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There is a question on the site about this, but it belongs here so I rephrase.

Is the site just about Ubuntu or also Xubuntu Kubuntu and so on.

imho all official derivates should be covered including server, desktop and netbook editions as well as special purpose ones like mythbuntu, ubuntustudio and so on. There should be some sort of about section that explains this once we agree..

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4 Answers 4

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I vote that all Ubuntu variants be allowed.

The list of supported official distros is described on our on-topic wiki and also on Canonical's own website

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  • Including minor random remix?
    – andol
    Commented Jul 28, 2010 at 21:47
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    @andol: why not, hopefully we can get people doing those distros participate here.
    – txwikinger
    Commented Jul 28, 2010 at 21:50
  • @txwikinger: Don't have any set opinion really. Just wanted a clarification since only major variants were being mentioned.
    – andol
    Commented Jul 28, 2010 at 21:55
  • I think the major ones should be supported, if questions about variants are tagged with their name then users of those should be able to find them. What about distros like Mint?
    – Ross
    Commented Jul 28, 2010 at 22:16
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    What if we encourage all questions about variants to be tagged as [Variant] or [Spin-off] (besides the name of the variant, of course). This way users could easily ignore any question that's not Ubuntu-specific.
    – Malabarba
    Commented Oct 21, 2010 at 13:57
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    Hannah Montana?
    – Hello71
    Commented Feb 10, 2011 at 1:53
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We should cover all packages in the Ubuntu main, restricted, and universe repositories. This includes all Ubuntu variants.

  • This way we don't have to worry about whether, for example, a Qt-based application that is commonly used in GNOME (like k3b) is part of the site or not
  • The ommunity will not be fragmented into different sections. Instead, we can use tags to segment questions just as we have separate sub-forums on Ubuntu Forums
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  • 1
    I have a feeling most users will clamor for restricted as well, although I have it excised on all but one of the machines I have installed (F6 at bootup.)
    – Broam
    Commented Jul 29, 2010 at 1:07
  • @Broam: Yeah, I'd let restricted-related stuff through, but tag it when you see it. Whatever the argument, restricted is undeniably something many Ubuntu users will use, and some of them are going to be trying to find help related to packages in it. Actively turning them away due to ethical concerns most of them will not understand or care about will not really help them or the community, and may push them away from Ubuntu and Linux in general.
    – Nicholas Knight
    Commented Jul 29, 2010 at 1:12
  • Fair enough. Post updated.
    – lfaraone
    Commented Jul 29, 2010 at 3:15
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    I don't think support should be limited only to official repositories - many users will want help on installing things that are not part of the repo's (particularly non-open source and development versions and packages in the repo's of other majot sub-distros
    – Nico Burns
    Commented Jul 29, 2010 at 19:51
  • @Nico: I don't think anybody's actually looking to prevent someone asking about issues using unofficial packages in Ubuntu, but the questions should have a definite link to the fact that the user is on an actual Ubuntu realease. We're just trying to keep from falling off the edge into a completely generic "ask Linux questions here" site.
    – Nicholas Knight
    Commented Jul 29, 2010 at 21:12
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I think this might be the problem of a StackExchange for a particular Linux distribution. Where do you draw the line? I believe that there are currently nine variants of Ubuntu fully supported by Canonical - Ubuntu, Ubuntu Netbook Edition, Kubunty, Xubuntu, Edubuntu, Gobuntu, Lubuntu, and Ubuntu JeOS, and Ubuntu Light. These are the versions that, in my opinion, should be on-topic for this site.

The problem with the variants not officially supported by Canonical is that there's no control over them - they could deviate widely from Ubuntu. Someone who is experienced with Ubuntu could probably address questions related to most, if not all, of these distributions.

But this kind of debate brings up my biggest concern with separate StackExchanges for different Linux distributions. I use Ubuntu, but I've very easily sat down at other Linux distros - OpenSUSE, Arch, Debian, Fedora - and been able to use my Ubuntu experiences to help me. There are some differences between the distros, but honestly, differentiating between Debian and Ubuntu and Ubuntu derivatives isn't easy and not that productive when you start to get the same questions across all of the sites. But that's a whole other story.

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We should cover only Ubuntu questions here.

  • Focusing this site on Ubuntu creates a much better user experience for Ubuntu users.
  • StackExchanges are free to create, so any *buntu could and should create its own to deliver better user experience for its users.
  • This site will receive Ubuntu-specific branding, which will make questions about other 'buntus seem out of place.
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  • 3
    Kubuntu, Edubuntu, and Xubuntu are all official Ubuntu versions, work pretty much the same, share the same community, and all or part of all of them can be running on a single Ubuntu installation simultaneously with unified package management and for many parts unified configuration and other integration. Splitting the community into little tiny pieces for each version just seems silly, and the branding reason doesn't even make sense.
    – Nicholas Knight
    Commented Jul 29, 2010 at 0:40
  • Nicholas: They don't work pretty much the same - they ARE Ubuntu. The flavors are nothing more than a different set of starting packages - it's the same stuff underneath. Sure, KDE is very different from GNOME but that's what tags are for.
    – Broam
    Commented Jul 29, 2010 at 1:08
  • @Broam: I meant "pretty much the same" in the sense that the user experience is not entirely consistent between them, not that there are fundamental under-the-hood differences.
    – Nicholas Knight
    Commented Jul 29, 2010 at 2:16
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    Nicholas: I can install KDE on an Ubuntu install and it'll work just like Kubuntu...the user experience isn't different, just the user experience of the default desktop environment. This is a pedantic difference, but it has to be stressed that it's just a different starting point, not an entirely different flavor. :)
    – Broam
    Commented Aug 5, 2010 at 15:01

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