On 06/02/07, Jeff Waugh <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
<quote who="Amos Shapira"> > On 06/02/07, Dean Hamstead <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > you could try ebuntu (enlightenment w/ ubuntu), enlightenment is > > much less bloated than gnome and friends > > How does it compare to Xfce (xubuntu)? > > As for Jeff's comments - I only need this while configuring that laptop, > once it's setup it will boot with NFS root from my desktop. When you say "configuring", do you mean "installing"? If that's the case, just use the 'server' or 'alternative' install CDs. Then you won't have to run any of the desktop environments to do the installation.
Well, maybe I wasn't clear about my intentions because I tried to avoid tiring you with details, so here is the deal: We have this Toshiba Satellite 4030CDT ( http://linux.toshiba-dme.co.jp/linux/eng/spec.php3?model=PAS403U) which runs Windows 98 and which behaves worse and worse every day. My wife won't let me install Linux alone on it and it doesn't have enough disk to keep both Windows and Linux. So what I did is to install an NFS root environment (actually already created something basic with debootstrap) on my Debian Etch desktop, put the right kernel image and initrd on the windows disk and create a loadlin batch file which will start linux from inside windows and use the nfs root. I'm struggling with building the kernel and initrd image properly (e.g. missed the right ethernet driver) and having Ubuntu's excellent auto-configuration around is a great help in finding out what's wrong. But the GNOME environment is too heavy on the poor fellow (it's even getting too heavy on my desktop machine, which is also not so new, though not as old as the laptop) so I'm looking for something lighter which will still give me a convenient environment to poke around the laptop. Once the kernel boots from the NFS root successfully I'll have to decide whether I want it to ovver login to the other machine via XDMCP or locally to the laptop (I'm leaning towards the former). BTW - Dean's pointer to elbuntu made me dig around and find fluxbuntu and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Linux_LiveDistros but almost all the light distros seem to be in development stage so I'd try to stick to something which was already released. What you use day to day is really a question of comfort and requirements. If
you want slim, use a very basic window manager on its own. If you need a few of life's pleasures, use a 'desktop shell', such as Enlightenment. If you need all the mod cons and comfort of a complete desktop environment, use GNOME or KDE.
There is also the consideration of convincing my wife that just because I type a lot in terminal windows that doesn't mean she can't have her GUI-based interfaces. Debian makes it easy to just pick and install any alternative on the "server" and let her try, once I get that kernel an X server running on her laptop. BTW - I just had an idea this morning - would it work to just copy the kernel/initrd image from the Ubuntu live CD to the hard disk and run it from loadlin with "root=/dev/nfs" and all that jazz? Cheers, --Amos -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
