Thoughts on wattOS 10

[Mike]

Hello!

First off, great job on a new release! It runs nicely on my Acer C720P Chromebook. While installing and configuring the system I noted a few things:

• Selecting Auto Login in the installer did not carry over to installed system even though autologin-user is set in /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf
• Wireless connection didn't carry over to installed system
• I'm pleased to see no cursor theme as I like the default X cursor
• I was also happy to see htop and the xfce-power-manager installed by default

Overall I'm very happy with the default selection of apps and lxde configuration. One concern that I had was the memory usage of nm-applet. While I understand that it's the most user friendly, it ate up around ~80 MB on my machine. Are there any other applets that might be a little less hungry? Another minor improvement would to use Sakura over LXTerminal as it uses about 2/3 the memory with similar features.

Keep up the great work!

[Dan]

I only know of two options for the nm-applet.

1. Go to your main menu > Preferences > Desktop Session Settings

Remove the checkmark from Network

Log out, and log back in. The nm-applet is gone, but internet access still works. To bring it back, put the checkmark back again...log out and back in.

This works fine for a stationary computer...but less convenient for laptops that you might use in various places.

2. You could install wicd, then remove Network Manager and Network Manager Gnome.

Wicd is a little less memory hungry, but in my experience, it looks less modern (if that's important), and the Wicd applet doesn't adopt icon themes...which makes it stand out on your panel. However, you can also remove it's checkmark which will remove it from the panel, but you can easily call it up from the main menu whenever you need it. Now...I'm speaking from my experience with Debian LXDE in this regard. I can only assume it will work the same on wattOS.

If you go this route, just make sure you install wicd BEFORE you remove Network Manager and Network Manager Gnome.

[Mike]

Thanks, Dan! Those are some good tips. I appreciate you providing a detailed response. I'll probably just disable NetworkManager and rely on wpa_supplicant for now. 

[biffster]

Thanks for the feedback Mike. Yes there is a balancing act between memory footprint and wide user ease of use. If you want to go back into the archives, we have experimented with other tools (openbox, wicd, pure debian, rxvt, even a mate' build, etc) Things have somewhat settled on the LXDE core stuff with a few ease of use bolt on's. The basis hopefully provides some people a place to start, then tweak/remove/add what they want (as you are doing), but be able to get running as easily as possible and go from there.

I use very little of the things myself as I run i3 as my desktop, but know thats not for everyone Happy tweaking.

That being said...I anticipate the next release will likely be a bit more different as the LXDE march towards QT is not likely something I am going to wrestle with, but time will tell...ha

[bob]

Not doubt about it, WattOS has pulled of the best distro of 2016.
#justsaying