LXDE 0.4.2 Review and Screenshot Tour
I am a big fan of light desktop environments. Well, most people looking for a lighter alternative normally settle for a lightweight window manager, such as Fluxbox or AwesomeWM.
When the new version of Knoppix came out earlier this year, it caught my attention that the project dumped KDE3 for LXDE, an environment I’ve only heard about and never seen used in a distribution as the default desktop. During the test, I was surprised to find out the lead programmer was, and still is, Hong Jen Yee a.k.a. “PCMan” , the author of my favorite file manager PCManFM. That is why I couldn’t wait to take LXDE for a spin, since I knew it was going to be an interesting ride.
On my first login, the system greeted me with an error message, claiming it couldn’t detect my GTK+ icon theme correctly. I ignored it and continued loading the desktop. LXDE managed to find another GTK+ icon theme so the initial desktop looked pretty attractive. The LXDE logo seems to be a swallow. If any good graphic designers are out there, LXDE needs your help. Even though the swallow logo looks shiny in the task bar, the same swallow completely ruins the desktop background. Well, maybe it’s just me being a spoiled little brat, take a look at the screen grabs and decide for yourself.
Apart from the swallow detail, the lower panel reminds me of GNOME. The task bar looked similar, though I’m not a big fan of the CPU usage graphs, they’re just so 90′s… still, considering how fast the environment is, it is a small price to pay. As most complete desktops, LXDE is build around a set of apps. There is a Preferences Manager, a terminal emulator called lxterminal, an image viewer (gpicview), PCManFM which acts as the default file manager and manages the desktop and the icons, and the lxappearance GTK+ theme manager (which I couldn’t find in the menus).
And now for the most amusing part. Do you remember those Windows Plus! Themes, bundled with retail copies of Windows 98 SE? Well, LXDE followed KDE4′s path and also decided to include those annoying OHGODPLEASESTOPICANTTAKEITAANYMORE desktop sounds. I know it is intended to help visually impaired users and for the initial “wow”-factor, but I suggest that this feature be turned off by default and to add an easily locatable option to turn it on if you really need it. Did I mention I couldn’t find the option to turn it off? Well, I guess I probably couldn’t find it, although a menu called “Desktop Settings” should include this, in my opinion. Finally, a thumbs up for including an LXDE package that is made specially for Asus Eee PCs, I believe netbook users will get the most of this desktop environment.
In conclusion, LXDE still needs some polishing. I have no doubt that PCMan will work hard to make it an excellent desktop, but at the moment, there is still lots and lots of room for improvement. If you are looking for a lightweight desktop environment, be sure to give LXDE a try. Maybe you’ll find it useful.
Please note: the LXDE packages I used for testing come from the community-supported Arch Linux repositories.
[...] http://www.internetling.com/2009/07/28/lxde-0-4-2-review/ [...]
it’s true, that huge icon on the background scared the **** out of me when i first tried LXDE, and believe me, it’s one of the motives i didn’t test it for more than 30 minutes. but apart from the visual ‘holes’, LXDE seems like a nice alternative to *box-es WMs..
It makes quite a bit of sense for a distro that loads into and runs from RAM to use a desktop environment that uses minimal system resources. To me, the nicest thing about LXDE is that he LXpanel can be configured with a graphical application and one does not need to edit an XML file in ordered to get desired functionality from the panel.
Hericky, LXDE uses Openbox as the default window manager.
[...] LXDE 0.4.2 Review and Screenshot Tour I am a big fan of light desktop environments. Well, most people looking for a lighter alternative normally settle for a lightweight window manager, such as Fluxbox or AwesomeWM. [...]
Greg, thanks for testing LXDE. You are right by saying that people can get involved into development, designing and translating LXDE easily. We are a relatively small, but already a pretty international community. And we are very welcoming also to newcomers. Please get involved. I put up a few ideas how interested contributors can get into the project here: http://join.lxde.org.
LXDE is nice. It has a brighter future than the slightly stripped down gnome aka xfce.
Xfce sucks, use gnome, or kde, and when it comes to low resources or preference, then lxde in place of xfce…thank you!
As they say…. there just no accounting for taste. I like the desktop icon just as is. I use LXDE as a lightweight alternative to KDE. Got a copy of Debian 5.0 with LXDE as my initial exposure. Also didn’t know the story of PCMan, thanks.
LXDE if definitely nice but need much more work before it will be perfectly attractive and usable. Until then KDE will rule my world.
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quick question…how to REMOVE my documents icon -:)…i can’t do it no matter how hard i try LOL…good article
Ubuntu Gutsy still is my fav choice. Although, this looks promising.
Looks cool.
Love the Arch Linux plug at the end