Cubuntu was started in 2012 by Eric Kranich in France as a non-official Ubuntu derivative.[2][3][4] Kranich preferred the Cinnamon interface over Unity and decided to develop a derivative using Cinnamon.[5] Cinnamon was originally created by Clément Lefèbvre for Linux Mint and then recompiled for use in other distributions. Since its inception Cubuntu has also offered additional desktops including MATE, Openbox, GNOME Shell and Unity.
Cubuntu has some popularity in its native France, and has come pre-installed on laptops there.[6] Cubuntu is in limited use with an estimated 62,000 downloads by sourceforge[7] As a result, Cubuntu is a relatively unknown Linux distribution.
Cubuntu includes the entire Ubuntu operating system.[8] plus additional non-free software such as Google Chrome and Skype.[9] Cubuntu also includes many non-free drivers for wireless cards and an MS-DOS converter.[10]
