Différences

Ci-dessous, les différences entre deux révisions de la page.

--- issue189:critique [2023/01/29 20:36] – d52fr
+++ issue189:critique [2023/01/29 20:37] (Version actuelle) – d52fr
@@ Ligne 1: / Ligne 1: @@
-Website: https://zorin.com/os/
+Released on 20 October, 2022, Lubuntu 22.10 marked the start of a new development cycle. Like all cycles, this one will consist of three interim releases – leading to the next long-term support version, Lubuntu 24.04 LTS, due in April, 2024.
-Price: $39 USD
+The first interim release in a new cycle is always interesting, as it tends to indicate what can be expected through the cycle and how much new will end up in the final LTS. If the release of Lubuntu 22.10 is any indication of what can be expected, the answer is “not much.”
-Blurb: “Zorin OS is the alternative to Windows and macOS designed to make your computer faster, more powerful, secure, and privacy-respecting.“
+Lubuntu 22.10 is the ninth Lubuntu version with the LXQt desktop, and the 26th release overall for Lubuntu. The very first release, Lubuntu 10.04, came out on 2 May, 2010,12 years ago.
+Installation
-After having a really bad experience with the free version of Zorin OS 16, I thought I should give the pro version a go.
+I downloaded Lubuntu 22.10 from the official source via BitTorrent. This release is 2.7 GB in size compared to 2.5 GB for the last release. In comparison, the mainstream Ubuntu 22.10 is 3.8 GB to download.
-There are no “informationals” whilst installing, so the install proceeded quite quickly.
+Once I had the ISO file downloaded, I did a SHA256 sum check to confirm that the file was good, and then dropped it onto my USB stick equipped with Ventoy 1.0.81 for testing.
-A bit worrying was that the installer did not respect my options, choosing not to install updates whilst installing, or taking part in the “census”, it still reached out to the internet and did some stuff. :( The second time, I disconnected the cable and watched it get stuck in loops as it tried to call home. This kind of behaviour is NOT on. I don’t care where it was connecting to, I made it clear not to. (Privacy respecting, my Tuchus!).
+New
-Looking around the install, I noticed that there was a system folder (/var/lib/flatpak) taking up a lot of space. This was, to my mind, the secret sauce folder. It housed Flatpaks of Gnome and KDE, also some applications for them (the largest folder in my installation).
+There is actually not a lot that is new in this release. It uses the LXQt 1.1.0 desktop, which is based on the Qt 5.15.6 toolkit. The new Linux kernel is 5.19.
-So let us talk about the main feature of the OS, the layout chooser. All the layouts, except whatever this is... worked out of the box.
+Visually, Lubuntu looks the same as other recent releases. The default theme is still Lubuntu Arc with ePapirus icons. There is the usual wide assortment of window themes, icon sets, plus panel and menu color schemes to choose from, to customize your Lubuntu installation pretty much any way you like.
-The left hand menu, be it plank or docky or whatever, is missing. Though my screen is a crappy 1366x768, I could not adjust some of the window sizes, like the appearance window seen here.
+Perhaps the most notable change in this release is that new versions of both the file manager, PCManFM-Qt, and the image viewer, LXimage-Qt, now support the WebP image format. This format for photos and drawings is becoming more common and, while web browsers like Firefox have supported it for a while, the rest of the operating system is now catching up. In general, WebP is a replacement for JPG, GIF and PNG for web photos, with smaller file sizes as well as support for transparency and animation.
-As you can see (right), choosing orange in light mode gave me orange, but choosing orange in dark mode netted me a muted salmon... and also a weird overlay like a night light, on both light and dark.
+This release does have new artwork in the form of several new wallpapers. At one time in the distant past, Lubuntu was noted for its beautiful, blue, wavy, abstract wallpapers, but those days are long gone. The new default “Kinetic Kudu” wallpaper was created by Lubuntu Team member Aaron Rainbolt. Fortunately, there are some alternative wallpapers provided, or you can use your own.
-All of the “layouts” are re-skins of Gnome (not XFCE like the free version), so I’m not sure where the KDE flatpak fits in. The only reason I can see for this is there are a few KDE applications installed, like KdenLive and Krita, by default, though they are flatpaks too, meaning I’m left scratching my beard again. For all the applications installed, it did not have a decent top installed, atop, btop, htop – only plain top, nor inxi or neofetch, but things like FreeCAD and LibreCAD, both. This makes it feel less curated and more like “let’s throw things against the wall and see what sticks”; even default Firefox just comes with a modified home page, but all the crap you don’t want as a Linux user. (Clearly, the targeted demographic here is Windows ‘converts’... XD). There were some nice touches, like being able to right click-the taskbar to find the layouts application or open the system monitor.
+Applications
-If you have a modern computer, Zorin actually runs reasonably well, unless you plan on opening the fonts application – then... you wait. Even opening it sequentially... you wait. It may be because they have lots of spaghetti fonts installed. There were also nice fonts installed as well. I didn’t check to see if the fonts application was a Flatpak too, but the system relies heavily on Flatpaks, I saw seventy (70) out of the box.
+Some of the applications included with Lubuntu 22.10 are:
+-qt 0.1.6 simple lightweight game*
+Bluedevil 5.25.5 bluetooth connector
+Discover Software Center 5.25.5 package management system
+FeatherPad 1.3.0 text editor
+Firefox 105.0.3 web browser**
+ImageMagick 6.9.11.60 image editor*
+Kcalc 22.08.1 calculator
+KDE partition manager 22.08.1 partition manager
+LibreOffice 7.4.2 office suite, Qt interface version
+Lubuntu Update Notifier 0.4 software update notifier*
+LXimage-Qt 1.1.0 image viewer and screenshot tool
+LXQt Archiver 0.6.0 archive manager
+Muon 5.8.0 package manager*
+Noblenote 1.2.0 note taker*
+PCManFM-Qt 1.1.0 file manager
+PulseAudio 16.1 audio controller
+Qlipper 5.1.2 clipboard manager*
+qPDFview 0.4.18 PDF viewer*
+QTerminal 1.1.0 terminal emulator
+Qtransmission 3.00 BitTorrent client, Qt interface version*
+Quassel 0.14.0 IRC client*
+ScreenGrab 2.2.0 screenshot tool*
+Skanlite 22.04.3 scanning utility
+Startup Disk Creator 0.3.15 (usb-creator-kde) USB boot disk maker*
+VLC 3.0.17.4 media player
+Wget 1.21.3 command line webpage downloader
+XScreenSaver 6.02 screensaver and screen locker*
-The “Kooha” application also did not launch for me, but it was an application I was not familiar with, so it was neither here nor there.
+* Indicates the same version used in Lubuntu 22.04 LTS.
+** supplied as a snap, so version depends on the upstream package manager and will update automatically.
-At rest, Zorin actually used a lot less memory than expected, and when the dust settled, it used less hard drive space too. Though it settled at 19GB, I could not install it on a 30GB SSD, it would run out of space and give warnings about 107MB of space remaining before crashing and rebooting the system. Checking the website, I saw that 40GB was needed for Pro. You need to be aware of this, or your installation experience will put you off Zorin.
+Other than updated versions, there have been no changes to the mix of applications provided in Lubuntu 22.10.
-Snap, snap or snap?
+Like the earlier LXQt releases, Lubuntu 22.10 does not come with a webcam application, email client, CD/DVD burning, photo editing or video editing software, although these can be easily added from the repositories, if desired.
-The software application was filled to the brim with software, though with some software sources being Zorin only. (I am assuming these are deb files compiled on and by Zorin themselves.) Some were not labelled, and I assumed these to be plain .deb-files, but they were Flatpaks, so I’d say there was still a bit of work to be done. The software centre does give you the option of installing different versions of software, but sometimes there are no real choices at all. I did appreciate the choice of office during the installation process, but if you are going to do that, you need to give them all a fair chance, no?
-Being spoiled by Voyager Linux, I found it mildly annoying that I could not turn off my trackpad at will, so I do not touch it whilst typing, but I saw no such option in the mouse settings. Nor did I easily see where to change the default mouse pointer. On a white (light) theme you have a black pointer, and on a black (dark) theme you have a black pointer, not ideal. This could just be a Gnome thing, but one would think that this is one of the basic things you need, especially since corner tapping the trackpad is not a thing in most Linux distributions. (Tuxedo has it).
+It does seem from the release announcement that there was some consideration of moving away from Firefox as the default browser. There have been user complaints of slow start-up times, but the development team has decided to stick with the Firefox snap package. In my own testing, the first start of Firefox can take a few extra seconds, but after that it opens quite quickly.
-There is a selection of backgrounds that should appeal to most people included, and not mimicking Apple is a breath of fresh air. I realise most Linux users will theme immediately, but the distro is aimed at Windows converts, who are still sheep at first.
+This Lubuntu release continues to use PulseAudio as its audio controller, while Ubuntu 22.10 has moved to PipeWire. It will be interesting to see over time if Lubuntu sticks with PulseAudio or not.
-Overall the distro behaves quite well, though there are a few annoyances that need attention. If you are a Gnome fan, you should feel right at home. It may not feel as polished as other Gnome distributions that have put a lot of effort in, but it is standard fare meant to ease Windows users, not so much on the Mac front. The Zorin developers are putting effort in, so if you are able to support them, do so please.
+Conclusions
+If Lubuntu 22.10 is any indication of how the rest of the development cycle will go, then it looks like we can expect only a few minor tweaks between now and the LTS release in April, 2024. Overall, that is not a bad thing as the LXQt desktop is working really well these days and most users don’t seem to see a need for big changes.
+External links
+Official website:
+https://lubuntu.me/