Lubuntu is an official Ubuntu flavor which uses the Lightweight Qt Desktop Environment (LXQt). The project’s goal is to provide a lightweight yet functional Linux distribution based on a rock-solid Ubuntu base. Lubuntu provides a simple but modern and powerful graphical user interface, and comes with a wide variety of applications so you can browse, email, chat, play, and be productive.
Lubuntu now ships the most advanced desktop interface, using Qt technologies for rendering the widgets and the entire ecosystem (from the installer to the smallest parts).
The winning combination of Arc theme and the Papirus icons makes the new Lubuntu desktop easier to read and less cluttered. The symbolic icons and glyphs, now easier to recognize, added to sharp edges and vibrant colors, add visual dynamics without overwhelming the overall design.
Combined with the new compositing effects, the apps, panels, and widgets of your new desktop will look modern while being fast, simple, and affordable for almost every machine.
Lubuntu is compatible with the majority of existing file formats, such as images, songs, films, spreadsheets, text documents, internet radio stations, and much more.
Everything works out of the box. But if you need more (usually proprietary) codecs for exotic file formats, you can always install the ubuntu-restricted-extras package and enjoy all that content.
And there is more in the Software Center. Just look for the file format or application you need and get it for free.
It is time to say goodbye to LXDE, and Hello LXQt!
For a long time, Lubuntu relied on LXDE to provide a lightweight Linux experience. It now uses LXQt desktop environment.
LXDE is based on GTK (the libraries used by GNOME) and more specifically on GTK+ 2 which is dated in 2020. Dissatisfied with GTK+ 3, LXDE developer Hong Jen Yee decided to port the entire desktop to Qt (the libraries used by KDE). LXDE, the Qt port of it, and the Razor-qt project were combined to form LXQt. Although today, LXDE and LXQt coexist as separate projects.
Since LXDE developer itself is focusing on LXQt, it makes no sense for Lubuntu to stick with a desktop environment that had its last stable release more than three years ago.
Lubuntu 18.04 is the last version of LXDE. Fortunately, it’s a long term support edition. It will be supported officially by the Lubuntu team till 2021.
Traditionally Lubuntu was focused on the older machines by trying to stay lightweight. As the definition of “older machine” has changed in 2020 Lubuntu 18.04 is the last 32bit version. Nowadays even a 10-year-old machine comes with at least 2 gigabytes of ram and a dual-core 64bit processor.
As per that, Lubuntu Team will no longer provide minimum system requirements and will no longer primarily focus on older hardware. Although LXQt is still a lightweight, classic yet polished and feature-rich desktop environment. The First Lubuntu release with LXQt was 18.10, giving the developers three standard releases to perfect the LXQt desktop before the Lubuntu 20.04 LTS release, which is a good development strategy.
A fresh installation begins with the new Calamares installer, in place of the Ubiquity installer that other official Ubuntu flavors use. The whole process is done in approximately 10 minutes, slightly faster than the previous Lubuntu releases.
As the .iso comes with the essential applications pre-installed you can get your system fully configured pretty fast too.
If you like to take Lubuntu for a ride, head to out install guides and we will walk you thru the step by step process of installing Lubuntu.
