Ubuntu 20.04

Dissatisfied with OpenSUSE and not super thrilled with Solus 4.1 Gnome, I started poking around as I am wont to do.  I found on Distrowatch that then next LTS version of Ubuntu was in Beta, to be released in about 2 weeks.

I cut my teeth on linux with Slackware, but the moment the very first release of Ubuntu was announced, I downloaded and installed it.

It was amazing!  I was smitten by it.  I used it for several years along side my macs, my amiga and my BeOS machines.

I don't remember what happened... but at some point changes were made to Ubuntu that I did not like and found frustrating.  I stopped using Ubuntu at that point (had to be 10 or 15 years ago now).

So I saw the new release and thought I should at least look around and see what people had to say... I bopped around from youtube linux sites to Reddit to other places and found mostly favorable takes on 20.04 (alpha/beta).  One comment that caught my eye was "this is the best version of Ubuntu that I have seen since 16.04."   That tipped me over the edge, I downloaded 20.04, and installed it.

This isn't a review, per se, as I don't really DO reviews, just a commentary.  The installation was simple (no different, really, from any of the recent distros using a similar installed (ubiquity).  It installed alongside my windows installation, so that was good.

So, first impressions... I like the theme, it was not overwhelming in any way.  I switched it from normal to dark mode immediately.  I also uninstalled Ubuntu-Dash, and then installed Dash To Panel.  On top of that I installed Arc Menu and weather (I had installed the bare bones version of Ubuntu).

Once I got the desktop looking like I wanted, I installed some apps I frequently use, like libre office, Sublime Text, Microsoft VSCode, Rhythmbox, MPV, stuff like that.  I also made the fonts a little larger so I can see them on my 1440P monitor... but otherwise I kept the default fonts.  I also installed Thunderbird for email, tweaked my terminal, stuff like that.

I have to say it has been a pretty smooth experience and memory usage was on par with what I expected from a Gnome based desktop, so no surprises there.

It is attractive, seems to be well put together except for some minor hiccups with Ubuntu dash (forcing me to uninstall it) it has been a nice experience.  I am thinking as an experiment for MYSELF, I might try to keep this LTS version running for a year.  Or at least until DEC 31 of this year.  :)

I HAVE done that before, stuck with a particular brand of linux for a long time, but it has been awhile. 

I do have one fear:  when the actual 20.04 is released, will my update be smooth and NOT break all my tweaks... or will it destroy it?  We shall see...