Xubuntu on the Raspberry Pi 2/3/3B+

[Aaron Franke]

Hi Adam,
I would be interested in this, but only for 64-bit Xubuntu 18.04. I only want 64-bit OSes. I have a Pi 3 which I've been meaning to wipe soon so I'll gladly test it out. Feel free to post a link to it once you've finished it.
- Aaron Franke

On Fri, May 11, 2018 at 3:38 AM, Adam Smith<***@gmail.com> wrote: Hi

I've been working on some installers for Xubuntu 18.04 for the
Raspberry Pi.  Would this be of interest to anybody on the list?

I've made armhf and arm64 versions.  I posted an early armhf version
on this raspberry pi thread
https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=209763 .  I
posted it for people to test, but so far nobody has!

I've since spotted a couple of things that need correcting (nothing
big just a spelling mistake on the cmdline.txt), and I've changed how
I do a few things.  I'm waiting to see if I get a response to a couple
of bug reports before I post the final versions.

I think it's the first time a fully automated ubiquity has been used
on the pi.  The arm64 version is currently unique in *ubuntu.

For those who don't like the idea of downloading something from a
complete stranger (quite right too), I've updated the Ubuntu raspberry
pi wiki - https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ARM/RaspberryPi - so you can install
xubuntu 18.04 via official installation media.  Let me know if
something is wrong/needs changing with that, but of course it would be
better if you could make the updates yourself!

Cheers

Adam

[Adam Smith]

Hi everybody

Thanks for all the kind offers to help with testing and words of encouragement.

Here is the arm64 version https://1drv.ms/u/s!AvHY_kl4hMB4gQHfDAh2SYG_Q4Bt

The only problem that I know of is that it doesn't ask to eject the
USB stick/cdrom at the end of the installation.

To use just format a USB stick/sd card as fat (you have to use a
mbr/msdos partition table) and copy the zipped files (including the
usually hidden '.disk' folder) to your stick/card. Then it is just
like a normal installation on a normal computer.

I'm not signed up to the xubuntu lists, so please add my email to any
messages if you need a speedy reply!

Cheers

Adam

[Adam Smith]

Out of curiosity, why take on adapting the Raspberry Pi foundation's
special hardware-related tools and kernel into Xubuntu?
After a Raspbian install, it is straight-forward to add the XFCE desktop
and optionally remove the LXDE desktop. The result looks just like
Xubuntu on x32/x64. I did this with my Raspberry Pi and have no regrets.
* Continue to leverage the large Raspberry Pi Raspbian community.
XFCE is supported.
* Still running with the base as the Raspberry Pi foundation intended.
* Still able to use the Ubuntu SNAP and other 3rd party packages for
Raspberry Pi.
* raspi-config still works.
* Migrating to a USB-disk-boot/operate environment (get rid of
MicroSD) works as documented by the Raspberry Pi foundation.
I might have missed something so feel free point that out.

Post by Adam Smith
Hi everybody
Thanks for all the kind offers to help with testing and words of encouragement.
Here is the arm64 version
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AvHY_kl4hMB4gQHfDAh2SYG_Q4Bt
The only problem that I know of is that it doesn't ask to eject the
USB stick/cdrom at the end of the installation.
To use just format a USB stick/sd card as fat (you have to use a
mbr/msdos partition table) and copy the zipped files (including the
usually hidden '.disk' folder) to your stick/card. Then it is just
like a normal installation on a normal computer.
I'm not signed up to the xubuntu lists, so please add my email to any
messages if you need a speedy reply!
Cheers
Adam

Hi Richard

I sent that message a couple of weeks ago. I think it has been
delayed in the list's spam filter!

I don't really want to get into some sort of distro war. If you are
happy with Raspbian then that is great. The Raspbian desktop and
tools are targeted at a young audience. Raspbian is a great choice
for a 10 year old who wants to turn an led on and off with a bit of
python code. But no serious developer with a Pi 3 would choose to
develop on Raspbian when they can use *ubuntu, debian, fedora,
opensuse, gentoo and arch. The vast majority of apps/tools/python
libraries that Raspbian provides I personally don't want/need. What I
want is the same apps/libraries as I use on other architectures.

I don't think I'm unique in this. There is clearly a high level of
interest in Ubuntu-mate's raspberry image. Martin Wimpress has
claimed that armhf is Ubuntu-mate's most popular architecture,
although how he is measuring that I'm not sure. Martin has adapted
many of the raspberry pi tools/apps plus included a raspberry pi
kernel in the flavour maker ppa. That does indeed require quite a
high level of maintenance.

I've taken a different approach. I'm not interested in becoming some
sort of pi package maintainer. The installers I uploaded don't use a
ppa. Every package comes directly from the ubuntu archives (including
the kernel). The only exceptions are the pi bootloaders and wifi
firmware. The installer uses a preseed file to adapt the installation
to the pi. It's all pretty standard stuff.

There is no arm64 version of Raspbian. People seem to like to have
endless debates about armhf vs arm64 on the pi. I'm not going to add
to them, except to say arm64 has working Firefox, whereas it has been
broken for months on armhf. Ultimatley the choice will come down to
which architecture has the apps you want.

Pasi Lallinaho suggested I subscribe to the Xubuntu-devel mailing list
to discuss the issues brought up by an unofficial installer. So here
I am! I haven't heavily advertised the installers, but where I have
posted them on forums it is pretty clear that they are unofficial. If
xubuntu are not happy about them then I'll withdraw them.

However, if xubuntu want to make use of them to promote xubuntu then
that is fine by me. I've got a xubuntu-core armhf image (not a
ubiquity installer) that I can upload as a replacement for the xubuntu
(ubiquity based) installer. I think the arm64 installer has the
potential to generate a bit of interest if it was on omgubuntu or the
like. A 18.04 armhf version of ubuntu-mate (and the other flavour
maker images) won't be released until 18.04.1 (end of July ~ 2 months
away). There are also not many distros that work with the 3B+ out of
the box at the moment.

Adam