Gnome or XFCE v.s. Windows 2000

[Infamshxr]

I have a friend that wants to use Linux on a computer I have. The computer is a Pentium III (guessing it's a 933MHz or 733MHz) Probably 512MB RAM, and 32MB Video Card (I beleive it's nVidia or onboard). So I have Windows 2000 on it now and it runs great (I love Windows 2000... lol) So I was wondering what is the comparison of Windows 2000 v.s Gnome or XFCE in regards to performance and stuff. Cuz I know KDE can suck up a lot of system resources and if I go with KDE I will wanna make it look cool with 4.1, plus I think Gnome and XFCE can look good with better performance. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in Advance.

[aysiu]

I think with those specs, you'll get similar performance in Gnome and KDE. Xfce might seem slightly faster at first. Ultimately, it'll come down to what kinds of applications you run. If you do a more Sylpheed-Claws, Dillo, xTerm, Mousepad kind of setup, it'll be fast no matter what desktop environment you use, but if you do a more Evolution, Firefox, Gnome Terminal, Gedit kind of setup, it'll be slow for sure (and you won't gain much by using KDE and its similar applications).

[Infamshxr]

Well the normal apps that would be used would be Firefox, Brasero, Amarok, and KMPlayer/MPlayer.
So let's say I use Gnome with the above apps and compare that with running Windows 2000 using Firefox, Nero 6, and Windows Media Player 9 or 10.

What do you think would perform better? And do you think compiz would work alright? Or at least a lil bit, nothing too fancy.

[cardinals_fan]

I would run Xfce, but not Xubuntu (a rather bloated implementation).

[Junkbox]

Heyyy what about Fluxbox?

[Infamshxr]

I was thinking about either Xubuntu or Linux Mint 5 Fluxbox. I really don't know much of anything about Fluxbox or XFCE... Fluxbox really looks interesting, but not sure how it works. I've used XFCE and it kinda seems like it's a lot like Gnome... Sorta...
But still no one really told me how these compare to Windows 2000 performance wise. I mean, I would assume that they would run better, but my friend wants Compiz too, so idk...

EDIT: I put PCLinuxOS 2007 on it the other night, and it ran good, although I hate KDE, and didn't wanna learn it, so I put Ubuntu 6.10 on it. (my 8.04 disc is at a friends) 6.10 running Gnome went well, no hangups or anything. Although I can't update anything or install anything using Sypnaptic or Update Manager cuz I guess there's something messed up with the repos. So.... Now that I know Gnome runs good, I'm just gonna install 8.04 and uninstall a bunch of unneeded crap and just keep what will be needed and go from there. Hopefully no hangups! lol

[hman469]

I would run Xfce, but not Xubuntu (a rather bloated implementation).

With which OS? I ask because I have an older laptop I would like to run a version of Ubuntu on but they tend to slow it down to much.

[kerry_s]

a custom debian lenny with lxde would smoke on that.
http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/le...sinesscard.iso

uncheck the desktop
log in as root
apt-get install xorg lxde synaptic
reboot(ctrl+alt+delete)

[dannytatom]

@kerry_s Can I boot that iso from a usb stick? If so, I might give that a shot. It looks nifty.

[kerry_s]

@kerry_s Can I boot that iso from a usb stick? If so, I might give that a shot. It looks nifty.

in that case try:
http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/