Ubuntu Flavors: – Types of Ubuntu Explained

Ubuntu is a free and open-source operating system. It is available under the GPL license. The GPL license allows everyone to modify, strip down, build upon, extend, and embed any part of Ubuntu. It also allows them to distribute the original Ubuntu with those changes or modifications. A customized or modified version of the original Ubuntu is known as the Ubuntu Flavor.

Types of Ubuntu flavors

There are two types of Ubuntu flavors: official and unofficial.
The differences between both are the following.

• Official flavors are part of the Ubuntu project. They are designed and shared by the same community that develops and distributes Ubuntu.
  Unofficial flavors are customized and distributed by third parties or communities.
• Like the original Ubuntu, official flavors are available under the GPL license.
  Unofficial flavors may or may not be available under the GPL license.
• Official flavors are customized based on the general requirements, whereas unofficial flavors are customized based on the particular requirements of the company or community that customizes them.
• Official flavors are available for everyone to download and use. Unofficial flavors may or may not be available for everyone. The company or community that customizes them decides whether they will be available for everyone.

Unofficial Ubuntu flavors

The following webpage lists the popular and well-known unofficial Ubuntu flavors.

Official Ubuntu flavors

Official flavors are recognized and supported by the Ubuntu community. These flavors are built and tested according to the standards of the original Ubuntu. The Ubuntu support team monitors, tracks, and fixes bugs in these flavors. These flavors are Edubuntu, Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Ubuntu Budgie, Cinnamon, Ubuntu Kylin, Ubuntu MATE, Ubuntu Studio, Unity, and Xubuntu.

Differences between official Ubuntu flavors

As far as hardware and software compatibility are concerned, there are no significant differences between these flavors. An application that works on one flavor also works on other flavors. These flavors are different from each other in terms of customization. Customization mainly involves desktop environments.

Desktop environments

A desktop environment is a group of programs that runs on the operating system and provides a Graphic User Interface (GUI) to access the system. The desktop environment is also known as the desktop shell. GNOME is the default desktop shell on Ubuntu. Besides GNOME, many other desktops are also available. Unity, KDE, MATE, and XFCE are other popular desktops. There are two ways to use a different desktop shell. Either install it with the existing desktop shell or use a Ubuntu flavor that uses the desired desktop shell by default.

A desktop environment typically contains several elements, such as icons, windows, toolbars, folders, wallpapers, desktop widgets, etc. Because of this, even if Ubuntu supports multiple desktop environments, installing and using more than one desktop on a single system is not recommended. If you want to use a desktop other than the default, use a Ubuntu flavor that uses it by default. Using a dedicated flavor provides a great user experience. It also allows you to use several desktop-specific applications.

Features of official Ubuntu flavors

Default Ubuntu includes features for general purpose. If you need additional features or have particular requirements, you can customize it or use an already customized version. The following section describes the features of all official Ubuntu flavors.

Default Ubuntu

Default Ubuntu is the base of all flavors. All other flavors use it to build their customized versions. It arrives in two variations: Ubuntu Desktop and Ubuntu Server.

Differences between Ubuntu Desktop and Ubuntu Server edition

• The Desktop edition includes the desktop environment, while the Server edition does not.
• In the installation process, the Desktop edition uses the regular GUI interface, while the Server edition uses the menu-driven CLI interface.
• Unless we manually change the default selected packages in installation, the Desktop edition installs the GUI interface, while the Server edition does not.
• Before version 12.04, the kernel was different in both variations. The support life cycle was also different for both editions. It was five years for the Ubuntu desktop version. For the Ubuntu server edition, it was three years.

Similarities between Ubuntu Desktop and Ubuntu Server edition

• Technically, after version 12.04, both editions are the same except for the default installation of packages. In the desktop edition, by default, Ubuntu installs the packages that it considers as desktop packages (such as Gnome desktop, Game, Video player, Open Office, etc.) and skips the packages that it assumes as server packages (such as Apache2 web server, Samba server, Bind9, NFS, etc.). In the server edition, it installs the server packages and skips the desktop packages.
• Since installation disks of both editions contain all packages, by manually selecting the packages in installation, you can easily install the desktop edition from the server installation disk and the server edition from the desktop installation disk.
• After version 12.04, both editions use the same kernel and support the same life cycle. Now, the life cycle of both editions is five years.

The desktop environment in default Ubuntu

Before version 11.04, Ubuntu used GNOME 2 as the default desktop. In version 11.04, Ubuntu replaced GNOME 2 with Unity. Unity remained the default desktop till version 17.10. In version 18.04, Ubuntu switched to GNOME 3. Now, GNOME 3 is the default desktop environment in Ubuntu.

Ubuntu MATE

In version 11.04, Ubuntu changed its default desktop to Unity from GNOME 2. Many users who were passionate about GNOME 2 did not like this change. A community of such people made a new flavor known as Ubuntu MATE. In this flavor, they used GNOME 2 as the default desktop. In a nutshell, MATE was the reincarnation of the classic GNOME 2 desktop.

Later, Ubuntu team members decided to use GNOME again as default. But instead of using the classic version (GNOME 2), they decided to build a brand new version of GNOME. They also decided to use Unity as the default desktop until the development of the advanced GNOME. This development drove the developer community of Ubuntu MATE to rename everything in their customized version so it could coexist with the newer version of GNOME.

As explained earlier, starting from version 18.04, GNOME 3 is the default desktop in Ubuntu. You can consider this flavor if you like classic GNOME 2 for its clean desktop layout and fast performance. If you want to experience a brand new GNOME 3, use default Ubuntu. Since Ubuntu MATE uses the classical GNOME 2 desktop environment, you can use it on any older computer. It makes new computers fast and old computers usable.

Kubuntu

Kubuntu uses the KDE Plasma desktop by default. It released the first version in 2005. After default Ubuntu, Kubuntu is the second most popular flavor of Ubuntu. In this flavor, application names usually start with the letter k.

It provides a desktop environment that looks like the Windows desktop. It also uses a start button and a taskbar similar to Windows. Same as Windows, it aligns the taskbar at the bottom and places the start button at the left corner of it.

It provides the highest level of customization. You can customize hundreds of settings, add and install new desktop widgets (known as plasmoids), change the look and feel of the desktop, customize the toolbar, and so on.

The only downside of Kubuntu is that it provides customization at the cost of system resources. For a Windows user looking for a Linux alternative to Windows, it is a perfect option. Since this flavor uses vast system resources, installing and using it on older systems or systems with less memory and CPU is not recommended.

Lubuntu

Lubuntu uses the LXDE desktop. It released the first version in 2006. It is the third most popular flavor of Ubuntu. Developers optimized it for faster performance and resource-saving. Just like Kubuntu application names start with the letter k, Lubuntu application names begin with the letter l.

It made a lot of customization to reduce the usage of system resources. For example, it uses PCManFM for the file manager, SDDM for the login message, and Leafpad for the text editor. Just like these, it replaced several other heavy applications with lightweight applications. If you need a lightweight flavor optimized for fast performance, use this. It is also a recommended flavor for a system having less memory and CPU.

Xubuntu

Xubuntu is also a lightweight flavor of Ubuntu. Xubuntu stands just above Lubuntu in lightweight. This flavor uses XFCE desktop as default. XFCE is a clean and uncluttered desktop optimized for performance and usability.

Unlike Lubuntu, developers customized it for both lightweight and features. If you have to select one from Xubuntu and Lubuntu, select Xubuntu. Xubuntu offers almost all the features that Lubuntu provides. Xubuntu is older and more stable than Lubuntu.

Ubuntu Budgie

It is another lightweight flavor of Ubuntu. It uses the Budgie desktop. It released its first version in 2016. In lightweight, it stands above Xubuntu. Unlike Xubuntu and Lubuntu, Ubuntu Budgie is a new flavor. It uses a balanced approach between lightweight and appearance. It is fresh and sophisticated. It consumes fewer system resources.

Edubuntu

Developers customized this flavor for schools and universities. It uses the same desktop environment the default Ubuntu flavor uses. However, it includes several custom applications specially designed for educational purposes. Blinken memory game, Chemtool for scheming chemical formulas, Fritzing emulator for building electronic circuits, and Calibre books manager are a few examples of these applications.

Since this flavor contains a lot of applications, its installation image is quite large. It also consumes a lot of disk space. To save disk space, you can customize the default selection of packages. Edubuntu installer allows us to select applications for target audiences such as preschool, graduate, and postgraduate or course levels such as primary, secondary, and tertiary.

Ubuntu Studio

This flavor is specially customized for media professionals. This flavor includes several applications specially designed for audio and video editing. For example, it includes a2jmidid (ALSA sequencer), Ardour (hard disk recorder) Audacious (a lightweight audio player), Audacity (a digital audio editor), BEAST (music composter), Creox (real-time guitar effects generator), Hydrogen (drum effect generator), MusE (a MIDI/Audio sequencer), TiMidity (MIDI format convertor), Xwax (video emulator) Yoshimi (audio mixer) and so on.

It is a perfect option for a media professional looking for a free and open-source platform for multimedia-related works.

Ubuntu Unity

It uses Unity as the default desktop. It is an attractive, smooth, and lightweight version of Ubuntu. It has a beautiful design, efficient workflow, and meaningful features like the heads-up display (HUD), Global Menu, powerful search, and high customizability using the Unity Tweak Tool. You can choose from various window animations and effects available in Compiz.

Ubuntu Cinnamon

It uses the Cinnamon desktop. The Cinnamon desktop uses GNOME 2 as the baseline. It provides a traditionally modern experience. It includes a simple, customizable desktop built with many personalization options and features for extra spice.

Ubuntu Kylin

It is the Chinese version of Ubuntu. The difference between this flavor and the default flavor is that they localized it in the Chinese language for the Chinese market. It is also available under the GPL license. It means you can install and use it even if you are not Chinese. Unless you know the Chinese language, use the default Ubuntu. In terms of hardware and software support, both are the same. The only difference between them is the localization.

Ubuntu Mythbuntu (Discontinued)

MythTV is a free and open-source home entertainment application. It turns a computer into a network streaming digital video recorder, a digital multimedia home entertainment system, or a home theater personal computer. It is a free and open-source alternative to Windows Media Center.

Installing and setting up MythTV in default Ubuntu requires a lot of customization. You have to download and install several packages. Besides this, you also need to update related configuration files. Only a professional or an experienced user can do this.

Mythbuntu makes this process easy. It installs MythTV with the installation process and makes all necessary configurations. You can use MythTV immediately after the installation without creating or changing configuration files.

The Ubuntu community has discontinued this flavor. It no longer develops, maintains, and releases this flavor. The following official web page provides more information about it.
https://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Mythbuntu

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we discussed all official Ubuntu flavors and explored their features. We also learned how each flavor differs and when it performs best.