As mentioned in my previous post, tonight I tested all the Ubuntu sisters on my PC from pen drive. Specifications of my HP PC are:
Processor: 2.4 Ghz Pentium 4, single core
RAM: 1 GB DDR
HDD: IDE 250 GB
Build: 2003
A tabular view of the results is given below:
| Distro | Xubuntu 12.04 LTS | Ubuntu 12.04 LTS | Kubuntu 12.04 LTS | Lubuntu 12.04 | |
| Booting Time | 5 min. | 7 min. | 7 min. | 3 min. | |
| Speed | Immediately loads and fast | Initially hangs but fast once loaded | Initially hangs but fast once loaded | Immediately loads and superfast | |
| Feel | Light, less RAM intensive and requires very little RAM to run CPU: 6-10% RAM: 130 MiB |
Moderate, requires higher RAM to run CPU: 17-18% RAM: 340 MiB |
Light, requires RAM lower than Ubuntu but higher than Xubuntu or Lubuntu CPU: 3-10% RAM: 235 MiB |
Very light and requires the least RAM CPU: 1-11% RAM: 126 MiB |
|
| Desktop | XFCE | Unity | KDE | LXDE | |
| Adobe Flash | Adobe Flash inbuilt | Flash needs to be installed | Flash needs to be installed | Flash needs to be installed | |
| Ease of Use | Easy even for entry level | Easy | Difficult for Entry Level, mostly for Geeks but highly functional |
Easy even for entry level | |
| Eye candy Factor | Less but looks good | Real eye candy | Eye candy | Minimalistic but looks good | |
| Extra software required | Skype VLC Libreoffice Cheese |
Skype VLC Cheese Adobe Flash Gimp |
Skype VLC Cheese Adobe Flash |
Skype VLC Cheese Adobe Flash Libreoffice Gimp |
|
| LAN/Wifi | Immediate | Immediate | Immediate | Immediate | |
Lubuntu & Xubuntu are the lightest using around 130 MiB of RAM whereas Ubuntu uses about 3 times more and Kubuntu two times more. I posted a detailed comparison at http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in/2012/04/ubuntu-distros-ram-cpu-usage-of-ubuntu.html
Screenshots of each distro is given below. Remember, these are from as-it-is distros and not a single change is from my side. A short review for each, without going into technical nitty-gritty (which you can get from the respective websites, as hyperlinked below), along with the pictures to tell an end-user’s story:
Xubuntu 12.04 LTS:
Looks like a typical linux distro, based on extremely light XFCE desktop and super fast. Those who have low RAM old systems, Xubuntu is for them. Also, those who hate Unity, Xubuntu can be a viable option for them. It comes with Adobe Flash & GIMP pre-installed, which is good. I installed Libreoffice along with Abiword and Gnumeric as Libreoffice offers more functionality. Repository wise no worry – all the Ubuntu softwares are available here.
Ubuntu 12.04 LTS
As usual the best looking linux distro and now the Unity interface has really improved and become fast. It is the most complete linux distro I have ever seen, although a bit on the heavier side than the other three in comparison here. A lot of new functionalities have been added, which I’ll cover in a later post.
Kubuntu 12.04 LTS
A distro for the KDE lovers! Although a bit geeky but amazingly good looking distro. Those who prefer Windows XP would definitely like it. Software list is more-or-less complete and definitely lighter than Ubuntu. But I felt, it is slightly heavier than Xubuntu though almost equally fast on my low resource system.
Lubuntu 12.04
Lightest and fastest of them all. Unfortunately, it is not an LTS, as John pointed out in the comments section. That means, no 3 or 5 years support for it but only 18 months of support, just like a regular release. But, if you have a low resource computer, Lubuntu is perfect for you. It is more-or-less rich in pre-loaded softwares and you can install what-ever softwares you like from the Ubuntu repository. I have a 2003 P-4 1GB DDR RAM running on Lubuntu 12.04 without any hassles.
Conclusion
Who’s the winner? It depends. If you have an old, low resource computer (512 mb RAM, less than 1.5 Ghz processor), possibly Lubuntu and Xubuntu will win hands down.
If you have a modern computer, Ubuntu and Kubuntu would be the preferred distro. If you like eye-candies Ubuntu is a sure-shot choice. If you like functionality more and is a linux purist, one would prefer Kubuntu.
In essence, what I saw all the distros are really damn good. Much refined than 11.10 versions which came out. Somehow, I didn’t like the 11.10 versions and felt that they were released somewhat uncooked with a lot of bugs. Especially Unity was a real pain and forced me to stick to Ubuntu Natty (11.04). Now, I guess it’s the time for a change and 5 years of support from Canonical is too tempting to resist. I’ll install either one of these four tomorrow evening.
Source: http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.com/2012/04/ubuntu-1204-vs-xubuntu-1204-vs-kubuntu.html
ITSolutionDesign (Martin's technology notepad) 