Ubuntu has many variants with offers many options in term of Desktop Environment (DE). The Ubuntu itself uses Unity as the default Desktop Environment. The new Ubuntu 16.04 Xenial Xerus has been released few months ago. This is the Long Term Support version which will be supported for the next 4 years. Its a good choice if you want to start installing Ubuntu on your computer. At least, you will get any security updates for the next few years.
Personally, I don’t like Unity and I prefer other DE such as Gnome or Xfce. The last mentioned DE has become the default Desktop on Xubuntu, one of my favorite Ubuntu variants. Xubuntu 16.04 comes with Xfce version 4.12 which is more reliable and its extremely fast. Compared to Gnome, KDE or Unity, Xfce is significantly faster and more lightweight. So, Xubuntu 16.04 will run on your old laptops as well.
The Xubuntu 16.04 desktop is pretty simple. The application button is located on the top left of your screen where you can access all installed applications and settings. Any Microsoft Windows users can use it pretty easy.
Xubuntu 16.04 can be run from a USB stick in Live mode. You may also install it to your PC or laptop with few clicks and it will take only few minutes to complete the installation. There are many applications installed by default such as Mozilla Firefox, LibreOffice 5, Parole Media Player, Xfburn (for burning CDs) and many more.
Xubuntu 16.04 as a workstation
I was installed Xubuntu 16.04 on my laptop connected to company network. Xubuntu 16.04 can easily connect to any Windows shared folder. Gigolo application is all you need. You can connect to other computer/resources using various protocols such as SSH, Windows share (Samba) and some other.
Software Installation on Xubuntu 16.04
Like any other Ubuntu based Linux, Xubuntu 16.04 comes with a handy Software Center which allows us to manage the software installation. We can choose and install applications from thousands software right away from Software Center.
Software Center will also notified when there are any updates available for download.
Explore Xubuntu 16.04 and get a different impressions and experiences when using Linux. Xubuntu 16.04 is simple, beautiful and extremely fast.
