Re: [RP] linux distro for ratpoison/minimalist config on laptop?

[Axel Beckert]

Hi,

On Thu, May 05, 2011 at 03:10:31PM +1000, Martin Steer wrote:
>> i don't want a "desktop environment", but do want X in order to run RP,
>> emacs, firefox, gnuplot, etc.

If you like ratpoison and emacs, but want a lean system, I recommend
to try out Conkeror (http://conkeror.org/) instead of Firefox.

Despite it's name, it uses the Gecko rendering engine, i.e. the same
rendering engine as Firefox, but removes all the UI bloat and gives
you Emacs finger feel. :-) It's packaged in Debian (no more in Ubuntu
due to Mozilla's new ideas of less security support) and you can even
get daily developer snapshots as .deb at
http://noone.org/conkeror-nightly-debs/

>> i'm a Linux newbie (but BSD oldie).  it seems if i load, e.g., Ubuntu,
>> it deals with my hardware (ethernet, wifi, suspend/resume), but comes
>> with a plethora of what i assume to be desktop software, stuff i don't
>> want.
>
> I use Arch Linux, without a desktop. You should find plenty of info
> about that kind of setup on the Arch user forums.
>
> I'm pretty sure Debian will also let you do what you want, as will
> Gentoo (amongst others).

I run Debian with ratpoison and a very individual set of installed
packages without problems on the 4GB flash disk of an early EeePC (600
MHz, upgraded to 2 GB of RAM :-) and I'm very happy with it.

                Kind regards, Axel
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