Baslinux mailing list

[sindi keesan <keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org>]

On Sat, 18 Sep 2004 3aoo-cvfd AT dea.spamcon.org wrote:

> sindi keesan wrote:
> > Would it make any sense to continue using swm in
> > the floppy disk version
>
> Yes.
>
> > but icewm as default in the loop version?
>
> No.  The two versions of BL3 will remain the same.
>
> > Either one can install to HD ext2 partition, you said.
>
> Yes.
>
> > Could the icewm installation script offer the chance
> > to remove swm to save space?
>
> You do realize that swm is just 18kb ?

Wow!  Does that include the backgrounds and any help files?

> > I presume it would modify .xinitrc anyway.
>
> The icewm package modifies ~/.xinitrc to boot icewm
> instead of swm.
>
> > You could make icewm smaller by not offering a choice
> > of themes,
>
> I've already reduced the size of icewm in the package.
> Even the smallest possible icewm is ten times larger
> than swm.
>
> > and not include X clock and calculator.
>
> Those have nothing to do with the choice of wm.  Those
> are applications.  I could certainly remove applications
> to make room for a (much) bigger wm, but the purpose of
> the applications is to give people a selection of things
> to do with their GUI.
>
> BTW the X clock in BL3 is just 9kb in size.  This is
> trivial compared to the hundreds of kb needed for icewm.
>
> > There are smaller console programs for those
>
> You'd be hard pressed to find a console program that puts
> a nice clock on the screen for 9kb.

Will you use the same X clock in the current BL3 with icewm, rather than 
the larger one that is with icewm in BL2?

> BL3 has many utilities and applications under 20kb in size.
> You could remove all of them (reducing functionality by a
> significant amount) and still not have room for icewm.
> Don't get me wrong:  compared to KDE and Gnome, icewm is
> small.  But in the context of BL3, icewm is too big to be
> the default wm.

285K just for icewm in BL2!  How large is the one you compiled for BL3? 
Would ion (recommended by James) work in BL3 as an alternate and smaller 
wm that does not require a mouse?  I may go check it out soon.  Ratpoison 
was nice but I could not find a way to switch focus with it in Opera.

> > I think you included a console calculator program -
>
> dc
>
> > was it in BL3?


And there is already sc as a spreadsheet, I think.  And you are looking 
into the database program.  A small ftp add-on (for those of us whose ftp 
addresses start with '.' so cannot use ftpup) would be helpful.  I forget 
whether you can simply copy the one from BL1 or does it have dependencies 
not found in BL3?

> Yes.  Such console utilities are particularly important for
> systems with insufficient resources to run X.  Even though
> BL3 includes X, it also provides a lot of CLI functionality
> for low-RAM and slow-CPU systems.

How large is the BL3 X calculator?

I look forward to the next edition of BL3, with Abiword and icewm and 
Links2 (which would not run on my obsolete version) and maybe Christof's 
sound programs.  Thanks for all of this.

I got my modem working again (it came slightly unplugged when we changed 
sound cards) and am ready to download the next BL3 - any estimated time of 
arrival?

> Cheers,
> Steven
>
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keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org
SDF Public Access UNIX System - http://sdf.lonestar.org