On your free DVD Ubuntu 14.10 Utopic Unicorn, Slax 7.0.8, ROSA R4, Rescatux
The latest Ubuntu release for all!
PLUS: HotPicks and tutorial code
This is being written in late October, which means the leaves are falling from the trees and that the weather is getting colder (well, a little colder, we’re experiencing an ‘autumnal heat wave’ of sorts in the UK). Of course, this also means we have a .10 release of Ubuntu on the LXFDVD.
It has become a tradition to create a custom remix of Ubuntu, adding the KDE, LXDE and Xfce desktops to the default Unity – effectively creating a merger of Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Lubuntu and Xubuntu. This time around is rather different. Yes, we still have those desktops, but we have added another one: Mate. As Mate was one of the reasons that people decided to switch from Ubuntu to Linux Mint, it will be interesting to see whether the availability of Mate for Ubuntu will tempt many back.
You can switch between desktops in the usual way; log out of your current desktop then pick another one using the icon at the top right of the login box before logging back in. When booting from the LXFDVD as a live distro, the username is ubuntu with no password. It is best to type in the username before selecting a different desktop. We have also provided a second means of selecting the desktop when running Ubuntu live from the
LXFDVD. The boot menu contains entries for each of the desktops, pick the one you want and Ubuntu will boot straight into that desktop. That is the best way to try out Mate as switching from another desktop to Mate sometimes causes it to try to open many file manager windows. This isn’t unique to Ubuntu Mate; we have seen it with Mint before, although not recently. Bear in mind that Mate on Ubuntu is very new. This is the first release, so there is bound to be the occasional glitch.
Warning: here be pink
Speaking of glitches, you may be wondering about the bright pink highlighting used on various desktops. This is apparently deliberate and something to do with unicorns (I’ve never seen a unicorn myself so cannot comment on that). If you don’t like it, you can go back to the normal colours by going to Theme Configuration and setting Custom Highlight Colours to Off.
The Ubuntu installer does recommend having an internet connection but it will install on an unconnected computer. The installer tries to download some language packs, based on the choices you make, but will install without them and prompt you to install them later.