About Us
Our Philosophy
U-lite is a community driven Linux distribution based on Ubuntu. When we say community driven, we mean much more than just support. We ask that our users take an active role in the development of our distribution through aiding other users with their problems in our forum, assisting the developers with packaging and scripting tasks, creating fresh artwork to feature in the distribution, and making suggestions as to how to improve our distribution. Furthermore, most important decisions are put to the vote of the community. These aspects of U-lite make is somewhat unique and we hope they improve our distribution.
The Problem We Face
Hardware is not cheap. Most people, schools, and organizations have little to spend on upgrading their hardware. Thus, people have little choice but to run older software on their computers to extend their lifespans. But this creates problems. Older software often lacks official support, security updates, and modern features that modern software has. Furthermore, most mainstream programs have continued to swell in memory consumption and features that not everyone wants. Thus, we provide an alternative to those programs for use on computers new and old.
Our Solution
U-lite provides owners of older hardware the choice to run lean modern software. This software is kept up-to-date, secure, and full of features users expect. Yet other groups who set out to also provide this fail the user in one regard: their product is often difficult to use. At U-lite we hope to provide a desktop operating system with sensible defaults that is easy to use.
Our Activities
U-lite maintains a meta-package to install the default programs, an artwork package to provide default artwork, a scripts package to customize the desktop defaults, and several backported programs to ensure the latest functionality on older systems. We also look for ways to trim programs down from their default configurations so that they might use less processor, memory, and hard disk resources. Finally, we promote using U-lite as a replacement to unsupported commercial software and provide a light base on which to build a custom distribution.
Our Target Users
U-lite is built for users who need an easy-to-use, up-to-date, light system to run on their aging hardware. U-lite is great for people relatively new to Linux who do not feel comfortable hacking away at their operating system but also for experienced users looking for a light base for their own custom distributions or mass deployments.
Our Status
Currently U-lite is being relabeled at the request of Canonical. Furthermore, it is considered “Release Candidate” quality software. The 0.8 version of U-lite still contains its previous branding. Our next version, featuring the new branding and updated packages, will be based on Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex).
Our History
Matic Ahacic created the Ubuntulite project in May 2005. Colin McDermott designed the original site shortly thereafter. Matoc Ahacic and Colin McDermott, however, could no longer contribute to the project in May 2006. Then the current project leader, Shae Smittle, took over. Progress was slow at first, but the results are a changed program selection and a renewed vigor for development. Shortly after the release of Ubuntulite 0.8rc2, Canonical contacted Ubuntulite requesting that the project change its name. After some vetting, the project became U-lite in November 2008. We are currently awaiting our first release under this new branding.
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