What DE uses the least system resources? [SOLVED]

semitone36 · 2009-03-02 20:23:15

Im trying to breath life back into my mother-in-law's old Thinkpad (iSeries from 2000) and I originally installed KDE4 as the DE. KDE turned out to be WAY too much for it to handle (It took over half an hour to load the desktop and anywhere from 5 - 10 minutes to load applications)

So my question is what would be a tiny DE that wouldnt weigh down the thinkpad? Ive read about Openbox, Fluxbox, xfce and some others but what are your experiences?

Specs:
Intel Celeron 700 Mhz
Trident integrated graphics
10Gb hdd

Last edited by semitone36 (2009-03-02 23:30:03)

userlander · 2009-03-02 20:32:09

The window managers like openbox will be much lighter than the DEs. The downside is that you will probably have to spend a lot of time configuring them for her. XFCE is a nice compromise, as your MIL probably doesn't want to be configuring xml all day (although the new xfce has moved in that direction unfortunately and doesn't have gui menu editing). Something like Icewm can be really nice and is probably what I would try in that situation.

>edit: I've never used KDE4, but half an hour to load the desktop and 5-10 mins per application still sounds like a lot, even for those specs. maybe there is also a hardware problem somewhere?

Last edited by userlander (2009-03-02 20:36:06)

semitone36 · 2009-03-02 20:41:52

userlander wrote:

XFCE is a nice compromise, as your MIL probably doesn't want to be configuring xml all day...
Something like Icewm can be really nice and is probably what I would try in that situation.

This is what I figured but I have never tried xfce before

Never heard of Icewm...
What she really wants is something similar to windows (its all she knows)

Inxsible · 2009-03-02 20:45:30

least resources --- LXDE

You asked for DE, otherwise, if you don't mind creating a DE then there are lots of Window Managers which are much lighter like dwm, wmii, Openbox(which LXDE uses)

If you are doing this for someone else who knows only Windows, LXDE would be the best bet. I always felt LXDE gave too much of a Windowy feel -- that's why I personally hate LXDE, but it could be perfect in your case.

Check this screenshot of LXDE

IceWM has a default of a very retro win95 look and feel -- that of course can be changed using different themes. But it doesn't come in a DE. You will have to configure all the apps, which again is pretty easy to do.

IceWM has got this SilverXP theme which makes it look like Windows XP too

Last edited by Inxsible (2009-03-02 20:52:45)

semitone36 · 2009-03-02 21:02:25

Inxsible wrote:

If you are doing this for someone else who knows only Windows, LXDE would be the best bet. I always felt LXDE gave too much of a Windowy feel -- that's why I personally hate LXDE, but it could be perfect in your case.

Haha that made me laugh!

When you say "configure your DE" what exactly does that entail? Sorry, recent Ubuntu convert trying to learn the trade.

userlander · 2009-03-02 21:19:07

semitone36 wrote:

userlander wrote:
XFCE is a nice compromise, as your MIL probably doesn't want to be configuring xml all day...
Something like Icewm can be really nice and is probably what I would try in that situation.
This is what I figured but I have never tried xfce before
Never heard of Icewm...
What she really wants is something similar to windows (its all she knows)

That's why I mentioned it. Aside from being very light, Icewm is one of the most windowsy WMs there is. I think there are specific themes to make it look even more like windows, for example:

http://www.desktoplinux.com/files/artic … e57a3e.jpg

Inxsible · 2009-03-02 21:24:16

semitone36 wrote:

Inxsible wrote:
If you are doing this for someone else who knows only Windows, LXDE would be the best bet. I always felt LXDE gave too much of a Windowy feel -- that's why I personally hate LXDE, but it could be perfect in your case.
Haha that made me laugh!
When you say "configure your DE" what exactly does that entail? Sorry, recent Ubuntu convert trying to learn the trade.

meaning you will have to install the various apps needed for her to work with. Of course that depends on what your mother in law uses on a day to day basis.

For eg. If you installed Gnome, you would get a music player, an editor etc etc. If you use a Window Manager, you will have to install all these apps separately. It won't come all in one package.

Last edited by Inxsible (2009-03-02 21:25:48)

flamelab · 2009-03-02 21:27:17

Xfce4, which is, INMHO, much better than that merged DE called LXDE.

skottish · 2009-03-02 21:28:42

It takes five minutes to get XFCE looking Windows-ish. It's very good on RAM, and is well used and supported.

LXDE is not ready for unsupervised use in my not so humble opinion. The last machine I sent out was broken in minutes, and it was LXDE's components that did it.

Inxsible · 2009-03-02 21:31:25

skottish wrote:

LXDE is not ready for unsupervised use in my not so humble opinion.

True !

But I have a Intel P2 (or is it P3 - i cant rbr) with 256MB RAM, nvidia 32MB shared video card and 30GB HDD. and xfce was a bitch.

Granted that it was Xubuntu that I was running at the time....so when I moved permanently to Arch -- I just kept away from All DEs and am a happy camper with Openbox

keenerd · 2009-03-02 21:41:33

I had a thinkpad with about half those specs, and e17 ran just fine. E dropped a lot of frames during its shiny animations, but is still looked pretty good.

greenfuse · 2009-03-02 22:02:51

Your laptop is similar in specs to mine. I found xfce was too slow and heavy for it. I am using icewm which is quite fast on the old machine. Look around and you will find web sites that will help to customise it.

LXDE is fast and attractive. I have it running on my wife's computer. The latest version of the menu/toolbar (0.3.999-1) is buggy, so I use an older version (0.3.8.1-1) which is no longer in the repositories.

ataraxia · 2009-03-02 22:31:19

Similar to icewm, is jwm. It's even smaller, and looks a bit Windows 95 like.

moljac024 · 2009-03-02 22:59:33

I would recommend IceWM in this case. You'll love this:
http://celettu.wordpress.com/2008/05/25 … pc-useful/

I believe that's a fellow Archer who wrote that

semitone36 · 2009-03-02 23:01:38

Inxsible wrote:

meaning you will have to install the various apps needed for her to work with. Of course that depends on what your mother in law uses on a day to day basis.
For eg. If you installed Gnome, you would get a music player, an editor etc etc. If you use a Window Manager, you will have to install all these apps separately. It won't come all in one package.

Wow that is no problem at all. In fact its exactly what I wanted! I thought you meant I would have to edit rc files or something.

Anyways thanks for the responses guys! I did some research and I think Im gonna give xfce a try. She only wants the thinkpad for internet use when she's not at home so I think I can try to give her less of a windowsy environment and get away with it.

semitone36 · 2009-03-02 23:21:15

moljac024 wrote:

I would recommend IceWM in this case. You'll love this:
http://celettu.wordpress.com/2008/05/25 … pc-useful/
I believe that's a fellow Archer who wrote that

Thanks for the read! I might try Icewm if xfce doesnt work out

celettu · 2009-03-04 14:13:15

moljac024 wrote:

I would recommend IceWM in this case. You'll love this:
http://celettu.wordpress.com/2008/05/25 … pc-useful/
I believe that's a fellow Archer who wrote that

Yes. Yes it was

userlander · 2009-03-04 14:46:50

semitone36 wrote:

Inxsible wrote:
meaning you will have to install the various apps needed for her to work with. Of course that depends on what your mother in law uses on a day to day basis.
For eg. If you installed Gnome, you would get a music player, an editor etc etc. If you use a Window Manager, you will have to install all these apps separately. It won't come all in one package.
Wow that is no problem at all. In fact its exactly what I wanted! I thought you meant I would have to edit rc files or something.
Anyways thanks for the responses guys! I did some research and I think Im gonna give xfce a try. She only wants the thinkpad for internet use when she's not at home so I think I can try to give her less of a windowsy environment and get away with it.

The question is, if she only wants it for internet use, why would you bloat it down (bloat being a relative term here ) with XFCE when Icewm or *box would be much faster? Doesn't really make sense to me, but to each his own.

brazzmonkey · 2009-03-04 14:55:34

I had XFCE running great on a legacy AMD Athlon 750. It's easy to set up and configure and feels snappy too. It takes 35 seconds to boot. I'd advise to try it before installing anything lighter.

cognacc · 2009-03-04 22:39:52

I had a thinkpad T22 and gone from openbox to xfce4, this made a a noticeable slowdown. after upgrading my laptop to T60p i used xfce4.
Openbox is quite a bit faster than xfce in my experience on slow hardware, and is quick to use and easy to use. but lacks some gui actions stuff(better drag and drop support amongst others).

so in my T22 i used openbox with some stuff from xfce4, to add that missing gui action stuff.
In .xinitrc i started xfce-panel & xfce-mcs-manager (which doesnt exist anymore in 4.6 so ?)
I then added a slew of shortcuts for applications and other stuff, like starting emacs to a specific path(~notes), another on
for making menus and shortcuts and so on in openbox you can get several applications that can do that with graphical tools. check the openbox site.

My requirements for a environment is that it should have great support for what does, meaning great gui support, drag and drop, great cli using support, easy to use, extremely fast and be able to be manipulated 97.3 % from a keyboard, (ie also controlling gui stuff from keyboard, whenever applicable).
I only use my trackpoint/mouse when i do drawing or selecting stuff is easier that way. or doing something that is mouse specific.

ME: T22 openbox + xfce4 stuff - T60p - xfce4 all the way - im happy with both

Arch Linux

#1 2009-03-02 20:23:15

What DE uses the least system resources? [SOLVED]

#2 2009-03-02 20:32:09

Re: What DE uses the least system resources? [SOLVED]

#3 2009-03-02 20:41:52

Re: What DE uses the least system resources? [SOLVED]

#4 2009-03-02 20:45:30

Re: What DE uses the least system resources? [SOLVED]

#5 2009-03-02 21:02:25

Re: What DE uses the least system resources? [SOLVED]

#6 2009-03-02 21:19:07

Re: What DE uses the least system resources? [SOLVED]

#7 2009-03-02 21:24:16

Re: What DE uses the least system resources? [SOLVED]

#8 2009-03-02 21:27:17

Re: What DE uses the least system resources? [SOLVED]

#9 2009-03-02 21:28:42

Re: What DE uses the least system resources? [SOLVED]

#10 2009-03-02 21:31:25

Re: What DE uses the least system resources? [SOLVED]

#11 2009-03-02 21:41:33

Re: What DE uses the least system resources? [SOLVED]

#12 2009-03-02 22:02:51

Re: What DE uses the least system resources? [SOLVED]

#13 2009-03-02 22:31:19

Re: What DE uses the least system resources? [SOLVED]

#14 2009-03-02 22:59:33

Re: What DE uses the least system resources? [SOLVED]

#15 2009-03-02 23:01:38

Re: What DE uses the least system resources? [SOLVED]

#16 2009-03-02 23:21:15

Re: What DE uses the least system resources? [SOLVED]

#17 2009-03-04 14:13:15

Re: What DE uses the least system resources? [SOLVED]

#18 2009-03-04 14:46:50

Re: What DE uses the least system resources? [SOLVED]

#19 2009-03-04 14:55:34

Re: What DE uses the least system resources? [SOLVED]

#20 2009-03-04 22:39:52

Re: What DE uses the least system resources? [SOLVED]

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