Where debating everything under the sun is only the beginning

And then there are lighter desktops than Mate

To give every WM the same conditions I measured the wm's memory with only the wm running plus urxvt - in which I executed the smem command. Additional bars, panels, etc. were not running - only the "core" wm binary. So the results are different than when taking the measurement in the middle of the work, when you have typically opened several different programs. But it will give you an idea.

dwm 2.3M
ratpoison 2.5M
cwm 2.6M
notion 2.9M
fluxbox 4.4M
i3 5.5M
icewm 6.2M
openbox 8.3M
awesome 26.9M

What we need is a RAM contest for small window managers.

The "proportional set size" (PSS) smem reports is the memory the program plus the '"fair share" of each shared area to give a realistic measure.' That means, of course, the program's PSS will shrink the more programs with the same shared libraries will run. So, the RAM usage depends on how much and which other programs you run. In extrem[e] cases it is possible, that you need lesser RAM with a full blown desktop environment with applications which are all linked to the same libraries than with a small wm, but running programs with different shared libraries - e.g. a mix of GTK2, GTK3 and QT4/QT5 programs (emphasis mine).

Quote from: ersi on 2016-12-12, 19:06:15

What we need is a RAM contest for small window managers.

To be fair, if you have to load all of GTK+ or Qt/KDE for some program you use then it doesn't really matter if your window manager already preloads it. The author of the post points that out as well.

I don't think your choice of window manager or desktop environment can solve the fundamental problem: modern-day websites are too heavy for old netbooks even though much more complex applications like LibreOffice or GIMP run perfectly fine.

You can download a lighter window manager and switch to it inside Mate
https://www.maketecheasier.com/replace-mate-window-manager-with-openbox/ /edit

Well, I survided from "death". No changes regarding ram usage.

Next step will be a lighter linux distro.

I start to be tired of computers. Really.
Computers are nothing but another tax for paying for all your entire life.

1. Having found a distro that suits the computer very well, don't update.

2. Find a workable rolling-release distro. A rolling-release distro is such that once you install it and it works, you will get updates indefinitely, no need to re-install any new release/version.

Interesting, very interesting. Never heard before about those "rolling-release" distros. Not sure if it doesn't gets heavier.

My next (and last) attempt will be http://tinycorelinux.net/intro.html

Thks for your help.

My netbook is likely not surviving just because of the distro that I have installed on it, but because I never use Firefox, Chrome or Chromium there. I use Palemoon, Otter browser, Opera 11 and Elinks. I use Seamonkey too, but it occasionally bogs down the system.

I use Firefox for livestream tv (can't run the flash player in any other browser) and it also goes perfectly with TOR (that uses Firefox).

it also goes perfectly with TOR (that uses Firefox).

I would be not surprised bad encoding to be also responsible.

TOR doesn't use Firefox. Firefox uses TOR. 

Seriously, those weak netbooks are not good for much these days.

n a nutshell, the system should start quickly and get into a working session. We had this in 2010 or so, with boot times down to mere 10 seconds using init. No flaws, no bugs. Even in the commercial sphere, working with init, I do not recall any major problems.

Then, suddenly, we have this new binary diarrhea with a hundred million modules, and for the past five years, this unstable, half-baked, undebuggable nonsense is the backbone of most Linux distros. The invasive and pervasive nature of the systemd framework has also affected the stability of the user space, the very thing it should never have touched, and pretty much all problems with the quality of the Linux desktop nicely coincide with the introduction of systemd. The development continues, of course, and for no good reason than trying to reach the level of stability, maturity and functionality that we had half a decade ago. Someone landed themselves a lot of monthly pay checks by writing complex code to solve a problem that did not exist.

While testing Fedora 25, I had my first taste of Wayland, and it was when I visited the official page and read the manifesto that it dawned on me. Here we had a new framework, created to make it easier for those developing it to develop it.