Linux Mint 7 (XFCE)
I recently reviewed the KDE and Gnome versions of Linux Mint 7. While either of them will give you a great desktop Linux experience, they aren’t necessarily the best choice for everybody. Some people have slower computers and some folks simply have no need for all the desktop bells and whistles found in KDE or Gnome.
If you’re one of those folks then you might want to consider checking out the XFCE version of Linux Mint 7.
Xfce (pronounced as four individual letters)[1] is a free software desktop environment for Unix and other Unix-like platforms, such as Linux, Solaris and BSD. It aims to be fast and lightweight, while still being visually appealing and easy to use.
The current version, 4.6, is modular and reusable. It consists of separately packaged components that together provide the full functionality of the desktop environment, but which can be selected in subsets to create the user’s preferred personal working environment. Xfce is mainly used for its ability to run a modern desktop environment on relatively modest hardware.
It is based on the GTK+ 2 toolkit (the same as GNOME). It uses the Xfwm window manager, described below. Its configuration is entirely mouse-driven, and the configuration files are hidden from the casual user.
Before I get into this review, please note that I used Release Candidate 1 to do this review. While my experience was quite good, I recommend holding off until a final version is released. Feel free to experiment with RC1 on an extra computer, of course. But I don’t recommend using it as your main OS until the final release. You may encounter some bugs otherwise.
(17 votes, average: 3.65 out of 5)
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Jim, of all of the Mint releases, this is the one I would be most likely to test next (until Mint gets KDE 4.3 or 4.4, then I may check that out too). Concerning memory requirements, KDE 4.3 on sidux actually works with 256 MB memory, but it is not very responsive with that amount. 512 MB of memory, or perhaps 384 MB, would be more realistic values. Based on that, I would suggest that 256 MB on an XFCE based system would be quite adequate, given that I am running sidux XFCE right now, and htop reveals ONLY 211 MB of memory in use, in spite of Seamonkey browser and Email, plus Google Chrome (being used now) are actively in use.
Sounds like this release may not be quite ready, but it does seem to be promising, and it may be worth a look some time soon.
I am looking forward to Linux Mint 7 XFCE. I am currently using Linux Mint 7 (Gnome) and it very good experience.
I believe my laptop and my friends computer which has only 256 MB of RAM will be able to run Linux Mint 7 XFCE.
No XFCE has hard disk mounting facility, you review show some solution about the same.
Thanks for the good insight.
This is something I might think of trying. I already run Ubuntu on the desktop and also have another decommissioned computer with less memory which I intend trying it on. If it works on that, then I will have to wait till the final version is out before rolling it on the much faster computer.
Will leave a comment here later to let you know how it goes.
Nice review BTW :)
In your reviews you keep using a nebulous term “older hardware.” For some, like me, “older” means Pentium Pro or a PII. For others, last year’s Phantom may be considered “older hardware.” I do realize that you do not have the facilities or the time to test a distro on more than one PC to narrow down the usability threshold. So, please try to avoid using vague terms in your reviews.
I know you like virtualization. It’s a brand new, shiny toy for you to play with. It makes it much easier to check out various distros. However, it adds another layer of software that may possibly introduce errors into your tests. While I do not write reviews, I do check out a lot of distros looking for that “perfect” one. I use a removable HD rack with a drive dedicated specifically to testing Linux distros.
BTW – I have used Mint 6, sidux, Mepis, Sabayon 4.0 on “older hardware” such as P3 500mhz with 256meg RAM. While not head-snapping fast, I had no complaints about their speed in daily use.
@ Brian Masinick:
Brian, you like KDE over Gnome? I like Gnome better. KDE is too windows-ish.
KDE is too windows-ish? Gnome is the DE that uses a registry.