Included Applications/Suitability for New Users

[cuscotravelservices]

Hi All,

I've been working in I.T. for 30+ years and I've just started using Linux recently.

I am investigating options for my Spanish speaking Landlord's old desktop with a Pentium 4 2.66 GHz CPU, 512MB RAM (400MHz) and a 40 GB Hard Drive (7200 RPM ATA 133 - IDE).

I am interested in the LXDE and MATE versions.

Without any optimisations nor modifications what is the Memory Usage when the system is ready for use for the MATE version?

How much Hard Drive space does a Default install of MATE require?

What would be the approximate Boot Time for LXDE and MATE for the above Hardware specifications?

Which of the above versions would provide the best all around experience for the above Hardware specifications?

Besides the ePDFViewer, are there any Office applications, such as LibreOffice, included?

What Accessory or Utility applications are included?

My Landlord is not knowledgeable about Computers but his daughters are regular users. How suitable is wattOS R8 for people such as my Landlord? Is there a Spanish language pack available for wattOS R8?

Thanks, Michael

[blaze]

How much hd space an install take I do not know, but with a hd of 40gb no worry. Just install the office applications if they not are included, Spanish is no problem. You should really try out both lxde and mate live to see what works best for you. Then decide what to install. 

[cuscotravelservices]

How much hd space an install take I do not know, but with a hd of 40gb no worry. Just install the office applications if they not are included, Spanish is no problem. You should really try out both lxde and mate live to see what works best for you. Then decide what to install. 

I don't have the bandwidth to download and test every distro that may be suitable which is why I'm posting on forums to get more details.

[Emery Fletcher]

From the standpoint of a new user, I would guess the MATE version would be the easier to learn.  The menu is easier to explore, as it is categorized in areas to a degree the LXDE menu is not.  Once a user becomes familiar with Linux menus LXDE is faster, but I remember learning to use Linux from a MATE-like menu (Gnome 2), and it didn't take long.

One suggestion: try www.distrowatch.com, look up the different distros, and look at the screenshots that are linked in the Summary panel.  That will give you an idea of how appropriate it would be.

[cuscotravelservices]

From the standpoint of a new user, I would guess the MATE version would be the easier to learn.  The menu is easier to explore, as it is categorized in areas to a degree the LXDE menu is not.  Once a user becomes familiar with Linux menus LXDE is faster, but I remember learning to use Linux from a MATE-like menu (Gnome 2), and it didn't take long.

One suggestion: try www.distrowatch.com, look up the different distros, and look at the screenshots that are linked in the Summary panel.  That will give you an idea of how appropriate it would be.

Hi Emery,

Can the Taskbar for MATE be positioned at the bottom of the screen?

Are you using the 32 bit version of wattOS R8 MATE?

Thank you, Michael.

[BALLOON a.k.a. Fu-sen.]

Such a proverb is in Japan:

Narau yori narero (習うより慣れろ)
It's better to accustom yourself to this than to "learn" it.

Please touch it, There is an answer there.

By the way, here is the answer to question (Please watch images):
http://planetwatt.com/newforum/index.php?topic=114.0

[cuscotravelservices]

Such a proverb is in Japan:

Narau yori narero (習うより慣れろ)
It's better to accustom yourself to this than to "learn" it.

Please touch it, There is an answer there.

By the way, here is the answer to question (Please watch images):
http://planetwatt.com/newforum/index.php?topic=114.0

Arigato Fu-sen,

Can you tell me how much memory the 32 bit version of wattOS R8 MATE uses with only the Task Manager open?

Matane, Michael.

[blaze]

Not an answer to last question, sorry, but thought it could be interesting to you. I am running the watt lxde in vbox and with only task manager open it uses ca 77mb of ram, with default homepage of iceweasel up and running ca 125mb of ram. And as you probably already know, taskbar and menu is at the bottom of the screen. With the specs that you got on your machine,  personally I would go for  lxde, but that is me. 

[blaze]

Tried the same with mate, 118/192mb of ram usage. 

[cuscotravelservices]

Tried the same with mate, 118/192mb of ram usage. 

Thanks Blaze!

Very useful.

Is that 192 MB with default homepage of iceweasel up and running?

Thanks, Michael.

[blaze]

Yes, just with google search. Tested again with small variations. Right now with Iceweasel, two tabs open, youtube startpage and this forum, gives ca 275mb. 

[cuscotravelservices]

Yes, just with google search. Tested again with small variations. Right now with Iceweasel, two tabs open, youtube startpage and this forum, gives ca 275mb.

I read the following yesterday which I thought was impressive.

Lightweight Debian: LXDE Desktop From Scratch

However, given the measurements you have posted, what wattOS is doing must be even more impressive or perhaps they have sacrificed something to achieve such a low memory footprint.

Can the hardware specifications have a significant effect on the memory footprint?

Given the memory usage of the different Desktop Environments as shown on the following page, I would have thought that LXDE and MATE would have been much closer than what your measurements have indicated.

A Memory Comparison of Light Linux Desktops

[blaze]

How much significance the hardware specs have I do not know. Guess you just have to take a chance and try one out. But what is it going to be used to, easy use with some writing, surfing, mail, checking the latest news? Or something particular?

[cuscotravelservices]

How much significance the hardware specs have I do not know. Guess you just have to take a chance and try one out. But what is it going to be used to, easy use with some writing, surfing, mail, checking the latest news? Or something particular?

Some of the programs they were using under Windows XP were the following.

Word, Excel, Power Point, Corel DRAW, Various Games and WinRAR.

It was also used for accessing the Internet.

[blaze]

Guess it was very slow with xp. There is always the option to put more ram in the machine, if you could just double it to 1gb it would run really well. But it would probably run fine with just the 512mb, one just have to pay a little attention and not have too much going on at the same time.