Applications: September 2007 Archives

I can't believe I didn't think of this before. When the GUI text
editor Geany wouldn't cooperate with the X setup on my Debian 4.0
laptop, I took the advice of all the users of self-described "crap
computers" at ubuntuforums.org and went for the smaller, faster Leafpad
editor. Problem solved. Many of those posting listed all the apps they
user on their low-end systems, many running Xubuntu, some Fluxbuntu but
quite a few Debian with Fluxbox, just like this laptop.

I already knew that the Ubuntu community can be a great help not just
for users of the various 'Buntu Linux distros but also Debian, Mepis,
Mint, and just about every other distribution of the operating system.
Remember, when you get down to the kernel, Linux is pretty much the
same, and a humongous, growing community with lots of newbies is bound
to be helpful.

Back to the low-spec app list. I'm already on board with Sylpheed as the
quickest GUI mail client, AbiWord as the best light word processor,
Dillo as a great GUI browser in addition to the Elinks, Lynx and W3m
text-only browsers, with Lynx my current favorite. (Note: I've been warming up to the e-mail component of Seamonkey when I use Puppy and Vector.)

One thing to remember with a true low-spec computer -- you need to plan
for both GUI (the X Window system) and CLI (command-line interface, in
this case the bash shell) environments. All CLI programs will work in a
GUI environment -- just open a terminal window (generally Xterm, but
there are more than a dozen others) and type in the program's name. But
GUI apps will not run in a console (i.e. the shell).