Linux Bloat
Images are sometimes not shown due to bandwidth/network limitations. Refreshing the page usually helps.
You are currently reading a thread in /g/ - Technology
You are currently reading a thread in /g/ - Technology
Can someone explain to me precisely, what people mean under the term bloated when talking about various distros and DE's?
Say, person X is talking about KDE and suddenly person Y is like "hurr KDE is bloated as fuck, I'd never use that" etc. Same with literally any other distro. Ubuntu? bloated. Mint? Also bloated. Like what the fuck?
I mean, if you have like a quad core processor with 8 gigs of ram, do any distros really put a strain on your computer? I just don't understand.
>>52386047
features you don't need but can't get rid of is considered bloat.
KDE only seem bloated because they want to unify everything and thus use the same libraries.
This means installing a single KDE application means you get a lot of dependencies you didn't think you wanted.
>>52386111
ah, now I understand, thanks. What about distros though? What are the least bloated ones? And is it worth using them?
I don't get OP's pic related. Can someone explain it?
>>52386365
afaik some long-ass time ago /b/ staged a raid on YouTube where they uploaded a shit-ton of porn at once (or it was upload+make private and then at one-two-three mark everyone made it public). one of the comments on one of the porn vidoes was "I'm 12 years old and what is this". The comment since became a meme and OP's pic is but another mutation of the meme.
>>52386342
a distro would be considered bloated if it installs a lot of software for you (which you might not use).
It is a weird thing to worry about.
But I can see if the systems starts with 5000 packages, finding which one is causing a problem can be hard.
But installing a "beginner friendly" distro will give you a lot of software. This is because "new users" might not go out and look for new software and thus providing defaults is a good thing.
It bleeds into the whole DE vs WM argument.
There A DE is usually a WM + a way to set desktop background + a panel to easily log into a wifi network + a file manager + a konsole + hotkey daemon.
If you install all of those with a single command, you have what is referred to as a DE.
If you install all those separately, make hacks to make them work together, you can claim you only use a WM.
(at least according to desktop threads)
>>52386412
Sounds a little recited, but correct. I've been stuck on this godforsaken website for 7 years now. It's a badge of honor. A badge of shame.
>>52386684
me too. I just can't leave.
>>52386111
This is out of date as of KDE 5.X stuff; instead of being a monolithic suite it's now broken down into modular parts. Stop posting outdated nonsense.
In terms of "unifying everything", KDE/Plasma is just like any desktop environment like Gnome and Unity.
Now, compared to XFCE and other "lightweight" environments, everything seems bloated. This doesn't mean lightweight is good or even more optimised, just that these environments give you the bare minimum functionality you need. Some people prefer starting with less and adding what they need, some people prefer fully featured environments and either disabling/ignoring the extras.
Distributions are kinda similar. Some will start you with less thinking you'll add what you want, some will shotgun-shell features, etc. Others will include/avoid things based on philosophy - such as proprietary stuff.
People will always say something is bloated. I had a friend who refused to use a desktop wallpaper because it used "so much RAM". People called GUIs bloated. People called ASCII terminal UIs bloated at one point. But the fact is, computers are at the point where it doesn't matter. Do what works for you.
>>52386684
uh, source?
>>52386579
>>52387059
OP here, really appreciate your input, thank you. I only recently switched to linux hence my curiosity about this topic.
>>52386890
pic highly related. We'll never be free. But there are worse places we could be. like...9gag or facebook. Fuck. I'd rather spend here an eternity.
>>52387197
some you laugh you lose thread on /b/ ~5 years ago.
>Earth is billions of years old
Lol no it isn't.
>>52386047
> I mean, if you have like a quad core processor with 8 gigs of ram, do any distros really put a strain on your computer?
They probably don't, but the typical user probably isn't working on a powerful desktop.
To more generally answer your question, "bloat" is a fairly vague buzzword that can mean any number of things. Chances are the person using the term has a legitimate concern but can't (or won't) articulate it more clearly.
>>52386047
>6,000 years old
ftfy
>>52386047
Bloat isn't about system load, it's about useless complexity. Personally, all DEs are bloat to me because I don't use any of their features. A simple window manager suffices for my purposes. I'm not saying that DEs don't fill a niche, I'm sure that plebs trying to recreate that Windows experience without actually using Windows love them.
>>52389027
>MUH SIX TRILLION
>>52387320
You shouldn't be here, child.
bloat is relevant when you need to work or change something on an old PC, outside of that it's a buzzword for autisimos to flaut their faux internet linux street cred. The only other reason to care about this is if you're poor.
Windows is a million times more "bloated" than even the most heavy linux distro but as always autists spend too much time focusing on those slightly less "wrong" then them instead of going after the targets going completely in the wrong direction
>>52389609
You don't have to manually configure Windows. I'd rather not dig through thousands of irrelevant bloat settings to find what I'm looking for.
>>52387059
When you boot up your DE, and 10gb of your ram is taken, thats bloat( gnome,kde,anythingthatisntawm)
>>52390820
Cold boot gnome is ~500-700mb . How is it a lot?
Bloated is getting shit you don't want or need. It's bad because it means you have more shit eating performance and disk space, more shit to maintain etcetera.
Bloat can also be an application doing something outside it's scope, like an image viewer with Web browser capabilities
>>52391121
Truth! Firefox uses more resources than my DE (Gnome). KDE,the last I checked, uses only a hair more.
>>52386342
CrunchBang++
>>52386047
>4.5 billion years
stupid fucking libtard its only 10000 years
>>52386047
it's like the term 'botnet'. It has no meaning on /g/ and can safely be ignored
>>52386047
>4.5 billion years old
>we're only in the year 2016
this stupid fuck shouldn't reproduce
cold boot mint with mate ~350mb. how is that bloat?
