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I've read this Q&A and I'm ready to try it with Xubuntu. That is, I'll go from Ubuntu to Xubuntu.

At this moment, my laptop is slow, even after the various optimizations. My question is whether this is the correct way to proceed.

sudo apt-get upgrade          # upgrade all existing packages to newest version
sudo do-release-upgrade       # upgrade system (takes some hours)   

sudo apt-get xubuntu-desktop   # switch to Gnome on login

Remove the ubuntu-desktop package (Which command should I use?)

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Do I need to change my software sources to Xubuntu 13? –  user246516 Feb 9 at 22:03
No. But what you wrote is not an answer. When you get more reputation you will be able to write comments. askubuntu.com/help/whats-reputation –  Sneetsher Feb 9 at 22:27

1 Answer 1

up vote 19 down vote accepted

Sort of, there's a typo (you need install in your installation line). You also don't need to remove ubuntu-desktop and I certainly wouldn't do this until you're happy with what you've got. Here's what I would do:

  1. Install Xubuntu

    sudo apt-get install xubuntu-desktop
  2. Log out, log back in, selecting Xubuntu/Xfce as my interface

  3. Chill out for a few days. See that things still work. There will be too many applications (eg there will be both GNOME's and Xfce's default applications available but you want to make sure you'll have everything you need when you remove GNOME/Unity/Whatever.

  4. Clean up.

    sudo apt-get remove ubuntu-desktop
    sudo apt-get autoremove # removes dependencies of ubuntu-desktop
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I'll give that a try. –  GUI Junkie Oct 14 '11 at 15:29
I did give it a try, but will revert to ubuntu. It's not so much faster than ubuntu. –  GUI Junkie Oct 29 '11 at 17:17
speed? you're not doing it right. Install xubuntu from scratch and disable extra services. It'll be faster. even better - get minimal ubuntu cd and install xfce. ther is really not much more in xubuntu. ohh - you'll get it faster. –  Stann Oct 30 '11 at 1:26
In my case the old dependencies are not deleted. I have Trusty Tahr stable. –  keiki Apr 17 at 19:00

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