On Thu, 26 Mar 2009 22:45:42 -0300 Ben Armstrong <synrg@sanctuary.nslug.ns.ca> wrote: > On Wed, 25 Mar 2009 18:08:34 -0400 > Daniel Dickinson <cshore@brucetelecom.com> wrote: > > Do you think a lightweight debian desktop for newbies would be a > > good topic for a blend? > > Hmm ... Intriguing. > > > Basically, LXDE or XFCE-based with a fairly complete set of packages > > (so that common packages for most 'average' newbie uses of the > > computer are present). > > Well, in some ways "lightweight" and "for newbies" are contrary goals. > For instance, "just works" networking is not yet available for LXDE. That is true, but since the goal is for it work on older hardware first, and be easy second, the decisions depend on what works with the available hardware. > But LXDE + network-manager-gnome works well. Also, newbies might > expect automounting of USB media, but this is not supported yet. But XFCE (which is what I am using at present) does have thunar-volman which does automounting. I have come to the conclusion LXDE could be an option for Squeeze or Squeeze+1 but it not going to work for my needs for Lenny. > > Not that I want to discourage you. It's an interesting idea. It's > just that from working with debian-eeepc, which recommends LXDE for > the Eee PC, I have learned from supporting our users: Though LXDE is a > great new desktop environment, and much more lightweight than even > XFCE (which really doesn't go far enough for trimming things down, > IMHO) our new users struggle with some of that last 10% of > functionality that puts the finishing touches on "fat" desktops like > GNOME and KDE. Well I admit I wasn't thinking so much of a newbie-specific distro as the title implied. Just something easy enough to figure out with a little help from docs and a mailing list, so that I don't have to teach everything, or even all that much. Regards, Daniel -- And that's my crabbing done for the day. Got it out of the way early, now I have the rest of the afternoon to sniff fragrant tea-roses or strangle cute bunnies or something. -- Michael Devore GnuPG Key Fingerprint 86 F5 81 A5 D4 2E 1F 1C http://gnupg.org
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