Re: OS advice

[Jude DaShiell <jdashiel@panix.com>]

i3 may be a good candidate desktop since it's supposed to be light on
resource useage.



Jude <jdashiel at panix dot com> "There are four boxes to be used in
defense of liberty:
 soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author, 1940)

.

On Sat, 7 Jan 2023, Tim Cross wrote:

>
> Ypo <ypuntot@gmail.com> writes:
>
> > Hi
> >
> > Orgmode is sometimes desperately slow on my PC:
> >
> > Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-2100 CPU @ 3.10GHz, 3100 Mhz
> >
> > (RAM)    4,00 GB
> >
> > I am running Windows 10, everything I use works OK, but Orgmode.
> >
> > Do you think that if I install a Linux OS, Orgmode would run fast? Any OS suggestion?
> >
>
> Sadly, the answer is likely "that depends". There are just too many
> unknown variables to provide a definitive answer. However, what I can
> tell you is
>
> - I have frequently taken hardware which users have found old and slow
>   when running Windows and given it a new life running Linux. Linux can
>   certainly perform better with less resources given some caveats.
>
> - Unlike Windows, Linux comes with a wide variety of destkop
>   environments and window managers. Some are resource hungry and others
>   are extremely light-weight. Selecting the right window manager will be
>   crucial. For older and slower machines with only a small amount of
>   memory, I would consider window managers like XFCE or maybe MATE.
>
> - From the specs you provide, my guess is that memory is your main
>   bottle neck. This would further suggest that if you were to switch to
>   Linux, avoid memory hungry desktop environments like Gnome or
>   KDE. AGain, XFCE is small and fast and very reliable. It lacks the
>   visual candy of other environments, but given your specs, something
>   needs to be given up and visual candy seems a good starting
>   point. However, this change will likely require some adjustment on
>   your part. While there is little you cannot do on a Linux system, the
>   level of integration and automation 'out of the box' is likely to be
>   less. You will certainly be able to create an environment which is
>   just as efficient and convenient as Windows, but it will likely take
>   additional effort and willingness to adapt on your part.
>
> - Emacs and org mode can also be memory hungry. It is possible (likely
>   in fact) that you could get much better performance, even under
>   windows, by modifying how you use org mode. Things I would recommend
>   include
>
>     - Keep your org files as small as possible. Use multiple files
>       rather than one big file.
>     - Don't load any Emacs packages you don't actually use. Don't
>       load/install any org packages you don't actually use/need.
>
>
> A common error I see people make now that we have convenient emacs/elisp
> packages is to install lots of packages. When I've been helping people
> with Emacs performance, the first thing we do is go through all the
> things they have installed/configured. Frequently, there are lots of
> things installed which they never use.
>
> What I sometimes recommend is that they comment out as much of their
> Emacs and org configuration as possible and then use the system for a
> few days. During this time, only enable something once you find you need
> it. It is often surprising to them how much stuff they had configured or
> installed which they really never used. The other benefit is that
> smaller and simpler setups are less likely to have undesired side
> effects or interactions with other packages, leading to fewer problems
> and increased stability.
>
> At the end of the day, a system with only 4Gb of memory is on the tight
> side for a modern setup. I would argue the minimum size these days is
> more like 8Gb and a 'good' setup is at least 12Gb. I personally have a
> minimum of 16Gb and prefer 32Gb, but I also use a lot of VMs and other
> container techniques to manage multiple stable and unrelated development
> environments. On the other hand, my wife and children use small systems
> running Linux XFCE with only 4Gb and find them quite adequate for what
> they do (mainly email, surfing the web, basic office documents with
> libre office etc). These systems are things like asus notebooks, small
> form factor, slower CPU and 4Gb memory. They find them quite adequate
> and appreciate the small form factor, but they also don't spend 8 hours
> a day on them!
>
>