Help me building a lightweight and cute desktop (Need to find stuff)

Lowra · 2009-09-21 20:11:15

Hi Archers
I'm on Archlinux since at leat one year now, I used gnome since my beginning in GNU/Linux, but now I would like to have something different.
I don't like KDE, XFCE is pretty nice but I want something more special ^^

My hardware is not a problem (Quad core & 4GB RAM) but I love lightweight and cute soft; I dislike to install stuff who comes with a lot of dependencies.

So now I have to find, and to choose a lot of thing like a terminal, a window manager, an image viewer, a panel with a systray, an application launcher...

I'm not sure of my definitive choice, but I think that I will choose Compiz Fusion Stand Alone as window manager, and tint2 as panel.

But what about the others thing ?
I've no idea... :S
(I don't want application with an ugly design )

Could you help me please ?

Thanks

Lich · 2009-09-21 20:34:00

From what you want, I suggest you get fluxbox + urxvt + feh + rox

tomk · 2009-09-21 20:39:45

There are a lot of threads on this topic, or similar. Some info in the wiki too AFAIR. Search around, and try some apps yourself - nobody but you knows what's going to suit you.

wankel · 2009-09-21 20:44:56

Lowra wrote:

Hi Archers
I'm on Archlinux since at leat one year now, I used gnome since my beginning in GNU/Linux, but now I would like to have something different.
I don't like KDE, XFCE is pretty nice but I want something more special ^^
My hardware is not a problem (Quad core & 4GB RAM) but I love lightweight and cute soft; I dislike to install stuff who comes with a lot of dependencies.
So now I have to find, and to choose a lot of thing like a terminal, a window manager, an image viewer, a panel with a systray, an application launcher...
I'm not sure of my definitive choice, but I think that I will choose Compiz Fusion Stand Alone as window manager, and tint2 as panel.
But what about the others thing ?
I've no idea... :S
(I don't want application with an ugly design )
Could you help me please ?
Thanks

Id go compiz standalone + cairo-dock as your taskbar/application launcher since you can easily theme it to your liking. You can install lxappearance to customize the theme of all your gtk applications to make them look as cute as I you want. Urxvt for the terminal and make it transparent.

As for any other applications that you may want, theres a nice list of lightweight ones in the wiki

richs-lxh · 2009-09-23 11:47:13

I woulkd also offer up Xfce4-Terminal as a nice looking transparent/no borders/no menu-bar terminal. (very configurable and allows you to right-click copy and paste commands, unlike xterm for example).

As for a file manager, I use Xfe as opposed to Rox. It's fast and lightweight, but fully featured.

Maybe Wbar would be a nice dock as it is lighter than Engage, AWN etc.

stefanwilkens · 2009-09-23 16:48:26

something like this?
http://rebound11.deviantart.com/art/Com … -135578974

yvonney · 2010-01-31 05:38:32

absolutely on 'xfe' - forced myself away from pcmanfm and yet a couple of things I'm still fumbling with XFE is sensational in my opinion. New update last month as well after a long while and perhaps a tweak update soon I'm hoping.

Last edited by yvonney (2010-01-31 05:39:03)

Mr.Elendig · 2010-01-31 12:58:09

Install macopix. The world needs more macopix! (it's in aur)

keenerd · 2010-01-31 13:05:08

Lilyterm is much lighter than XFCE Terminal, and much cuter than urxvt.

Adeskbar is the lightest launching bar/dock and yet very good looking.

Openbox or FVWM are good WMs for you, both give clean slates and full control.

Alternatively, E17. It looks fantastic out of the box and runs decently on a Pentium 2. It is the only WM I know of that properly supports frame dropping in its animations, so it is always responsive.

henkidefix · 2010-02-26 21:32:19

First could not make up my mind hence i log-in on the console.
Explored Xfce4 and still using sometime. Want more eyecandy
but refused to go kde / gnome (both big and slow).
Now very happy with Compiz as stand-alone WM (see the wiki) and Cairo-Dock.
Start-up time is the same as Xfce4 !
From the commandline> xinit. In my xinitrc are just 3 lines:
#!/bin/sh
compiz cpp &
exec cairo-dock -o

stefanwilkens · 2010-02-26 21:39:57

Simple software:

Image Viewer:
feh (commandline)
mirage (gtk)

panel:
pypanel

app launcher:
wbar

Window Manager:
openbox

Firepower · 2010-02-27 02:16:38

Well, I would Xfce is a very compelling choice right now, but to get a decently lightweight desktop, I would recommend

Image Viewer - Nitrogen

Window Manager - Pekwm (It is a tad lighter than openbox imo, and while it does not have any GUI way of configuring, I find the syntax of it's menu files etc. are easier to use.)

Panel - Tint2/Bmpanel2

Terminal - I have used the Terminal for Xfce before, and it is very nice overall. It is fast, and easy to configure.

File Manager - Pcmanfm or Thunar - both are well supported and look pretty nice.

Login Manager - Slim hands down.

To strip it down even more, you can not use a panel at all, but just use a tray standing alone like stalonetray.
I find a panel redundant; you can switch between applications and workspaces easily with keyboard shortcuts, and you can intergrate the clock with the window manager menu with a simple script on a wm that supports dynamic menus.

CountDuckula · 2010-02-28 23:18:41

Personally I'm using Openbox on Arch built using the following guide at http://willensky.blogspot.com/ - result is a quick and functional desktop and with a bit of tweaking, an attractive one too

Arch Linux

#1 2009-09-21 20:11:15

Help me building a lightweight and cute desktop (Need to find stuff)

#2 2009-09-21 20:34:00

Re: Help me building a lightweight and cute desktop (Need to find stuff)

#3 2009-09-21 20:39:45

Re: Help me building a lightweight and cute desktop (Need to find stuff)

#4 2009-09-21 20:44:56

Re: Help me building a lightweight and cute desktop (Need to find stuff)

#5 2009-09-23 11:47:13

Re: Help me building a lightweight and cute desktop (Need to find stuff)

#6 2009-09-23 16:48:26

Re: Help me building a lightweight and cute desktop (Need to find stuff)

#7 2010-01-31 05:38:32

Re: Help me building a lightweight and cute desktop (Need to find stuff)

#8 2010-01-31 12:58:09

Re: Help me building a lightweight and cute desktop (Need to find stuff)

#9 2010-01-31 13:05:08

Re: Help me building a lightweight and cute desktop (Need to find stuff)

#10 2010-02-26 21:32:19

Re: Help me building a lightweight and cute desktop (Need to find stuff)

#11 2010-02-26 21:39:57

Re: Help me building a lightweight and cute desktop (Need to find stuff)

#12 2010-02-27 02:16:38

Re: Help me building a lightweight and cute desktop (Need to find stuff)

#13 2010-02-28 23:18:41

Re: Help me building a lightweight and cute desktop (Need to find stuff)

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