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You are currently reading a thread in /g/ - Technology
What's the lightest DE I can use on Ubuntu?
I'm currently running Ubuntu mate, and I'm pretty satisfied with performance, but I was wondering if I could maybe squeeze a little more out of my machine.
Specs are:
>Intel D2500 processor
>HD5450 512mb GPU
>4GB RAM
>150GB HDD
I use this machine for browsing the web and listening to music.
Also what are some lightweight programs that will use less resources? Currently my browser is Midori, and my media player is VLC.
Pic semi related, any advice is highly appreciated.
>>54733698
LXDE
your fine
LXQt or Enlightenment is really snappy on my 2008 celeron
>>54733714
How much lighter is it?
Anything lighter? I just need the de to be able to load up my programs and basic multi tasking. I use 2 monitors.
>>54733801
I am, but it can be better.
Why not go for better?
>>54733837
Enlightenment was honestly the best in terms of performance, but it wasn't easy getting used to.
I might give it another chance though. My main issue was themes not working.
>>54733847
>>54733837
So far I've tried gnome, mate, enlightenment, and xfce.
Mate was the easiest to use, enlightenment was the best performing.
Should I just go back to enlightenment?
>>54733838
lxde is pretty much the lightest de there is if you don't want to configure stuff like openbox/i3/etc
xfce is close to it though and i find it more usable
>>54733856
yup, or i3 which is super easily configurable (you can restart it on spot for changes to take effect) and will recover shitload of screen estate
>>54733863
I'll install both tomorrow, it's currently on Ubuntu mate 15.10, I'll be upgrading to 16.04 lts in the morning.
Is there any super debloated version or should I just install Ubuntu mate, and install enlightenment and i3 on top of that?
>>54733858
Might try installing lubuntu instead so I can try lxde too actually.
I just use fluxbox with some lightweight helper programs. Nothing faster.
>>54733908
the good with bantoo is that it allows you to choose the desktop environment, so don't hesitate to install em all then remove after you make your choice. What I did was grab the server / netinstall version of Ubuntu and install xorg and i3 on top of a clean base lean installation, the whole system without browser takes about half a gig. Also don't get lubuntu, you can install LXDE after installing any ubuntu version you want. if you install i3 with dmenu you can bring up a box and write "fi" and get firefox etc, super fast application launching. either way your choices are
- i3 (super lean, no application menu, just a box to type letters of app then autosuggest and enter)
- lxqt / lxde (light, stripped down version of xfce)
- gnome mate (the legend that is gnome 2, bloated but very gud)
- enlightenment (this thing is the best)
>>54733951
So I can start with Ubuntu server and install whatever I want on top?
Will I need to know anything more than sudo apt-get *****?
>>54733951
Also my Ubuntu mate uses roughly 320MB on boot, so 500MB, while not bloated, isn't too impressive imo.
Ram usage isn't everything though. When I was comparing enlightenment to mate, on Fedora though, not Ubuntu, enlightenment ran smoother but also used ~50MB more ram.
>>54733976
startx, aptitude, man, sudo and nano should be enough.
and yes, you can.
>>54733985
I meant disk usage, ubuntu skeleton + xorg with dwm / i3 did 500mb on my computer :)
>>54733989
Fucking sweet.
Already know nano thanks to first year cs, cli isn't too complicated though. I really appreciate the help anon.
>>54734000
Ohhh, yeah that makes more sense. I'll have to install with cli? No installer?
>>54733698
Just install #!++ already
>>54734012
Crunchbang is dead and I'm tired of distro hopping. I decided to stick with Ubuntu.
Thanks for the suggestion though :)
>>54734010
there's a very nice ncurses based installer that takes you through setting up a network device, adding user accounts, partitioning, selecting what you want to install (base system, servers, desktop environments, console utils like ncat timezone), it's great desu
>>54734035
lol'd, but it's more than, there's a nice theme and utils
>>54734040
it also is pretty much exactly the same as the debian netinstaller for some reason.
>>54734048
that you can install on debian with a few commands as well.
>>54734049
:^)
>>54734061
or you can just download the crunchbang iso to save yourself a few keystrokes
>>54734032
Is crunchbang plus plus dead as well? :(
>>54734099
https://www.bunsenlabs.org/
this is the official continuation.
Lubuntu with chromium, or seamonkey if you don't have much ram.
Remove/disable services you don't need ie bluetooth, update manager etc
>>54733698
Lightest you can go is just a WM like i3 or cwm. As far as full DE's go, probably lxde/xfce. You can tweak the fuck out of your system to use less resources despite the DE- see LinuxBBQ.
>>54733951
you can get dmenu (or i3bar?) on any DE/WM though
Windowmaker/GNUStep
Less than 100mb idle on 14.04
Kinda like a hybrid of a DE and a WM.
As far as programs go, anything in the terminal will be lighter.
>>54733858
>xfce is close
no it isn't
it's about exactly as lightweight as MATE, there will not be any noticeable difference
LXDE is the only lighter DE
http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.com/2014/11/ubuntu-1410-vs-kubuntu-1410-vs-xubuntu.html
>>54734400
OP here. Xfce actually ran worse for me.
Higher cpu usage than mate or enlightenment.
>>54734470
I use LXDE as my main DE so my opinion may be biased but I think it's great. Just get rid of the godawful default panel, install some new icons and it's quite pretty, even without wasting your resources on docks and other useless shit
here's how it looks on my main monitor, may not be a 11/10 eyecandy but it's fast (can't really give you CPU usage etc because I'm at work)
http://i.4cdn.org/g/1464123840604.png
>>54734534
Eh it looks alright.
Pretty decent for something that's supposed to be lightweight
>>54734534
>lightweight
>2 huge transparent bars
yeah
no
>>54734959
>implying it changes anything
shit nigger, you can turn transparency off if you want to but still it doesn't make a noticeable difference been there done that
>>54734959
>>54735272
it's still faster than xubuntu and ubuntu mate
also, turning off the animations is a protip
>>54734959
>Some programs (like LXTerminal), do come with "fake" transparency option. They will read the desktop background image and merge it with the program windows, but this works only for the background, fake transparency will not show the content of a window underneath.
it looks shit when used on windows but is quite nice on panels
>>54733698
probably CDE
there's little point in asking for the "lightest", because chances are the lightest will be far too light
>>54735993
Reminds me of w95 for some reason
Windows 10. It will work easily with 4GB ram. Everything else is secondary.
>>54733698
I would stick with mate. Once you start using the shit these fa/g/s are suggesting, you'll lose basic functionality of your computer. Forget doing anything useful with it.
>>54733698
Stick with mate. You're not going to get more performance by switching to a lighter desktop environment. You'll just use less ram
>>54736143
Stay on MATE. If I still used Linux, it would be my DE of choice. It's sick as fuck, and i'm glad to see it getting recommended here finally.
>>54733698
twm+file manager of your choice+command line login
TWM comes with your Xorg installation and was made to run on 90's potatoes. You can't get much lighter than that.
For file manager, use whatever you like because it shouldn't have much by way of resource intensity.
CLI login because again, already provided with the computer. Can't get much lighter.
>>54734087
>using the smiley with a carat nose
>>54736071
>1.5/4 used
>nicely
yeah
no
