[SOLVED] What WM/DE to use on a netbook?

chimeric · 2008-10-24 12:36:29

Hi,

I recently got myself a Asus 1000h netbook and installed the Arch core system on it. Usually I use awesome3 on all my other machines, but the Asus has a smaller screen, so I fear that most of the advantages of a tiling WM don't really apply because most of the time you probably run all GUI apps in full screen mode anyway. On the other side the resources of this machine are kinda limited compared to a workstation which could rule out DEs like Gnome/KDE or the like.

Here are a some more thoughts:

- I think it would be good to not have window decorations to make optimal use of the screen
- Starting most GUI apps in full screen mode by default (I could do that by either using a tiling WM or helper apps like devilspie)
- I am used to start apps with keyboard shortcuts (most WMs/DEs can handle that) but since the keyboard is small compared to a normal keyboard I am not sure this works as good on a netbook and if I should stick to point and click instead.

So I was wondering which DE/WM are the Arch users use on their netbooks? I am basically looking for some input about what's your experience with the WM/DE you use (pros/cons).

Thanks in advance

Last edited by chimeric (2008-10-24 14:09:12)

GERGE · 2008-10-24 12:46:47

I tried Openbox, Lxde and Xfce on another netbook with 9 inch screen. I found Xfce bloated, and in the end found myself facing an Openbox + Pcmanfm + pypanel + Sakura + Wicd.

In Openbox you can have everything you said you want. Thy wish is Openbox's command!

Lxde is an interesting option, but it does not offer anything different other than lxpanel and its own crappy network deamon. You should try to mix Openbox and Lxde

Last edited by GERGE (2008-10-24 12:48:02)

Onyros · 2008-10-24 13:10:35

Actually, Awesome is a very good candidate for a netbook. I configured it in my wife's EEEPC 701, especially because of the fact that screen real estate isn't lost anywhere with it.

And she doesn't make use of tiling, she just uses the floating and max layouts. It's just the fact that there are no window decorations, except a one pixel border, and she's gotten used to launching apps either with gmrun or with wbar (she just slides over to a "free" tag where she can see the "desktop" and clicks on an icon). She drags windows around with ALT+left click on a mouse, resizes with ALT+right click, and even has a few apps configured to launch with shortcuts.

It really is a good combination, even for people that use mostly a GUI, because the configuration is quick and simple, it has minimal resource requirements and works pretty well, especially after getting used to its little quirks and differences.

Just one thing: I set her up with an old compile of Awesome, which I use myself. It's not even the latest version from the Awesome 2 branch, because somewhere down the line, memory usage jumped from 4MB to 10MB without any visible or usability advantages that I could ascertain.

It works for me, and for her, so we'll just keep using that. And believe me, if DWM were more floating window friendly, we'd be using that instead by now. We just can't seem to get the same layout per tag approach right with it. Is there anyway one can pre-define DWM's (in its config.h) tags to use a specific layout instead of using one layout for all tags?

BTW - other DE/WM's tried and failed with the EEEPC also include GNOME (which she was using with her 15' laptop, 1400x1050 laptop) and LXDE. She keeps using PCManFM, though.

rson451 · 2008-10-24 13:18:48

Onyros wrote:

Is there anyway one can pre-define DWM's (in its config.h) tags to use a specific layout instead of using one layout for all tags?

There is a patch for this in the suckless wiki.

OP: If you aren't going to go with a tiler, I'd suggest Flux. It's got a panel that already comes with it, plus no xml config files to deal with, just flat text files.

Onyros · 2008-10-24 13:29:02

rson451 wrote:

Onyros wrote:
Is there anyway one can pre-define DWM's (in its config.h) tags to use a specific layout instead of using one layout for all tags?
There is a patch for this in the suckless wiki.
OP: If you aren't going to go with a tiler, I'd suggest Flux. It's got a panel that already comes with it, plus no xml config files to deal with, just flat text files.

I had noticed and forgotten all about it, mainly because the patch is available only up to dwm 4.6. Even so, thank you!

molom · 2008-10-24 13:30:11

I think tiling or minimalist WM's go well with laptops (Main reason is speed). I find key bindings essential on laptops, hate using trackpads and such. Using a proper mouse on a small screen makes the screen seem smaller to me. So Awesome or Openbox would be nice, at least for me.

chimeric · 2008-10-24 14:08:48

Ok, thanks for all the replies . I think I'll stick to awesome3 then (I am going to give openbox a try as well - haven't touched it in a while).

rsambuca · 2008-10-24 15:18:44

I am using Gnome on my eee 900. Works perfectly for me.

Arch Linux

#1 2008-10-24 12:36:29

[SOLVED] What WM/DE to use on a netbook?

#2 2008-10-24 12:46:47

Re: [SOLVED] What WM/DE to use on a netbook?

#3 2008-10-24 13:10:35

Re: [SOLVED] What WM/DE to use on a netbook?

#4 2008-10-24 13:18:48

Re: [SOLVED] What WM/DE to use on a netbook?

#5 2008-10-24 13:29:02

Re: [SOLVED] What WM/DE to use on a netbook?

#6 2008-10-24 13:30:11

Re: [SOLVED] What WM/DE to use on a netbook?

#7 2008-10-24 14:08:48

Re: [SOLVED] What WM/DE to use on a netbook?

#8 2008-10-24 15:18:44

Re: [SOLVED] What WM/DE to use on a netbook?

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