Latest news

Xubuntu 12.04 alpha 2 released

lyz — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:37:29 +0000

The Xubuntu team is proud to announce the Alpha2 release of Xubuntu 12.04, Precise Pangolin!

Updates for this release include:

New greeter + theme
xfdesktop4 has been updated to support single click to open items, thumbnail support for the desktop.
xfce4-settings has been updated to include the new mouche/touchpad dialog (backported from 4.9.x)
Some other syncs, updates and patches from Debian and upstream, including: xfce4-power-manager, Ristretto and gmusicbrowser
Minor updates to default settings and packages, mostly appearance (including Terminal font size change)

Visit the download page to give it a try. Be sure to report your testing results to help the Xubuntu developers - see the ISO testing tracker. Bugs can be reported in Launchpad. If you are looking for support please see the #ubuntu+1 or #xubuntu IRC channels on irc.freenode.net. Before testing this release, make sure to review the release notes.

Known issues:

For the desktop images, installing from the CD menu is failing, however, allowing the CD to spin until it stops at "try Xubuntu", "Install Xubuntu" works
Xubuntu upgrade testing is not done for Alpha2

Xubuntu 11.10 released

lyz — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 13:21:29 +0000

There are a few times when, through hard work and diligence, we get things right. The developers and contributors of Xubuntu 11.10 “Oneiric Ocelot” believe they have it right. They are proud to announce the release of Xubuntu 11.10, "Oneiric Ocelot". Through the outstanding efforts of all involved, this sleek and smooth release offered for your enjoyment and use.

Changes for this release include the following applications included by default: gThumb, pastebinit, and onboard. The team has also chosen to switch from GDM to LightDM as the default display manager and from mousepad to leafpad as the default text editor.

We invite you to give this newest member of the Xubuntu family a spin. The Xubuntu Desktop CD can be used on either USB drives or burned to a CD. Either will allow you to try this fantastic distribution before you install it.

Visit the download page to give it a try. Bugs can be reported in Launchpad. If you are looking for support, please see the #xubuntu IRC channel on irc.freenode.net. Before installing this release, make sure to review the release notes.

Xubuntu Oneiric Ocelot beta2 released

lyz — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 23:03:35 +0000

There are a few times when, through hard work and diligence, we get things right. The developers and contributors of Xubuntu 11.10 “Oneiric Ocelot” believe they have it right. They are proud to announce the second beta release of Xubuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot". This is still a testing build designed for developers and is not suggested for anyone looking for a stable system. Please do not install Oneiric Ocelot Beta2 on your production system.

Visit the download page to give it a try. Be sure to report your testing results to help the Xubuntu developers - xubuntu-devel@lists.ubuntu.com. Bugs can be reported in Launchpad. If you are looking for see support, please see the #ubuntu+1 or #xubuntu IRC channels on irc.freenode.net. Before testing this release, make sure to review the release notes.

Xubuntu Oneiric Ocelot beta1 released

lyz — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 21:57:34 +0000

The first beta release of Xubuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot" has arrived. The developers are working hard to make Xubuntu 11.10 one of the best Linux distributions yet. They are striving to ensure that everything will work for all users, and instead of many changes, are working to ensure the release is very stable and secure.

This is still a testing build designed for developers and is not suggested for anyone looking for a stable system. Please do not install Oneiric Ocelot on your production system.

Changes (since Alpha 1 - Xubuntu specific):

Xubuntu has replaced gdm with lightdm as the application that manages logins. Automatic logins will not work with lightdm at the present time. We are sure lightdm is going to provide a much better experience for the users than gdm.
Pastebinit is now included in Xubuntu intallations by default. If you need to use http://paste.ubuntu.com/, you can use pastebinit to paste directly without copying and pasting the data.
The developers have replaced mousepad with leafpad as the text editor. leafpad now includes the ability to print, and is better maintained than mousepad.
The onscreen keyboard, Onboard, is now included in the default Xubuntu menus, under Accessories. For those who require an onscreen keyboard, this will be much easier to access using only a mouse or touchpad.
Astute users will observe a new plymouth splash screen in use. Unfortunately, we have found that occasionally, when using the desktop cd to install, the message "hit any key to continue" will not appear. Should you get a black screen with text and the sliding throbber, when the throbber stops moving and the cd ejects, remove the cd and hit enter on the keyboard to continue.
Bluetooth does not work at the present time in Xubuntu. Please see the bug below. A workaround is to install 'blueman' to manage bluetooth.
The Xubuntu developers and contributors had a discussion about replacing the Gimp with an application to assist with digital photos. As a result, gThumb has been added to the default installation. This application is designed to help with image transformations and viewing.
(Users must select a session when logging in the first time. If no session is selected, the user will see the Ubuntu wallpaper, and nothing else. In this case, go to a tty using Ctrl+Alt+F2, login, and type: sudo service lightdm restart Now the user can login again, and select the session.)

Xubuntu 11.10 alpha 2 released

lyz — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 16:09:24 +0000

Another great milestone reached: Xubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot Alpha 2 released

The second alpha release of Xubuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot" has arrived. The developers are working hard to make Xubuntu 11.10 one of the best Linux distributions yet. They are striving to ensure that everything will work for all users, and instead of many changes, are working to ensure the release is very stable and secure.

This is still a testing build designed for developers and is not suggested for anyone looking for a stable system.

Changelog (since Alpha 1 - Xubuntu specific):

Kernel 3.0-rc5
Xarchiver replaces FileRoller
Leafpad replaces Mousepad
LightDM replaces GDM

(Users must select a session when logging in the first time. If no session is selected, the user will see the Ubuntu wallpaper, and nothing else. In this case, go to a tty using Ctrl+Alt+F2, login, and type: sudo service lightdm restart Now the user can login again, and select the session.)

Visit the download page to give it a try. Be sure to report your testing results to help the Xubuntu developers - see the ISO testing tracker. Bugs can be reported in Launchpad. If you are looking for see support, please see the #ubuntu+1 or #xubuntu IRC channels on irc.freenode.net. Before testing this release, make sure to review the release notes.

Xubuntu 11.04 released

Fri, 29 Apr 2011 04:18:11 +0000

Xubuntu 11.04, codenamed the "Natty Narwhal", is the latest and greatest version of Xubuntu, released on April 28th, 2011. Building on the success of Xubuntu 10.10, Xubuntu 11.04 looks forward to continuing the tradition of being a light-weight and easy-to-use Linux distribution built on top of the high-quality and feature-rich core of Ubuntu.

Release Notes

To learn about all the great enhancements and improvements that can be found in Xubuntu 11.04, please see the release notes.

Download

Get it while it's hot. ISOs and torrents are available at:

http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releases/11.04/release/ (Xubuntu)
http://releases.ubuntu.com/releases/11.04 (Ubuntu)
http://releases.ubuntu.com/releases/edubuntu/11.04/ (Edubuntu add-on)
http://releases.ubuntu.com/releases/kubuntu/11.04 (Kubuntu)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntustudio/releases/11.04/ (UbuntuStudio)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/mythbuntu/releases/11.04/ (Mythbuntu)

More instructions are available on the download page.

Upgrading from Xubuntu 10.10

To upgrade to Xubuntu 11.04 from Xubuntu 10.10, follow these instructions.

Xubuntu 11.04 beta 2 released

vincent — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 23:15:06 +0000

The second and final beta release of Xubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" has arrived. This is a testing build designed for testers and developers and is not suggested for anyone looking for a stable system. This beta replaces the traditional Release Candidate - the stable version for end-users will be released April 28th 2011, so these last two weeks of testing are of utmost importance for a stable release.

Visit the download page to give it a try. Be sure to report your testing results to help the Xubuntu developers - see the ISO testing tracker. Bugs can be reported in Launchpad.

If you are looking for support, please see the #ubuntu+1 or #xubuntu IRC channels on irc.freenode.net.

Before testing this release, make sure to review the release notes (specifically the section on Xubuntu).

Xubuntu 11.04 beta 1 released

vincent — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 02:13:24 +0000

The first beta release of Xubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" has arrived. This is a testing build designed for developers and is not suggested for anyone looking for a stable system. The second beta will be released April 14th, and will replace the traditional Release Candidate.

Visit the download page to give it a try. Be sure to report your testing results to help the Xubuntu developers - see the ISO testing tracker. Bugs can be reported in Launchpad.

If you are looking for support, please see the #ubuntu+1 or #xubuntu IRC channels on irc.freenode.net.

Before testing this release, make sure to review the release notes (specifically the section on Xubuntu).

Xubuntu Natty Artwork

ochosi — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 17:25:55 +0000

As one of Xubuntu's artwork contributors and member of the Shimmerproject I would like to take some time now - towards the end of this cycle - and discuss (at least parts of) the design process during the development phase for Natty (11.04). This is planned as a review and in a way (implicitely) a preview: you can see the direction Xubuntu is heading for since Maverick and Natty and hopefully the project will continue this way.

Looking back on the previous release (aka Maverick)

We started out in early November to analyze what had happened during the Maverick cycle and I realized that with a few aspects of that particular cycle I was really unhappy. For one we started out with developing Bluebird (Maverick's new theme, which was designed as a bright pendant to the well-proven Albatross) very late and also other changes (mostly icons) were done at the last minute. Therefore we didn't have time to (1) go through sufficient testing and (2) gather feedback to evaluate and fine-tune the theme. Other than that the cooperation with the Xubuntu team worked fine, although I think we didn't communicate enough.

Evaluating the current cycle (aka Natty)

In Natty we started pretty early, basically shortly after Maverick was released in late October of 2010 and I continuously developed "Greybird", which is code-wise and experience-wise based on Bluebird. We got a lot of feedback from the community that suggested that the blue tones were too intense and in general the reactions were polarizing (meaning: some really liked it, other really disliked it). Therefore I decided to take a different approach and start again with less colors (hence the codename "Greybird") and see where we would get with that. Charlie (Xubuntu's Project Leader) decided already during Maverick that one focus of Natty development should be accessibility, in my approach for Greybird these two motivations (less colors for daily use, accessibility) played along very nicely. The whole development process was (at least semi-)public from the beginning, the members of the Xubuntu community provided feedback during the community-meetings and as we felt ready we went public and links and screenshots were published and discussed on various blogs.

Other than the gtk-theme we also did a new xfwm4-theme (based on the elementary-theme by the elementary Team) and decided to go for bigger changes with the panels, making use of the new functions we gained from Xfce4.8. There's now the top panel that traditionally shows the menu-button and system-tray, but now it also contains the list of open windows. So basically the functionality of the two panels has been merged into one. I think the gain in vertical screen estate will be appreciated by users of 16:10 or 16:9 resolutions. In the lower edge we decided to auto-hide the launcher panel, the applications we consider most important for a new user are only one click away with that. This panel is easily customizable, to create new launchers simply drag and drop them from either the menu, appfinder or /usr/share/applications in Thunar. Since the compositor is now switched on by default we can make use of the new panel's gorgeous alpha-transparency and the lower
launcher-panel looks beautifully semi-transparent.

One more issue that we were able to fix because we started with artwork so early in the cycle is the resize-grips, which are now shown in practically every window. Since most other urgent things were fixed already it was possible for us to focus on that issue and solve it gracefully: we now have a beautiful and accessible resize-grip in Greybird.

Looking ahead

As most of you know the UI-freeze is still some time away, so some things are still in the move. I had more plans for Natty than I was (or
will be) able to finish in time (some of those plans and ideas developed throughout the cycle though), so I hope we will take the time and improve our project management by one more step: adding a roadmap for Natty+1 shortly after the release in April.

Xubuntu 11.04 alpha 2 released

vincent — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 20:14:35 +0000

The second alpha release of Xubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" has arrived. This is a testing build designed for developers and is not suggested for anyone looking for a stable system.

Visit the download page to give it a try. Be sure to report your testing results to help the Xubuntu developers - see the ISO testing tracker. Bugs can be reported in Launchpad.

If you are looking for support, please see the #ubuntu+1 or #xubuntu IRC channels on irc.freenode.net.

Before testing this release, make sure to review the release notes.