Xfce Forum

maboleth

Member

Registered: 2012-01-16

Posts: 3

Xfce just saved me 450 euros!

That's right.

I've been a linux user since 2004, and Ubuntu fan since 2005. 'till 2010. when I was forced to move to Windows 7 to be able to run Adobe photography and designer programs.

But my wife's laptop was literally dying with Ubuntu 11.04. Messed Shotwell program, messed dependencies after an update, gdm crashed, couldn't boot properly. Time for an OS upgrade. Tried Linux Mint and disliked it so much. It's so amateurish and bad - design wise. After this experience I can actually sense that designers behind Ubuntu were paid and committed to do it right. Sigh.

Go back, install Ubuntu 11.10. Beautiful but HORRIBLE - Unity cannot be turned off. Her laptop was drowning again... it was SO slow and sluggish, absolutely frustrating. Just few years ago, Ubuntu was running fast and happy on this machine. Now...?! Linux for human beings... yeah right. On top of that, add Unity interface and you have a complete mess of a system. How I wish I could say a few words to Mark Shuttleworth's for his attitude and stubbornness to keep this junk of interface and ruin such a good linux distro.

We called it a day, started checking new laptops, called few shops and planned our money to spend on some good machine that could easily run Windows 7. Then, it struck me - let's try XFCE. The last attempt to run Linux on this machine before we throw it away.

And WOW! Finally something GOOD! XFCE runs SO fast on Celeron 1.6mhz with 1gb ram! All programs are very fast, everything works out of the box, interface is clean, uncluttered and pleasing to the eye! Finally!

So BIG thank you XFCE, thank you Xubuntu, you saved me 450 euros for a new laptop that we won't buy now! Linux is here to stay.

Last edited by maboleth (2012-01-16 01:16:18)

stqn

Member

Registered: 2010-10-11

Posts: 174

Re: Xfce just saved me 450 euros!

And to think that Xubuntu is probably the slowest version of Xfce you can get...

Nick

Dev

From: ~

Registered: 2005-02-17

Posts: 1,144

Website

Re: Xfce just saved me 450 euros!

That's not true anymore, Xubuntu made a massive amount of progress and the last release of xubuntu is faster than most of the other big Xfce-distros. That said, all distros are eventually more or less equal in speed (they run on the same hardware), it's just a matter of tuning and taste.

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maboleth

Member

Registered: 2012-01-16

Posts: 3

Re: Xfce just saved me 450 euros!

I haven't tried Xubuntu (ever) before, but I can safely say that programs never run this blazing fast on her laptop. Gnome2 was fast, but programs are now even more responsive in Xfce. With Unity it's like running Vista on 486. Same hardware, same kernel, but different GUI.

stqn

Member

Registered: 2010-10-11

Posts: 174

Re: Xfce just saved me 450 euros!

I'm glad to read that Xubuntu is now faster. Last time I used it, it was 8.04/8.10, and it was so slow that I eventually went back to Windows XP (which was about as slow, but I had other problems with Linux at the time, like speedstep not working.)

kbd47

Member

Registered: 2011-10-10

Posts: 16

Re: Xfce just saved me 450 euros!

Interesting. I really like Xubuntu, but had to take it off of my netbook because it ran too hot, and if I used the Jupiter app to keep it cooler it was too slow. I was surprised when I installed Xfce4 desktop onto Mint 12 and my netbook both ran faster and cooler than with Xubuntu. I use Xubuntu on my desktop, but Xfce Debian Mint and Mint 12 with Xfce on my netbook which is running fast and cool now with the same specs as the first poster.
KBD47

Adjoint

Member

Registered: 2012-01-21

Posts: 10

Re: Xfce just saved me 450 euros!

Hello,

On Xubuntu with awn, I using 200 mo of ram with some effect.

I have installed xubuntu on an old laptop and an old computer (256 and 512 mo of ram) and no problem of slow.

Last edited by Adjoint (2012-01-27 18:26:29)

grymme

Member

Registered: 2012-02-17

Posts: 1

Re: Xfce just saved me 450 euros!

There are window managers that are lower on resources than Xfce (openbox, fluxbox, etc) but I think the compromise between speed, usability and pleasing to the eye is great in Xfce.