The Ubuntu family

[Dirk Broer]

The Ubuntu family, the most commonly used:

Flavor
Desktop	Unity	Gnome	KDE	Mate	Xfce	LXDE
CPU Req	2 GHz dual core processor (better recommended), or ARM Cortex A7 (better recommended)	2 GHz Celeron (better recommended)	2 GHz x86 (better recommended)	Pentium 4 or Pentium M or AMD K8 (Core 2 Duo 1.6 GHz or better recommended), or ARM Cortex A7 (better recommended)	Pentium 4 or Pentium M or AMD K8 (better recommended)	Pentium 4 or Pentium M or AMD K8 (better recommended)
RAM Req	x86: 2 GB (more recommended), ARM: 1 GB	1.5 GB (more recommended)	512 MB (1 GB or more recommended)	x86: 512 MB (2 GB or more recommended), ARM: 1 GB	512 MB or more (minimum install can be done with 128 MB)	128-384 MB (512 MB or more recommended)
Disk Space	x86: 7-25 GB, ARM: Less than 16 GB	7-16 GB	4-10 GB	8-16 GB, ARM: Less than 16 GB	2-6 GB	384-800 MB

NB: Updated for 16.04 LTS versions! Note the change in minimum required CPU: no longer will a Pentium II (Lubuntu) or III or a AMD K7 (Xubuntu) do, it seems...
The minimum requirement figures given take into account the install on a 32-bit ('legacy') system.
When you have a 64-bit system you have the advantage of a better CPU than these minimum requirements and almost no limitation in the amount of RAM -the more the better- you can place, other than the limits of your mobo.

Most x86 systems (read x86-64 systems) nowadays can take at least 8 GB of RAM and a speed of 1.5 GHz for a CPU, APU or SOC seems the bare minimum now.
As an example: My 'budget' 2050 MHz Athlon 5350 Socket AM1 Ubuntu and Xubuntu systems are loaded with 16 GB of DDR3 RAM.
You may have some older hardware lying around though....

ARM boards as the Raspberry Pi 2 and 3 are very limited in the expandability of system RAM (as in you just can't do it): when you find out that the 1 GB of the Pi 2 or 3 will not be enough, you should consider e.g. the 2 GB -and 2 MHz- ARM Cortex-A53 equipped Odroid C2.
I am having no trouble running Ubuntu Mate 16.04 on my 2nd Raspi 2 though and I expect an even more pleasant experience running it on the (faster) Raspberry Pi 3.

[Dirk Broer]

Updated the Ubuntu family table for release 16.04 LTS, as can be seen below/above, depending on your settings:

Settings - My Account - General Settings - Thread Display Mode : option 'Linear - Newest First'

to see the newest postings above in a thread.

[AMDave]

Ubuntu 1404_HWE_EOL message and what to do if you have a AMD HDxxxx vido card AND are depending on fglrx and OpenCL (eg us BOINC users)

For a little bit more info on how this came about have a closer read of this post: https://lwn.net/Articles/693723/
So, Ubuntu/Canonical introduced this HWE "hack" themselves from 14.04.2.
Key statement --> " The intention has always been for these hardware enablement stacks to only remain supported until the introduction of the kernel and graphics stack derived from 16.04"

So, if you start getting the un-expected 1404_HWE_EOL dialog with the "Settings + Install + Cancel" buttons, click cancel until you have read some more about it.
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/1404_HWE_EOL

YMMV:
the install button brings down 14.04.5.
Bad news.
This particular release point back-ports 16.04 kernel & graphics stack which means
BOOM - no more fglrx, + "GPU not present" = no more AMD HDxxxx OpenCL crunch + no more BOINC GPGPU for you.

So, either put up with the dialog and keep hitting "cancel", or try the step that I missed at the very bottom of the 1404_HWE_EOL page here:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/1404_HWE_EOL
unfortunately I missed that and so I have not tried it and I probably wont.
I need my boxen to run, and update without hassle, hence the LTS choice in the first place.

I am uncomfortable about the way they have pushed this strategy on LTS users without clearly (much much more clearly) laying out the plan and consequences before hand and exactly which release point will be installed when you click on that "Install" button.
Something else that is completely unclear from the information they have available is, if you do roll back the OS and remove the HWE, what does that impact?
General users should not have to be "guessing" at what the HWE is actually doing for them, whether or not their machine is dependent on it not getting completely shafted when they click on the recommended Install button.

This is not ok. It's just enough to trigger a distro move to one where you can trust your LTS term.

[Dirk Broer]

HD 47xx/48xxx already suffered earlier (only good with older OSes now, e.g. WinXP) but, as I already wrote after updating to 16.04 myself,
the new Ubuntu LTS now uses the Open Source driver, and will no longer accept fglrx and/or the AMD OpenCL SDK.
My rather recent GPU -actually the integrated graphics of the Athlon 5350- is found but: no CAL/Brook+, and OpenCL only up to 1.1, which is useless for nowadays crunching.

Fri 02 Sep 2016 01:42:08 AM CEST | | Starting BOINC client version 7.6.31 for x86_64-pc-linux-gnu
Fri 02 Sep 2016 01:42:08 AM CEST | | log flags: file_xfer, sched_ops, task
Fri 02 Sep 2016 01:42:08 AM CEST | | Libraries: libcurl/7.47.0 OpenSSL/1.0.2g zlib/1.2.8 libidn/1.32 librtmp/2.3
Fri 02 Sep 2016 01:42:08 AM CEST | | Data directory: /var/lib/boinc-client
Fri 02 Sep 2016 01:42:08 AM CEST | | OpenCL: AMD/ATI GPU 0: AMD KABINI (DRM 2.43.0, LLVM 3.8.0) (driver version 11.2.0, device version OpenCL 1.1 MESA 11.2.0, 1024MB, 1024MB available, 96 GFLOPS peak)
Fri 02 Sep 2016 01:42:08 AM CEST | | Host name: MSI-AM1i
Fri 02 Sep 2016 01:42:08 AM CEST | | Processor: 4 AuthenticAMD AMD Athlon(tm) 5350 APU with Radeon(tm) R3 [Family 22 Model 0 Stepping 1]
Fri 02 Sep 2016 01:42:08 AM CEST | | Processor features: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc rep_good nopl nonstop_tsc extd_apicid aperfmperf eagerfpu pni pclmulqdq monitor ssse3 cx16 sse4_1 sse4_2 movbe popcnt aes xsave avx f16c lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm extapic cr8_legacy abm sse4a misalignsse 3dnowprefetch osvw ibs skinit wdt topoext perfctr_nb bpext perfctr_l2 hw_pstate proc_feedback vmmcall bmi1 xsaveopt arat npt lbrv svm_lock nrip_save tsc_scale flushbyasid decodeassists pausefilter pfthreshold
Fri 02 Sep 2016 01:42:08 AM CEST | | OS: Linux: 4.4.0-36-generic
Fri 02 Sep 2016 01:42:08 AM CEST | | Memory: 13.65 GB physical, 15.45 GB virtual
Fri 02 Sep 2016 01:42:08 AM CEST | | Disk: 213.90 GB total, 164.93 GB free
Fri 02 Sep 2016 01:42:08 AM CEST | | Local time is UTC +2 hours
Fri 02 Sep 2016 01:42:08 AM CEST | | VirtualBox version: 5.0.24_Ubuntur108355

[AMDave]

I am hoping this will land sooner rather than later (but not holding my breath)
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pag...=AMDGPU-SI-DPM

[Dirk Broer]

The Ubuntu family, the most commonly used:

Flavor
Description	Ubuntu is a free and open-source Linux distribution based on Debian. Ubuntu is officially released in three editions: Desktop, Server, and Core (for internet of things devices and robots). Ubuntu is a popular operating system for cloud computing, with support for OpenStack. Ubuntu is released every six months, with long-term support (LTS) releases every two years. The latest release is 18.10 ("Cosmic Cuttlefish"), and the most recent long-term support release is 18.04 LTS ("Bionic Beaver"), which is supported until 2028.	Ubuntu Budgie (previously budgie-remix) is an Ubuntu-based distribution featuring the Budgie desktop, originally developed by the Solus project. Written from scratch and integrating tightly with GNOME stack, Budgie focuses on simplicity and elegance, while also offering useful features, such as the Raven notification and customisation centre.	Linux Mint is a community-driven Linux distribution based on Debian and Ubuntu that strives to be a "modern, elegant and comfortable operating system which is both powerful and easy to use."[6] Linux Mint provides full out-of-the-box multimedia support by including some proprietary software and comes bundled with a variety of free and open-source applications.	Kubuntu is a free, user-friendly Linux distribution based on KDE's desktop software and on the Ubuntu operating system. It has a biannual release cycle. Besides providing an up-to-date version of the KDE desktop at the time of the release, the project also releases updated KDE packages throughout the lifetime of each release.	Ubuntu MATE is a desktop Linux distribution which aims to bring the simplicity and elegance of the Ubuntu operating system through a classic, traditional desktop environment - the MATE desktop. MATE is the continuation of the GNOME 2 desktop environment which was used as Ubuntu's default desktop until 10.10 (when it was replaced by Unity). The project began its life as an Ubuntu "remix", but starting with version 15.04, it was formally accepted as an official member of the Ubuntu family of Linux distributions.	Xubuntu is a community-developed operating system based on Ubuntu. It comes with Xfce, which is a stable, light and configurable desktop environment.	Lubuntu is a variant of Ubuntu that uses the LXQt desktop environment. (Versions prior to 18.10 shipped with the LXDE desktop.) It includes essential applications and services for daily use, including office suite, PDF reader, image editor and multimedia players. A distribution available for both 32-bit and 64-bit computers, Lubuntu is intended to be user-friendly, lightweight and energy efficient.
Architecture	Armhf, ARM64, PowerPC, i386, x86_64 server only: PPC64el, S390x	i386, x86_64	i386, x86_64	i386, x86_64	Armhf, powerPC, i386, x86_64	i386, x86_64	Armhf, powerPC, PPC64el, i386, x86_64
Status	Active	Active	Active	Active	Active	Active	Active
Desktop	Unity	Budgie	Cinnamon, Mate, Xfce	KDE	Mate	Xfce	LXQt, LXDE
CPU Req	i386, x86_64: 2 GHz dual core CPU (better recommended) Armhf: ARM Cortex A7 or better	1.5 GHz i386 or x86_64 CPU (better recommended)	2 GHz i386 or x86_64 (better recommended)	2 GHz i386 or x86_64 (better recommended)	i386, x86_64: Pentium 4 or Pentium M or AMD K8 (Core 2 Duo 1.6 GHz or better recommended) Armhf: ARM Cortex A7 or better	PAE capable Pentium 4 or Pentium M or AMD K8 (better recommended)	Pentium 4 or Pentium M or AMD K8 (better recommended) Armhf: ARM Cortex A7 or better
RAM Req	i386, x86_64: 2 GB (more recommended) Armhf: 1 GB	i386, x86_64: 2 GB (more recommended)	1 GB (2 GB or more recommended)	2 GB (more recommended)	x86: 2 GB (3 GB or more recommended) Armhf: 1 GB	1 GB (2 GB or more recommended)	i386, x86_64: 1 GB (2 GB or more recommended) Armhf: 1 GB
OS size	i386, x86_64: up to 25 GB ARM: Less than 16 GB	up to 60 GB	15-20 GB	25 GB	9-16 GB ARM: Less than 16 GB	7.5 GB	4.6 GB ARM: Less than 16 GB

NB: Updated for 18.04 LTS versions! Note the change in minimum required CPU: no longer will a Pentium II (Lubuntu) or PIII or AMD K7 (Xubuntu) do, it seems...
These minimum requirement figures given take into account the install of a 32-bit version, the support for which will be dropped soon in most distro's (with the 18.10 release actually). 64-bit versions may have higher requirements. When you do have such a 64-bit system, you have the advantage of a better CPU than these minimum requirements and almost no limitation in the amount of RAM -the more the better- you can place, other than the limits of your mobo -which may be different from those advertised. I have 16 GB running in a J5005 system that officially supports only 8 GB and know of people who have 32 GB in the same motherboard.

Most x86 systems (read x86-64 systems) nowadays can take at least 8 GB of RAM and a speed of 1.5 GHz for a CPU, APU or SOC seems the bare minimum now.
As an example: My 'budget' Socket AM1 2050 MHz Athlon 5350 Ubuntu and Xubuntu systems are loaded with 16 GB of DDR3 RAM.
You may have some older hardware lying around though....but will it run BOINC?

ARM boards as the Raspberry Pi2, 3 and 3+ are very limited in the expandability of system RAM (as in: "you just can't do it"): when you find out that the 1 GB of the Pi2 or 3 will not be enough, you should consider e.g. the 2 GB ARM Cortex-A53 equipped Odroid C2 or the 2 GB ARM Cortex-A17 equipped Asus Tinker Board. Both have the exact same dimensions as the Pi.
I had no trouble running Ubuntu Mate 16.04 on my 2nd Raspi 2 though, and I had an even more pleasant experience running it on the (faster) Raspberry Pi 3 -as I did with the Lubuntu for Arm on my 2nd Pi 3.

[NeoGen]

Nice post Dirk, and hey, the Ubuntu family grew in this last iteration.

[AMDave]

I thought Budgie would be fun, but it didn't bring the joy I was hoping for.
It really is designed for the small screen devices.

I admit to using Ubuntu more than necessary. It became my fall-back over debian between v10 and v12 (although I have another debian disc on my desk for testing so that could change, if I can make the time)
There are things I don't like about the Kubuntu, Ubuntu MATE and Mint user experiences, mostly around mouse management and speed.
I always find some weird differences in pointer movement with those that ends up annoying me enough to dump them immediately.
The mouse pointer should move the same across every distro, but irritatingly it absolutely does not.
I keep giving them a try periodically to see if it improves. It has improved but it 'just not quite right'.

I still haven't tried lubuntu yet so it may get a kick soon.

[Dirk Broer]

I've installed Lubuntu on a A10-5700 and on a Raspberry Pi3 myself, and went on to install it on my mothers P4 -which I subsecently upgraded to an A6-3500- and on a system at the DHL Voorschoten (perhaps the only DHL PC running Linux).
Lubuntu is great for people who just come from Windows, to the point that Joe Sixpack -read my brother- doesn't see the difference and gladly tries to install windows software.....