14 DAY TRIAL // Cubuntu is the first third-party operating system based on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS released so far and also one of the few OSes that kept Unity for users.
Most developers usually choose to remove the Unity desktop environment and focus on others, but the makers of Cubuntu left Unity in place and added a number of other desktop environments, like Cinnamon, GNOME Classic, LXDE, and OpenBox.
Not only have Cubuntu developers kept Unity, but they also say that they haven't touched any of the other packages. This version of Ubuntu actually packs a lot more apps than the original one and features multiple desktop environments that will please everyone.
“Our priority was to keep the entire Ubuntu, do not remove anything, and it to keep its compatibility, stability and the updates,” said the developers on the website. Among the packages that have been added in Cubuntu we can find Chrome, Geany, Radiotray, Skype, VLC, Tweak, Filezilla, synaptic many codecs, Mp3 , Divx, Flash, and many more.
“It is easy to install and use. It includes default elements of free and proprietary software such as Nvidia drivers, Google Browser-chome, Skype. Cubuntu exists since 2012, today the distribution is in the V158 release. Created from the version of Ubuntu 14.04 LST Trustry, Cubuntu is not an official version, it was created by Eric Kranich who was not enjoying Unity which comes standard with Ubuntu.”
“He added the Cinnamon desktop created by Gwendal Lebihan originally for Linux Mint then recompiled for other distributions. Over the years Cubuntu has been enriched with many software and additional offices, Openbox and Gnome Shell and customized to make it more functional than Unity.”
Unlike the base distribution, which comes with the freeware version of the drivers for the video card, Cubuntu features support for NVIDIA and AMD that can only be provided properly with proprietary drivers.
Cubuntu 14-04-168d is being developed only for the 64-bit architecture and the developers haven't expressed an interest in providing support for 32-bit. Also, it's worth noting that the distribution will boot into Cinnamon and will sport the French language by default (but it can be changed to English). Users can change the desktop environment by logging out and selecting a different option from the LightDM Greeter.
More details about the features and improvements of this Ubuntu variant can be found on the official website. You can download Cubuntu 14-04-168d right now from Softpedia.