Linux & GUI = Peanut butter & gasoline

[Linuxneophyte]

Okay, so I've played around with a few desktop managers (or whatever they're called) in Linux (Redhat 7.1). FVMN2, Windowmaker, KDE, Gnome, they're all the same, worthless. Unless you've got a mainframe or something they run like a POS. A Pentium 100 with 96 RAM with Win98 will run circles around the same computer with Linux installed. Not to mention, the Win98 machine will look better and the interface will be more intuitive (that's probably just due to familiarization). I know it's a lousy machine, but it should be capable of running a friggin GUI. It's so slow I can't even navigate things like the Gnome control center. WTF.

And besides the speed issue, what about the interface? Why do they all look like some sort of gimped out Barbie w/ an Etch a Sketch meets a computer look? It looks like all the people making these infernal window managers are trying so hard to be different, that they won't even recognize when something is good. I say, copy Windows, MacOS, or BeOS (some good GUIs, learn by example) and don't be ashamed to admit that they have some pretty good interfaces.

[Gaccm]

p100 with win98! HA! But you are right, most of the "pretty" Window Managers are system hogs. I have a p200 and i run blackbox, its ok, but at least things load a little faster. but really, a p100, you cant expect much. If you NEEDED a pretty GUI i would suggest win95 (maybe BeOS, i've never tried it). But how often do you think your going to use the computer, my p200 is my LAN's gateway, i almost never touch it [make that never since i just built my 1.33TBird Linux box].

[Linuxneophyte]

Heh, yeah I know it's slow, but it's not really my main box. I have four Winboxes on my network (along with some other things), this one being the slowest. Eventually I'll upgrade it. But I still think GUIs are just too much of a system hog to be really useful for Linux.

In actuality, for what I use this box for on Windows, I can get everything I need done with plenty of speed and efficiency. The system boots in about a minute, and programs load pretty quickly.

[FORTRAN gy]

I found W95 and blackbox to be roughly equivalent on a P90 w/ 48MB. The W95 would get a slight edge in speed and erratic behavior.

Then I threw in an Athlon w/ 128MB. Blackbox is flying and W95 is hicupping more than ever.

[Strike]

was there a question in this post somewhere? This sounds more like a rant, for which we have a separate section...

[Space-Cadet]

A computer that old will run like crap, no matter what OS you're using...

[Thanatos]

I've found that it isn't the WM, it is the default install...if you do a custom install and pare down the amount of extraneous crap that gets put in there, it speeds up a TON...and that's using Mandrake, which is known for being pretty, but bloated.

[Danger Fan]

ummm.... i've run Gnome w/ Sawfish on a pentium 133 w/ 64 ram, and had no problem.

[Rob 'Feztaa' Park]

I find that linux runs fine on my PII-300Mhz machine. I've had 64 MBs in it up until 4 hours ago, when I just installed my second 64 MB stick, bringing the total to 128, and it's pretty sweet now.

I'm not sure how to describe this exactly, but in my experience, it takes longer to actually load the program in linux than it does in windows, but once the program is actually loaded, windows is average speed and linux is ludicrously fast.

As far as WM's go, I really liked Enlightenment and Blackbox, but they were both just a bit too minimalistic for me. I loved Englightenments ability to have translucent windows while they were moving - something my maclover friend has been gloating about forever, which my computer has never been able to do until now. Blackbox had a really great, slick design, which I liked, and I like the idea of creating and destroying desktops as needed, that was neat.

I use KDE primarily, though. I like the BeOS "decor", so that when a title bar is covered up, it automatically moves out of the way (makes for super easy switching between several maximized windows).

Anyway, I've noticed that my posts tend to be long, so I'm going to shut up now :)