Desktop Environments & Window Managers (the ones that are less resource intensive)

aitzim · 06-01-2005, 03:54 PM

I have a fully up-to-date SuSE 9.2 running on a P3-500 Mhz with 128MB RAM. I just got my wireless card working and it was a doozy getting it recongnized. Now I'm trying to make KDE run faster overall after login. Any suggestions? I'm using the default theme and it doesn't look like I have any graphical whizbangs turned on so I'm not sure what more else I can do.

I'm thinking about getting Xfce (or any other lighweight gui), but it seems like it is meant more for Gnome than KDE. And I am fully entrenched in KDE.

Before I make the change I have the following concerns:
1) What is a window manager as opposed to a desktop environment? Is a desktop environment just a window manager with system apps?

2) Can i keep KDE and just change the window manager? Mainly, will that enhace speed?

3) Enter toolkits: As far as I understand, I think KDE uses the Qt toolkit, so should I only consider GUIs that also use that toolkit?

4) Can I use Yast under Xfce or other non-Qt GUIs? Will it maintain the same look?

5) If I were to switch to Xfce would I need to get rid of KDE and install Gnome to enhance speed? to cut down on many different libraries being loaded and using resources?

The X Window System Architecture Overview HOWTO at TLDP was really helpful and pointed me in the right direction but any real world experience or testimonials from those that changed their GUI would be greatly appreciated.

Mr. New · 06-01-2005, 04:05 PM

any program will run in any window manager or Desktop environment
you don't need GNOME for XFCE

samael26 · 06-01-2005, 04:15 PM

Try icewm or fluxbox. Very lightweight. I tend to prefer icewm because I can configure
it like I want (key bindings are easy, etc..) Fluxbox is very minimal, gets more time to get
used to it, but it's beautiful.
As usual, it's your own choice.

cheers

cs-cam · 06-01-2005, 05:54 PM

Sure you can use different window managers in KDE. I believe you just need to edit the startkde script and change kwin to the WM of your choice. Most window managers don't use a toolkit as such, that's the applications that run inside the window manager and as long as you have Qt and Gtk installed, you'll be able to run all of them at once if you want.

aitzim · 06-13-2005, 05:46 PM

Thanks for all the reply. I've decided to go with Xfce for now.

gdivens51 · 06-13-2005, 09:56 PM

I liked KDE but now I use XFCE. It's so much faster on my old dinosaur. Using Libranet 2.7 Classic, 128 MB ram, UDMA/33 HDD. I use this machine more than my Win ME pc & it is almost as fast as it.

RH 7.3 was acceptable b4 I got Libranet. But now it really rips !