Linux Mint 14 "Nadia" XFCE Review: Simply the best!

Simply put, it has become really boring to review any Linux Mint distro as I need to write the same words again and again. Things work so perfect with Mint and honestly, I haven't seen any other Linux distro better than Mint in terms of stability and performance. Last year when I reviewed Linux Mint 13 XFCE (the long term support one), I coined the release as the best of the year for any XFCE distro. Same words go for Linux Mint 14 XFCE as well, it just only got better from the last release.



In nutshell, Linux Mint 14 XFCE has just got almost everything that you need from a good distro and it offers much more. It  is lightweight, detects hardware impeccably, gives correct resolution and is buttery smooth to use. There is hardly anything that goes wrong with the Linux Mint release. Now my good words are exhausted and lets talk something not so good about Linux Mint. I guess, it might be bothering some of you too.

Read more!

How to customize and decorate Ubuntu desktop? Simple steps to customize Linux Desktop: Give your Fedora or Ubuntu a face-lift!

As I have been saying in my last few articles, Linux desktops like Gnome, KDE, LXDE, XFCE, etc. (except Unity) can be customized - so much that even at times it becomes difficult to identify what desktop environment (DE) actually it is! I do some very basic level customization to give a face lift to otherwise bland DEs like LXDE, XFCE, Openbox, etc. and in this article I'll take you through customization involving

• Transparent panels (LXDE, XFCE)
• Docky or Cairo dock
• Conky
• Compiz and desktop cube (couldn't do it in Unity, other than that it works will rest of the DEs)

From Enabling Desktop Effects in Linux http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in

From Enabling Desktop Effects in Linux http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in

Read more!

Linux Lite 1.0.4: With added Steam!

When I reviewed Linux Lite 1.0.0 last year, I was pretty happy with the lightweight XFCE distro. The release was based on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS and was quite lighter than Xubuntu 12.04. Once the 1.0.4 update for Linux Lite came out in February 2013, I was a bit curious to try out and see the incremental additions that the developers have made to the updated release.

I found a few changes from 1.0.0 in 1.0.4, namely:
1. Linux kernel is updated to 3.2.18 and it seemed to be more stable than the previous release.
2. A new gaming application added with variety of games for Windows and some games for Linux - Steam.
3. A few applications like LibreOffice Impress added to the application list.
4. The ISO is now lighter by about 160 MB which is a welcome change.

From Linux Lite 1.0.4 http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in

Other than that, it is pretty much the same as the past release. I'll cover my experience with Steam in the later part of the article. I expected a little bit more especially on desktop environment and application aspect, namely:

Read more!

Fedora 18 "Spherical Cow" Vs Ubuntu 12.10 "Quantal Quetzal": Who is the best?

With Fedora 18 release in Jan 2013, I see increase in interest on Fedora distros in my friends circle. Almost everybody wants to know between Fedora and Ubuntu - who offers better proposition? Well, honestly, there is no straight forward, definitive answer and both command a significant number of dedicated users. As you see, both Ubuntu and Fedora gives birth to scores of derivatives and are held in high regard in the Linux world. Ubuntu itself is derived from Debian and Fedora from Redhat. In this article I attempted to document and compare my experience with both the distributions and I leave it to the readers to decide.


I pick here Fedora 18 Gnome, KDE, XFCE and LXDE to compare with Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu and Lubuntu (all 12.10 release). The reason for me to compare all 4 desktop interfaces is to make holistic comparison. The results showcased here are based on my testing, done between Nov'12 to Feb'13 on my Asus K54C laptop, Core i3 2.2 Ghz processor with 2 GB RAM. My assessment is based on Installation, Aesthetics, Hardware Recognition, Applications and Performance. Intentionally, I exclude the repository here as majority of the commonly used applications have both deb and rpm versions.

Read more!

PCLinuxOS KDE 2013.02 Review: The best KDE distro in the Linux world!

Last year, I started using PCLinuxOS KDE on a regular basis with 2012.02 and with 2012.08 release, I really fell in love with the distro. The July release provided almost every application I require, out of the box, and I hardly needed installing any more application from the repository. However, I found it to be a bit high on resource consumption compared to other KDE distros released in 2012.

From PCLinuxOS 2013.02 http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in

Given the improvement I saw with the 2012 releases, I had high expectations with the 2013.02 release, especially on improvement in resource consumption. And I have to say, PCLinuxOS didn't disappoint! I begin with a note of thanks to the developers of this wonderful distro. I'll explain the incremental improvements in simple non-technical terms with results.

Read more!

Snowlinux 4 "e17" Review: Good but not good enough compared to Bodhi 2.2.0

Enlightenment is definitely one of the best looking lightweight desktops that I have used. Thanks to Rasterman and team for creating and nurturing this amazing desktop. I would place it somewhere between Openbox and LXDE both in aesthetics as well as performance. Openbox runs on the least resources of the three but looks a bit blank whereas LXDE consumes a bit more RAM and CPU but can be customized to look absolutely stunning! E17 is somewhere intermediate, capable of running on modest resources and capable of looking very attractive. Bodhi 2.2 is the best example of a great looking E17 distro.

Last month I reviewed Bodhi and found it to be one of the best lightweight distros that I have used. Seriously beautiful and functional. So, when the Snowlinux 4 e17 release note came out in Distrowatch, I was interested to use and review it having used and impressed by the Snowlinux 3 e17, released in 2012.

Snowlinux 4 32-bit e17 ISO is about 884 MB in size. This assessment is done entirely by me. My assessment is based on installation on Asus K54C laptop with 2.2 Ghz Core i3 processor and 2 GB RAM and experience of using it for the last 3 days. As the name suggests, Enlightenment (e17) is the desktop environment here with Linux kernel 3.5.0 and it is based on Debian Wheezy. Enlightenment and Thunar 1.6.2 are the file managers provided here. I found quite a few limitations in Enlightenment file manager though it is very lightweight. Hence, thanks to the developers for providing Thunar, it is absolutely helpful.

Aesthetics

Obvious comparison will be with Bodhi 2.2.0 for any e17 distro. Though Snowlinux 4 "e17", with black panels and white background, looks way better than its XFCE counterpart, but it is no match for Bodhi. With so many catchy themes in Bodhi, Snowlinux with a single theme looks pretty bland. One good thing is that in Snowlinux, the effects are subtle and doesn't interfere with productivity.

From Snowlinux 4 e17 http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.com

Read more!

Sparkylinux 2.1 “Ultra” Review: Lightweight, fast and elegant Openbox distro for low spec computers!

From performance point of view, these days, Openbox is my favorite desktop environment. I found it actually to be more efficient and less resource consuming than either LXDE or XFCE and works very efficiently on low powered P4 machines. Perhaps the most famous distros with Openbox DE are Archbang and Crunchbang. Recently, SparkyLinux came up with their version of Openbox spin. In this article, I review SparkyLinux 2.1 "Ultra" Openbox as well as do a brief comparison with Archbang and Crunchbang.

From Sparkylinux 2.1 “Ultra” http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in

This assessment is done entirely by me. My assessment is based on installation on Asus K54C laptop with 2.2 Ghz Core i3 processor and 2 GB RAM and experience of using it for the last 3 days. I downloaded the 32-bit ISO (1.4 GB in size) for this testing. Sparkylinux 2.1 “Ultra” has an Openbox DE with Linux kernel 3.2.0. PCManFM 0.9.10 is the default file browser. 

Read more!

Snowlinux 4 XFCE Review: The Smoothest one but very very bland!

Lets begin with a note of thanks to the Snowlinux developers - each one of their distro I have tested and/or used, are very stable and give amazing performance. However, I never really liked the themes they use, if Crystal was bland, Glacier is blandest with everything - wallpaper to panel, in white. In Glacier series, the less you speak of the default wallpaper (the Push to Start one), it is better. It is really bad.

From Snowlinux 4 XFCE

Anyway, my assessment involves more than aesthetics and delves deeper into the operating system's performance. Snowlinux 4 XFCE ISO is about 727 MB, quite smaller in size compared to average Linux ISOs these days. I used Asus K54C laptop with 2.2 Ghz Core i3 processor & 2 GB RAM. Though the machine is 64 bit but given limited RAM, I used the 32-bit ISO for installation and evaluation. My evaluation involved using it for 3 days for all purposes.

Read more!

Fedora 18 Spherical Cow LXDE Review: Among the best in LXDE

Fedora has always intrigued me to keep track of the latest happenings in the Linux world and especially what's brewing at the RHEL stable! Also, if I think of a comparable distro to Ubuntu, Fedora is the only legitimate choice! Just like Ubuntu, Fedora also inspires innumerable spins (like Kororaa, Fuduntu, of which I am a big fan now!). So, when the release note of Fedora came on 15th Jan, I was quick to download all the four versions (Gnome, KDE, XFCE and LXDE). I have already covered the Gnome, KDE and XFCE spins in my earlier reviews. The final review is on one of my favorite desktop environments - the LXDE.

From Fedora 18

My assessment is based on installation on Asus K54C laptop with 2.2 Ghz Core i3 processor and 2 GB RAM and experience of using it for the last 3 days. I downloaded the 32-bit ISO (686 MB in size) for this testing. Fedora 18 has LXDE DE with Linux kernel 3.6.10, which gets updated to 3.7.2 on first update. With kernel 3.7.4 released, I guess within a couple of days, even this will be upgraded as well. PCManFM 1.1.0 is the default file browser and it is one of the lightest file browsers available in the Linux world.

Read more!

Fedora 18 Spherical Cow Gnome Review: Stable and efficient with professional looks but has Gnome 3 agonies!

Fedora has always intrigued me to keep track of the latest happenings in the Linux world and especially what's brewing at the RHEL stable! Also, if I think of a comparable distro to Ubuntu, Fedora is the only legitimate choice! Just like Ubuntu, Fedora also inspires innumerable spins (like Kororaa, Fuduntu, of which I am a big fan now!). So, when the release note of Fedora came on 15th Jan, I was quick to download all the four versions (Gnome, KDE, XFCE and LXDE). This is the first review of the series and I start with the Gnome spin.

From Fedora 18

My assessment is based on installation in Asus K54C laptop with 2.2 Ghz Core i3 processor and 2 GB RAM and using it for last 5 days. I used the 932 MB 32 bit ISO for this purpose. Fedora 18 has the stock Gnome 3.6 desktop interface and this version has got the poweroff button back! Removing the shut-down button was insane and good that the developers of Gnome realized it! The desktop looks clean and professional I must say. However, Gnome 3 interface is not yet very intuitive to me, for example, changing a simple wallpaper takes quite a bit of steps whereas on any other desktop environment it is just a matter of simple right click! Same with simple minimization of open windows or closing an open window. Life is quite complex at Gnome 3, I suppose. Usual vices of Gnome 3 is there with this release of Fedora as they are with other stock Gnome 3 based distros. I haven't used Gnome 3 much lately, and using Gnome 3 on a daily basis made me even like Unity! People who read my blog regularly know how much I dislike Unity - Gnome 3 is worse.

From Fedora 18

Anyway, enough cribbing of Gnome 3 and back to Fedora 18. The downloaded ISO has Linux kernel 3.6.10 which upgrades to 3.7.2 upon installation. The default file manager is Gnome Files 3.6.3.  Hardware detection is at par with any other top notch Linux OS - resolution is perfect, sound card detected with ease, touchpad works with enabling touchpad option from mouse settings, Wifi and LAN detected immediately.

One interesting feature I saw is the live-boot or install options while USB live-boot. Seems like Fedora picked up a feather or two from Ubuntu! It is good option for the users and I am not complaining!

From Fedora 18

Applications
Fedora 18 provides users with quite a few of the essential applications, viz.

• Office: LibreOffice 3.6 Calc, Writer, Impress, Draw, Dictionary & Document viewer
• Internet: Empathy, Firefox 17, Remote Desktop, Transmission, Evolution mail & Calendar
• Graphics: Image viewer, Shotwell, simple scan
• Multimedia: Brasero, Cheese, Rhythmbox, Totem Movie Player 3.6.3
• Accessories: Archive Manager, Calculator, Clocks, Contacts, Disks, Documents, Files, gedit, Password manager, Screenshot, Terminal
• Others: Boxes

From Fedora 18

From Fedora 18

More or less a Fedora has a healthy list of applications. Firefox is the default browser but there is no Adobe flashplugin support out of the box. Html5 works, however, effortlessly. I could watch youtube videos where html5 option is available, right after installation.

From Fedora 18

However, it just takes couple of minutes to actually download the latest Adobe Flash plugin RPM packages and make them work in Fedora 18, namely:

1. Adding Adobe RPM packages to Yum (as root):  
rpm -ivh http://linuxdownload.adobe.com/adobe-release/adobe-release-i386-1.0-1.noarch.rpm
rpm --import /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-adobe-linux
2. Update and then download Adobe flash
yum check-update
yum install flash-plugin nspluginwrapper alsa-plugins-pulseaudio libcurl

Fedora doesn't have the restricted multimedia codecs installed. Fedora or Red Hat doesn't ship those as a policy. A little bit of research and  Rpmfusion came to my rescue. I entered the following command at the terminal to add RPM fusion packages:

su -c 'yum localinstall --nogpgcheck http://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-18.noarch.rpm http://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-18.noarch.rpm'

From Fedora 18

Post submitting this command, a refresh of the Software Install showed me the non-free codecs as well as VLC. Imagine the plight before this, neither movie files (.avi & .mkv primarily) nor mp3s would play on Fedora, even though Totem movie player and Rhythmbox are present!

From Fedora 18

Another application that caught my attention is the Boxes. It is actually a lightweight Gnome virtualbox, similar to the more famous Oracle Virtualbox. I didn't try it for this review but will try it sometime in future.

From Fedora 18

Application-wise Fedora 18 is moderately rich and I give it a score of 8.25/10. The score distribution is given below:

Fedora 18 Gnome	Score
App – Office	10.00
App – Internet	8.00
App – Graphics	7.00
App – Multimedia	8.00
Applications	8.25

Given no Adobe flashplugin in either the distro or in the repository, I have given 8/10 in internet section. Otherwise, Fedora satisfy my criteria of a browser, chat client, email client and bit torrent client. In graphics, given there is no photo editor like GIMP, I gave 7/10. In multimedia, as there are no restricted codecs present even in the repo, Fedora 18 got 8/10 though a music player and a video player is present.

Installation
One of the main attraction of the Fedora 18 is the modified Anaconda installer. At a high level, it seems pretty simple and comparable to the Ubuntu installer. Just answer a few questions about language, location, keyboard, set root password, create user and that's it! No silly questions on grub and where to install grub, etc. just like Ubuntu. However, the design is a bit questionable and the orange notices popping up below every now and then is a bit irritating. At times I am not sure if I am doing the right thing or the wrong thing! The screeshots below have a mix of Gnome & KDE installation, as I forgot to take some snapshots from Gnome installation.

From Fedora 18

From Fedora 18

From Fedora 18

From Fedora 18

From Fedora 18

From Fedora 18

The installer is a bit bland in look and design. It is possibly designed keeping in mind the tablets and touch interfaces. But, it makes life a little tough on conventional laptops and desktops.

Life becomes more complicated with the installer once I try to create my own partition scheme and install Fedora. The installer is not very intuitive or as good as gparted. Moving on, straight forward installation takes about 20 minutes of time and it doesn't download the updates or codecs while installation like Ubuntu. I guess that makes life a bit tougher for any new user.

Post installation about 260 MB of updates were downloaded. I used terminal for the same with command "sudo yum update && sudo yum upgrade".

Repository
Yum is the default package manager with gpk-application 3.6.1 as the GUI for browsing and installing packages. As mentioned before, the stock Fedora repo isn't that rich in terms of non-free codecs or applications. I couldn't locate even Adobe flashplugin there! But, once I added RPM Fusion packages to it, things became a lot better. Interface of gpk-application is similar to synaptic and even here the gpk apps tells of the dependencies required to be installed as pre-requisites. If you don't want to go into complexities of the GUI, life is quite simple via the terminal as well, simply type "sudo yum install appname" and your app will get installed in minutes.

Some of the apps like Adobe flashplugin or Skype 4.1 are not there even in the RPM Fusion repo and required to be installed downloading from the respective website. For Skype, I tried the Fedora 16 installer available on Skype website and it worked well resolving all dependencies on Fedora 18.

From Fedora 18

From Fedora 18

Performance
Post updating to Linux kernel 3.7.2, Fedora 18 Gnome desktop consumed about 310-320 MB RAM and 1-10% CPU to load with system monitor running. I guess, it is pretty decent if I compare it to the latest Gnome 3 spins released in 2012-13. Fedora 18 resource consumption is almost equivalent to Fedora 17 and Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS. If I compare it to Ubuntu 12.10, Fedora 18 comes way better.

Linux OS	Desktop	CPU	RAM
Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS	Unity with Gnome 3.4	1-10%	280 MB
Fedora 17 Gnome	Gnome 3.4.1	1-10%	296 MB
Zorin 6 Core	Gnome 3.4.1	1-10%	300 MB
OpenSUSE 12.2 Gnome	Gnome 3.4.2	1-10%	310 MB
Fedora 18 Gnome	Gnome 3.6.2	1-10%	310 MB
Pinguy OS 12.04	Gnome 3.4.1	1-10%	325 MB
Ubuntu 12.10	Unity with Gnome 3.6	1-10%	412 MB

Overall
I like Fedora 18 Gnome for it's clean, uncluttered interface. But, Gnome 3 is too much to digest for me to use. Actually Ubuntu Unity works much better, even though I hate it being inefficient. Now actually I understand why Ubuntu is pursuing Unity and Linux Mint is going aggressive on Cinnamon. However, I don't have much complain on the Fedora spin - they tried to be true to Gnome 3 desktop and it worked really well on my Core i3 laptop. It is fast, slick and I found it quite stable. I have mixed feelings about the upgraded Anaconda installer - it's good in patches but I felt, it is primarily designed for tablets. I guess the big distros like Ubuntu & Fedora will go aggressive to tap the tablet PC market pretty soon. Desktop users will have to be contended with Fedora/Ubuntu spins like Linux Mint, Fuduntu, Kororaa, etc.

Do I recommend Fedora 18 Gnome? I'll recommend it for advanced users who can take the pain for installing a new distro every year. For casual users, looking for a stable distro but love Fedora, try other flavors of Fedora like KDE. And if you can't live without Gnome, try Fuduntu instead. It work much better and has a rolling release with Gnome 2.32 desktop. Life is much easier and intuitive in Fuduntu.

Fedora 18 Gnome gets a rating of 8.35/10 from my side for being a solid stable distro with slick professional looks and good performance, but with Gnome 3 agonies. The score distribution is given below:

Fedora 18 Gnome	Score	Weights
Installation time	10.00	5%
Installation Complexity	8.00	5%
Hardware detection	10.00	10%
Applications	8.25	20%
Aesthetics & Usability	7.00	30%
Performance & Stability	9.00	30%
Overall	8.35	100%

You can download the 32 and 64 bit editions from here.

Read more!

Ultimate Edition 3.5 Review: Ugly but fully loaded!

My first exposure to Ultimate edition was with 3.4. I installed the 64-bit one to my newly bought Core i7 3rd gen. laptop with 8 GB RAM last year, but had to remove it bugged by it's instability. First the default interface is devoid of much aesthetics, Second, effects are too loud and most important, third, instability - not a single day passed with something or the other crashing in the background or my laptop suddenly stopped responding and would require a hard reset. First two issues on aesthetics and too much of effects I took care myself with 24 hours of usage but I couldn't handle the third one and replaced it with supremely stable Linux Mint 13 Cinnamon.

From Ultimate Edition 3.5

It may sound a sad tone to begin with - but, the disappointment is primarily due to my high expectation build around the distro and hope that it would really work for me. Tell me, where you get Gnome 3, Unity, Gnome 2, etc. desktop environments together in a single distro? Everyday you can use a different desktop! Plus, it is loaded with applications - it has almost the entire Ubuntu repository loaded there! 

From Ultimate Edition 3.5

From Ultimate Edition 3.5

From Ultimate Edition 3.5

From Ultimate Edition 3.5

From Ultimate Edition 3.5

From Ultimate Edition 3.5

From Ultimate Edition 3.5

With the new release note of Ultimate Edition 3.5 coming out on 3rd Jan, and that too in KDE flavor, I was really intrigued to check it out, with the expectation of more stability in the distro. UE 3.5 is about 3.5 GB, which is about 300 MB more than UE 3.4. Both are built on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS. However, the upgraded version has quite a lot of added flavors like KDE 4.8, XFCE 4.8, LXDE, OpenBox, Cinnamon, in addition to Gnome 3, Unity and Gnome 2. Linux kernel is 3.2.0 as in Ubuntu 12.04.1. I downloaded the 32-bit version this time.

Testing was done for a week on my Asus K54C 2.2 Ghz Core i3 laptop with 2 GB RAM, decent specs to run any OS. I did a live boot from USB and then installed it on the same machine to use it for a week and make a fair assessment. At boot up itself, one can sense little attention to art-work, as UE 3.5 KDE started with a Lubuntu screen and an Ubuntu login window! Further, because of the GUI's dark theme along with dark fonts, visibility becomes a bit of issue in UE 3.5.


Applications
It will take me at least 2-3 posts to accurately provide you the applications in UE 3.5. Better you check a few screenshots to build an expectation. The screenshots are taken in UE with LXDE desktop, as in the default KDE menu, it is difficult to show majority of the apps. In nutshell, entire Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu and Lubuntu - entire Ubuntu clan is present in UE 3.5 along with the Ubuntu repository. Actually there is no need to add any software center as there won't be any app left in repo! Multimedia codecs are pre-loaded and one can straight away listen to favorite music or watch movies immediately after installation or live boot.

From Ultimate Edition 3.5

From Ultimate Edition 3.5

From Ultimate Edition 3.5

From Ultimate Edition 3.5

From Ultimate Edition 3.5

From Ultimate Edition 3.5

From Ultimate Edition 3.5

Amazingly, you see Muon and Lubuntu software centers as well along with the default Ubuntu software center! Also, think of multiple file managers! Kind of over-abundance but I can live with it!

From Ultimate Edition 3.5

My only grudge here is LibreOffice is still 3.5, GIMP is 2.6 and quite a few of the other apps are also backdated. However, users can add the appropriate packages from Quantal/Nadia and upgrade the software.

Installation
Installation is typical Ubuntu and takes about 30 minutes. Steps are pretty simple and would not surprise even a newbie. Even here the installation steps have real font color problem and whatever is written, is barely visible due to white font and semi-transparent GUI. Seriously, the developers should take some help from an expert on art-work!

From Ultimate Edition 3.5

From Ultimate Edition 3.5

From Ultimate Edition 3.5

From Ultimate Edition 3.5

From Ultimate Edition 3.5

From Ultimate Edition 3.5

 
Performance
I downloaded the 32-bit OS for the test. Performance was assessed post installation and I tried all the available desktop options. Of these, Cinnamon 2D, Openbox and XDMC options didn't work for me. From the rest, LXDE was the least resource consuming option for me, followed by XFCE and Gnome classic mode. Surprisingly, KDE came out to be the most inefficient option!

Desktops	CPU	RAM
Cinnamon	1-10%	360 MB
Cinnamon 2D	-	-
Gnome	1-10%	285 MB
Gnome Classic	1-10%	286 MB
Gnome Classic (No effects)	1-10%	281 MB
Gnome/Openbox	1-10%	440 MB
KDE Plasma Workspace	1-10%	782 MB
KDE/Openbox	1-10%	774 MB
Lubuntu	1-10%	167 MB
Lubuntu netbook	1-10%	169 MB
Openbox	-	-
Ubuntu	1-10%	438 MB
Ubuntu 2D	1-10%	438 MB
XBMC	-	-
Xfce Session	1-10%	182 MB
Xubuntu Session	1-10%	182 MB
Ubuntu Studio	1-10%	185 MB

If the compare UE 3.5 desktop environments to the corresponding releases (from Ubuntu 12.04.1 and Linux Mint 13 stables), Ultimate's performances didn't deviate significantly from the parent distros (except for KDE). All the results are from installations on the same machine (which I tested at different point in time in 2012).

Competing Distro	RAM	CPU
Linux Mint 13 Cinnamon	6-10%	200 MB
Linux Mint 13 Mate	2-3%	207 MB
Kubuntu 12.04.1	2-10%	310 MB
Lubuntu 12.04	0-5%	119 MB
Ubuntu 12.04.1	5-20%	280 MB
Xubuntu 12.04.1	1-5%	160 MB

Stability
In my 10 days of usage, I found this edition of UE to be relatively more stable than the previous versions I had tested. Post initial update, I didn't have any background application crash. Except KDE, rest of the desktop environments were quite smooth to use. Specially I liked the Lubuntu version. Imagine the efficiency of LXDE with a whole lot of applications from Ubuntu/Kubuntu/Xubuntu! Cool!

Overall
Using UE 3.5, as it is, is no fun at all because of shoddy artwork and really bad looking interface. I couldn't believe KDE can look so bad till I used UE 3.5. Anyway, users can improve the artwork. I don't mind the artwork when I see what I am getting in return - a whole lot of applications to work with and possibly never requiring to open the Ubuntu Software Center! Paradoxically, UE has 3 Software Centers to offer!

From version 3.4 to 3.5, there are quite a few plus points - the developers have toned down the effects quite a bit and now it doesn't hamper with productivity. All kinds of applications are out of the box and gives you a complete experience. I agree the distro is a bit inefficient compared to a single desktop distro like a Lubuntu or Xubuntu, but anyway, UE is not supposed to be installed to a low end machine! It is and absolutely is, recommended if you have a real good system (with dual core or high end processor and minimum 2 GB RAM) in your possession. Otherwise, don't even think of trying UE - it's not for the faint hearted.

Plus, I'll recommend UE 3.5 to Linux users with some experience. For newbies, it might be a little confusing to have so many desktops, file managers, system monitors, mail clients, browsers, and a whole lot of other apps for the same function.

So, if you are looking for a new experience, different desktop every day or a whole lot of applications to play with and can live with bad art-work, UE 3.5 is a must try. You may like it! You can download UE 3.5 32-bit and 64-bit editions from here.

Read more!