default applications for natty

[Jim Campbell]

Hi All,

On Fri, Jan 7, 2011 at 11:30 AM, Glenn de Groot
<glenn_de_groot at hotmail.com>wrote:

>  Hello,
>
> here are some of my thoughts:
>
> Chromium looks really odd and alien on linux, and Midori is unstable, so I
> say stick with FF.
> Claws-mail is really good and lightweight, it will be a good thunderbird
> replacement.
> Exaile is not bad but I like (the new) Audacious a lot.
> It has a beautiful gtk interface and is the most lightweight player I have
> seen.
>
> Also, has lightdm ever been considered?
> It seems to be awesome and much lighter then gdm.
> Lxdm is good too.
>
> -Glenn
>
>

If you haven't seen the latest issue, Linux Journal has a quick look at some
alternate desktop environments, and the first one featured is Xfce on
Xubuntu.  The primary* thing that they noted was that the default Xubuntu
install ran with 325mb of RAM used, while Ubuntu's default RAM usage after
boot-up was 328mb (by contrast, Lubuntu used just 167mb of RAM).  They
actually suggested using Ubuntu with lighter-weight apps (i.e., Installing
Ubuntu and replacing Rhythmbox with Exaile, etc.) over using Xubuntu.  (Note
that they didn't *dislike* Xubuntu, but just thought it wasn't a big
advantage to use Xfce over Gnome.)

Xubuntu may load some useful features that Lubuntu doesn't load, but that
RAM usage number is one measuring stick that people use. Would it be
worthwhile to consider any changes that might allow for lesser memory usage
at boot?  I'd be willing to help with testing out various configurations and
reporting back to the group if that would help.

Also, I went back to look at the "Should we use Chromium?" thread from 2009,
and a couple of things have changed since then . . . Chromium is now stable
(it was in beta at the time), there is a legitimate ad-blocking extension
(not just ad-hiding), and it now allows for community translations (meaning
we wouldn't be limited to Google Chrome's default language set.).  These
were all larger concerns at that time.

I'm indifferent on the mail application.  If it means that we could get rid
of Xulrunner (which would require switching to Chromium and Clawsmail), it
might be worth considering switching to Clawsmail, too.  I think yelp uses
Xulrunner, though, and yelp gets pulled in with some of our gnome-apps, like
file-roller.

Jim

*They also incorrectly ascribed the nice-looking theme to work by
Canonical.  I'll have to write a letter to the editor about that one.  : )
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