Mint XFCE and RAM/CPU question

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alun_sundry

Mint XFCE and RAM/CPU question

Post by alun_sundry »

In my two months of using Linux I've never properly understood how XFCE is 'lighter'. I understand it uses less RAM, but is it better for older, slower CPUs too or not so much to do with the processor? The Gnome version of Mint 6 works more smoothly on my 1.3 ghz pc than Xubuntu 8.10 (even though I have the minimum RAM or less), but maybe that is testament to the Mint team's tweaks.

Not urgent, because I'll wait till the final version's available before I try it, but my curiosity's up because of the nice remarks made here.
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Husse

Re: Mint XFCE and RAM/CPU question

Post by Husse »

It is slightly lighter, but our XFCE edition is not focused on lowering the resource use, rather on a different experience
You need a bit of RAM to run the live CD but my guess is that it runs OK on around 370 MB and possibly lower
If you want to use Mint on a low grade computer the upcoming Fluxbox will be fine - you can run the installed version on 128 MB I believe (not the live CD again - needs a bit more)
Arron

Re: Mint XFCE and RAM/CPU question

Post by Arron »

I love both xfce and gnome versions. I find on a older p3 1ghz, that I use to watch media on my tv, xfce runs a LOT smoother than gnome. On a new ubber light speed fast pc, gnome or xfce will still flash at the speed of light. My main pc is a laptop AMD 3500 with 2 g of ram. Not a new dual core or something, but not to ancient. Gnome runs very well, but I find when I run XFCE it does not get as warm, battery lasts about 20-30 mins longer, and when I run games they run a much smoother.

Now doing the same thing on a quad core, and no difference would be seen for much. Then it comes down to preference, and I still have a hard time deciding between the 2 desktops, both are so nice.

So go with what one you like :-)
.ee
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Re: Mint XFCE and RAM/CPU question

Post by .ee »

My fresh installed XFCE Felicia takes 340 MB RAM (with Firefox and emacs open). It runs also on sligtly less CPU usage than the Gnome version (but I have not installed yet preload and few other tools I usually add to my Mint installation).
oliverjames
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Re: Mint XFCE and RAM/CPU question

Post by oliverjames »

I've installed Elyssa XFCE on both an IBM T22 thinkpad and an old Compaq tower, both have 256Mb RAM. It runs well on both machines.

I'll give Fluxbox a try though. sounds interesting.

Oliverjames
Deevad

Re: Mint XFCE and RAM/CPU question

Post by Deevad »

Here I run it on a 1,4 Ghz pentium 4 with 740mo Ram, and it's very usable ( strangely speed for this kind of hardware, Thunar is impressive ). I choose the XFce cause I believe it's faster than the gnome version for this kind of hardware.
I'm interested too to know if their is a really big difference , or if it's just very little.
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