I am mildly astonished you have not found it yet ! It is eye candy to the extreme, but is amazingly easy on the resources. It runs great with Xfce4. This computer spends 80% of its time in that mode.
Well, atleast i found it before i read this, i was just going to comment that i found the wiki, it was staring at me in teh first paragraph on the ati wiki https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/ATI#Installation. I just hadn't heard of it, and the name doesnt ring as a linux name if you know what i mean. looks like a cool setup, but i guess ill try that on one of my other boxes in the near future.
These days Gnome will not work with that config. Even Xfce is extremely sluggish for my tastes. I currently run i3 on it. but web-browsing is slow since firefox is a hog. I use it mainly as a media player and not much else.
If its an old machine, throw in a WM you like. That's the only way to go.
And FORGET about running compiz on it !!
you brought up alot of good points. Processors cant keep up with apps nowadays i hear, so it makes sense that a new version Gnome will flat out bust the older setups. I want to mention, its that exact paradigm im trying to get out of. Usually with old laptops that came with windows as a native install, when you upgrade you suffer with performance. This causes one to always have to install older version of resource intensive apps.
My other laptop(my new one) is an i3, its a great processor, would have opted for the i5 or i7 but too expensive at the time. I will be setting up a dual boot on that laptop soon with arch(dual boot so my wife still has a windows 7 playground.)
Firefox seems will always be a hog, gotta love it though.
I think ill stick to your advice about sticking to a WM on the older machine, so after i get my fill of Xfce which i just put on it, ill throw Openbox on it. Ill let you all know how well Xfce runs on it in the meantime once i get the feel of it.
]]>If its an old machine, throw in a WM you like. That's the only way to go.
And FORGET about running compiz on it !!
]]>where do i find that, not too sure what compiz is, is that resource hungry?
ewaller@odin:~ 1006 %pacman -Ss compiz
community/ccsm 0.8.4-2 (compiz-fusion compiz-fusion-gtk compiz-fusion-kde) [installed]
Compizconfig Settings Manager in Python
community/compiz-bcop 0.8.8-1 [installed]
Compiz option code generator
community/compizconfig-backend-gconf 0.8.8-1 (compiz-fusion-gtk compiz-fusion)
Compizconfig backend for gconf
community/compizconfig-backend-kconfig4 0.8.8-1 (compiz-fusion-kde compiz-fusion)
Compizconfig backend for kconfig4
community/compizconfig-python 0.8.4-2 [installed]
Compizconfig bindings for python
community/compiz-core 0.8.8-2 (compiz compiz-kde compiz-gtk compiz-fusion) [installed]
Composite manager for Aiglx and Xgl
community/compiz-decorator-gtk 0.8.8-2 (compiz compiz-kde compiz-gtk compiz-fusion)
Compiz decorator for GNOME
community/compiz-decorator-kde 0.8.8-2 (compiz compiz-kde compiz-gtk compiz-fusion)
Compiz decorator for KDE
community/compiz-fusion-plugins-extra 0.8.8-1 (compiz-fusion compiz-fusion-gtk compiz-fusion-kde) [installed]
Compiz Fusion Extra plugins
community/compiz-fusion-plugins-main 0.8.8-1 (compiz-fusion compiz-fusion-kde compiz-fusion-gtk) [installed]
Compiz Fusion Main plugins
community/compiz-manager 0.6.0-3
Compiz Fusion Starter Program
community/emerald 0.8.8-1 (compiz-fusion compiz-fusion-kde compiz-fusion-gtk) [installed]
Emerald window decorator
community/emerald-themes 0.6.0-3 (compiz-fusion compiz-fusion-kde compiz-fusion-gtk) [installed]
Themes for emerald
community/fusion-icon 20101021-1 (compiz-fusion compiz-fusion-kde compiz-fusion-gtk) [installed]
Simple tray icon for compiz
community/libcompizconfig 0.8.8-1 [installed]
Compiz configuration system library
ewaller@odin:~ 1007 %
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Compiz
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compiz
I am mildly astonished you have not found it yet ! It is eye candy to the extreme, but is amazingly easy on the resources. It runs great with Xfce4. This computer spends 80% of its time in that mode.
]]>You might want to consider adding some more ram if that's a possibility. 256 will probably be tight.
well the ram is pretty much impossible to improve upon. It will be too expensive to upgrade the ram, its something like sd-100 ram, bwuaa haa haa haa, and with the dinosaur hard drive pretty much ensures that the laptop will double up just fine as a weapon if i get hassled. :-0 i was just excited to drag this laptop out of the closet and put arch on it.
Well, you did open this thread asking about Gnome...
yeah your right, my bad, but as stlarch pointed out it was not the best if ideas. Its advise i was seeking.
I just installed Xfce to see how it handles, i will probably move on to openbox next to see how WM's suit me, and how this laptop handles it.
regarding Gusar's comment
That screenshot is compiz, an opengl-based compositor.
where do i find that, not too sure what compiz is, is that resource hungry?
]]>The reason i chose arch is because it is a DIY environment, so isnt it a little counter intuitive to purposefully avoid DIY environments assuming im an arch user?
Well, you did open this thread asking about Gnome...
]]>I will admit though, Xfce does look versatile enough, and since its based on GTK2 it might meet some of my requirements.
]]>ill try xfce if it is a better environment, not because im afraid to install something else, lol.
to give my opinion, for example i dont like the look or feel of ubuntu at all, so anything that remotely resembles that, i stray away from. I use and like KDE/plasma on my primary box, it sometimes gives me a headache with all the dolphin problems and too many gui's for everything, i tend to like mouse control, although im big on hotkeys, i like small borders dark or ocean blue backgorund and themes, a bit of eye candy as far as slick looking windows and menus, no too much the hacker look but easily readable small fonts, and i dont mind using a menu to open programs. i do like to have a few of my favorite apps located in a launch bar, and to have the open apps in a taskbar for easy switching. I plan to use this laptop for mostly parking it in the car, so i have something for the road, but also i will try to find a good use for it in the office, maybe just a basic backup machine for email and internet.
I already have my lamp server setup, and i have a fast machine for all the rest of the programs over here. this particular laptop will be mainly loaded up with lightweight apps to keep it running smooth.
[Edit: added in KDE info]
]]>It seems you're quite unfamiliar with do-it-yourself environments, so I'd recommend XFCE for you.
]]>WM's have mouse support dont they, but it looks like ratpoison might not, which rules it out for me.
]]>