lightweight desktop
 

Hi all

i've just installed RH9 on an old laptop with
P3 650mhz
128mb ram

i generally use kde on my pc, but then again it's got lots of grunt. What i'm looking for is a lightweight desktop to use on the laptop, so i can uninstall kde and save on memory usage.

i'd like to hear from anyone who has already installed one on RH9 with the pros & cons if any. i'm not after starting any flame wars here, as these threads often do. i'm not interested in "mine is better than yours" just the facts from experienced users.

Main applications in use are openOffice & firefox, and at a pinch i could use lynx instead. anything else i can do from the command line.

thanks in advance
regards
GT

Try xfce...

http://xfce.org/

Fedora Core 3 installs this as an option now and it is quite light and fast...it should work on most Linuxes

I used Window Maker in RH8 for years and i use it now in FC2.
The compressed source code of the latest version is about 2.7 Mbytes. I don't think it is more that a few Mb compiled.
It's just a background with 2-3 buttons(one for xterm, one for configuring Window Maker), it's more like an interface for graphical programs, that a complete desktop ( it does not have a file manger but it is compatible with KDE/GNOME).
right click will give you a menu with programs to trigger, in the latest version the menu has firefox and openoffice on it , but anyway you can configure this by just editing a simple text file), but you can trigger any program with the run command or from the xterm.
Actually i'm posting this using firefox on WM. people who use WM actually add wmapplets, small programs in the size of a wm button who do things (show time, date, weather, play cd's). Cool applets (just my opinion) is one for mounting your cd-roms, and another one for with 9 buttons for triggering 27 programs (one for eatch mouse button) tottaly configurable. If you are interested I may find the URL for you.
I've never used RH9 but how different can it be from red-hat 8.
Anyway if u don't use something u can't deside, for me WM may be very cool, but you may not like it.

IceWM is light and nice.

Yves.

Hi all

thanks to all who posted. i looked into everyone of them. heres a quick rundown.

xfce:- i looked at the website, looked nice, unfortunately downloading a 23mb file through a modem (yep, No broadband here yet!!) would take too long. thanks for the idea though.

Window Maker:- Downloaded the files needed. not tried it yet, sounds promising

Icewm:- Downloaded the rpm (less than 1mb), installed it, Read the online manual on how to make it kick in from startup, created the .xsession & .Xclients files. Everything looks fine and dandy. Just what i need. i don't suppose there'd be much between this and window maker. i like the idea i can customise my own start menu with only the progs i need. all in all it took just short of 2 hours from start to finnish (slow learner i know!!??!!??) Also like the eth0 & cpu monitor in the taskbar.

thanks to all. My laptop is revitalised thanks to you guys.:D

regards
GT