With Ubuntu intent on shipping Mir as the default display server in Ubuntu 13.10, the rest of the ‘buntu family are now faced with a decision: to follow suit or not.
KDE-based spin Kubuntu and the lightweight distro Lubuntu, have both announced that neither of their October releases will make use of the new technology.
Mir developers have already demonstrated that all the major desktop environments, KDE and LXDE included, run on Mir using the XMir compatibility layer.
“Mir is a very disappointing development… it’s splitting the Linux distro space and it’s causing us lots of grief already with our upstream,” Jonathan Riddell, Kubuntu Project Lead told us.
Being aimed at low-end computers means that performance top the list of Lubuntu’s concerns. Initial benchmarking has shown a slight performance decrease in Xmir over the traditional XServer.
With uncertainty about performance likely to remain while optimisation and further development on Mir occurs, Lubuntu plan to “…ship X by default for 13.10 and 14.04 …with eventually an option to test XMir, to prepare the future.”
Edubuntu, Xubuntu & Ubuntu Kylin are yet to formally make their decisions known.
Additional reporting by Benjamin Kerensa