I found out that xubuntu spams users including me, which to me is a no go.
I’m looking for a linux based ad free distro that lets me work with libreoffice, vlc, tbb, transmission, okular, pdfarranger, hexchat, gimp and ocr.
I’m going to use it to edit text, watch movies, download multimedia, chat and edit audio with audacity.
it’s not going to be a server and I’d like to work with the terminal as much as possible. At the same time, I’m a newbie.
You must log in or register to comment.
How do you mean they are spamming?
Mint is a good alterative. It has an xfce edition.
OP answered this in another comment: They are getting prompted to sign up for Ubuntu Pro whenever they upgrade.
Ubuntu what now
Pro
Linux Mint Xfce Edition should be right up your alley.
@merompetehla Linux Mint XFCE is basically the same thing as Xubuntu, except without Canonical’s bad proprietary decisions like snaps. It’s much more of a drop-in replacement than, say, Debian.
If you are using Xubuntu 22.04, it should be possible to switch without reinstallation, as Linux Mint and Ubuntu are binary compatible as Mint uses Ubuntu’s repos and only adds Mint-specific packages in its own repo.
I think they are just referring to the Ubuntu pro ads.
This is not spam. If you have random outdated packages from the universe repo on your system it will tell you that they would ALSO offer support for those if you get Ubuntu pro.
Maybe too often, idk. But Linux Mint will “fix” this by also running these old maybe insecure packages but not even offering security fixes.
People need to step down their weird Linux-entitlement horses, and get that Free Software is not free as in free beer.
Just use Debian. Why use the inferior downstream distros when you can go right to the OG? You are already halfway there.
Debian doesn’t have a corporate sponsor so there is no risk of getting spammed or giving someone your personal information.
There is a reason there are tons of Debian distros. They all make a difference.
They do have corporate sponsors. It just that the corporate sponsors do not want to see ads anymore than you do. They are have strong community leadership that is powered equally.
just go stock debian xfce, keep it simple.
It’s what my 70 year old mother is perfectly happy with for several years since I told her to drop lubuntu.
install flatpack +flathub f you want even more app convenience.
This is the answer. Current stable Debian already has the latest release of Xfce (4.18); and for recent gui apps there’s flatpak.
For packages like syncthing you can enable official apt repos to get the latest versions.
Other packages for which the latest versions are desirable though the flatpak versions get a bit too finicky (like vim & emacs), you can compile from source. It’s not hard, even for a newbie.
MX > stock
Would you mind elaborating?
I’m aware that MX works on a lot of excellent GUI tools that are shipped with it. Which is great, but perhaps necessary; because they ship a systemd-less distro. Which, in the end, might cause more work than it should. (I’m aware this is in part caused by software just assuming that systemd is installed by default.) And while I think it’s a noble endeavour to maintain a relatively easy systemd-less distro, I don’t think it’s enough to justify a recommendation to a relatively new Linux user. Would you mind sharing your thoughts on this?
Mint XFCE
Can I ask what you consider “spamming ads” to be? That could be relevant to suggesting alternatives.
I need to use one of these https://github.com/Skyedra/UnspamifyUbuntu not to get an invitation to join ubuntu pro each time I upgrade.
this never happened before. To me this is invasive, but otherwise it has worked well so far.
according to the github readme, you can just run
sudo pro config set apt_news=falseto disable thoseif you have things set up the way you like on xubuntu, it’s maybe worth it to just do that rather than start fresh
thats just a short term fixes too though. the ads will get more intrusive and annoying. and at some point pro ads will just turning themselves back on. because this is a company and it wants to sell things.
Afaik you will get this message because you use Ubuntu LTS. Which ships outdated, “stable” packages.
The solution is not just silencing that message and continuing to use them, but some way to get updates OR security backports for them.
Lots of xfce distros. My favorite is Zorin Lite
Btw, OP, I foresee a switch to Linux Mint Xfce Edition. Please consider writing about your experiences in which you compare Xubuntu to Linux Mint Xfce Edition. Thanks in advance!
Any software that is in the Xubuntu repositories will also be available in other Ubuntu derivatives, and most likely Debian and all its derivatives as well. Only the official spins are likely to advertise Ubuntu Pro.
Mint XFCE is a good replacement, but I’m also partial to KDE Neon, which keeps preinstalled software to a minimum and is by far the most performant KDE distro I have tried. I myself use regular Debian, with KDE, though you can choose XFCE during the install.
I’m in the same spot and 95% settled on moving to debian.
xubuntu has been good to me the last 10yrs. But its been about xfce, ubuntu got be part of the relationship because it was easy when i knew very little about linux. that and it can run well on a potato with a bunch of computer parts just duct taped randomly onto it. which is basically what my dumpster dived laptop was 10 yes ago.
@merompetehla
With that question only gonna get you people likes.
If you can explain what do you need in the system and what do you need it for, the answers would be much betterAdding to the Mint recommendation, Xfce edition if you’re partial to Xfce, or LxQt if you want to try something else lightweight
