poll: icewm or xfce4 for lightweightdesktop ?

[ubuntu_demon]

Hi,

I discovered this wiki page :

http://udu.wiki.ubuntu.com/LightweightDesktop



The target platform for Ubuntu Lite is a 200 MHz Pentium with 64 megabytes of RAM and a 1.5 gigabyte hard drive. It will come preconfigured with the tools most commonly needed by computer users:


They have chosen IceWM for a window manager for the moment.

I personally like xfce4 a lot. I haven't tried icewm yet though.

I would like to know which window manager is more convenient for this target platform according to you guys. I'm especially interested in opinions from people using such a platform and opinions from people who have used both wm's.

edit : please post the reason why you voted xfce4 or icewm

[SparkyDawg]

XFCE4 with Gdesklets, best desktop ever. Fast and attractive.

[weekend warrior]

It'd be a shame if clunky IceWM were chosen over the much more elegant Xfce seeing as the UI goals are "Light-weight, easy to use, aesthetically appealing."

One look at the themes available for each paints a clear picture. Xfce has a gtk-xfce-engine and some of the same themes used in Gnome like Ghrome, g5-ish, Gorilla, even a nice Human port (http://themes.freshmeat.net/screenshots/50721/54373/).

You get a nice looking dock by default and a fast, easy, clean, no nonsense interface. Take a look at Morphix LightGUI (http://www.morphix.org/index.php?option=com_zoom&Itemid=74&page=view&catid=1&PageNo=1&key=1&hit=1) to see how nicely it can be set up. Xfce without a shadow of a doubt.

[az]

It'd be a shame if clunky IceWM were chosen over the much more elegant Xfce seeing as the UI goals are "Light-weight, easy to use, aesthetically appealing."

One look at the themes available for each paints a clear picture. Xfce has a gtk-xfce-engine and some of the same themes used in Gnome like Ghrome, g5-ish, Gorilla, even a nice Human port (http://themes.freshmeat.net/screenshots/50721/54373/).

You get a nice looking dock by default and a fast, easy, clean, no nonsense interface. Take a look at Morphix LightGUI (http://www.morphix.org/index.php?option=com_zoom&Itemid=74&page=view&catid=1&PageNo=1&key=1&hit=1) to see how nicely it can be set up. Xfce without a shadow of a doubt.


Yes, but XFCE uses gnome libraries and font rendering. It is much slower than icewm. Especially on a 200 mHz 64 meg ram computer.

Do not dispair, there is also an Xubuntu project - Like Kubuntu but with XFCE4...

If the goal of the LightWeightDesktop was to have a small downloadable iso image, then just one wm would be included. If there is no issue with putting more stuff on the install cd, perhaps there can be a choice between icewm, fluxbox, openbox and XFCE4 and they can all be included on the cd, so the user can tailor the system to whatever works the best with the particular hardware...

[ubuntu_demon]

Do not dispair, there is also an Xubuntu project - Like Kubuntu but with XFCE4...


azz do you have an url for us?

[skoal]

I don't know that "icewm" qualifies as a "desktop", nor "xfce" as a "window manager" (although xfwm4 would). Either way, I'm currently running xfce and icewm on a PII-400 w/128 MB on another distro box. There's very very little difference between the two - in fact, the only tangible difference I can tell is startup time. In fact, I've bloated up icewm before with a "control center" and desktop icons, and it seems to run slower than xfce. Pound for pound, xfce is the slimmest desktop - and barely overweight as a window manager.

\\//_

[weekend warrior]

Xubuntu would defo pique my interest :) I saw in the Xubuntu thread (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=27911&page=1&pp=10) skoal put up a screenie yesterday of his ~600MB Debian-Xfce install, nice.

Ubuntu's running on a celeron 500, 256MB on my older box and it does fine, but Xfce is a regular speed demon on it. Any lower though, like a 200 mHz 64 meg ram computer, I'd go with Fluxbox before Icewm tbh.





EDIT: ah hey skoal, didn't see you there - I must've been typing when you posted ;-)

[skoal]

haha, it's funny you mention that weekend warrior. I'm actually typing this post now in Debian 3.1, running that XFCE setup you mentioned. I've actually been contemplating a reinstall of Ubuntu using the guidelines from that "Howto: XFCE witout Gnome" thread (and from what I've learned by the Debian install). The Ubuntu install is bound to be far less painless...

\\//_

[ubuntu_demon]

if beatrix (runs gnome) can run on a pc with at least 64 mb ram
http://www.watsky.net

edit :
okay I voted iceWM because :



Sometimes the lack of physical memory reared its ugly head — opening more than one app at a time sent the hard drive thrashing. This is to be expected with only 64MB. I doubled up to 128MB and the OS came alive. I could open three or four apps without a hint of strain. If you intend to do lots of office work or graphics, more memory seems to be the ticket as the machine never once felt like a 400MHz castaway.


from :http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=9973&page=1

Also I think the Ubuntu guys can make a nice polished theme for icewm.

I still like xfce more than icewm .. but hey we are talking (very) lightweight here:)

[poofyhairguy]

They have chosen IceWM for a window manager for the moment.


Makes since. Only it and Fluxy can run on something that slow.

Now with twice the MHZ and twice the RAM, XFCE4.2 kicks ass all over the yard.

http://photos1.blogger.com/img/264/3564/320/donkey-kick.jpg

[poofyhairguy]

Here is another bunch of questions:

What web browser should be used?

(Firefox would laugh at that; in fact I don't know a browser that light)

What word processing software?

(Abiword I say)

How do you access CDs, usb drives?

What do you use for the configuration tools? (IceWMs are sparten).

I have a 400mhz 128mb machine with XFCE that I have gotten to do all these things (epiphany, abiword, starting gnome-volume manager).

But....200mhz? 64 mb ram?

That sounds like a tasty firewall to me.

[Brunellus]

Here is another bunch of questions:

What web browser should be used?

(Firefox would laugh at that; in fact I don't know a browser that light)

What word processing software?

(Abiword I say)

How do you access CDs, usb drives?

What do you use for the configuration tools? (IceWMs are sparten).

I have a 400mhz 128mb machine with XFCE that I have gotten to do all these things (epiphany, abiword, starting gnome-volume manager).

But....200mhz? 64 mb ram?

That sounds like a tasty firewall to me.

Damnsmall linux does all this. I won't damn it with faint praise as merely a "tasty firewall"...I've played with DSL and think it's a surprisingly useful desktop distribution.

The nicest thing is that if you're using DSL on a box with more than 96 MB of physical RAM or so, you can load the entire distribution in RAM on startup. This is way cool--things run really quickly and smoothly after the initial boot.

It certainly isn't Ubuntu--which is ten times the footprint, in terms of disk space!--but for a distribution of its size, it's phenomenal how useful it is.