[geeks] UNIX-like OS for a laptop

[Charles Shannon Hendrix]

On Mon, 09 Jul 2007 13:26:54 -0400
Sridhar Ayengar <ploopster at gmail.com> wrote:

> Charles Shannon Hendrix wrote:
> >>> If you use desktop applications, they work better on a DE.
> >> Define "desktop applications".
> > 
> > Pretty much 99% of what is out there, which for the last few years has
> > gained more and more dependencies on the foundations of KDE and Gnome.
> 
> Again, define what you mean.  I have no idea what you're talking about. 
>   I use OO, SeaMonkey (sometimes with hundreds of pages open), xpdf, 
> GIMP and a whole bunch of smaller stuff, and I play a bunch of games, 

In other words, you run about 1% of what most people consider desktop
applications.  Also, you mention only one application, OO, that integrates
with and benefits from a DE.

I run things like that on UNIX X/WM setups too.

That's not what I'm talking about.

For the rest of the typical desktop app stuff I do on UNIX today:

I have run those with and without a DE.

They run far better with a DE in my experience.

There are several factors to consider:

A lot of the applications are designed to degrade gracefully when not running
on a full DE.  That means that yes, they will run, but in degraded mode.
Widgets don't look or work as well, and neither do fonts.  You also lose any
features dependent on the DE, the number of which is increasing steadily.

Other applications absolutely require the DE or they just don't work
properly.  Some won't even start.

Most of the KDE apps depend on about 50% of the KDE DE for base
functionality, so running them means installing most of KDE.

The dependencies on newer applications are very heavy, and they generally
suck or a PITA to use if you don't have all of them.

I used to create minimal installs, but 2-3 years ago the time and pain
required to do this correctly and how I wanted it started to increase
rapidly, and I just gave up.

If you run something like Ubuntu, you can't really avoid installing the
dependencies, as the applications will not run without them.

You can install and run just your WM, but the applications will automatically
fire up the DE foundations in the background whether you want them or not.









-- 
shannon           | An Irishman is never drunk as long as he can hold onto 
                  | one blade of grass and not fall off the face of the earth.