Xubuntu 13.04 "Raring Ringtail" Review: Rock solid and stable as ever!

Let me set the tone of the review at the very beginning itself, these words are from the Xubuntu 13.04 release notes:  


"The Xubuntu team is glad to announce the immediate
release of Xubuntu 13.04. Xubuntu 13.04 will be supported for 9 months
and will need other media such as a USB device or a DVD to install.
What's new in Xubuntu 13.04? Xubuntu 13.04 is mostly a maintenance
release, and

Lubuntu 13.04 "Raring Ringtail" Review: Fast, efficient and functional

Lubuntu is one of my favorite distros for it's amazing resource efficiency and functionality. It may not be the most eye-candy in the Ubuntu clan but definitely the most resource efficient. LXDE traditionally consumes lower resources than Gnome or KDE and even XFCE. And most importantly, it is customizable enough to make it look really attractive. Though the release note of Lubuntu 13.04 didn't

Ubuntu 13.04 "Raring Ringtail" Review: Sizzling with Unity 7 but does it warrant an upgrade from Ubuntu 12.04/Ubuntu 12.10?

Let me start with where I left off in my review of Ubuntu 13.04 beta 2. To me, as an user, it appeared to be an updated version of Quantal (12.10) and nothing more. However, I ended with a note that possibly by the time of release Ubuntu will come up with something really spectacular like Smart Scopes. I must say, I am a bit disappointed with Ubuntu in the absence of Smart scopes. I heard that

Manjaro 0.8.5 KDE Review: With KDE 4.10.2 and added Steam!

Within a short span of time, Manjaro seems to have hit the right cord with Linux users. In last 8 months, it had 6 major releases with almost all desktop flavors available in their kitty and currently ranked within top 10 in Distrowatch. For those uninitiated to Manjaro, it is an user-friendly spin of Archlinux with popular desktop environments which just works once you boot up. To me, Manjaro

Fuduntu 2013.2 Review: As ever - Simple, Effective, fast and now with added Steam!

This year January, I reviewed the 2013.1 update from Fuduntu and was extremely impressed by it. Since then Fuduntu has been one of my favorite distros and I use it on my netbook, dual boot with Linux Mint 13 XFCE. Fuduntu, though the name has resemblance to Ubuntu in it, is more of Fedora with the advantage of rolling release. However, to me it is truly Fedora + Ubuntu, as it combines the

Emmabuntus 12.04.2-1.04 Review: Xubuntu LTS spiced up!

I recently came across Emmabuntus in Distrowatch, it is a Xubuntu 12.04.2 LTS based distro which comes with a large number of pre-installed applications. You can say it to be Ultimate Edition for Xubuntu. Naturally, I was inclined to try it out - to check if it is just mindless collection of applications or the developers have used their judgement in selecting those apps.


From Emmabuntus

Ubuntu 13.04 "Raring Ringtail" Beta 2 Review: With a better looking Unity!

It is April 2013 and we are eagerly awaiting the release of Ubuntu 13.04. Discussions are on whether it will have the usual 18 months of support or a lesser 9 months. Codenamed Raring Ringtail, the OS is at the final stages and in this article, I give you a sneak preview of what is expected. Of course, Ubuntu will add some last minute surprises when the final release comes.


From Ubuntu 13.04

Pear OS 7 "Corella" Review: Simple, elegant and smooth Mac clone of Ubuntu 12.10

I have got good familiarity with Pear OS 6, having used it for more than 6 months. I really liked the launcher (and felt it is much intuitive and better than Gnome 3 launcher), and the social networking apps like G+, Facebook and Twitter. Pear OS 6 is based on the long term version of Ubuntu - Precise Pangolin. The latest release of Pear OS, Pear OS 7 is on the other hand based on Ubuntu 12.10,