Minimalism

ChappY · 2009-06-25 14:14:00

I am looking to make the most minimalistic maching possible for programming mainly but the few other lovely basic apps so far i am using ion3 for my WM ..... irssi for irc ...... rtorrent for torrents ..... pidgin for IM and Firefox 3.0 for Web ..... any other suggestions? any other programs you recomend (i like terminal based programs as long as they are worth it)

ak-89 · 2009-06-25 14:49:17

mc - filemanager
bitlbee - IM, like an irc server, irc-client needed
mutt - email client
mpd + ncmpcpp or moc - music player
midori or uzbl or just use that firefox3 with vimperator - web browser

Last edited by ak-89 (2009-06-25 14:56:37)

lifeafter2am · 2009-06-25 15:02:36

I second mpd + mpc and/or ncmpcpp. Also may want to check out emacs, as it has both a X version and a console version. It isn't the MOST lightweight program, but comes very feature packed for programming.

Peasantoid · 2009-06-25 15:05:10

I'd recommend mpd, mpc, and ncmpc (rather than ncmpcpp, which had a few issues with urxvt). mpc is useful for keybindings.
Speaking of urxvt, I'd recommend it as well — quite a nice, lightweight terminal. The [pseudo-]transparency is cool.
You might also consider learning vim as a text editor. It's small, but is less extensible than emacs.

Last edited by Peasantoid (2009-06-25 15:05:35)

hullap · 2009-06-25 15:22:18

finch or bitlbee instead of pidgin. and midori/arora instead of firefox

JK3mp · 2009-06-25 15:41:13

ion3 is good and midori is very lightwieght too. Glad to see im not the only one who goes for absolute minimalism

arkham · 2009-06-25 16:20:43

The perfect minimalistic setup is awesome, mc, irssi/weechat, bitlbee, mutt, rtorrent, moc and uzbl.

Last edited by arkham (2009-06-25 16:21:28)

brisbin33 · 2009-06-25 16:48:06

pfft,

who needs a file manager? i've got cp, mv, and rm for that. not to mention find -exec, grep, awk, sed...

SpeedVin · 2009-06-25 18:03:09

brisbin33 wrote:

pfft,
who needs a file manager? i've got cp, mv, and rm for that. not to mention find -exec, grep, awk, sed...

+1
i have minimalistic destkop on really powerfull computer and i happy with that.
Browser-Midori (you can use uzbl).
Audio Player-Moc
WM-DWM
FM-I live Without

Dieter@be · 2009-06-25 19:59:43

ChappY wrote:

I am looking to make the most minimalistic maching possible for programming mainly but the few other lovely basic apps so far i am using ion3 for my WM ..... irssi for irc ...... rtorrent for torrents ..... pidgin for IM and Firefox 3.0 for Web ..... any other suggestions? any other programs you recomend (i like terminal based programs as long as they are worth it)

Irssi = bloat. with it self-updating mechanisms and fancy stuff like that. Check out ii. http://tools.suckless.org/ii
firefox = bloat. try dillo/netsurf/midori/uzbl/arora/...

Ranguvar · 2009-06-25 20:43:25

Sometimes a file manger can be faster than the shell... but I don't mean a conventional file manager

Try Midnight Commander.

agorist · 2009-06-25 21:05:54

xmonad, emacs (for editing, irc, xmpp), muttng, firefox.

One can slim firefox down with plugins, and I don't care much about its memory usage. Adblock and a few other plugins make it worthwhile.

arkham · 2009-06-25 21:27:09

brisbin33 wrote:

pfft,
who needs a file manager? i've got cp, mv, and rm for that. not to mention find -exec, grep, awk, sed...

Using rm for everyday tasks can be dangerous, especially if it has become an habit and it's 3AM and you're a bit drunk..

leo2501 · 2009-06-25 22:16:55

arkham wrote:

The perfect minimalistic setup is awesome, mc, irssi/weechat, bitlbee, mutt, rtorrent, moc and uzbl.

i think the perfect minimalism is that but without X but WITH X i think there's little need of CLI apps, i use a setup like that (CLI _inside_ X) but i KNOW, that i like to learn, and there's no other thing like pure TTY to learn but eventually, if you have the hardware, you start to think what's more "productive" or maybe what's the fastest more way to get your idea/thought to get interpreted by your hardware/software... so im in the process to redesign my user interface so i can have that... why? because i learned A LOT with arch, more than i ever thinked i will learn about linux, so i think the best will be to have two setups... one CLI only, where you can learn and mess with the POWER of the command line, and other more intuitive to just do what you NEED to do, and don't need to look a man page or look for some command just to do a simple thing... you can (and SHOULD, lol) look for that later, after you do what you NEED to do

deadlylife · 2009-06-25 23:18:46

I definitely prefer Midori over Firefox 3, also, for AIM, bitlbee is a great client (it's run in IRC, so you'd use irssi for it)

arkham · 2009-06-26 00:33:33

In my experience, midori crashes randomly

keenerd · 2009-06-26 01:30:45

There is an Arch app for creating minimalism, pacgraph. It can help you choose applications with tightly overlapping dependencies or chase down hundreds of megabytes of apps not worth their weight.

</shameless plug>

For entertainment purposes, clive is excellent. It downloads embedded video, removing the need for a flash capable browser. I have not found a site not supported by it.

xd-0 · 2009-06-26 05:25:36

The eternal question of X vs no X. I think leo2501 analysis hit the spot.
Minimal is a more complex concept than you think at first look. Usability is an important part of it. For example, most would say that elinks is more minimal than a graphical browser. But while elinks strips down browsing to the bare basics of displaying the written content, I for one are much more effective using an interface like Midori.

On the other hand, lately I've started using the builtin commands of bash for managing my files. And as time goes by they have become more intuitive to me than using pcmanfm. Also, some times, the visualisation of the filesystem using ls feels more natural than a grapichal representation. This is something that wasn't true a few months ago.

This could also explain why there seems to be two groups of minimalistic people, those who use a tiling wm, and those who uses *box. Our level of understandning or how synced we are to the software, becomes an important part of how minimal we percieve it to be.

And now some meaningless quotes that somehow can trick people into thinking I'm right:

"[..] it's important to recognize that minimalism for minimalism's sake is just dumb. Like any other design tool, it should be a means to an end." - James Bennett

"Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful." - John Maeda

All that said, midori, openbox, bash, mpd + sonata, urxvt or xterm, geany or nano. And those who doesn't agree....

Last edited by xd-0 (2009-06-26 05:26:21)

SpeedVin · 2009-06-27 09:57:45

xd-0 wrote:

The eternal question of X vs no X. I think leo2501 analysis hit the spot.
Minimal is a more complex concept than you think at first look. Usability is an important part of it. For example, most would say that elinks is more minimal than a graphical browser. But while elinks strips down browsing to the bare basics of displaying the written content, I for one are much more effective using an interface like Midori.
On the other hand, lately I've started using the builtin commands of bash for managing my files. And as time goes by they have become more intuitive to me than using pcmanfm. Also, some times, the visualisation of the filesystem using ls feels more natural than a grapichal representation. This is something that wasn't true a few months ago.
This could also explain why there seems to be two groups of minimalistic people, those who use a tiling wm, and those who uses *box. Our level of understandning or how synced we are to the software, becomes an important part of how minimal we percieve it to be.
And now some meaningless quotes that somehow can trick people into thinking I'm right:
"[..] it's important to recognize that minimalism for minimalism's sake is just dumb. Like any other design tool, it should be a means to an end." - James Bennett
"Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful." - John Maeda
All that said, midori, openbox, bash, mpd + sonata, urxvt or xterm, geany or nano. And those who doesn't agree....

If someone can't use midori uzbl is fast and lighweight brwser or kazehase (i'm using uzbl).i
And replace for floating WM's is Tiling WM's they the lightets.

Last edited by SpeedVin (2009-06-27 09:59:45)

Shapeshifter · 2009-06-27 13:48:09

Minimalism is overrated.

gazj · 2009-06-27 14:09:50

transmission-cli for bittorrent. It's great I use it to control transmission on my server which is on always, then all my workstations share the same downloads folder. You can alse view your torrents in a webgui if a gui is a must.

arkham · 2009-06-27 14:37:06

Shapeshifter wrote:

Minimalism is overrated.

Minimalism is abundance.

AngryKoala · 2009-06-27 22:52:25

arkham wrote:

Shapeshifter wrote:
Minimalism is overrated.
Minimalism is abundance.

Quad core is abundance.

DasWu · 2009-07-01 10:04:25

In my opinion minimalism indeed should not the aim to reach. Its simplicity what we are looking for. To strip down everthing doesn't help in any case. As stated before I think that minimalism for minimalism doesn't help anybody. I for myself try to follow the simplicity approach with means that i take small AND usable programs. Which helps me to focus on what i want to do and not spending hours of configuring and learning a tool, which leads me to the tiling wm problem. Most of the tiling wms i know are only really helpful if you spend hours of reading an building up a configuration. whereas openbox for example simply works.

I hope I made my point clear ;-)

toad · 2009-07-01 11:16:12

arkham wrote:

Shapeshifter wrote:
Minimalism is overrated.
Minimalism is abundance.

:lol::lol:

KDE is minimalist

Arch Linux

#1 2009-06-25 14:14:00

Minimalism

#2 2009-06-25 14:49:17

Re: Minimalism

#3 2009-06-25 15:02:36

Re: Minimalism

#4 2009-06-25 15:05:10

Re: Minimalism

#5 2009-06-25 15:22:18

Re: Minimalism

#6 2009-06-25 15:41:13

Re: Minimalism

#7 2009-06-25 16:20:43

Re: Minimalism

#8 2009-06-25 16:48:06

Re: Minimalism

#9 2009-06-25 18:03:09

Re: Minimalism

#10 2009-06-25 19:59:43

Re: Minimalism

#11 2009-06-25 20:43:25

Re: Minimalism

#12 2009-06-25 21:05:54

Re: Minimalism

#13 2009-06-25 21:27:09

Re: Minimalism

#14 2009-06-25 22:16:55

Re: Minimalism

#15 2009-06-25 23:18:46

Re: Minimalism

#16 2009-06-26 00:33:33

Re: Minimalism

#17 2009-06-26 01:30:45

Re: Minimalism

#18 2009-06-26 05:25:36

Re: Minimalism

#19 2009-06-27 09:57:45

Re: Minimalism

#20 2009-06-27 13:48:09

Re: Minimalism

#21 2009-06-27 14:09:50

Re: Minimalism

#22 2009-06-27 14:37:06

Re: Minimalism

#23 2009-06-27 22:52:25

Re: Minimalism

#24 2009-07-01 10:04:25

Re: Minimalism

#25 2009-07-01 11:16:12

Re: Minimalism

Board footer