LM XFCE (surprised by the speed)

[mikhou]

This is just a comment - nothing earth-shattering, but I was surprised by the speed of LM XFCE. For those who are on the fence about installing LM XFCE, let me say that I have only run it on a USB flash drive, and it is surprisingly fast on a USB flash drive. Now my primary OS is Debian Testing XFCE, and I don't see anything in LM XFCE that is going to cause me to switch to it and away from Debian Testing XFCE, but it's a nice little setup. As Debian XFCE is my primary OS, I'm not surprised by the speed of Debian or of XFCE, but after reading so many complaints about software selection, etc in the LM XFCE setup, I was very surprised by how snappy it is on a USB stick!

I do have a dual boot of Debian XFCE with LMDE Gnome, and I'll probably wipe LMDE Gnome and install LM XFCE in its place. And I'll replace a lot of apps that are included in the original LM XFCE install, but all in all as it comes, it's a nice OS.

So...if you're on the fence about trying it, you might give it a go - especially if you're currently using LM 10, LMDE, or LM9 XFCE. I think that LM XFCE as a whole is a better setup than any of those three (granted, I'm a fan of Debian XFCE so it would make sense that I like it).

Let me say one other thing. I saw a thread on the forums about the fact that if Gnome doesn't go the way that LM developers want, could KDE possibly become the default desktop. I would greatly disagree with this. My vote would go to XFCE because in my opinion it is light enough to be easy on resources, but not so stripped down that it requires a Linux expert to setup. (Just wanted to throw in my $.02 on that!)

mikhou

[lmintnewb]

Might sound like a stupid question ... but LM XFCE is a version of Mint specifically made to work with xfce ? Entirely different than Mint 10.04 with xfce installed as default desktop ? Thanks ...

[mikhou]

Let me clarify. When I say LM XFCE, I mean the new Debian-based version of Mint using the XFCE DE. Mint 10 still has an Ubuntu base and its base DE is Gnome. When you add an XFCE DE on top of that, you're not going to see the true performance of XFCE as it was intended to be. To be specific, the differences would be that LM XFCE:

-has a Debian base, not an Ubuntu base and
-is built specifically to use the XFCE DE.

Hope that explains it. (Even when I wrote my first post, I re-read it and thought, "There are far too many abbreviations in that post!"

mikhou

[lmintnewb]

Thanks mikhou, you totally cleared it up for me. lol ... slapped myself in the forehead when I realized by DE you were meaning = desktop environment.

You have me intrigued for sure. Think xfce is my new permanent desktop ( though have 3 atm ... gnome, fluxbox and xfce.) Been wanting to try the LMDE anyway. For whatever reason just find myself neg biased towards ubuntu and switching to something Debian based appeals. Mint + debian + designed for xfce ? .... Sounds great !

Only thing I'm still unsure of is what will be avail in the repo's for these Debian releases. Might not like them overmuch. But ubuntu has so much momentum behind it. Thinking the rate of development for it must be much higher than these Debian based Mint releases.

Am I right in thinking that ... or way off ? Guess I should just stop being a sissy and install it on a partition, lol. Sighs ... have Mint 10.04 running so nicely. Has me worried about screwing things up. Was also thinking LMDE +installing xfce as default desktop on it.

Thank you ...

[rivenathos]

Only thing I'm still unsure of is what will be avail in the repo's for these Debian releases.

The Debian-based releases are pulling packages from Debian repositories. This is where Ubuntu pulls their packages from, so Mint is cutting out the middleman.

[casey972oo]

Hi there ! ...

would like to say something .. in this discussion ! ...
I think ... ' Ubuntu ' ... is just for some users who want to install easy and run the program ... without any problem ! ...
otherside ... ' Debian ' ... is more for those user .. who know how to handle ' Terminal-input ' ... with ' shell-commands ' and so on ! ...

at least ... they both are LINUX ! ... using the ' LINUX-kernel ' ... what is developed by ' Ubuntu ' ! ...

I tried already to install the new version from ' Debian ' ... 6.o.1a (Squeeze) ! ...
of course I prefer a ' stable ' version ! ... that's why I quit with ' Windows ' ... with all those ' update ' all the time .. and any moment ! ...

anyway ! ... I'm also " surprised by the speed " of .. ' LINUX Mint Xfce ' ! ...

casey972oo

.

[Beardedragon]

I tried already to install the new version from ' Debian ' ... 6.o.1a (Squeeze) ! ...
of course I prefer a ' stable ' version ! ... that's why I quit with ' Windows ' ... with all those ' update ' all the time .. and any moment ! ...
casey972oo

.

For a "Stable" Xfce in Squeeze, try Saline OS
http://www.salineos.com/

[casey972oo]

I tried already to install the new version from ' Debian ' ... 6.o.1a (Squeeze) ! ...
of course I prefer a ' stable ' version ! ... that's why I quit with ' Windows ' ... with all those ' update ' all the time .. and any moment ! ...
casey972oo

.

For a "Stable" Xfce in Squeeze, try Saline OS
http://www.salineos.com/

.
Yes ! ... thanks for this info ... didn't know nothing about ' Saline OS ' ... I'm intressted ! ... will give it a try ! ...

casey972oo

.

[apsrn]

I must say that I am impressed by Mint 9 XFCE. It has been fast, reliable and fairly easy to learn. I love that it takes only 50 to 52 seconds from pressing the power button to get to a fully-functional desktop. I am in awe of the developers of Linux.

That said, Mint XFCE Debian really catches my eye. I like the look a bit more than LM9 XFCE.
My only concern is that Linux Mint Debian (LMDE) ran surprisingly slow on my system--far slower than LM9 XFCE, even though RAM usage was comparable. Might have been a fluke, not sure.

[nunol]

To apsrn:

Give Mint XFCE a try, install side by side with your current Mint 9 XFCE and give it a spin.

[aljoriz]

I must say that I am impressed by Mint 9 XFCE. It has been fast, reliable and fairly easy to learn. I love that it takes only 50 to 52 seconds from pressing the power button to get to a fully-functional desktop. I am in awe of the developers of Linux..

I agree to this. LXDE (mint xfce debian) is slower on my system too thus I had to go back to mint9 xfce.

Debian has its draw backs too its not very stable (Kernel updates may end up borking your system).

[aljoriz]

I must say that I am impressed by Mint 9 XFCE. It has been fast, reliable and fairly easy to learn. I love that it takes only 50 to 52 seconds from pressing the power button to get to a fully-functional desktop. I am in awe of the developers of Linux..

I agree to this. LXDE (mint xfce debian) is slower on my system too thus I had to go back to mint9 xfce.

Debian has its draw backs too its not very stable (Kernel updates may end up borking your system).

Just a word of caution if you will downgrade from mint 9 xfce to xfce debian, do not use the default partition settings. There's a reserved 100mb for the grub loader as set by debian, if you use the default you will not be able to remove it (100mb) anymore.

[aljoriz]

I think one of the reason why LMDX is booting slow (when compared to mint 9xfce) is due to grub loader. LMDX boots as fast as CrunchBang.

[ibm450]

I think one of the reason why LMDX is booting slow (when compared to mint 9xfce) is due to grub loader. LMDX boots as fast as CrunchBang.

i wasn't at all impressed with the speed of the mint deb OS (lxde, xfce, lmde) and the general load-up times of any of the deb distros of mint.

the VERY strange thing i found is that all the deb mint distros run So much faster from livecd / live unetbooting of the hard-drive opposed to full install. i know ive commented about this in a earlier post, but it seems that afew more people are seeing and experiencing, well, should i say, average performance speeds of the deb distros?

and to be honest, the resource difference between the ubuntu and debian based mint os's are far and between, hardly any difference between the two, perhaps maybe 150mb between the 2 on my laptop?

[aljoriz]

The live usb of LMDX is indeed super fast.

I'm just pointing an observation that Mint based on ubuntu uses a splash screen so it would 'hide' the grub. I noticed in LMDX the grub would allow users to select the kernels in 4secs otherwise it will use the default kernels. If there was some way to hide the grub and let it use the latest kernel w/o waiting to the user's input it might improve the boot-up speed.

but all of these are just conjecture on my part as I am not a expert linux user.

[casey972oo]

I think one of the reason why LMDX is booting slow (when compared to mint 9xfce) is due to grub loader. LMDX boots as fast as CrunchBang.

i wasn't at all impressed with the speed of the mint deb OS (lxde, xfce, lmde) and the general load-up times of any of the deb distros of mint.

the VERY strange thing i found is that all the deb mint distros run So much faster from livecd / live unetbooting of the hard-drive opposed to full install. i know ive commented about this in a earlier post, but it seems that afew more people are seeing and experiencing, well, should i say, average performance speeds of the deb distros?

and to be honest, the resource difference between the ubuntu and debian based mint os's are far and between, hardly any difference between the two, perhaps maybe 150mb between the 2 on my laptop?

.
Hi there ! ... will say something to this theme ! ...

my expierience is ! ... the more ' data ' you put into a system ... the more slow the system will startup ! ...
especialy those ' HD-Videos ' ... will take a lot of speed out of the ' bootup ! ... and slow down the hole system ! ...

when I clean up my system ... and take out those ' files & folders ' unnessecairy ! ... this speed up a lot ! ...
and the ' bootup ' is comming more easy ... much more faster ! ...

sometimes I have plenty of ' movies ' ... ' HD-Videos ' ... ' Slide-Shows ' ... and ' Music-stuff ' ... in my system ...
and the hard-disk is filled up plenty ! ... this means ... the system is slowed down a lot ! ...

I mean ! ... the speed of a system ... depends on the usage of ' disk-space ' ! ...
that's why some ' distros ' boot much faster from CD/DvD ... or USB-Stick ! ... when there is plenty space ... for to ' dance ' ! ...

cassey972oo

.

[Beardedragon]

The live usb of LMDX is indeed super fast.

I'm just pointing an observation that Mint based on ubuntu uses a splash screen so it would 'hide' the grub. I noticed in LMDX the grub would allow users to select the kernels in 4secs otherwise it will use the default kernels. If there was some way to hide the grub and let it use the latest kernel w/o waiting to the user's input it might improve the boot-up speed.

but all of these are just conjecture on my part as I am not a expert linux user.

If the LMDE Xfce is the only system, you can improve time by autologgin. There may be a way just to hide Grub, but, if you have more than one system then how would you loggin to the other systems?

[DrHu]

One thing I never found that appealing about xfce was the desk-bar in the bottom middle of the screen, and I believe you can get it further MAC like by having the expanding icons appear when mousing over the selections

Admittedly that is just an appearance thingy, but since I already used LXDE as the desktop, I might not switch hit on this one

Although that is one of the desktop environments I had considered using, as well as Rox desktop/Rox filer..
--different way of looking a the the system, probably due to the Applications directory, and the option of zeroinstall (internet based installations)

http://www.xfce.org/
http://lxde.org/
http://roscidus.com/desktop/
http://0install.net/

• http://www.linux.com/archive/feature/114230

[Beardedragon]

One thing I never found that appealing about xfce was the desk-bar in the bottom middle of the screen, and I believe you can get it further MAC like by having the expanding icons appear when mousing over the selections

Admittedly that is just an appearance thingy, but since I already used LXDE as the desktop, I might not switch hit on this one

Although that is one of the desktop environments I had considered using, as well as Rox desktop/Rox filer..
--different way of looking a the the system, probably due to the Applications directory, and the option of zeroinstall (internet based installations)

http://www.xfce.org/
http://lxde.org/
http://roscidus.com/desktop/
http://0install.net/

• http://www.linux.com/archive/feature/114230

A dock, or using a second Panel is a personal thing, similar to different menu configurations. A right click on the desktop can get you the same thing or a click on the Menu Icon. This is not specifically Xfce, any desktop can be so configured. There are many file managers, Thunar is just one that works well with X. Nautilus becomes part of Gnome etc. Everyone should have the opportunity to try each one on their computer to see what works. Up until 3.6 I loved KDE, now it's Xfce for me.

[nunol]

If the LMDE Xfce is the only system, you can improve time by autologgin. There may be a way just to hide Grub, but, if you have more than one system then how would you loggin to the other systems?

You set grub menu for zero (or 1) seconds and press Shift for the menu in Grub2.