Fastest wm options

Desktops & Window Managers
#1

I wanted to install the lightest fastest manjaro version to rival antix which runs at 170m and is super super fast.

Even manjaro openbox runs at more than double that.

Issue isn’t just ram, but when more in background its not as snappy as antix.

I found jwm manjaro v16 which is perfect at 140m and decent interface. Super fast.

However this only boots in virtual box.

Fails to boot in 2 computers I’ve tried either uefi or msdos mode, in dell laptop or hp desktop.

Don’t want to just install over another version as they still have background apps so won’t be 140m ram.

Is there any jwm or other wm version that’s recent and working.

Wish they hadn’t stopped making jwm as that would have been better than antix with manjaro features.

What’s the options and recommendations?

Thanks

#2

You should learn how to tweak the system.

You can create an Openbox which runs around 100MB - it depends on the services loaded.

Screenshot

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#3

This looks very interesting.

Just not sure how to make desktop shortcuts on openbox desktop.

Audio not working so a bit buggy too.

Thx

#4

Tried pacbang July 2020 version. Starts at 224m. Buggy with no audio. Seems more arch rather than manjaro.

Jwm antix 170m or jwm manjaro 140m still lighter.

Antix very easy to do desktop icons too.

If only jwm manjaro booted other than in virtual box, that would be perfect.

Sigh

#5

No - not buggy - just bare minimal - not intended as a turn-key solution

  • PacBang is Arch
  • BlackBox is Manjaro

And yes - when you load the ISO in virtualbox it requires a little more - but depending on the requirements - you can replace networkmanager with dhcpcd and get as low as 100MB.

Manjaro Openbox is not about competition - how low can you go - but about creating a usable Openbox.

Depending on how much RAM the system has available 2G 4G etc. a typical Linux system will allocate more depending on how much is available.

You cannot compare fast and low memory consumption - this is like apple and pear - then there is linuxatemyram.com

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#6

Bspwm-minimal is the lightest manjaro edition, followed closely by full bspwm edition. Those should start at 100-130Mb ram and are quite fast even on weaker hardware.

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#7

You could try building from the jwm iso profile found at

Another repo you could try building from

I will probably require you to modify the package lists but using manjaro-tools you should able to create working ISO

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#8

do you know why jwm manjaro was abandoned?

h ttps://classicforum.manjaro.org/index.php?topic=32683.0

it seems the perfect solution, but not currently an option for a rookie with zero encryption.

The issue is less about the ram used, but more about the running processes. The less running process = faster system in my logic?

Antix still reigns supreme in speed from what I can see.

Trying to figure out a way to get a decent jwm manjaro up and running thats very usable, but difficult for a rookie. With antix, jwm + rox = desktop icons no issue.

#9

It’s maintainer had difficulty to adopt the common packaging standards and the language barrier was difficult. So eventually he just went his own way. I’m not sure if he is still continuing his project under some other name.