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Best GUI for older hardware (not distro)
This feels like a newbie question to me.
Everyone's always talking about which distro to use for lowmem and older hardware. What's lightest for a laptop but still has drivers. Well, it seems to me that all the distros have their goods and bads and they mostly all support a lowmem install and still contain older drivers. So it seems like there will never be a true leader of distros for these elderly machines. I think the real question is: What is the best GUI for an older or lowmem desktop/laptop? Most of the distros seem to have it covered with a command-line install, but the thing I never see discussed is which GUI to use on which distro. I was trying to install DSL (damn small linux) but found I kept getting a fatal error when it tried to load the kernel, so I moved on, had other problems, but now I've come up with something I think will work great. I know that I can run Ubuntu on this machine from the livecd. I tried to install it once but 2 days into the install I decided i'd prefer a bullet in the foot. So now I've come back to Ubuntu. I'm installing it from a Xubuntu alternate cd in command-line install. Then I will cut out some of the fat (once I figure out what it is, I'm still not real experienced with linux) and after I think it's pretty cleaned out I'm gonna give it a GUI. I haven't really decided what to use tho. KDE is too much for me cuz i'm impatient. GNOME I could probably deal with but I don't really need it to be that pretty, and I'm willing to research the internet for solutions so I could pretty nearly go with command-line only. I'm currently planning to settle on FluxBox but I feel anyone else making this decision will have the same disadvantage of me in not knowing what's out there. THE POINT: I'd like to see what the other suggestions are. I am only aware of the three GUIs above and DSL's "Joe's Window Manager". Are there others? Are they better suited for lowend, older hardware, laptops? |
I'd try Crunchbang linux. Based on Ubuntu, but w/ the Openbox GUI (which should be pretty speedy)...
http://crunchbanglinux.org/ IGF |
xfce, enlightenment, blackbox....
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You could install eg. debian without the X support and install any GUI you like eg. XFCE.
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Might give vector Linux a try..there light edition will run on a Pentium 166 with 64megs memory..I tried it on this laptop and it was pretty snappy..Its based on Slackware..
http://vectorlinux.com/ |
I'd try Crunchbang linux. Based on Ubuntu, but w/ the Openbox GUI (which should be pretty speedy)...
http://crunchbanglinux.org/ IGF |
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my vote
i would definetly vote for fluxbox, it uses very little system resources and is really fun to use once you get used to it's features.
If you have a little bit more ram (upwards of 128mb+) then you probably could pull of xfce, which is easy to customize and is good on the eye. |
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I agrey fluxbox or Xfce both good litewate GUI's by the way I have a laptop with a 700MHz CPU and 128 RAM and it happeley runs KDE-3.5.10 or xfce or fluxbox or TWM |
I actually made this to just compile a list of GUIs for other people who are just installing, but now I've got a little more info for myself too.
I'm trying to install on a Toshiba Satellite Pro 490XCDT. Pentium 266 w/ 160 RAM |
So here's what I'm hearing, or seeing I geuss :)
Listed by highest to lowest requirement; KDE > GNOME > XFCE > FluxBox > Joe's Windows Manager (is this DSL only?) I have no clue where Vector, Crunchbox, or Anti-X go |
I run JWM and Icewm in Puppy Dingo.
I run Xfce and LXDE in Ubuntu Boxes. Icewm is pretty quick. So is LXDE. |
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I tend to use WindowMaker on older hardware (it's like Steve Jobs in a time machine).
My top choice for minimal system resources is fluxbox. XFCE is already being somewhat bloated compared to fluxbox. Blackbox is also fine. The minimalistic wmanagers tend to be quite similar to each other. Only WindowMaker is completely different. Debian |
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Other lite windows managers: pekwm, wmii. For a fast and light desktop manager you might like enlightenment and there is also rox desktop. |
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