This morning I’ve upgraded to KDE 3.3 beta 1 (“Klassroom”). It looks surprisingly stable and even faster than 3.2 (which in itself was a huge improvement).
Right now I’m downloading Beta 2, and I am looking forward to that.
Thoughts on theology, aesthetics, philosophy and technology.
Hi Eduardo,
Nice messaging deal.
Thanks for the prayer update on Pastor S.
Claude
Your welcome, my dear brother. Come often !
You know, I really like KDE, but I just can’t appreciate the resource overhead. Speed is nice, but it seems like every new incarnation takes more RAM, etc. I plan to keep a close eye on it because I’m trying to sell it in this business I’m trying to start. However, I mostly stay with IceWM and use a few Gnome apps because they don’t load so much extra stuff when I start them in Ice. I’m really watching the new GoneME project, and have volunteered to help with documentation. A corrected Gnome2 would be the best thing I could hope for.
I can certainly understand your reservations about KDE’s resource usage. However, can say that KDE 3.2 not only got faster, but also leaner. Memory usage seems to be way lower. You’d do well in having a test setup overthere (especially if it is Slackware, which makes it even leaner and faster).
IceWM is an excellent window manager. In fact, that was what I used when I hadn’t had the patience to load KDE 2.2.2 back in the days when my laptop had 64 MB of RAM. As for the apps, I would recommend using gtk+ 1.2 only apps; they are the fastest and leanest ones.
Have you tried XFCe ? That’s also very lean.
Of course I’ve used XFce, but I really must have a tool bar that’s not so fat, yet allows me to track multiple windows. However, their sound/gui events require no tweaking to work (unlike IceWM). I have not tried the 4.x series because I got some dismissive replies when asking where sound was. As for Gtk 1.2, it’s not an option unless I compile everything myself. SuSE did not offer much of Gnome1 with their 8.2 release. And no, I will not consider changing distros, since SUSE is what I’m trying to sell in my business. I currently have 3.2.3, and it takes every bit as much RAM as 3.1.4 did, and is not noticeably faster, just nicer.
Ed, version 4.x of XFCe lets you have, IIRC, a toolbar with a configurable size. As for the RAM usage in 3.2.3, now I understand. You’re all right in not trying to switch distros, but believe me, SUSE and Red Hat/Fedora are two of the most expensive resource hogs around. Even Mandrake is leaner 🙂
Mandrake leaner? I guess it depends on the machine. On this one, there was no difference. I tried 9.2, which came out just after SuSE 8.2, IIRC. Indeed, someone did a narrow benchmark with identical machines, and SuSE 8.2 was then one of the current test distros, and it was one of the lightest, over Gentoo and Slack. No, it was not broad enough to be conclusive, and I don’t have a link, but I remember it clearly (something on PCLinuxOnline?). XFce 3 had sizes, too — all too large. And I don’t care what XFce 4 does, I’ll never use any wm without sound events. Given their discourteous response (I just don’t believe I asked rudely), I doubt I’ll ever have any use for it. 🙂 My whole point is that circumstances can affect the resulting product, and besides nobody is coding anything with an eye to machines as old as mine. I cannot sell Slack, Gentoo, Debian, etc. to a clueless businessman. They will demand slick and quick installing, and that’s what SuSE, et al, are marketed toward. I can do SuSE in my sleep; I can’t do Debian or Slack when awake. FreeBSD was even easier. I’ve tried them, so I know what I’m talking about — that is, I know what Ed can do, and what Ed can sell. Keep writing good articles about your favorites, and I will, too.