now and there is no end in sight because I do not see a progress bar or a clock that is running down.

If everything works out fine I will begin tomorrow to play around with Vista and Kubuntu and write about my first day experience with both systems. If you know of a solution for the problem that I can’t install Kubuntu manually let me know please.

Related posts

• Triple Boot Vista, XP and Ubuntu (5)
• Preparing myself for Linux and Vista (9)
• Windows Vista Editions – Do you know the differences ? (6)
• How to Repair the Vista Bootloader (8)
• Why you should switch your parents pc to ubuntu (20)