On Aug 10, 4:40*pm, (Nate Edel) wrote:
Robert Myers wrote:
Somewhere along the way, *Linux acquired the same kind of bloat as
Windows, so that I finally gave one of my P4 boxes away because it was
just too painful to use, even for Linux. *A dual core atom nettop
would probably still perform acceptably--for a while.

Depends on what you're doing with Linux. KDE and Gnome acquired bloat (KDE
tremendously so!), but if you're willing to run a less Windows-y desktop,
you can still run Linux on amazingly lightweight hardware.

The other problem is finding an unbloated browser.


I often use epiphany because firefox annoys me so much (it crashes
frequently, among other things).

There have been and there continue to be lots and lots of choices for
making life easier with old hardware running linux. You can play with
lxde, in addition fo xfce, or, if you want to show what a linux stud
you are, you can nibble at unnecessary eye candy in gnome.

If you're looking at buying a processor, though, then it's probably
good to be aware that Linux has been growing like Topsy for years,
and, unless you want to spend your lifetime fiddling with user
interfaces rather than getting work done, you might want to consider a
processor more powerful than is required by your current needs.

If you're a linux stud, you don't need anyone to explain these things
to you. If you're not a linux stud, though, maybe switching every
common application you are used to because you can't run KDE or gnome
isn't such a hot idea.

Robert.