I just now started removing apps/packages I don't want or need on my install. After every new install I do on a computer I'll go through every app/package installed in Synaptic and remove those I don't want. It was certainly refreshing to see that all the foreign fonts that are installed on the mainstream distros are not included in WattOS. I also noticed that all the different language packs are not installed by default. I always have to delete all those language packs when I run through the list in Synaptic. Those not being installed saves me about 5 minutes +/- when I remove the unwanted packages. Two thumbs up for keeping things clean!

Finally! I thought I'd post this up more to let you know that I have R12 installed and running than anything else. I had to run "honey do" errands and go to a doctor's appointment before I was able to get the install done. This is purely a first impression of R12. I haven't removed, installed, updated, or tweaked a single thing. It is simply installed and I took a quick trip around the included software. The hardware specs for this laptop are listed below so you have an idea of what I'm running R12 on. Most of my laptops are similar in hardware specs.

The first thing I noticed was that the desktop and window treatment are simple and clean. I was happy to see this as opposed to some of the gawdy desktops some other distros use as default and specifically not the horrid green that Mint provides. I really don't like green as a choice for desktop and window appearance. Even though my personal preference is all blue and I prefer lighter accents than the dark with R12, at least the whole experience is clean and simple. Once I've set this up to my personal liking I'll post some screens.

As for included software, there are a few pieces I'll be installing for sure and a couple of things I'll change. Now, that's not to say that the included software is somehow wrong. I'm just use to different choices. For instance, I'll remove gThumb and replace it with Mirage. I'll be adding Pinta and Gimp as well which is the reason I prefer Mirage over gThumb. Having Pinta and Gimp for heavier editing means I can use a smaller and cleaner image viewer. I'm sure a lot, if not most, other users of R12 will be quite happy with gThumb. Pinta is a piece of software that might be considered for inclusion with the default installation. I call it the poor man's Gimp. Much simpler than Gimp, but still offering some sophisticated editing capabilities.

Oh, yeah. With no applications opened I'm using 411 MB of 6850 NB available, or 6%. With Mint on this laptop it used between 12% and 15% of available. I have never figured out why there is a fluctuation in memory used for just the desktop while running Mint. I thought it might be the Update Manager running in the background, but I have since ruled that out. But that's irrelevant now, LOL!

Bottom line? So far I really like what I'm seeing with R12. I'll try and keep you posted as I begin to install, update, and tweak things to suit me.


Lenovo G51-35
AMD A8-7410 quad core CPU
8 GB RAM
1 TB HDD
Radeon R5 graphics
Kabini HDMI/DP audio
Realtek RTL8723BE wireless adapter
Realtek RTL8111 gigabit Ethernet
PLDS DVD-RW optical drive
Blackweb wireless bluetrace mouse

I seem to have developed a slight hitch in my get along with Viper. For some reason I can no longer execute the file. Every time I try and launch Viper I get the pop up window you see below. I haven't changed a thing on the laptop since I ran Viper last. The only thing that I did was shut the laptop down. I usually just let my Linux machines run for days and even weeks at a time without a shutdown or reboot. With company here all weekend I shut it down and moved it out of the way. Now, it's a no go on executing the file. It's no biggie. I'm sure there won't be a problem when I get R12 installed. I can run Viper without fail on my Mint 20.2 laptop and it has also been shutdown. Nothing changed on that laptop, just this one. Weird. Don't fret about trying to figure out what happened. I'll just continue to use Firefox until I get R12.

I'll be experimenting with Viper later today. I'm really curious to see what Viper uses on my experimental laptop. I'll report back after I get a chance to mess around with it today.

So enjoying the photos! The forum is FUN again. May I steal some for my randomwallpaper file?

leeine, you are more than welcome to use any photo I post. In fact, if the image posted on here is too small for a decent wallpaper, let me know and I'll send you a full rez photo.

One of the main differences here is that Viper is an executable appimage browser.. it does not install like firefox, chrome, falkon etc.. so outside of a few random folders it keeps your pc clean

Funny you should mention that. Yeah, I knew it was and appimage. I got to thinking about where it saves the data and did a quick bit of searching. There must be a profile folder somewhere. Or is there?

I'm on my regular laptop running Mint 20.2 right now, but earlier this afternoon I did a whole bunch of random surfing on the experimental laptop with R10. I've had to change a couple of settings, but I can see that unless I run onto some weird problem between Viper and some website I visit, I could get to like Viper. Like the old pea brain I am, I didn't check Task Manager to see what the resource usage was. I guess I can do that tomorrow.

I have the Falkon website bookmarked. I'm going to spend some time paying with Viper before I download and install anything else. I need to tweak the settings in a browser to suit me, then use it for daily web surfing for a while before I know if it is going to be something I like or not. My initial opinion of Viper is that it might very well be a browser I can use daily. It imported my bookmarks from Firefox 98.0.2 with no problems. I also have the ad blocker all set up. I haven't yet had Task Manager opened while I have Viper in use. I need to see the difference in resource usage between Firefox and Viper. I know that Firefox eats right at 7% to 9% of my available memory to run. In my opinion, that's too much for running just a web browser.

Thanks for the tip on Falkon!

Link to Viper download: https://g.srev.in/get-appimage/viper_browser/

Not sure why, but that link also didn't include a download link for me. I did a search and found a download link on github. I have Viper now and have opened it once. I see in the preferences for Viper that it is a LOT like Firefox. At least close enough for me to at least want to try playing around with.

Thanks to both of you guys for pointing me in the direction of Viper!