difference ubuntu, kubuntu, xubuntu, mythbuntu ubuntu netbook edition

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Difference between Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Mythbuntu and Ubuntu Netbook Edition Making decisions when you have several options regarding to the technology you can use, could be a very tough task. Every smart device today needs a customized OS to run upon, which harness its resources efficiently and especially provides a UI which is adjusted to the display that it supports. As we pointed out earlier Ubuntu has customized version for most of the devices on which you perform your computing. The officially supported versions of Ubuntu we are discussing here are Ubuntu Server Edition, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Mythbuntu and Ubuntu Netbook Edition. While there may be several differences between different officially supported versions of Ubuntu, yet all of them share some common similarities: All the versions are primarily focused to provide usability, easy of installation and security on the devices they run. All the versions use GNU GPL license and the packages in all of them are based on packages from Debian’s unstable branch. Canonical, the parent company behind Ubuntu, currently endorses and provides support for three additional Ubuntu derived distros: Kubuntu, Edubuntu and Ubuntu Server Edition. All the new versions of Ubuntu are released every six months and provide support for next eighteen months by providing security fixes, patches to critical bugs and upgrades to programs. Long Term Support (LTS) versions are released every two years, and are supported for three years on desktop and five years for servers. The latest LTS version of Ubuntu was 10.04 Lucid Lynx, which was released on April 29 th 2010. Ubuntu releases are generally timed about one month after GNOME releases, so every new version of Ubuntu

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Page 1: Difference Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Mythbuntu Ubuntu Netbook Edition

Difference between Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Mythbuntu and Ubuntu Netbook Edition

Making decisions when you have several options regarding to the technology you can use, could be a very tough task. Every smart device today needs a customized OS to run upon, which harness its resources efficiently and especially provides a UI which is adjusted to the display that it supports. As we pointed out earlier Ubuntu has customized version for most of the devices on which you perform your computing. The officially supported versions of Ubuntu we are discussing here are Ubuntu Server Edition, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Mythbuntu and Ubuntu Netbook Edition.

While there may be several differences between different officially supported versions of Ubuntu, yet all of them share some common similarities:

All the versions are primarily focused to provide usability, easy of installation and security on the devices they run.

All the versions use GNU GPL license and the packages in all of them are based on packages from Debian’s unstable branch.

Canonical, the parent company behind Ubuntu, currently endorses and provides support for three additional Ubuntu derived distros: Kubuntu, Edubuntu and Ubuntu Server Edition.

All the new versions of Ubuntu are released every six months and provide support for next eighteen months by providing security fixes, patches to critical bugs and upgrades to programs. Long Term Support (LTS) versions are released every two years, and are supported for three years on desktop and five years for servers. The latest LTS version of Ubuntu was 10.04 Lucid Lynx, which was released on April 29th 2010.Ubuntu releases are generally timed about one month after GNOME releases, so every new version of Ubuntu comes with an updated version of both GNOME and X.org. Also there are two Ubuntu releases per year, using the year and month of the release as the version number. Ubuntu releases are also given code names, using an adjective and an animal (e.g. Lucid Lynx and Maverick Meerkat)

All the official versions of Ubuntu include the Live CD option with their installers, using which Ubuntu can be run directly from the CD and allows a user to test-drive the OS for hardware compatibility and driver support. All the versions include Ubiquity installer which allows Ubuntu to be installed on the hard disk from within the Live CD environment, without the need for restarting the computer prior to installation.

To install a specific version of Ubuntu users can download a disk image (.iso) (CD or DVD version), which can either be written on CD or DVD. The CD image includes the new hassle free and interactive GUI installer and the DVD image contains both the new and the older installer and some additional installation options. Ubuntu desktop edition and Kubuntu can be booted and run from a USB Flash drive. The Live installer CD of Ubuntu also includes an option of Wubi. Wubi allows Ubuntu to be installed and run separately from Windows, without the need to partition Windows user’s hard drive.

Page 2: Difference Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Mythbuntu Ubuntu Netbook Edition

Ubuntu Desktop and Ubuntu Server EditionThe default Ubuntu version which runs on most of the computers is the Ubuntu Desktop edition. One of the most stable and popular version of Ubuntu is Ubuntu Server Edition, whose development and bug tracking goes along with Ubuntu Desktop Edition. Both these versions use GNOME as the default desktop environment.

Ubuntu DesktopThe desktop version of Ubuntu currently supports Intel x86, AMD64 and ARM architectures. Minimum requirements for Ubuntu Desktop and Ubuntu Server Edition are:

Minimum Requirements

Desktop Server

Processor (x86)

300 MHz 1 GHz

Memory 128 MB 512 MB

Hard Drive (free space)

1 GB 5 GB

Display Resolution

640x480 1024x768

Ubuntu Server is right blend of easy integration, Virtualization, security and easy Administration. Ubuntu Server mixes effortlessly with Ubuntu, Windows or Mac OS environments. All clients can share authentication, swap files and access services, while

Page 3: Difference Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Mythbuntu Ubuntu Netbook Edition

Open LDAP, Likewise-Open and PAM authentication come as standard. You can virtualise your server with Ubuntu Server and KVM. You can use a lean version of Ubuntu as a guest operating system for your application and create virtual machine images in minutes. KVM, Xen, VMWare and LXC are all supported. You can build flexible computing environments in your own infrastructure with Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud (UEC) or deploy to Amazon EC2 using Ubuntu Server Edition images.

KubuntuKubuntu is the Ubuntu with KDE as the desktop environment. Kubuntu is the best KDE linux distro you can find with all the flashy effects and KDE software support. Kubuntu has the KDE counterparts of applications that you find on GNOME Ubuntu desktop.

Kubuntu DesktopYou can find KDE kind of card, board, logic, arcade and strategy games like Klondike (Solitaire), Spider, Breakout and so on on a Kubuntu machine. The Okular reader in Kubuntu lets you open ebooks, PDF, PS, DVI and more documents out of the box. Kubuntu comes pre-installed with Konqueror, the KDE web browser, but also comes along the popular Firefox. Kubuntu uses Kontact as the email and contact management program. For instant messaging Kubuntu has Kopete, which lets you chat with your friends over multiple networks and protocols, from a single interface. Kubuntu’s default music player is the popular Amarok.

Xubuntu Xubuntu is an official version of Ubuntu Linux that uses the XFCE desktop environment. It is designed for low-specification computers, and for lean and minimalistic desktop lovers.

Page 4: Difference Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Mythbuntu Ubuntu Netbook Edition

Xubuntu Desktop

But you should not underestimate the Xubuntu machine. It contains all the applications you need - a web browser, document and spreadsheet editing software, instant messaging and much more. Xubuntu contains all the applications for your normal day-to-day tasks. Xubuntu comes with Firefox web browser, the light-weight yet feature-rich Abiword for all your word-processing needs, and Gnumeric for the creation and manipulation of spreadsheets.

MythbuntuMythbuntu is not exactly a separate Ubuntu version rather an addon over a standard Ubuntu installation. Mythbuntu is an add-on for Ubuntu focused upon setting up a standalone MythTV based PVR system. It can be used to prepare a standalone system or for integration with an existing MythTV network. Unlike similar projects, Mythbuntu keeps close ties with Ubuntu and all development is given back to Ubuntu. The development cycle of Mythbuntu closely follows that of Ubuntu, releasing every six months along side Ubuntu releases.

Page 5: Difference Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Mythbuntu Ubuntu Netbook Edition

MythbuntuMythbuntu uses the light-weight XFCE desktop. All unnecessary standard Ubuntu applications such as OpenOffice, Evolution, and a full Gnome desktop are not installed in a default Mythbuntu install. If at any time a user wants to, they can install ubuntu-desktop, kubuntu-desktop, or xubuntu-desktop and add a full desktop onto their installation. This can easily be done via the Mythbuntu Control Centre.

The Mythbuntu Control Centre is a custom GUI used to configure the system. From here you can select what kind of system (Backend, Frontend or Both) you want. You can also install different desktops such as ubuntu-desktop and kubuntu-desktop. You can also install Plugins, configure MySQL, set passwords, install proprietary drivers, proprietary codecs, setup remote controls, and a range of other features all from one convenient program.

A Mythbuntu CD can also be used as a live frontend. This comes handy if you want to turn a laptop or desktop into a quick frontend or quickly test hardware compatibility. The live frontend provides a GUI to mount network shares, configure a remote, hostname, location of your master backend and a place to save settings. All settings can be saved directly back to a flash drive for easy portability.

Ubuntu Netbook Edition

Page 6: Difference Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Mythbuntu Ubuntu Netbook Edition

Ubuntu Netbook Edition brings all the advantages of Ubuntu to your netbook. Ubuntu Netbook Edition (UNE), known as Ubuntu Netbook Remix prior to the release of Ubuntu 10.04, is a version of the Ubuntu distribution that has been optimized to enable it to work better on netbooks and other devices with small screens or with the Intel Atom computer processor.

Ubuntu Netbook EditionUbuntu Netbook Edition developers continuously collaborate with Moblin project (now known as Meego) to ensure optimization for lower hardware requirements and longer battery life. But beginning with version 10.10, Ubuntu Netbook Edition will use the Unity desktop as its desktop interface.

The minimum system requirements for UNE are: 1.6 GHz Intel Atom processor, 512 MB RAM and 4 GB of Flash disk (SSD) or Hard disk. The standard applications on UNE include Firefox as the web browser, Evolutin for email, Empathy for IM, Rhythmbox as media player, F-Spot for viewing photos and OpenOffice as the office suite.