I recently killed Windows and installed 11.1 on my laptop. This is my first experience with Linux, but I cut my teeth on DOS, and this is much simpler.
I’m at work, and don’t really have all my laptop’s specs on hand (256 RAM, dunno what else), but this particular machine was designed with XP-SP1 in mind, and it is slow. I cannot run Gnome or KDE4 without wanting to bang my head on the wall with impatience (minimum 20 minutes to load firefox from click to google homepage). I am currently on KDE3, and while it is a lot less painful (only 3-5 minutes for firefox, now), I’d love just a bit more speed if it is there to be had.
I’m wondering what the best DE would be for me. I want something lightweight but functional, and more gui is better than less until I get a little more familiar with linux.
I read somewhere that xfce might be good, but I’d love some input from the community.
Xfce will certainly be smaller and faster…but, still not too good on
so little power/ram…
and, you can get a good speed boost by running Konqueror instead of
firefox (though, you will miss a lot of capability) there is (i think)
a smaller faster version of firefox, check out (i think) seamonkey or
fasterfox or something like that…maybe ice weasel (sorry i forget)
in fact, i think you might find more pleasure by loading one of the
smaller distros…i’d go for Puppy Linux <http://www.puppylinux.org/>
or Damn Small Linux <http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/> on your hardware
they will be faster than XP ever was, a LOT more secure and
configurable…i bet you will have more fun with them…then, when
you get a stronger machine come back…
and, if wanna hang around there might be some folks here with other,
better ideas…like, there are windowing managers/display
environments smaller and faster even than Xfce (which is MUCH better
on your hardware than KDE or Gnome) and using really fast light
versions of those and dumping some services you may not need…you
might even have a “nice experience” with openSUSE…
in any event, welcome to open source in general and openSUSE Linux in
particular…
finally, are you Danish? (your last name translates to ‘boyfriend’
lover, something like that)
opensuse xfce is not bad for a 256 ram. The trick I guess is you have to use the minimal installation of opensuse and manually add xfce in your installation.
Try your installation cd or dvd and have a look at it thoroughly and you will see what I mean. One desktop at home is a pentium III with 256 ram loaded with opensuse using xfce. I just don’t know if the drive helps because it is using scsi drive.
Hi. We don’t the specs of your pc but anyway it is very strange to have Firefox up in 20 minutes os 3! To me it is something consuming the power of your pc. On an acer tmc100 (pentium3 256 Mb ram) i own those are not the times i get, with Kde3.5. Well it is not a flash but it reasonability works
Hi, you might want to try other distro but suse, I tried a bit DSL (**** Small Linux) which runs really really fast even on old machines, but on the other hand don’t expect much quality of a graphic on it. Another distro worth taking a look is MEPIS. I suggest to try them on a virtualization (like VirtualBox) first before actually installing them on laptop.
It doesn’t hurt to try Xfce, although I find it’s not as “light” as it once was.
An alternative for a resource light system is to run without a desktop environment, using only a window manager (WM). Window manager desktops are usually configured by editing text files directly rather than clicking on options, although some graphical configuration tools may be available. You lose some of the ease of point and click under a DE (and almost all the eye-candy) but once set up, WM-only systems are very responsive and they definitely are lighter on PC resources. Another benefit I find, is that mixing KDE and Gnome apps becomes much easier under a WM-only system.
I believe Opensuse comes with IceWM as a default. It should be available as an option on the graphic log-in screen when you click on “Session.” It’s easy to try it out; I’m using it now as I write.
Crunchbang Linux is an Ubuntu based distribution that uses Openbox as its WM and no DE. It has received good reviews and has an active, enthusiastic user community. Crunchbang with Openbox supports both GTK and KDE apps.
+1 for Crunchbang. I’m quite impressed with it in 192MB of RAM on a K6-350. Of course, it’s a bit frustrating after being used to a modern machine ten or more times faster, but it’s doing pretty well, considering the limited resources. Also it has the advantage that it’s nearly all standard Ubuntu packages, but with openbox instead of GNOME.
I researched all of the suggestions you gave me, and settled on Puppy Linux as the best for my purposes. When I get that new and powerful machine that I hope one day to get, I’ll be sure to take openSUSE for a whirl once again.
Thanks,
HKaereste
PS: brassy, Kaereste’s actually just a nickname. My family is from Denmark - I’m first generation. It means ‘my beloved’ (roughly), and is used variously to mean anything from crush object to fiancee. :shame: I used it as my first name in the SCA, and it kinda stuck.
> PS: brassy, Kaereste’s actually just a nickname. My family is from
> Denmark - I’m first generation. It means ‘my beloved’ (roughly), and is
> used variously to mean anything from crush object to fiancee. :shame: I
> used it as my first name in the SCA, and it kinda stuck.
i figured something like that–fordi jeg komme fra texas men nu bor
jeg i oest Jylland…
These threads are always interesting (to me) as I have lost track of the number of times that friends have asked me if they can install Linux on some antique PC. … and of course as I noted another another thread, I do not have any specific answers, … just fuzzy maybe statements.
In that thread SUSE on really old laptop - openSUSE Forums I noted spent a bit of time this weekend researching and playing, and came up with the following short list of minimal distros to play with
Elive (has Enlightenment window manager). Needs 100MHz CPU and 64MB of RAM for one of the older versions. More recent version needs a faster CPU and more RAM
DSL (D**N Small Linux). (Uses JWM window manager). needs 16MB RAM on a fast 486 CPU. But that will be slow !! Better off with 64 MB RAM and a Pentium with 200MHZ CPU.
Puppy Linux. (gives one a choice, I think,of JWM or IceWM window managers) Needs 64MB RAM for versions before 1.0.2. More recent versions need 128MB RAM and 166MHZ CPU
Vector Linux. (Various variants are available. Standard uses xfce, but more light weight use the JWM and Fluxbox window managers). Needs 32MB RAM and 166MHZ CPU. I suspect much more RAM is desireable.
there are other minimal Linux distros’ but the advantage of the more popular (ie the above short list) is that there are typically more applications and better support (ie larger community).
I really liked playing with the Elive Live CD development version. I have not installed it but I may purchase a copy and give it to a friend who has an old PC.
* Arch Linux[8]
* Debian 5.0 "Lenny"[9]
* Fedora 10 and subsequent versions[10]
* Gentoo Linux[11]
* Greenie Linux: Ubuntu-based OS with LXDE and GNOME desktop environments[12]
* Hiweed 2.0RC: Ubuntu derivative tailored for Chinese-language users[citation needed]
* Knoppix 6.0: Debian based Live-CD featuring LXDE as the default Desktop Environment as of version 6.0[13]
* lxde-sid-lite: An unofficial sidux based Live-CD with LXDE, Harddisk and USB installer, special tailored for netbooks like the Eee PC[14]
* Mandriva Linux: release version 2009.1 (alias "Spring") uses LXDE as the default light environment[15]
* Myah OS 3.0 Box edition: LXDE flavor of Myah OS[16]
* Parted Magic 3.1, a partition tool now based on LXDE[1]
* PUD GNU/Linux: Ubuntu-based installable Live-CD with LXDE[17]
* Ubuntu 8.10 "Intrepid Ibex" includes LXDE in its repositories, LXDE can also be installed in earlier versions of Ubuntu.[18] In May 2009 it was announced that an official LXDE derivative of Ubuntu, to be named Lubuntu is under development.[19]
* U-lite[20][21]
* VectorLinux Light[22]