Let's suppose that you have an old computer, but you're not going to throw it away and run to the store for a new one. You're not afraid that people around you will laugh at you for an unfashionable device. So, some well-wishers will probably recommend you an option called Lubuntu instead of "vanilla" Ubuntu. You'll watch videos, read articles, get inspired by panegyrical reviews, happily rush to download and install. But what awaits you in reality, that's what we'll talk about.
Modern Lubuntu is equipped with the LXQt desktop which is essentially a lightweight, humane version of KDE Plasma. The same Qt graphical base, many applications from the same software ecosystem, but there are still no huge number of "bells and whistles", background services, various goodies, sometimes useful but mostly encumbering.
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| Lubuntu 20.04 |
The touchpad works only halfway by default. The mouse pointer moves, but the click emulation must be enabled. And if you don't know where this setting is hidden, you'll have to search for it desperately for a long time.
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| Activating the touchpad in Lubuntu 20.04 |
We'll save you some time: the main menu button on the left edge of the taskbar — Preferences — LXQt Settings — LXQt Configuration Center — Mouse and Touchpad — Tap to click. You can also adjust Acceleration speed, experimenting with different values. There are no sensitivity settings there. An operating system for unfashionable people, that says it all. (Choose the Mate Desktop if fine adjustments are needed severely.)
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| Keyboard Layout |
Before we leave LXQt Configuration Center, let's add a keyboard layout in the Keyboard section if your first language is not English. Of course, as in Xubuntu, another version of Ubuntu for the poor, the layout indicator will not appear automatically on the panel. You need to right-click and open the context menu, select Manage Widgets, look for Keyboard indicator and click Add Widget.
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| Adding the keyboard indicator |
setxkbmap -layout "us,ru(winkeys)" -model "pc105" -option "grp:ctrl_shift_toggle,grp_led:scroll" &
And press Enter, of course. The changes should take effect immediately. If you want Alt+Shift, the gibberish should contain alt_shift_toggle instead of ctrl_shift_toggle. You can paste the copied commands into the terminal emulator window using the old-fashioned Shift+Insert key combination.
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| Adjusting the keyboard layout indicator |
Are there the standard "Documents", "Videos", "Downloads", "Music" missing in the left panel of the file manager? Well, we'll go into each of these folders one by one and select Add to bookmarks in the Bookmarks menu.
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| Setting bookmarks in the file manager |
But we'll remove unnecessary desktops, leaving only one. The same main menu button — Preferences — LXQt Settings — Openbox Settings — Desktops — Number of desktops.
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| Workspaces in Lubuntu 20.04 |
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| Firewall in Lubuntu 20.04 |
Both the out-of-the-box VLC Media Player and the additionally installed Kaffeine, alas, first stutter then freeze the entire desktop after a couple of minutes of watching HD video. It's better to try Celluloid, MPV, SMPlayer.
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| Celluloid in Lubuntu 20.04 |
In general, if an old computer has less than eight gigabytes of RAM and a processor with less than eight cores, then it’s better not to even try 22.04 LTS and later. It might play video in a decent resolution without freezing, but it will probably stutter. But Lubuntu 20.04 LTS feels great on four gigabytes of memory and two cores.
The Discover program manager, taken straight from KDE Plasma bloatware-desktop, did not start in Lubuntu 20.04 and therefore was deleted with no regret. The Muon package manager is quite sufficient for installing applications. This is practically the same as Synaptic Package Manager in Ubuntu. (However, out of a pure experiment, Synaptic was also installed quite successfully.)
And what about the positive aspects? Apart from the lack of many additional services. Alas, it is not so easy to answer such a question, with all the desire for objectivity. After all, it feels like it was done clumsily. For example, if you increase the width of the taskbar in Lubuntu, the windows will not understand that and will crawl under it. Yes, it's quite a shame in the third decade of the twenty-first century.
If the nVidia driver has been installed incorrectly and the package manager has got crazy about that, we'll clean the system with another gibberish in the terminal emulator:
sudo apt-get remove --purge '^nvidia-.*'
The package manager may constantly complain about a broken localization. In the already familiar terminal emulator, we'll execute:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure locales
Select the desired language with arrows and press the Space key to set the mark, use the Tab key to move to the Ok button and press Enter.
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| No automatic updates checking in Lubuntu 20.04 |
The cult of updates is actually imposed by marketing. Users are told that everything should be the freshest, the latest. The most unreliable and raw. Because corporations test software on real people and then use the improvements in paid products (for example, in Ubuntu Pro, if we are talking about Ubuntu, or in RHEL, if it is Fedora). But we have self-respect, we will not become guinea pigs.
By the way, all sorts of entities that collect information about software and the system, about failures and glitches, can be deactivated in one fell swoop with the following command in the terminal emulator:
sudo systemctl stop kerneloops whoopsie apport rsyslog && sudo systemctl disable kerneloops whoopsie apport rsyslog
In addition, just in case, you should remove the program that periodically imposes updates without the knowledge and consent of the user. (How else can you make a person test innovations if one doesn't want to?) In the same terminal emulator window, run:
sudo apt-get remove unattended-upgrades
sudo apt-get remove unattended-upgrades
If you need an on-screen keyboard, there is Onboard. It can be found it in the main menu, but the settings won't be nearby. They are in the Preferences section. Launch them and assign a normal design by turning on a suitable theme.
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| Onboard |
It's time to use the Compton composite manager, responsible for various niceties like translucent windows. And, what is most important, it removes unpleasant artifacts like disintegrating text, if any. Step one: the main menu button — Preferences — LXQt Settings — LXQt Configuration Center — Window Effects — GLX (OpenGL).
You will have time to play with the settings on other tabs of this window later if the equipment allows it. Step two: turn on the composite manager itself. Main menu — Accessories — Compton. The image will immediately change, aesthetic translucency will appear.
Keep in mind that Ubuntu itself and all its derivatives, unlike other Debian modifications, immediately after connecting to the Internet quietly enter the Greenwich Mean Time into the computer hardware. In the case of parallel presence of Windows, as well as after a live session, you will have to manually reset its clock.