Xfce Forum

cdysthe

Member

Registered: 2008-10-01

Posts: 4

Has XFCE "gained weight"?

Hi,

I have been a XFCE user since the late nineties, so I would never be able to give it up. However, I read this article today:

http://www.linux-mag.com/cache/7520/1.html

What caught my eye was not the new LXDE version of Ubuntu, but rather that Xubuntu seems to be heavier on resources than Ubuntu. I am not sure why this is. It could be this comparison being off, it could be the implementation of XFCE in Ubuntu not being optimal, or it could simply be that XFCE has "gained some weight" the last few years. Any takes on this issue?

//C

s0ulslack

Member

From: Idaho

Registered: 2005-12-25

Posts: 291

Re: Has XFCE "gained weight"?

Thats pretty funny, seeing as most of LXde (POS) is mostly Xfce code!  Xfce may have gained some initial muscle, but not weight by any means.  I'm sure others will chime in here as well.

bytor4232

Member

Registered: 2009-07-07

Posts: 9

Re: Has XFCE "gained weight"?

LXDE is not nearly as evolved as Xfce.  I tried using it, there is just too much missing, and it feels too "clunkey" to me.  Also, its Xubuntu that uses a ton of resources, its not Xfce's fault.  In fact, LXDE doesn't use much less resources than Xfce:  http://is.gd/4zG7J

In fact I've never tested it, but I hear that Xubuntu uses almost as much as Ubuntu with no desktop effects.  If you want a lightweight Ubuntu, you would be better off doing what I do.  Use the alternate installer, do a command line only install, then "apt-get install" just what you need.  Details: http://leanubuntu.blogspot.com/

s0ulslack

Member

From: Idaho

Registered: 2005-12-25

Posts: 291

Re: Has XFCE "gained weight"?

Nice post bytor ALL of the core LXde stuff is Xfce code with some add patches and alot of error checking removed.  Just some ignorant person trying to lay claim to alot of hard work which has been done by the Xfce Team!  Granted they do have some nice improvements in some areas, but its all based/code taken from Xfce... How can they lay claim that its much faster the Xfce? lol

cdysthe

Member

Registered: 2008-10-01

Posts: 4

Re: Has XFCE "gained weight"?

Nice post bytor ALL of the core LXde stuff is Xfce code with some add patches and alot of error checking removed.  Just some ignorant person trying to lay claim to alot of hard work which has been done by the Xfce Team!  Granted they do have some nice improvements in some areas, but its all based/code taken from Xfce... How can they lay claim that its much faster the Xfce? lol

I found the whole article odd, but i had to ask here since I am just an XFCE user without any coding skills. Firstly, I had no idea LXde was XFCE bases. And yes, that makes the whole article come across as, well, odd to say the least!

bytor4232

Member

Registered: 2009-07-07

Posts: 9

Re: Has XFCE "gained weight"?

Nice post bytor ALL of the core LXde stuff is Xfce code with some add patches and alot of error checking removed.  Just some ignorant person trying to lay claim to alot of hard work which has been done by the Xfce Team!  Granted they do have some nice improvements in some areas, but its all based/code taken from Xfce... How can they lay claim that its much faster the Xfce? lol

No kidding, LXDE being "faster" hasn't been my experience.  Done a ton of testing, and I've found Xfce ( NOT Xubuntu ) to be just as fast as LXDE.  Ran the same installs on everything from a K6-500 with a quarter gig of ram to a Pentium Dual Core with several gigs of ram.  There is no noticeable difference between the two in terms of speed.

Just give it a few releases, once Lubuntu "matures" a bit it will be every bit as heavy as Xubuntu.  The things that make Xubuntu heavy will most likely be addressed eventually in Lubuntu.  Besides, I really don't believe the numbers that the author of the article came up with.  We all know that its pretty hard to measure such things on Linux.  I mean, did he reboot after each desktop environment?  I wonder if he logged into lxde, ran free, then logged out, then logged in as xfce.  If thats the case, then some of the previous session is still going to be cached in memory.