How about an EOS online install with no desktop or window manager and then install openbox? That is what I did since I am partial to openbox on any distro that I use and EOS is no exception. To do that, follow these instructions:
Select "No desktop" during the Calamares install.
After Calamares install, reboot
switch to TTY3 (Ctrl-Alt-F3)
Login and run:
git clone https://github.com/EndeavourOS-Community-Editions/openbox.git
cd openbox
bash openbox-install (see if this is executable, if not "chmod 755 openbox-install")
Reboot and login via lightdm
Remove the openbox folder in your home directory.
I welcome any correction to the above if I am wrong.
EndeavourOS with Openbox and LXQT is what I have on a Gateway 1.8 GHZ with 16 gig and its plenty for what I use it for (Videos/Music) Mind you I’m limited in video do to the Graphics (1368x720) However it has run fine with no issues with exception of the old style hdd seems to make it seem slow at times.
As for Noctalia / DMS since they were mentioned – they are easy to set up, but at least for now, for a lightweight Linux they’re a no-go.
Especially DMS, since it’s based on Quickshell and it isn’t expected to be rewritten.
Noctalia, when v5 is ready for mass adoption, is about to be a suitable option.
Regarding a WM, it’s quite a tough choice. On X11, your lightest options will be dwm and bspwm.
On Wayland – river for sure, maybe mango? For the latter, all eye-candy should be turned off.
As for a distro recommendation – I don’t think anything will be lighter than vanilla Arch or Artix.
Some say Wayland is lighter than X11, but I think it mostly depends on the environment itself and not the display server.
I think someone more experienced in using DEs on both X11 and Wayland should have a say. I only tested Qtile on both servers, the resource usage difference was barely even visible.
If Latest, Greatest & Co. is not a requirement, antiX can run on any tomato:
It should run on most computers, ranging from 256MB old systems with pre-configured swap to the latest powerful boxes. 512MB RAM is the recommended minimum for antiX. Installation to hard drive requires a minimum 7.0GB hard disk size. https://antixlinux.com/about/
I loved Antix when I used it but when I read their manifesto I decided not to associate with it, I’m an independent soul, not a partisan of any kind. Skipping the political was the only move I could make.
Please don’t tell me it was a political move to choose not to be political!
I try to not ‘miss out’ on code because of an ideology I don’t agree with.
Sometimes it helps me to think “haha I’m using your work and you’d hate that if you knew”. Infantile? Perhaps. On another note I find Wayland to be faster on my 2017 hardware than x11 was.
I’m not too keen on some of their ‘odd discussions’ and I get tired of it quick … that said, I do enjoy their distro/inits/tools. But, heaven forbid if you spell antiX wrong…
It wouldn’t matter to me if I agreed with them or not…where there is politics there will be partisans and where there are partisans it’s too cult-y for me. Even if it’s my kind of cult it’s too cult-y.
