fresh gutsy kde, then load different desktop?

[RJ Hythloday]

I'm doing a build for a friend('s kid) on an old 900mhz 128mb ram. I downloaded the .torrent of edubuntu gutsy last night but it had major problems and others have experienced the same on the ubuntu forums.

So my question is if I install from my known good kubuntu live dvd and then installed the edu desktop would that get rid of the bloat of kde?

I'm also wondering about starting w/ xubuntu then edu but I'm already familiar w/ the kubuntu.

Ideas, thoughts?

tia

Bob

[toad]

Re: fresh gutsy kde, then load different desktop?

afaik xubuntu works a treat - you could also try fluxbuntu

[Snowhog]

Re: fresh gutsy kde, then load different desktop?

Installing the edubuntu-desktop (or any other desktop) will allow you at loggin, to select which installed desktop session to run. You just need to be aware, that if, when installing a *-desktop package, you are asked if you want it to be the default, to answer no.

[Teunis]

Re: fresh gutsy kde, then load different desktop?

You are probably best off to first make a 'server' install without a desktop.
Once it's running you can -try- to install a very lightweight desktop, 128MB is very little memory.
Getting some more ram on eBay or so is probably advisable.

By the way, these days Gnome has a bigger memory footprint than KDE, not that it matters because neither can run on your hardware.

[RJ Hythloday]

Re: fresh gutsy kde, then load different desktop?

Thanks for the tip about flux, I've heard that xubuntu is not as light weight as it used to be.

[Fintan]

Re: fresh gutsy kde, then load different desktop?

128MB is very little memory.
Getting some more ram on eBay or so is probably advisable.

I concur. 500MB would be a minimum for a halfway stable system.

[toad]

Re: fresh gutsy kde, then load different desktop?

As most people are saying 128MB is not enough for either Gnome or KDE. The alternate Kubuntu CD claims to be able to run with less than 192MB but it ain't pretty.

I just had a look at Edubuntu and it is Gnome based but its main educational aspect is the KDE Edutainment suite!? Sounds like a roundabout, half cooked way of doing things...

The same can of course be achieved with fluxbuntu (again, I have never tried it) in that you simply add the Edutainment suite afterwards and pray that your 128MB are enough - while you are busy following Tunis' advice and hunt down some more RAM on ebay

EDITED: Just installed fluxbuntu to have a look. gruesome fluxbox experience not to be compared to the wonderful job the DamnSmallLinux people have done - if you could transfer their config file to fluxbuntu you'd be alright. This is especially important for external drives like CDs or USB sticks. But I found another big minus in their xdm which does not allow you to do anything but boot into fluxbox, no reboot, no shutting down, no nothing Suppose you could install kdm or gdm on top of it...

[Teunis]

Re: fresh gutsy kde, then load different desktop?

I concur. 500MB would be a minimum for a halfway stable system.

Hmm, I'm running Xubuntu 7.10 on a 500MHz PIII with 382MB of ram, the maximum for this Compaq board. The last 2 128MB chips cost me € 7.50 each.
It is very stable, I have yet to see applications overflow into swap space.
But then although The Gimp is installed I mainly use it for some browsing, music and mail.

[toad]

Re: fresh gutsy kde, then load different desktop?

Teunis, I had Xubuntu running on an old IBM 600E with 128MB. While it wasn't a great computer experience the machine got everything done I asked of it. Never gave up its ghost once. Openoffice was excruciatingly slow though so I switched to abiword...

[RJ Hythloday]

Re: fresh gutsy kde, then load different desktop?

I got the edu to install the third time, don't know what was wrong before. I got abiword and will remove oo0. I am cruising some freebies threads for another 128 stick. I installed xdm and also fluxbox, but haven't yet figured out how to get the edu desktop turned off to get flux started. Anyone?

On another note, would it be possible to install the edutainment sweet in dsl or puppy?

[toad]

Re: fresh gutsy kde, then load different desktop?

I was going to suggest N-DSL to you, but am not sure about integration of standard packages - best check the DSL forum... Tried puppy once but did not understand how it could claim to be a "small" distro easy on resources. However, your mileage may - as always - vary.

[Teunis]

Re: fresh gutsy kde, then load different desktop?

I installed xdm and also fluxbox, but haven't yet figured out how to get the edu desktop turned off to get flux started. Anyone?

Usually there is a choice of installed desktops at log in.

[RJ Hythloday]

Re: fresh gutsy kde, then load different desktop?

I installed xdm and also fluxbox, but haven't yet figured out how to get the edu desktop turned off to get flux started. Anyone?

Usually there is a choice of installed desktops at log in.

Yeah, I've read that and had it discussed in other threads but it isn't there. I think that because I have xdm starting up it's missing. It's just a snowy screen w/ username and pw in the middle then logs into edu.

[toad]

Re: fresh gutsy kde, then load different desktop?

try k/gdm?

[RJ Hythloday]

Re: fresh gutsy kde, then load different desktop?

try k/gdm?

thanks, I'm gonna try this XDM will work. Check out http://fluxbox-wiki.org/index.php/Ho...fluxbox_to_xdm for adding fluxbox to XDM.
if it doesn't work I'll go back to gdm.