Linux Mint with Xfce as a good lightweight alternative to Ubuntu
Linux Mint is a great variation of Ubuntu. I have mainly used the xfce flavor because I wanted something lightweight to run on my old laptops. I had tried other distributions like Puppy Linux and Lubuntu but they didn't seem polished enough. I admit I have not tried Lubuntu in awhile so it may have improved. With all that comes pre-configured with Linux Mint, I still find I am always looking for that special custom theme or other software to improve my experience. Here's a list: System: Hardinfo for System Information (kind of like Windows Device Manager) Menu/Theme/Appearance: Out-of-the-box Kokodi theme with the Xfce-dusk Appearance setting makes a very pleasing, well contrasting dark look (see screenshot below). There are also good custom xfce themes like DarkCold (highly readable dark theme) Update 9/19/16: My new favorite dark settings use the LiNsta-Black-Plastic xfwm4 theme with the Adwaita-Dark gtk-2.0 appearance. It actually provides a contrasting b...