I'm trying to reduce system load, without losing too much.
At the moment, I'm back using XFCE after problems with black-, flux- and openboxes.

Here's what I've tried so far, with accompanying problems where warrented
Gnome is out of the question, as if KDE - they run even worse than XFCE does.
Blackbox isn't bad, but lacks some of the options of Fluxbox, and my attempts to make it resemble bb4win didn't do much good.
Fluxbox worked, with the problem that both Firefox and Swiftfox, if there are too many images on a page, will cause the system to lock up. Same for whenever it hits low battery.
Openbox I can't log into. An Openbox session just logs right out again, Openbox/Gnome does the same, and Openbox/KDE crashes entirely.
LXDE I've tried before, and can't seem to make wicd run properly within.
fvwm-crystal is the last I've tried, and I like it, but firstly, there doesn't seem to be any menu to launch anything from, and my attempt to use AWN tells me that apparently there's a notification area already in use, when I don't see one. Out of all of them, this is the one I'd like to use.

But, there's no doubt other WM's and sessions I could use, many probably not in the Ubuntu repo's, so I'm asking... firstly are there work-arounds for the Openbox or fvwm-crystal WM's, and secondly, what are people's opinions on WM's for a low impact on system resources, without losing too much functionality (Like fvwm-crystal's lack of a program menu)

Have you tried any of the Ubuntu derivatives like Xubuntu, CrunchBang(OpenBox), OpenGEU(Enlightenment), or Fluxbuntu? The last 2 may no longer be actively developed.

I haven't as yet, no (Actually, I only knew of one derivative, that being Linux Mint).
If they use their own repositories, and they're compatible with normal Ubuntu, I'll have a look. Actually changing distro isn't currently an option, but if it becomes available, I'll have a look at each.

Here you can see the 'blessed' derivatives. But all the ones I've mentioned are you Ubuntu with extra repos and a different WM. If I remember correctly Linux Mint just uses Ubuntu as a base, that is, it uses it's own repos etc.

So you wouldn't be switching distros per se, but if you still wanted to use Ubuntu you could check those distros out and see how they implement the WM of your choice.

Thanks, I'll look into them.
But supposing, if I had them, I added the crunchbang repository to the sources.list, and updated - in theory, would it work using a metapackage - if there is one - that would bring the default crunchbang desktop to my Ubuntu install?

Places to look:

"Modest Spec or Barebones Installation of Ubuntu" http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/minimal

"HowTo Achieve "Ubuntu-Desktop-Minimal" http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1155961

"Ubuntu Minimal Desktop" http://wiki.dennyhalim.com/ubuntu-minimal-desktop

"InstallingUbuntuLite" https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Ta...untuLite%29%29

"Openbox guide" http://urukrama.wordpress.com/openbox-guide/#Obconf

"Openbox" https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Openbox

Have you tried Crunchbang? Either Standard or Lite http://crunchbanglinux.org/wiki/

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I'll have a look through those links too, thanks.
As said before, I haven't tried Crunchbang in any form, because actually changing distro isn't currently an option - unless, as I asked in my previous post, it's possible to add the repositories, and 'borrow' the configuration and packages through that in order to bring it to Ubuntu.

Openbox and FVWM-Crystal are two window managers I'd like to use, Openbox specifically, but the problems I mentioned in the first post put me off both. I'd be happy settling for either as a solution once the problems are out of the way, if even as a temporary solution.

I haven't used Ubuntu in a few years, so someone else may have better information but this is generally a bad idea. You will likely break your system by doing this and send your system into dependency hell.

There shouldn't be any software in Ubuntu that isn't in CrunchBang or Xubuntu. Although CrunchBang hasn't put out 9.10 yet.

Well, in that case, all that's really needed is a solution as to why a standalone Openbox session, when trying to log into it from whatever the Xubuntu defualt DM is (GDM, I think) causes my screen to flicker once, look like it's trying to load, then log back out to the login screen.

Openbox has long been an interest of mine, but I've never managed to get past this problem.

Also, after a bit of research, I've discovered that FVWM-Crystal is meant to show somewhere a menu or something which lists the currently installed applications, but I've yet to find it.

I made Phalanx-9.04 with LXDE to be light-weight
it runs at about 100MB ram with nothing open
and under 200MB with firefox,chromium, or opera open
it also has many repos enabled and ubuntu-restricted-extras, flash 10, and more already installed
http://linux.softpedia.com/get/Syste...DE-52442.shtml

it installs just like any other Ubuntu

I made it from Masonux-9.04 LXDE
which is light-weight
http://sites.google.com/site/masonux/home

As previously said - at present, changing distro isn't an option. That may change in the not so near future, but not now.
The only work around is if it's safe to add the repositories to my existing Ubuntu install, and safely install packages that would bring those distro's default (and lightweight) desktop to my install.
However, everything I've seen and read so far suggests that this is a bad idea, likely to cause trouble, and not something to try. So unless someone can give me high chances of success, I'm not willing to gamble on it myself.

Here is a Ubuntu sources.list generator for adding repos to your existing install
http://repogen.simplylinux.ch/

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Useful, thanks, I'll keep that bookmarked - but it doesn't help when adding, say, Crunchbang repositories in order to take advantage of any updates their version of OpenBox has.

Sincerely, if you truly want to use fvwm, I advice you to get your hands dirty and roll your own config. It will take time, but it's worth the pain. Fvwm can do almost anything that conventional wm's can do and much more. It's certainly much more powerful than any of the *boxes.

You don't need AWM unless it's for the candy. FvwmButtons and FvwmIconMan can serve just as well your purposes (again, unless it's just eyecandy what you want, then fvwm is not for you at all).

Fvwm-crystal *is not* a window manager. It's just an uber complex config for fvwm, and it makes no sense to me. It's everything but intuitive to use, and it's quite heavy.

I know little about crystal. But it probably use either trayer or stalonetray as the system tray, so you will need to install either of these to get a systray, it should appear in one of this silly boxes that are spread around your screen, don't know which one.

About the menu, try clicking the background (maybe right click), or the many gadgets around the screen. You should check the fvwm-crystal homepage as well.

I can't give any more concrete help with crystal, never used it and certainly don't intend to.

You could change DM from GDM to XDM -- a lot lighter and faster. Worked fine on ubuntu 8.04 using Xfce instead of Gnome.

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