Another noob with questions. Abf, I'll need you on this one :D - Page 2

dont bother getting both. i highly recommend you just get ubuntu, then on top of it use apt to install kde and xfce, perhaps even fluxbox and e17 and then that will be your guinea pig setup. you can try out all the desktops for yourself and see which one you like most. here is a quick outline of the above so you know if its even worht trying or not:

KDE -- the most "windows-looking" of the bunch. lots of programs (nice ones too) are built off the kdelibs library or with the qt toolkit. it is pretty hard core in terms of system requirements though.

Gnome -- another "heavy hitter" but takes a slightly different approach to design and function. uses the gtk toolkit instead of QT. from my experience its a bit lighter (in terms of ram use) than kde, but still quite hefty.

XFCE -- if i am not mistaken started out as a "lite" build of gnome. still uses gtk and all that nice stuff but takes a hell lot less ram and incorporates some minimalist elements such as a light-weight file browser (xffm or thunar instead of nautilus).

Fluxbox -- the uber lightweight totally minimalistic desktop. you get a small tiny taskbar and thats about it. takes very little ram and has that "nerdy" appeal to it. most configuration is done through editing little text files rather than through a gui interface like in the above 3.

E17 --- the latest build of the Enlightenment desktop. Extremely lightweight and rather minimalistic (not as much as fluxbox thogh) takes very little ram (i wanna say 17mb...compared to about 200 of gnome) , takes again manual configuration but has some SWEET looking eye candy.

I will post E17 is under HEAVY development and has not reach Beta status yet, so your mileage WILL vary when using that, it is probably not the best choice for a newcomer.

Seablade

I have a box that's a 600Mhz P3 512MB ram and a 80Gig 7200 rmp drive. It has a GeForce 4TI with 256MB of ram.
My son uses it all the time . It can do everything my E1705 can do. It may take while longer on stuff like mp3 ripping or dvd ripping but it can do it.
If you can run XP you'll be fine with Linux runnig either Gnome or KDE.
With Your hardware you won't have any problems. If you are going to keep running Linux(and want to do some gaming)you may want to switch to an Nvidia based video card . Their driver support is much better. But for a desktop you'll be fine.

PDR60

with KDE you want at least 500mhz and 256mb ram. gnome matches the same requirements. XFCE although based on gnome takes less than 1/2 the requirements, fluxbox will easily run on 66mhz with 32mb ram.

to keep it in perspective. a generic ubuntu using gnome boots and uses 250mb. a generic xubuntu config (using xfce) uses about 100mb.

It all depends on the setup.

Linux CAN use much less, it can also be set up that it uses much more as well. Customization is the key, that is why I laugh at the articles that try to compare Windows 98 resource useage to Suse 10 or something of that nature, to try to prove Windows is better on old machines than Linux. Suse 10 is designed for a modern machine, want to run Linux on a weaker machine then you need to choose a dsitribution of it made to do so or make your own.

Seablade

What he said .

They are, in general. However, there is no upper limit to how bloated a windows or a linux installation can be. The reason linux is so cool is that even with all the blaoted software available, you can still run it comfortably on a P133 with 8mb of RAM and have it do some actual work.

Regards,

zakaluka2.

Just wondering, what kinda of set up does "bigtrouble77" have? The screen shot is here http://bob.bah.net/mullet/workspace.png
Is this ubuntu with kde?

Actually that appears to be Gnome, which comes standard with Ubuntu.

Seablade

It's all gnome, but I tweaked the theme and use aliased fonts the way windows does.

I would say that's Gnome, not KDE (based on the 'foot' in the top left corner), as for what distro it is - could be anything, I think..

Heh I mentioned Ubuntu as the poster before had asked if it was Ubuntu with KDE running

Seablade

Yeah, it's ubuntu. I hate the brown theme so I changed it all to a grayish look.