New installment: which DM choose for laptops? [SOLVED]

franzrogar · n00b Joined: 29 Sep 2008 Posts: 10

Hello,

As I pointed here, I'm going to have (probably after tomorrow) a 64bits Core2 Duo T2390 w/ 2GB RAM and Intel X3100 256MB SMA.

I've always been a GNOME user (but KDE4 seems to be another DE to take care of in a near future), but in a laptop, I don't want wasting too much resources, so I started to look at alternative Desktops/DM for it. I have some doubts about which one to pick up: DR17 or XFCE. What I want is to use one of those and install GTK+ and Qt libs (not GNOME and KDE...) only. I know DR17 is under heavy development but I don't know what its current status is in a daily use (if it doesn't use to crash, if it freezes...) so I can't compare it against XFCE. Also, I don't know if any of those have known problems with x86-64...

So my questions can be listed in:
- Daily-basis: DR17 or XFCE
- Stability: DR17 or XFCE
- No blocking issues: DR17 or XFCE
- 64bits compatibility: DR17 or XFCE
- HD space needed: DR17 or XFCE

I'm going to use some 3D capabitilies with the desktop: i.e. Compiz or Metisse. But I'm not going to use great (CPU intensive) visual effects, only basic ones (cube, rotate, enhanced switcher, lens...). So which one do you think would be less agressive with a laptop: XFCE+Compiz or DR17 (buil-in 3D effects)?

So, I'd be grateful if someone could say/inform/point me to docs/etc. that could clarify my thoughts.

Any way, thanks in advance, and sorry for these headaches

EDIT: Sorry, I posted it on the wrong forum. Please, could any mod move it onto Desktops subforum? Sorry for problems.

notHerbert · Advocate Joined: 11 Mar 2008 Posts: 2228 Location: 45N 73W

Try them all. Keep the one(s) you like best. My favorite is Fvwm and I also like KDE/Openbox. Most people use KDE and Gnome. XFCE4 and Fluxbox are also very popular.

I think the most resource friendly window manager is aixwm.

Here are a bunch of desktop related docs: http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/index.xml?catid=desktop
And the wiki has a bunch of HOWTOs about WM/DEs: http://gentoo-wiki.com/Main_Page

Hu · Administrator Joined: 06 Mar 2007 Posts: 21711

It is unlikely that a version which fails on x86-64 would receive a stable amd64 keyword. It might not even get ~amd64, depending on its stability.

Similarly, if there are serious stability issues, I would expect there to be an upstream bug entry about it, and possibly Gentoo bug reports about it as well.

NathanZachary · Moderator Joined: 30 Jan 2007 Posts: 2605

Moved from Installing Gentoo to Desktop Environments as it is a desktop-related question, and per user request.
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franzrogar · n00b Joined: 29 Sep 2008 Posts: 10

yngwin · Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2008 11:04 am Post subject:

I would recommend XFce. But you'd best try them both/all and see which one you like best. You might also want to look at LXDE (currently in the lxde overlay, but I hope to get it into portage by the end of the week), which is an even lighter desktop environment, using GTK+.
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