Arch Linux

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Member

From: Castalia

Registered: 2007-02-02

Posts: 368

Minimalistic desktop opinions

I finally settled down on Arch (as you say, 'they always come back' ), but i need your opinion on this. I'm trying to build as lightweight desktop as possible.

So far i have:
jwm (i don't know why you guys don't like this one, i think it's great! Btw, do you know where i can get some themes for this one?)
kazehakase (the snappiest browser with Flash compatibility)
pidgin (i guess this won't change either)
transmission (lacks some functions, but definitely a compromise)
thunar
(feel free to make some changes in this list too)

I need:
Bluetooth app
Text editor
FTP client
feed reader
download manager
audio, video player
image viewer
ipod tool
burner

Bear in mind that I prefer GUI apps

Thanks in advance!

drakosha

Member

Registered: 2006-01-03

Posts: 253

Website

Re: Minimalistic desktop opinions

Text editor - gvim
image viewer - gqview
burner - graverman

xsdnyd

Member

Registered: 2007-04-28

Posts: 110

Re: Minimalistic desktop opinions

Text editor: medit
FTP client: gftp
feed reader: google reader? (perhabs: liferea)
download manager: multiget
audio, video player: vlc / mplayer
image viewer: gqview
burner: graveman

Last edited by xsdnyd (2007-10-21 20:21:35)

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We can't stop here! This is bat country!!

shining

Pacman Developer

Registered: 2006-05-10

Posts: 2,043

Re: Minimalistic desktop opinions

http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=34917
http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=30521
http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=18880

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pacman roulette : pacman -S $(pacman -Slq | LANG=C sort -R | head -n $((RANDOM % 10)))

buttons

Member

From: NJ, USA

Registered: 2007-08-04

Posts: 620

Re: Minimalistic desktop opinions

Image viewer - Mirage
iPod tool - Thunar...if you use rockbox.  gPodder for podcasts.
Burner - Graveman if it works for you, otherwise brasero

Audio - Mpd + sonata
Video - mplayer

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Cthulhu For President!

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Member

From: Castalia

Registered: 2007-02-02

Posts: 368

Re: Minimalistic desktop opinions

Ok, thx for the opinions! So far, i picked:

jwm
kazehakase
pidgin
transmission (rtorrent seems too complex for what i need )
rox
mousepad (i'm not sure if i'm gonna be using this one, but what the hell)
wget (i'm using too little options to mess up with some GUI nonsence, so i'll stick to this one)
mirage
graveman
vlc/smplayer

What i still haven't decided is:

FTP client (i don't need anything special about this)
feed reader (anything lighter than liferea?)
ipod tool (anything ligther than gtkpod?)
Bluetooth app (got no clue )

mutze13

Member

From: germany

Registered: 2006-05-06

Posts: 107

Re: Minimalistic desktop opinions

ftp-client: gftp
feed-reader raggle

lucke

Member

From: Poland

Registered: 2004-11-30

Posts: 4,018

Re: Minimalistic desktop opinions

aria2 is a nice download utility - with bittorrent support too.

lftp and ncftp are nice command line ftp clients. And there's curlftpfs to mount a ftp server locally - then you can perform normal filesystem operations on it ;-)

skottish

Forum Fellow

From: Here

Registered: 2006-06-16

Posts: 7,942

Re: Minimalistic desktop opinions

I like Scite as a text editor when away from KDE.

Jerry

Member

From: Philippines

Registered: 2007-09-14

Posts: 126

Re: Minimalistic desktop opinions

gvim instead of mousepad (there would be a learning curve though).

ftp - fireftp a firefox extension is really cool but since your not going to use firefox I'll go with gftp

Last edited by Jerry (2007-10-22 13:49:56)

Mr Green

Forum Fellow

From: U.K.

Registered: 2003-12-21

Posts: 5,914

Website

Re: Minimalistic desktop opinions

aterm

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Mr Green

rab

Member

Registered: 2006-06-15

Posts: 185

Re: Minimalistic desktop opinions

file manager = ls / mc ( if you need it )
IM             = bitlbee
torrents      = rtorrent
Text editor  = vim
FTP client    = ftp
feed reader = snownews
download manager = wget
audio, video player = mplayer
image viewer = feh
burner = cd/dvd r+w tools

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rawr

peets

Member

From: Montreal

Registered: 2007-01-11

Posts: 936

Website

Re: Minimalistic desktop opinions

+1 feh. It's got a GUI when you right-click.

Nihathrael

Member

From: Freising, Germany

Registered: 2007-10-21

Posts: 82

Website

Re: Minimalistic desktop opinions

gvim instead of mousepad (there would be a learning curve though).

ftp - fireftp a firefox extension is really cool but since your not going to use firefox I'll go with gftp

+ sage as feed reader, also a Firefox plug-in.

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Hide

Member

From: Castalia

Registered: 2007-02-02

Posts: 368

Re: Minimalistic desktop opinions

Ok, i compiled a list from your suggestions. Here's how it goes:
jwm
kazehakase
pidgin
transmission
wget
mirage
graveman
vlc
ncftp
raglle
exaile (killing two birds with one stone, ipod + audio)
gnome-bluetooth (no other choice )

I was just wondering if there's a text based MSN client that supports file transfer?
edit:
scratch this last bit, i just remembered there's a text version of pidgin - finch!
Transfer works flawlessly!
All in all, thx a lot!

Last edited by Hide (2007-10-23 18:08:24)

ataraxia

Member

From: Pittsburgh

Registered: 2007-05-06

Posts: 1,553

Re: Minimalistic desktop opinions

There's a text-mode version of pidgin called "finch" that's included in the same package. I don't use MSN, so I don't know how pidgin/finch/purple backend handles file transfer.

dtbx

Member

From: Temuco, Chile

Registered: 2007-10-14

Posts: 8

Re: Minimalistic desktop opinions

Geany for text editor. Not in the repos, but easy to compile from source.

Jerry

Member

From: Philippines

Registered: 2007-09-14

Posts: 126

Re: Minimalistic desktop opinions

geany is in the repos, and I'll give a +1 for that as well.

geany, on random occasion, crashes on me.
Exhaile has an annoyingly low volume compared to the other audio player.

MPD + its client has a very minimalistic feel into it. There might be a client that supports ipod, if you are interested they have a very helpful website that lists all their clients.  Wish you luck.