I want a really simple none KDE or GNOME distro for my 3rd computer. I'm just going to use it for basic stuff. Is fluxbox the most wated down desktop or is there something even more basic. Can you not have any desktop but still open things like firefox and gimp by typing it in the command line? If so how do you save and find saved files? Help advice and so on would be very nice!

THANKS A LOT!

DSL
http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/

man you like DSL ctkroeker

but correct

sure you can set this up. it'll require some elbow grease though, if you want to do everything from the command line (which i heartily applaud) you have to learn the ins and outs. here's my recommendation:

1. go slackware, available from www.slackware.com
2. use fluxbox, should be installed in slackware by default
3. go out and buy a copy of the RUTE users tutorial by paul sheer, also available online (see my signature)


it's a lot of fun if you enjoy this kind of thing. i've got slackware running on a headless (no monitor) old PII server with 64 megs of RAM and on a Dell Inspiron 4150 laptop with 768 megs of RAM. i've set up a mail server and i think i've done a pretty good job hardening it; i manage the server through ssh, which happens on a non-standard port using only protocol 2 and RSA public/private key encryption. i'm very proud of the work i've put in and everything i've learned. it's really a great experience.

so anyway, those 3 pieces of advice should get you started. the slackware community here at LQ.org is absolutely wonderful, so post up if you have more questions!

A quick search on Google shows various window managers, all of which come with most standard distributions: http://www.linux-mag.com/content/view/557/2248/

You can run X-Windows programs without a Window Manager using something like xterm (most distros call this “failsafe” mode). But this doesn't let you position the windows on the screen, which can be a bit of a nightmare.

For a minimal distribution you really need to think carefully about what you want to use the machine for. Then go to www.distrowatch.org and search for a minimal distribution to meet those needs.

If it's speed you're looking for, I'd recommend a keyboard-driven WM like RatPoison (there are others out there). They take longer to learn but they're much faster to use.

Also, you can get rid of the X-Windows GUI completely if you like. There are a lot of command-line terminal program alternatives; I'd recommend links for web-browsing, for instance. (You could also look at links or emacs-w3).

ImageMagick can do a lot of image manipulation, and you can get image previewers, but GIMP is definitely an X application that needs a running X server. That said, the X server doesn't have to run on the same machine as the program…

Just a thought: If you want a minimal WM, then I take it that either your third machine is under-spec'ed, or you want to use it as a work-horse without GUI interrupts getting in the way; either way, you might look into using it as a thin client running an X server to access software physically running on another machine over a network.

Well, I have a main computer with a P4 3.2, over 1gig of ram and two 400 gig hard drives. I use this as my main computer and it has Deb running on it. Then I have a Dell P4 3.4ghz running XP that I use when I have no other choice. I try not to do any surfing on it as it's going to crash sometime but like Vegas I wanna beat the odds and see if I can keep it running a little longer.

The third machine I have is a nice system, 512ram, AMD XP2600 and a 120 gig HD but I have it hooked up to a KVM with the Dell and figure I'll use it as a work horse, safe system for fiel stoarge, backup and things like that. I just don't know what to put on it. Running 100% command line may be a little much for me so I'd like something basic and slack with fluxbox may work well. I don't want a heavy overloaded distro like libranet, I just don't need and won't use it on this one. DSL is fine but I just don't like the feel of it. Freesbie would be nice but the HD istall never goes smoot for me.

PS It says the default desktop for Slackware is KDE and that's what's kept me from ever using it. Is this true or does it give me a choice?

jeez I am running a p111 866 with 512mb and 40 gig... running a full kde etc... you can run anything on those boxes

I know I can but I want something lite, the less crap the less issues I have to worry about..

Minislack is pretty cool.

The default WM for Slack is whatever you want it to be. The Slack install allows you the option of not even installing KDE if you don't want it.

Same goes for Debian , especially if you do the netinstall. I am running IceWm, it rocks.

i've used one for fedora one time. can't remember the exact name i think it was XFwm or something like that. You could run gui programs from the terminal but had to do it like:

firefox &

then you'd see the grids of where the window would be made and you clicked for it to come up. There was no taskbar but a window that kept track of all your windows so you could minimize and maximize windows.