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mvassilev
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
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posted March 02, 2009 05:43 AM |
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I could choose between Ubuntu (GNOME), Kubuntu (KDE), Xubuntu (xfce), and one I can't remember.
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Eccentric Opinion
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dimis
Responsible
Supreme Hero
Digitally signed by FoG
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posted March 02, 2009 06:07 AM |
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Edited by dimis at 06:15, 02 Mar 2009.
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I see. Just like it has been mentioned before, for old configurations you should avoid mainstream window-managers. It turns out that xfce is not fast enough too.
From personal experience I was very happy with the performance of a pentium III @ 700 and debian/WindowMaker combination. I googled "lightweight linux" and found this online: lightweight; read mainly the second page.
Another review which seems kind of interesting is this one - note that the reported running times are on a pentium III @ 600. So, if you *actually* experience 5 minute delay while booting, then something is wrong. And my guess this is so because you don't have a separate partition or even better a disk for this purpose. That 10$ hard drive found by Binabik I still think is the first step for you to have something working. And most likely you have to avoid ubuntu; it's heavy.
May be more comments later. Have a look on the reviews.
May be you can even try FVWM-Crystal in your current installation (unlikely though coz of space limitations).
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The empty set
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dimis
Responsible
Supreme Hero
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posted March 02, 2009 06:14 AM |
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Edited by dimis at 06:19, 02 Mar 2009.
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Also have a look here. This guy suggests fluxbox for window manager. And it's clear that all your problems start from the windowmanager. That's why the extra disk is needed at this point. You need some space to install/uninstall stuff and play around to figure out which one is the "right" for you.
Btw, this guy also suggests other lightweight applications which you can use as alternatives. These deserve a try too.
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dimis
Responsible
Supreme Hero
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posted March 02, 2009 06:40 AM |
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PuppyLinux seems to be a very interesting alternative and comes with < 100 MB installation cd.
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mvassilev
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
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posted March 02, 2009 02:47 PM |
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Nah, I think I'll stick with Xubuntu for a little bit, and if I don't like it, I'll uninstall it.
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Eccentric Opinion
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DeadMan
Known Hero
The True Humanitarian
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posted March 02, 2009 03:27 PM |
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Don't like Linux? Good. Then it will be all the more moral when you use it.
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I don't matter. You don't matter. But we matter.
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del_diablo
Legendary Hero
Manifest
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posted March 02, 2009 05:22 PM |
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Quote:
Incidentally, my C: drive has 18.6 GB of space total. It has 5.4 GB of free space. Its four largest folders (Documents and Settings, Games, Program Files, and Windows) add up to 11.3 GB. So it all adds up to 16.7 GB. None of the other stuff on my computer is nearly as big - two large system files (about 250 MB each) and that's it. So it adds up to 17.2 GB. Where is the other 1.4 GB?
Backup then remove all but last restore point(last time i checked you cannot delete the last restore point with those options).
Defrag.
Se what happens. And i think the advice on FVWM-Crystal is good.
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mvassilev
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
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posted March 03, 2009 03:24 PM |
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Okay, I'm using Xubuntu now. And it seems to be fine - perhaps I initially overestimated its slowness. But I still don't see how it's better than XP. Different, perhaps, but certainly not better.
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Eccentric Opinion
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vancho1
Adventuring Hero
Learning
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posted March 03, 2009 07:59 PM |
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My dad installed Fedora Core on some of our computers. Fedora has several games included in the "Package Installer."
It is pretty easy to use. Why don't you try Fedora if you don't like Xubuntu? It has KDE and GNOME, and it is a GNU/Linux distribution.
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dimis
Responsible
Supreme Hero
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posted March 04, 2009 02:05 AM |
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Edited by dimis at 02:31, 04 Mar 2009.
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Well, mvass, everything takes time.  Btw, welcome to the linux world! 
And besides, I suspect that you still use xfce. This makes it slower for you.
For starters, try FVWM-Crystal if you have the necessary space to install it.
It's fairly easy to do so through synaptic.
And in your case apart from not having to install an anti-virus that is constantly working in the background, initially you can not appreciate many more.
What probably comes up next in your case is that you can connect to your computer effortlessly from your school or from a friends house (in a secure way) and upload/download files. This procedure eliminates usb-sticks needed to be carried around. (I am a guy who doesn't want to carry anything when I leave the house if that is possible; so this is a major improvement in my everyday life; hopefully it will be in yours too.)
If you can not try FVWM-Crystal, try fluxbox or WindowMaker and tell us about response time. I assure you we can make it like a doll and it will be fast. Besides, you have a very decent processor ... Sample of my desktop with WindowMaker.
@vancho1: Your intentions are good, but how about setting up some computers on your own first before giving advice? The main problem in mvass configuration is his window-manager, and the ones you suggest are even heavier than xfce that he is currently using. I guess you should re-think your advice. Simply put, primarily it is not the case that he has to find the right distro; rather than the right window-manager (that is optimum in the sense of the ratio "response time" / "pleases his eyes")*. That's the tradeoff he has to make right now and that's where he should focus.
*: parenthesis = not so simple
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mvassilev
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
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posted March 04, 2009 02:36 AM |
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Hmm... Windowmaker doesn't really look "Windows-Like" enough for me.
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Eccentric Opinion
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dimis
Responsible
Supreme Hero
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posted March 04, 2009 02:40 AM |
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Edited by dimis at 02:40, 04 Mar 2009.
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Well, the more Windows-like it will be, the more difficult to observe differences w.r.t. Windows. What about Fluxbox, or fvwm-crystal, or even enlightenment then?
Check the links with pics I gave you here:
http://heroescommunity.com/viewthread.php3?TID=28931&pagenumber=2
You should definitely try most of these options for a few days. It will be a slow process, but in the meantime you 'll realize what really matters for your taste in a desktop environment and which things you are willing to sacrifice for perhaps some extra speedup.
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mvassilev
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
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posted March 04, 2009 02:46 AM |
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How would I go about replacing xfce with fvwm-crystal?
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Eccentric Opinion
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dimis
Responsible
Supreme Hero
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posted March 04, 2009 03:19 AM |
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Edited by dimis at 03:51, 04 Mar 2009.
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Quote:
How would I go about replacing xfce with fvwm-crystal?
Most of the things that you install in debian-like distributions are fairly easy with "synaptic".
At home I don't have linux (read unix: mac os), so my solution is "ad-hoc" right now.
Open a terminal* and give the command:
sudo synaptic &
(and press enter in the end of course).
Give the password for your root account.
Then click on search on top of the window and search for "fvwm-crystal" (without the " 's). Then click on the package to install it. If it has other dependencies (i.e. needs some extra packages that you don't have installed atm, just accept on installing these too, otherwise you 'll end up with a non-working environment ).
*: If you don't know how to open a terminal (also known as "console"), then most likely you can issue a command with the shortcut Alt+F2. In the window that appears type
xterm
and press enter. This way you have a terminal running. Now issue the command I wrote above:
sudo synaptic &
end of red star
Note that while searching you can select whether your search is performed on the "name" of the package, or the "description" of the package, or both. If you select "name" and search for "fvwm-crystal" then logically you'll get only 1 package, and this is the one you should install.
By selecting description or both you also get other packages in the results, since they refer to "fvwm-crystal" in their descriptions. Most likely, these are goodies/eye-candies that can improve your experience with the environment. Now that you know about synaptic, you can open it anytime you want and check if there is anything else you might want to install. Just type what you need and try "search"; you might be lucky. Of course, you can perform "guided-search" and look on your left the various "sections" in which the packages lie and browse those sections. You might find something that you want.
In order to understand what I am talking about though, you have to open synaptic first.
Here is a list with the dependencies of the package.
If you have some extra space install xscreensaver and give it a try. It has some very cool screensavers. I really like Juggle and Juggler3D.
Check out the other recommended applications on that page. rox-filer is a file manager worth looking at. If you can use konqueror with acceptable response time (I don't think so though), then konqueror all the way ... But konqueror depends on other packages for KDE and probably these are very "large" to perform installation with the amount of space you have. I am just suggesting it in case I am wrong on my "space"-estimation.
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mvassilev
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
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posted March 04, 2009 03:44 AM |
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And if I use FVWM-crystal, it should run faster, right?
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Eccentric Opinion
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dimis
Responsible
Supreme Hero
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posted March 04, 2009 03:47 AM |
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We hope so mvass.
All you need is a leap of faith!
You don't know unless you try. Since there are reports by others stating that it is good (I 've never tried fvwm-crystal to be honest), it definitely deserves your attention.
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mvassilev
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
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posted March 04, 2009 04:01 AM |
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I tried it, and here's what happened when it loaded:
E: dpkg was interrupted, you must manually run 'dpkg --configure -a' to correct the problem.
E: _cache->open() failed, please report.
Then I clicked "Close", and Synaptic Package Manager closed.
What do I do?
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Eccentric Opinion
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dimis
Responsible
Supreme Hero
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posted March 04, 2009 04:07 AM |
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Edited by dimis at 04:11, 04 Mar 2009.
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You are probably right on that, since ubuntu does not have a separate root account (hence you had to precede with sudo the command above). So, I suspect you should belong to a group that has administrative privileges, and therefore your password will work.
You can give it a try though and let me know. It's been a very long time since I used ubuntu.
You can check the groups to which you are a member on a terminal by issuing:
groups username
where username is your username (mvassilev?)
Probably you belong to a group named "adm" or "admin" or something like that.
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mvassilev
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
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posted March 04, 2009 04:14 AM |
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Never mind, I figured that out by myself. Check the post above your last one for my new problem.
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Eccentric Opinion
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dimis
Responsible
Supreme Hero
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posted March 04, 2009 04:17 AM |
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kuser
And by the way ...
The following is a MUST:
kuser
Manipulate all your user accounts and groups ALWAYS through that application.
I am also sure it doesn't depend on many other packages.
NEVER-EVER use the one that comes with gnome, coz soon enough you 'll end up trying to hack you computer to be able to login.
It (gnome version) has a bug when you delete accounts (possibly only on accounts with administrative privileges - can't remember anymore) and you end up not being able to log in as root.
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