Is Kubuntu 8.04 Still Practical?

[goose]

Hi,

At the moment I'm still using Kubuntu 8.04 and I've been reluctant to move away from this until recently. I'm beginning to find that I'm increasingly needing to get new packages to run any software thats coming out.
Also I'm using an older machine which has contributed this.

What would be a good version to move to that's good all round, or is 8.04 still practical to use?

[whatthefunk]

8.04 has been unsupported for nearly two years so you arent getting any security updates. So Id say its not very practical at all.

If youre running an older machine, newer versions of Kubuntu might not work. What are your system specs? You might want to look into a more recent version of Xubuntu or Lubuntu, both of which run great on older machines.

[Detonate]

Kubuntu 8.04 was my workhorse for as long as it was supported. It was a great distribution, but alas time has passed it by. Kubuntu 12.04 promises to be a very stable and usable LTS distribution, but we do need to know more about your machine specifications before we can make a recommendation.

[dmeyer]

Kubuntu 8.04 was my workhorse for as long as it was supported. It was a great distribution, but alas time has passed it by. Kubuntu 12.04 promises to be a very stable and usable LTS distribution, but we do need to know more about your machine specifications before we can make a recommendation.

8.04 is far too old but if he's running a 32bit processor without PAE then he might be left with less options.

[goose]

Thanks for the replies on this. Sorry it's been a busy week.

So Kubuntu 12.04 is a good distro to move to?

I was pretty fond of using 8.04 because the first few releases following this didn't impress me much.
Also Amarok2 was a shocker.

I'm using an IBM Lenovo R60 with an Intel Core2 @ 1.83GHz with 512MB RAM, 80GB HDD
Maybe it's time an upgrade? Sorry I've been a cheap ass

Thanks

[dmeyer]

Thanks for the replies on this. Sorry it's been a busy week.

So Kubuntu 12.04 is a good distro to move to?

I was pretty fond of using 8.04 because the first few releases following this didn't impress me much.
Also Amarok2 was a shocker.

I'm using an IBM Lenovo R60 with an Intel Core2 @ 1.83GHz with 512MB RAM, 80GB HDD
Maybe it's time an upgrade? Sorry I've been a cheap ass

Thanks

Oh that CPU is just fine. If I were you, go for 12.10. I personally found 12.04 to be a little half arsed.

[whatthefunk]

Oh that CPU is just fine. If I were you, go for 12.10. I personally found 12.04 to be a little half arsed.

The CPU is alright, but a newer KDE version will struggle on 512 MB Ram. Id recommend trying out Xubuntu or Lubuntu.

[dmeyer]

The CPU is alright, but a newer KDE version will struggle on 512 MB Ram. Id recommend trying out Xubuntu or Lubuntu.

XFCE isn't as memory friendly as people would like you to believe. KDE would be OK as long as you cut back a lot of effects. Maybe try the Kubuntu-low-fat package? For 512mb of RAM the only two desktops that I could seriously recommend is LXDE or E17. Razor-QT is pretty kickass too.

[james147]

Also remember that there are some major memory improvements in kde 4.10, I would recommend that if you want to try a version of kde.

Also, ram is very cheap these days, I would consider upgrading it if you want the most out of the computer.

[dmeyer]

Also remember that there are some major memory improvements in kde 4.10, I would recommend that if you want to try a version of kde.

Also, ram is very cheap these days, I would consider upgrading it if you want the most out of the computer.

Major memory improvements with each new release of the KDE 4.x series. 4.10 was particularly significant for memory.

[james147]

Major memory improvements with each new release of the KDE 4.x series. 4.10 was particularly significant for memory.

I would say most versions have a minor improvement in memory usage (some times off set by added features), 4.10 had a major improvement... but the terms are subjective

[Detonate]

Also, ram is very cheap these days, I would consider upgrading it if you want the most out of the computer.

http://www.crucial.com/upgrade/Lenov...-upgrades.html

[james147]

http://www.crucial.com/upgrade/Lenov...-upgrades.html

You don't even need 4 GB, 1 or 2 would be enough.Though I recommend at least 2.

[Detonate]

Sure, and there are other brands that are cheaper, but I like Crucial, never had one fail.

[goose]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

I agree that purchasing an extra stick of RAM wouldn't hurt. Also I will take a look at some of these alternative desktops that have been mentioned here.

Appreciate the help