(→‎Suggestions: problems with nano (for newbies); == GUI and CLI ==)
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[[Category:Linux]]
[[Category:Linux]]
[[Category:Lean code]]

Revision as of 07:05, 30 November 2009

Here are some suggested conclusions as to the best software packages to use. The aim is a lightweight Linux (fast, low resource use) which is usable for everyone.

Some are drawn from online discussions, such as the Lightweight Linux Network on Identi.ca - in these cases, add the source url between square brackets after the suggestion. This enables people to check out the context of the discussion.

Where there is any controversy, choices should be discussed on the Lightweight Linux Network, or the talk page here, before being added to the list. These are suggestions, which are made civilly, and there will be more than one suggestion for most applications.

GUI and CLI

The emphasis here is on software with GUIs - i.e. standard modern programs that run in a window. This is almost always easier for the non-expert user.

However it's both easy and important to have CLI (command line) tools on a system, for times when, for whatever reason, the GUI tool is not working, or a CLI command is needed for a script, or the user wants to use even less system resources for a task.

So, each category below should aim to find at least one good, lean, user-friendly, package - though the GUI packages will be much more user-friendly, and the CLI packages will be much more lean.

Suggestions

Text editors:

  • Medit has a nice GUI, tabs, regex (regular expression for search and replace). Less RAM than gedit (and gedit doesn't have regex). (More RAM than Leafpad or Mousepad but more features.)[1]
  • High potential for further development: Nedit uses even less RAM than Leafpad, & has tabs, regex. But seems buggy, and GUI is very ugly.[1]
  • nano is a great CLI editor, super-light, easy to use as CLI tools go.[2] But still confusing for newbies, no obvious way to save (F3 works), no protection against accidental window (terminal) closure, and every time a file is saved it requires user to either manually enter file name, or browse (ctrl-T) using the terminal interface!

Rich text editors:

  • To be discussed (Abiword has improved a lot, supports open formats...; for advanced functions, sometimes OpenOffice is the only choice?)

File search:

  • Catfish. Light, uses search function already installed in standard Linux system (find, locate, slocate... what about grep?) with a fairly easy interface.[3] More development would be good (less confusing interface, search by date...) but development is stalled.[4]

Window managers:

  • To be discussed (Openbox, the one puppy uses...)

Desktop environments:

  • To be discussed (LXDE...)

Notes

  1. Nedit is designed for Unix (uses Motif) so the GUI displays poorly in LXDE/Openbox, KDE, GNOME.
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