Arch Linux

venky80

Member

Registered: 2007-05-13

Posts: 1,002

Complete DE with minimal packages

I want to install a DE  with minimal packages how can i achive it
I want a file manager , panel and GUI for laptop power management.
very light media player and library manager and wifi manager

I want to achive it with minimal packages and all with good GUI.

Thanks

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Acer Aspire V5-573P Antergos KDE

doorknob60

Member

Registered: 2008-09-29

Posts: 403

Re: Complete DE with minimal packages

Lxde sounds good for what you need. pacman -S lxde

More info: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/LXDE

Last edited by doorknob60 (2008-11-08 20:34:38)

elmer_42

Member

From: /na/usa/ca

Registered: 2008-10-11

Posts: 427

Re: Complete DE with minimal packages

I agree with doorknob60, LXDE sounds exactly like what you need. The following was taken from their website.

[LXDE] is an extremely faster, performing and energy saving Linux desktop environment maintained by an international community of developers. It comes with a beautiful interface, multi-language support, standard keyboard short cuts and additional features like tabbed file browsing.

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[ lamy + pilot ] [ arch64 | wmii ] [ ati + amd ]

Dieter@be

Forum Fellow

From: Belgium

Registered: 2006-11-05

Posts: 2,001

Website

Re: Complete DE with minimal packages

Yep, I use lxpanel, lxappearance to control gtk themes and pcmanfm. All LXDE programs.  Great stuff

That and urxvt of course

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< Daenyth> and he works prolifically
4 8 15 16 23 42

chilebiker

Member

From: Zurich, Switzerland

Registered: 2006-07-18

Posts: 161

Re: Complete DE with minimal packages

You might try xfce as well.

Last edited by chilebiker (2008-11-08 21:10:05)

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Don't panic!

hrobeers

Member

From: Belgium

Registered: 2008-11-05

Posts: 79

Re: Complete DE with minimal packages

You might try xfce as well.

xfce has a lot of packages. LXDE is really just a few, and LXDE uses openbox!
Go for LXDE.

Dieter@be

Forum Fellow

From: Belgium

Registered: 2006-11-05

Posts: 2,001

Website

Re: Complete DE with minimal packages

You might try xfce as well.

xfce has a lot of packages. LXDE is really just a few, and LXDE uses openbox!
Go for LXDE.

Indeed. Xfce is lightweight when compared to gnome or kde, but still very bloated when you go count the amount of packages and compare with a "just a WM+panel+dock"-alike setup (or lxde)

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< Daenyth> and he works prolifically
4 8 15 16 23 42

fuscia

Member

Registered: 2008-04-21

Posts: 398

Re: Complete DE with minimal packages

why not just use a wm like openbox, or fluxbox (or, if you want to be cool, like me, dwm)? they'll manage your windows and you can just install the packages you need.

pyther

Member

Registered: 2008-01-21

Posts: 1,395

Website

Re: Complete DE with minimal packages

Laptop: I use openbox, thunar, and bmpanel, conky, and nitrogen
Desktop: The same except I use stalonetray instead of bmpanel
I recently gave up my panel on my desktop and use the middle click windows list that openbox offers.

Openbox w/ panel: http://world.pyther.net/screenshots/2008-10-12.png
Openbox w/out panel: http://world.pyther.net/screenshots/2008-11-08.png

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Website - Blog - arch-home
Arch User since March 2005

TjPhysicist

Member

From: Waterloo, Canada

Registered: 2008-04-12

Posts: 126

Website

Re: Complete DE with minimal packages

...(or, if you want to be cool, like me, dwm)?...

I second that DWM thing. Just install dwm/wmii (dwm i found was easier to configure cuz its just straight up C code for everything). You can install/use anything you want for programs. I used to use nautilus (from my gnome days). But i then switched to thunar/vim for my file managing. I use thunar when i wanna see thumbnails etc (which is not that often). thunar does not manage the desktop for me, and you dont need that with dwm anywyas, everything is a couple of keystrokes away...

The bad: changing smthg requires you to re code and recompile, but i'm cool with that, i even put my dwm folder in git . Plus it takes a full 3 and 1/2 minutes to compile (makepkg -e) install and restart dwm (install via pacman of course). Also no eyecandy at all, like any other tiling manager and the fact that it's tiling, if you come from windows gnome kde etc, its a little bit of a thing you have to get used to ,but you want a light one right, and dwm is the lightest of em all.

-Tj

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-Tj
Now reborn as Tjh_ (to keep it similar to my username in other places)

psilo357

Member

Registered: 2008-10-31

Posts: 116

Re: Complete DE with minimal packages

Wow, just tried out lxde, and its great.  Worked wonderfully directly after install, it may pull me away from kdemod4.  While I have always loved kde, i also enjoyed fluxbox for a while.  But at the same time, at home, i like a box I can just use to do what I need, and not have to fuss around with it all day like you do most wm only setups to get everything you want going.

in the end, im really diggin lxde.

peace

hk2717

Member

From: China

Registered: 2007-09-13

Posts: 217

Re: Complete DE with minimal packages

Openbox is nice and slim, but it does not support bitmap theming. Thus is a no-no for me. : (

I also recently switched from kdemod4 to xfce. Because some gtk apps are just irreplaceable and they do not integrate well in KDE. gtk-qt-engine sucks. : (  On the other hand, qt apps integrate well in gtk environment. qgtkstyle rocks. : D