Xubuntu 18.04 LTS review - Initial impressions

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So, per my usual routine, I finally started playing around with the latest LTS release one full year after initial release. I can sum it up in one word. {YAWN}.

First the good:

• The Ubuntu Software Center application does not move like it has a ball and chain attached. It's actually a useful alternative to Synaptic package manager now.
• Some things are a bit easier to edit in the start menu. For instance right click to rename.

That's it. Really. That is it. Nothing at all to be excited about other than maybe some new hardware compatibility in the new kernel?

The bad (aka: Stupid things they broke that still are not fixed even after a full year):

• Desktop switcher does not operate with mouse scroll wheel as it should. I've searched everywhere and cannot find mention of it anywhere.
• Power manager completely broken for laptop batteries. Doesn't switch between charge/discharge. Grossly inaccurate capacity. Always indicates 100% charge. The list goes on. They broke it good.
• gksu depreciated and removed. Programs can no longer be run with super user privileges by preceding with gksu. "Replaced by" pkexec but that only works for programs which have specific entries for them in the policy kit config. Fortunately, Xubuntu does have a default set of programs preconfigured to work with pkexec. UNFORTUNATELY, gdebi (my preferred .deb package installer) is not one of them. So, even though it will install from Synaptic and creates a start menu entry to launch it, it will not work. It must be launched from a terminal window with sudo. As time goes on I expect to find more admin type programs that will also fall into this category.
• I can find no policy kit editor that might make it easier to add new programs to enable pkexec to work with them.
• (edit 5/2) The nVidia driver does not work at all with the Ion graphics chip on my 1215n laptop! As soon as Lightdm launches it's lights out. 16.04, no problem. It is very likely this bug affects ALL nVidia Ion graphics with Xubuntu 18.04.
• I am also reading of people still having trouble with Samba and Wine.
• Another user I gave a computer to preloaded with 18.04 inexplicably lost all desktop icons and menus and had great difficulty launching any programs.

Stupid regressions like these are why I always wait at least a year to upgrade between LTS versions. Apparently 1 year is not enough anymore. That is COMPLETELY unacceptable.  Take my advice.  If it ain't broke, don't "fix" it. Stick with 16.04 a while longer.  It's officially supported until April 2019 and receives security patches/updates until April 2021.

Or better yet, take a look at Linux Mint 18.x.  I am!  It's officially supported for 5 years (2 years longer than Xubuntu).  It's layered on top of Ubuntu so the look, feel and versatility is almost identical.  But even the Mint developers have had issues with their 19.x releases because it's layered on top of Ubuntu 18.04.  Mint 18.x releases are still layered on Ubuntu 16.04 and still fully supported for two more years.  So for all but the adventurous, stick with Mint 18.3 in it's various desktop environment flavors (Cinnamon, MATE or XFCE).  Generally I still prefer XFCE for its very low system resource overhead without sacrifice of basic functionality but there are still problems with it on my "problem child" Asus 1215n notebook.  Linux Mint 18.3 MATE 64bit worked flawlessly.  I did play around with Cinnamon.  It also works BUT, while it may not give a performance hit to running applications, all that eye candy does come at the cost of sluggish desktop behavior.  That's something I can do without.  MATE edition remains my top pick for Linux Mint.