Linux Lite Gets Updated to Version 5.8

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A lightweight operating system designed for Windows users wanting to try Linux

Linux Lite -- a highly trimmed down version of Ubuntu, has been updated to version 5.8 and adds several new features including a new Widget, an updated Papirus icon theme, the command line information tool Noefetch and Mintstick, which lets you create bootable USB drives. There are also nine new wallpapers to freshen up your desktop experience.

Linux Lite is a highly stripped-down operating system based on the Debian and Ubuntu flavors of Linux. Similar to Linux Core we covered a few days ago, this operating system is designed to run on very low-end hardware, but not as low-end as Linux Core.

Nonetheless, the minimum requirements for Linux core are still very low in today's world, requiring just a 1GHz CPU, 768MB of RAM, and 8GB of storage. This means you can run this OS on almost any PC from the past 15 years (never mind the best ultrabooks of today), and perhaps some low-end android phones too if the OS were ported to ARM.

But despite the name, Linux Lite's primary goal is actually to give Windows users an easy way into the Linux world. The GUI and apps that come with Lite are chosen specifically for novice users who want to give Linux a shot if they are coming from Windows.

When you first fire up Linux Lite, the taskbar, start menu, and desktop all have the same layout as Windows. Clicking the "menu" button brings up a start menu lookalike interface where you can access and open all your apps on the PC.

Thankfully, each version of Linux Lite is modified based on the Long Term Support (LTS) versions of Ubuntu. With Linux Lite version 5.8, running on Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS right now. This means you can stay on a specific version of Linux Lite for up to 5 years and know you are getting the latest security updates for that version of Linux, as well as bug fixes. Just keep in mind you won't always get the latest features of Linux or Ubuntu from the LTS versions.

If you want to check out Linux Lite, it is available here for download.

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Aaron Klotz
Aaron Klotz
Contributing Writer

Aaron Klotz is a contributing writer for Tom’s Hardware, covering news related to computer hardware such as CPUs, and graphics cards.

7 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Grobe
    This is a very nice distro. If you love Linux Mint, you probably love this one too.
    Reply
  • TJ Hooker
    Isn't running a 2+ year old kernel version (5.4) a bit iffy? Or do they have security fixed backported (like Debian does IIRC)? Although even then, only bug fixed that get assigned a CVE are back port candidates from what I understand, which won't capture every bug with security implications.

    Edit: Derp, as pointed out below, LTS kernel versions are a thing.
    Reply
  • artk2219
    TJ Hooker said:
    Isn't running a 2+ year old kernel version (5.4) a bit iffy? Or do they have security fixed backported (like Debian does IIRC)? Although even then, only bug fixed that get assigned a CVE are back port candidates from what I understand, which won't capture every bug with security implications.

    The LTS versions are provided support for 5 years, meaning it'll be supported until 2025, similar to how windows 10 was released in 2015 but will receive support until 2025. They'll probably replace the core this year with whatever LTS comes out, 22.04 maybe? They release LTS versions every two years.
    Reply
  • Heat_Fan89
    Grobe said:
    This is a very nice distro. If you love Linux Mint, you probably love this one too.
    Yes to the above. Linux Mint is still the best distro from a Windows to Linux users perspective. Linux Mint 20.3 (Una) was recently released. Mint feels and runs like a commercial operating system.

    I’ve been a huge fan of Mint since 2009 but now I prefer Manjaro because it’s not as resource heavy as Mint.
    Reply
  • Grobe
    Heat_Fan89 said:
    I’ve been a huge fan of Mint since 2009 but now I prefer Manjaro because it’s not as resource heavy as Mint.
    Well, I just dug up one of the old laptop from 2002 and it was running Mint 18.03 32 bit xfce and the memory usage on idle was less than 400 MB. But as the most recent versions lies about 700-800 MB at idle.
    Reply
  • Heat_Fan89
    Grobe said:
    Well, I just dug up one of the old laptop from 2002 and it was running Mint 18.03 32 bit xfce and the memory usage on idle was less than 400 MB. But as the most recent versions lies about 700-800 MB at idle.
    Memory isn't the problem however CPU load is. The CPU cores idle between 4-9%. If I run Chrome, Firefox, MS Edge my cores will average 35% on several cores (Quad CPU). If i'm watching Pluto TV in any of the web browsers, they start to push 50% on average. That's Mint.

    Manjaro my CPU cores idle at 0-1% on all 4 cores. If i'm running Chrome with Pluto TV, the cores will hit between 4-8%. I have found that Mint has always been resource heavy. On several laptops, they would run very warm and sometimes the fan would kick to high if I did anything besides the basics
    Reply
  • martinch
    Looks like an interesting distro. :)

    Heat_Fan89 said:
    Memory isn't the problem however CPU load is ... That's Mint
    All I can say is that Mint 19.3 gave a very acceptable user experience on my relatives' dual-core i3-4330 - it was always pretty snappy, and you never heard the CPU fan (I can't say I ever had cause to monitor the CPU usage in any detail).
    Reply