xfce4 + nautilus + evolution

scales · 2011-01-06 18:41:13

I realize that my desired xfce4 + nautilus + evolution desktop is a bit wacky (since I think that nautilus and evolution rely heavily on many gnome packages), but I do have reasons.

This arch setup is going on my netbook which even with 2gigs of ram feels a touch sluggish with gnome. A slim version of xfce4 is much quicker. I use dropbox for most of my file storing needs and though there is a way to get it running without nautilus, I find that the nautilus package handles the continous switching of internet connections associated with netbooks best. Finally, I need to use evolution to connect to my work's exchange servers.

So, I can install xfce4 and then install these two components, but will they just pull in a ton of gnome dependencies that will slow my netbook down? I really could do without xfce4 packages like thunar and ogre.

Any advice as to how I can have it all with a slim setup?

abhishekpathak · 2011-01-06 19:54:45

Nautilus and Evolution will depend on Gnome libs.However, I do think you can do away with nautilus with some research on thunar extensions.One link to get you started is this :
http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=39214
Xfce handles gnome software much better than,say,KDE.Between that and ur 2 gigs RAM, i don't see much of a performance issue.However, it will surely be better if you can find Xfce or other lightweight software that do your job just fine.
I do not use desktop mail clients, so I would leave that answer to someone better equipped.However, you might use thunderbird and have a peep at this thread:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1237875

jelly · 2011-01-06 20:51:31

abhishekpathak wrote:

Nautilus and Evolution will depend on Gnome libs.However, I do think you can do away with nautilus with some research on thunar extensions.One link to get you started is this :
http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=39214
Xfce handles gnome software much better than,say,KDE.Between that and ur 2 gigs RAM, i don't see much of a performance issue.However, it will surely be better if you can find Xfce or other lightweight software that do your job just fine.
I do not use desktop mail clients, so I would leave that answer to someone better equipped.However, you might use thunderbird and have a peep at this thread:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1237875

You made me lol that gnome takes up 2G ram, that's just a pure troll. XFce is in practice not very much lighter than gnome

scales · 2011-01-06 21:20:21

jelly wrote:

You made me lol that gnome takes up 2G ram, that's just a pure troll. XFce is in practice not very much lighter than gnome

Well I have tried to get along with openbox in the past. I like some keyboard commands but I still prefer to use the mouse for many things. Openbox just never looked as pretty or perhaps I should say that it took me longer to get it to look nice. I like some of the panels and themes associated with xfce.

Do you have a recommendation? I am always looking for a new WM setup. I am lately wanting to have the panel on the left since my netbook screen is so small.

bunburya · 2011-01-06 21:26:45

jelly wrote:

abhishekpathak wrote:
Nautilus and Evolution will depend on Gnome libs.However, I do think you can do away with nautilus with some research on thunar extensions.One link to get you started is this :
http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=39214
Xfce handles gnome software much better than,say,KDE.Between that and ur 2 gigs RAM, i don't see much of a performance issue.However, it will surely be better if you can find Xfce or other lightweight software that do your job just fine.
I do not use desktop mail clients, so I would leave that answer to someone better equipped.However, you might use thunderbird and have a peep at this thread:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1237875
You made me lol that gnome takes up 2G ram, that's just a pure troll. XFce is in practice not very much lighter than gnome

I didn't see that in his post at all.

abhishekpathak · 2011-01-07 10:13:42

jelly wrote:

You made me lol that gnome takes up 2G ram, that's just a pure troll.

Good for you .I never mentioned that though.

jelly wrote:

XFce is in practice not very much lighter than gnome

Xfce can be significantly lightweight if you use native apps in it.The defaults like Thunar, Mousepad and Exaile are pretty feature-rich alternatives to Gnome.The downside is that if you stray beyond the defaults you don''t have much native choice.Gnome and KDE software can slow it down, although it still remains, in my 4 yrs experience with linux, faster than Gnome.As for Xfce releases becoming steadily bloated over the years, I will tend to agree.
As for a balanced netbook DE for the post author, i would suggest using Openbox with Xfce panel.

whoops · 2011-01-08 11:46:19

Did you try NOT using all that weird session management stuff but just starting X with a panel, xfwm4 & whatever else you need with startx / ~/.xinitrc?

You also could try lxde instead. Look out for applications that belong to either xfce or lxde, take claws-mail instead of evolution...

Last edited by whoops (2011-01-08 11:46:51)

scales · 2011-01-09 03:08:08

unfortunately I need evolution for the Exchange functions. At this point there is no better solution

Arch Linux

#1 2011-01-06 18:41:13

xfce4 + nautilus + evolution

#2 2011-01-06 19:54:45

Re: xfce4 + nautilus + evolution

#3 2011-01-06 20:51:31

Re: xfce4 + nautilus + evolution

#4 2011-01-06 21:20:21

Re: xfce4 + nautilus + evolution

#5 2011-01-06 21:26:45

Re: xfce4 + nautilus + evolution

#6 2011-01-07 10:13:42

Re: xfce4 + nautilus + evolution

#7 2011-01-08 11:46:19

Re: xfce4 + nautilus + evolution

#8 2011-01-09 03:08:08

Re: xfce4 + nautilus + evolution

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