Anyone done it? Nothing really wrong with my current Ubuntu setup but I like messing and fancy a slight performance increase.

Only issue is that I like the Ubuntu layout and theme but not the Lubuntu one and can’t find an equivalent replacement.

I wonder if you can install and use LXDE on your current Ubuntu installation to see if you like it first. I used to boot into either Gnome, KDE and some lightweight desktop environments in my old Gentoo days.

hardtail5 + 1, that’ll give you the chance to see if you like the interface. I run gnome 3 on my Ubuntu (I’d use another distro but if things support linux then they tend to support Ubuntu so it’s just easier) because I’m not a fan of Unity. You might get a slight performance increase just changing window manager anyway.

I would guess that the majority of the performance difference will be in the window manager used. So I’d give my +1 to the idea of putting LXDE on your existing Ubuntu install. The rest of the difference is probably in lightweight variations of the apps installed. Whether you want these variations would depend on how much you value speed vs familiarity.

Yep; you can easily switch over to the LXDE – just install it and choose it from the login screen.

Personally I use cinnamon – which started off as a fork of Gnome 3 but is now entirely separated.

Already tried a live CD of Lubuntu and liked it, seems quicker / slicker and happy to do a fresh install.

Basically all I’m after is installing an Ambiance or Radiance theme (taken me hours of Google to find out that’s what the theme for Ubuntu is called)

The new Ubuntu with gnome is horrible.. I’ll never be able to convince anyone to give it a go ever again 🙁

unrelated but Mint and its varients might be worth a look I found it performs well.

I’m no *nix expert, but if you stick the Lubuntu GUI onto Ubuntu, isn’t that essentially (exactly?) the same thing as installing Lubuntu anyway? Ie, installing Lubuntu and replacing the windows environment with something else kinda defeats the point?

I’m no *nix expert, but if you stick the Lubuntu GUI onto Ubuntu, isn’t that essentially (exactly?) the same thing as installing Lubuntu anyway? Ie, installing Lubuntu and replacing the windows environment with something else kinda defeats the point?

I’d say yes:

Both Lubuntu and Ubuntu share two major important things: same Core System and same Repositories. Lubuntu and Ubuntu belong to the same family and talking about each as totally different two systems is not correct since they have some things in common. Thus, we use the same Forum Area and share many Wiki Pages.

The differences between Lubuntu and Ubuntu are:

Different DE – Lubuntu uses LXDE while Ubuntu uses Unity as the default DE.
Different Default Applications
Other than that, they are the same. The DE is what makes Lubuntu a lightweight OS, and of course the selected applications too because we make sure to use the lightest applications which are not resource hungry. However, you are still free to use any application available in Ubuntu’s repositories, as long as your computer can run it.

I think you’re all taking this way too technical.

Ubuntu is all nice and purple and everything with a menu up the side etc etc.

Lubuntu looks like a failed GCSE copy of windows 98.

Is there a way that after I’ve installed Lubuntu I can make it look all purple and jazz easily without having to measure all my current Ubunto tool bar widths and colour configurations?

Are these places in Africa?

Is there a way that after I’ve installed Lubuntu I can make it look all purple and jazz easily without having to measure all my current Ubunto tool bar widths and colour configurations?

I’m going to go with no but if you really want to then this video appears to show how to make it look unity-esque

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOIOv6QA4OM

Aaaarrrgggh, the audio on that vid.

That kind of does what I want but not quite.