X and Fluxbox :: Dock Apps? in DSL1.0 Pentium100



I'm running  DSL1.0 on a Pentium 100, 64MB RAM. a good DSL connection. I would like to fully understand what the boxes oon the right side are telling me. I read the excellent description of the desktop on the WIKI, but there are big differences between v.3 and v1.0! Besides, I like the Moon_and_Tree background
This version recognized all my hardware and just worked. I tried v.  3.4.1  and it seemed a lot slower to boot. Is there any reason I should modernize?? BTW, this is a vacation home machine.

I really liked that fluxbox style as well.

I'll try describing them here, although using man pages or their help will get you more details and options.

Using the default order from top to bottom:
wmnet: shows your network speeds for uploading and downloading
wmcpuload: shows the % load of the cpu being used, will turn on the backlight if it is being stressed (at 100%)
asmem: shows your memory usage.
iirc, the top part (MEM) is for physical internal RAM; the maximum amount on the right; the 2 coloured bars shows what memory is used, cached; and what's free as a total, and as a %.  Then the bottom half is the same but for your total swap, should you have it.
mount.app: shows which available devices are already mounted (green), and one that you can mount, and those that are busy (yellow i think).  Scroll by using the arrow keys, mount/unmount by clicking the button on the left of it.
wmix: controls your volume for different channels.  The scrolling text tells you which channel it's on (you can switch them with the arrows below); mute (i think); if it's on stereo/mono; how the output is balanced Left to Right; and the knob is for controlling your volume and the % is shown above (can be controlled by leftclick+drag or the scroll on a mouse) - moves clockwise for higher values.
fluxter: shows your workspaces in fluxbox and the windows currently in them.  You can move windows around (left click) and switch workspaces (middle click) with it.

Just note that this is just what I remember, as some of the dockapps I still regularly use are different.

I didn't find much difference for boot with 3.x, although the unionfs layer is by default initialized on boot (boot with "legacy" to avoid this) - .unc extensions are preferred over .dsl's (lower memory usage).  Upgrading is up to you - you can check the release notes for the many changes.  I'd suggest for you to try it, and see for yourself the differences first hand.

FYI: dock apps are constantly running processes.
On a 100Mhz 64MB system, I would turn off as many as possible (not regularly used). You will get better performance.

Over the years (releases) of DSL, not only did DSL stay small in size, but tried to improve performance with small less powerfull machines, from new boot options to having less processes running at startup.

You should really browse the Notes

Quote (roberts @ Nov. 18 2007,16:52)
FYI: dock apps are constantly running processes.
On a 100Mhz 64MB system, I would turn off as many as possible (not regularly used). You will get better performance.

Like "smart update time," etc, etc.  Personally, I'd opt for having as few processes running as possible, with the option to check on things as needed.  This is the very thing I hate about windows machines.

Thanks for the replies. I will try cutting out some of the profiles as soon as I figure out how. I found out how to start a Dock App by Rt clicking on desktop and boring down thru the menues, and duplicated the mount tool.

I don't have a working CD burner right now, so I have been mounting isos and copying files. Can I do Frugal installs of several versions, choose which to boot with Grub? I Multi-boot several O/S (full installs) this way on my laptop.  Does each need it's own Partition or would directories be sufficient?

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