From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Dec 1 11:11:23 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id DE7E11065678 for ; Mon, 1 Dec 2008 11:11:23 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Received: from mx01.qsc.de (mx01.qsc.de [213.148.129.14]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 992E18FC30 for ; Mon, 1 Dec 2008 11:11:23 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Received: from r55.edvax.de (port-92-196-24-200.dynamic.qsc.de [92.196.24.200]) by mx01.qsc.de (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1D9BD3C9CB; Mon, 1 Dec 2008 12:11:14 +0100 (CET) Received: from r55.edvax.de (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by r55.edvax.de (8.14.2/8.14.2) with SMTP id mB1BBDeu001611; Mon, 1 Dec 2008 12:11:13 +0100 (CET) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Date: Mon, 1 Dec 2008 12:11:13 +0100 From: Polytropon To: Mel Message-Id: <20081201121113.23e67986.freebsd@edvax.de> In-Reply-To: <200812011153.12902.fbsd.questions@rachie.is-a-geek.net> References: <002701c9538a$10ff0330$005bfb48@harryveltman> <20081201113658.b0264e2e.freebsd@edvax.de> <200812011153.12902.fbsd.questions@rachie.is-a-geek.net> Organization: EDVAX X-Mailer: Sylpheed 2.4.7 (GTK+ 2.12.1; i386-portbld-freebsd7.0) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: Harry Veltman , freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Which FreeBSD is best for my PC? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: Polytropon List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 01 Dec 2008 11:11:23 -0000 On Mon, 1 Dec 2008 11:53:11 +0100, Mel wrote: > We have a few oldies, just installed KDE 3.5 on a: > CPU: VIA Nehemiah (997.17-MHz 686-class CPU) > Origin = "CentaurHauls" Id = 0x698 Stepping = 8 Oldie @ 1 GHz? You must be joking. I'd bite my hand off for such hardware. :-) > That's pretty much as low as I'd go for normal desktop usage. For KDE? Yes, I do understand that. I would not even think about trying KDE or Gnome on a 300 MHz box. But desktop usage != KDE. KDE = preconfigured desktop with many built-in functionalities. I think Gnome has gotten pretty much the same like KDE in terms of ressource consumption. (I can't tell for sure, I'm not using it on a daily basis.) What about XFCE 4? Maybe that would be a good point to start, unless of couse the toolkit is too heavy... > The machine > you're describing, still makes for a good router or LAN resolver with low > traffic webserving. I have such an "oldie", P2 300 MHz, 256 MB RAM, ATI graphics (it's a Compaq Deskpro), FreeBSD 5.4, XFCE 3, OpenOffice 1.1.5, custom kernel, mplayer (compiled), xmms, Opera 7, Sylpheed. I'm not lying: This machine performs better in some regards than my 2 GHz P4 with FreeBSD 7! Applications come up faster, screen output renders faster. And even things that don't work on my "fast" system (wine, screen resolution in X, duplex printing) work excellently there. I've got no explaination for this, but it's true. As a server most "oldies" are good if they run well. The point of energy consumption is worth mentioning. I have an experimental server here, it's a P1 150 MHz with 128 MB RAM. For learning purposes completely sufficient to me. > Backup machine if disks are good. Or backup server if added some exchangable media (tape / DVD-RAM), inexpensive solution for automated data backup. > Getting a decent performing desktop on there is as Polytropon said, a project > you'd do for fun, not cause you need a desktop. That's correct. But hey, you learn a lot by building such a system, and in the end, you have your "ultimate desktop" right fitting your needs - not what the developers of let's say KDE are convinced you're wanting. That's a lot of work, I know, but once you're done, you can dump / restore this system to other machines of that kind (eventually needing to change some settings). The final quality of the machine is a direct result from the work you will decide to put in it. If you just want to do "fast, fast", the machine will be sloooooowwwww... :-) -- Polytropon >From Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...