SOLVED: Probably should have been posting here

[smhardesty]

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Hello to all. I just registered and this is my first post. I probably should have been posting here instead of where I have been.

First things first. I'll explain how I ended up running LXDE and also give hardware specs for at least one of my laptops. I have been using Linux for over 20 years as my "daily driver" OS. I haven't even touched a Windows computer in over 15 years. My wife has been using Linux here at home for about 15 years, even though she is stuck with a Windows computer at work. Over the years I have used quite a few different distros. I first started playing with Linux in about 1995 or 1996 with Red Hat. Most recently I had been using Linux Mint XFCE. One of the things I have looked for over all those years was a Linux distro that used as few resources as possible in order to present the DE and WM to me. Most distros that I liked eventually grew and started eating more resources than I'd like to see.

I was mostly happy with Mint XFCE until a strange thing started happening a year or more ago. Regardless of which of my computers with Mint XFCE I watched, they all started slowing down over time. It wasn't a quick, hard to miss event. It happened very slowly over a period of several weeks or even a few months. It depended on how the computer was used and how often it was used. The more use it got, the quicker I noticed the slowdown. I made sure to check resources used with Task Manager and, while not a huge amount, the resources used just to present the desktop slowly inched upwards. If I did a fresh reload of Mint XFCE on that computer, everything was just fine for a few, short weeks, then the slowdown began again.

That problem launched me on a quest to find a distro running LXDE with Openbox. Over the last several weeks I have tried somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 different distros, not all being LXDE versions. I was just unable to find a distro I liked, that was stingy with the resources, and that would install on all my computers without problems. I eventually decided to just turn a Mint XFCE install into an LXDE/Openbox install.

It took me a while the first time to get everything ironed out on how to get LXDE/Openbox installed and all of XFCE removed, but I have it mostly down pat now. I have already loaded two laptops and will be loading number three right after I finish posting this. I'm happy to report that the memory usage on my primary laptop is just over 300 MB with no additional programs opened and running. Not only is the memory usage WAY down compared to XFCE, the laptop is considerably quicker than it was. I also implement several tweaks to improve the performance of the OS and especially Firefox, which I still prefer to use.

I strip a boatload of packages out of my installs via Synaptic to reduce bloat. This is where my question comes from. Yeah, finally getting to it. LOL! All of the Compiz packages are still installed, along with all the dependencies for Compiz. Is it safe to remove all those packages? LXDE/Openbox doesn't use Compiz to the best of my knowledge. If I am correct in that, does anyone know what all packages can be safely removed?

Any help, ideas, suggestions, or recommendations will be greatly appreciated.


Hardware Specs:

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


NOTE: I have 4 Lenovo laptops we use right now. All of them are very similar to these specs with the exception of slightly different video adapters and network adapters.
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[drooly]

Hello, thanks for sharing.
Yes, you can remove all compiz packages (which aren't part of XFCE btw so I'm not sure why you even had them there).

I'd be interested to hear how you improved Firefox performance.

[smhardesty]

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All those Compiz packages are included with the Mint XFCE install. They were there by default. It's stuff like this that made me want to try and find another DE and WM. There is just so much bloat in any of the mainstream distro installs that it bogs the whole system down. I try and strip everything I can out of my installs, but I know I don't get anywhere near all of the excess packages removed. I do the best I can. The install on this laptop I'm on right now is down to under 7 GB, but I'm going to bet if i took the time to review every single package that is still on here I could probably remove another GB or more.

So, I'll be stripping all the Compiz stuff later today. Any idea about Compton? I don't think LXDE or Openbox rely on Compton, but again, I'm not 100% sure so have never tried removing it.

As for speeding up Firefox, I use all the suggestions on these web pages when I do a Mint XFCE install. Before I do any updates or tweaking to the system, I apply pretty much all of these tips. It has always made my system run a bit faster and cleaner. It definitely helps Firefox.

https://easylinuxtipsproject.blogspot.com/p/1.html

https://easylinuxtipsproject.blogspot.c ... -xfce.html

https://easylinuxtipsproject.blogspot.c ... -mint.html

https://easylinuxtipsproject.blogspot.c ... -mint.html

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[drooly]

I don't think LXDE or Openbox rely on Compton, but again, I'm not 100% sure so have never tried removing it.

If shadows and half-transparent windows are important to you, keep it (and make sure it's running), but really you don't need a compositor at all.

Christ, why is all that * installed by default on Linux Mint XFCE? Xfwm comes with its own compositor.

[smhardesty]

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Christ, why is all that * installed by default on Linux Mint XFCE? Xfwm comes with its own compositor.

Now you see why I am so dead set on turning a Mint XFCE install into an LXDE install. I spend about an hour stripping garbage out of every install I do. I'm learning all the time and finding more and more packages I don't need/want. Removing extra garbage takes me 3 or 4 times longer than installing what I do want/need and then tweaking the system to suit me.

I would have installed Lubuntu, but every time I tried to install it, I ran into a problem. I can run it Live! with no problems, but the install just will not work. I tried getting assistance with it, but never did find a solution. I did, however, find a whole bunch of people that were REALLY quick to criticize me and berate me like a child. I found that to be reason enough to abandon any thoughts of getting it working. That's when I made the decision to convert XFCE to LXDE/Openbox.

I now have everything installed and working just fine on my 4 laptops now. I boot to the desktop using a little less than 300 MB. That is in comparison to the 800 MB to 1000 MB that Mint XFCE requires to boot to the desktop. To me, that's significant.That extra 500 MB to 700 MB of available memory can now be used in a much more productive manner. I might add that I never buy a new laptop. I buy Lenovos that are 3 to 5 years old. When Linux is installed on these things, they are like brand new ones. I get these things for $125 to $150, give or take, and after I install Linux I can expect them to last me another 3 to 5 years. Granted, they aren't all new and shiny, but new and shiny doesn't accomplish a thing as far as actual computer work. LOL!

Thanks for the reply!
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[drooly]

You might want to look at other distros then - distros that don't come with a lot of bloat preinstalled.

If the .iso should already have LXDE the options are not so big*, but if you generally want something lightweight that runs on old hardware, there's a lot to choose from:
https://distrowatch.com/search.php?osty ... +Computers
antiX & Q4OS are certainly worth a closer look.

* Distributions with LXDE installation images

[smhardesty]

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I've run through about 40 or 50 different ISOs in the last few weeks. I'd much rather find a ready to go ISO I wouldn't have to spend so much time removing bloat from. I know it'll sound like I'm being too picky, but I couldn't find a distro that installed on all my junk, had LXDE/Openbox as default, and was slimmed down compared to Mint XFCE. I'm taking a little break before I start looking for something again.

I tried both antiX and Q4OS. antiX came the closest, I guess. I don't recall now why it didn't make the final cut. I know I abandoned a couple distros pretty quickly just because I was getting burnt out on downloading the ISO, burning it to DVD, running it live, trying to get it installed, etc, etc. I knew I had the option to install Mint XFCE then strip it after getting LXDE running on it.

I did see on that list of distros with LXDE that Manjaro has a community LXDE version. I know I never tried that. I might have to give that a whirl, just to see.
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