A significant point made by Cory Doctorow in <ul>Little Brother<\ul> is that "you can run ParanoidLinux on just about anything." To me, that means that ParanoidLinux should be able to be stored on a bootable 1G USB data thumb and should be able to run on my least performant system, a P1 MMX 200, with 128MB memory, a 7.5G hard drive, and an ATI Xpert98 video card. This kind of system needs the lightest X window manager available and should probably start out at the command line, with an X session optional.
Not everyone can or will afford an Intel 4-core processor, infinite memory (solid-state and rotating), and an Industrial Light & Magic graphics card. We should focus first on our security goals, then address the fun-to=have features. XFCE provides basic X support in a light-weight package. It should be our base-line X windows manager.
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Sp00ky
"No matter how paranoid you are, it isn't paranoid enough." -- X-files
There are lighter and more efficient desktops than XFCE if that is a major concern. I don't want to cause a religious desktop war, but we need to set a 'base expectation' for system requirements and work from there. Unless of course, we're intending to work with everything from an 80386 and up ;)
"we need to set a 'base expectation' for system requirements and work from there" -- hear! hear!
I certainly don't want to start desktop or editor or any other kind of flame war, either. I do think we should find a space in the Wiki for platform baseline requirements and leave it open to discussion there for a while. We should do the same for baseline software functional requirements, too.
@all: Is the any sort of project protocol for this, or do I just claim ownership and do it?
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Sp00ky
"No matter how paranoid you are, it isn't paranoid enough." -- X-files
I've primarily been a Fluxbox user, but as I suggested on IRC, XFCE seems to be the best option. Check out the other minimal window managers on lynucs.org - the screenshots should give you all a good idea of the productivity, minimality, and flexibility allowed by the WMs.
On another note, it wouldn't be too hard to disguise Paranoid Linux as Mac OS X or Windows using pre-existing WMs and themes - for those that don't want to be suspected of using "terrorist technologies" in the presence of foes. Of course, a flexible distro would have to be chosen as the basis for PL - and I would still suggest XFCE as the default since it is most flexible (users can use Compiz and many other add-ons in addition).
Comments
xfce as default X windows manager
A significant point made by Cory Doctorow in <ul>Little Brother<\ul> is that "you can run ParanoidLinux on just about anything." To me, that means that ParanoidLinux should be able to be stored on a bootable 1G USB data thumb and should be able to run on my least performant system, a P1 MMX 200, with 128MB memory, a 7.5G hard drive, and an ATI Xpert98 video card. This kind of system needs the lightest X window manager available and should probably start out at the command line, with an X session optional.
Not everyone can or will afford an Intel 4-core processor, infinite memory (solid-state and rotating), and an Industrial Light & Magic graphics card. We should focus first on our security goals, then address the fun-to=have features. XFCE provides basic X support in a light-weight package. It should be our base-line X windows manager.
--
Sp00ky
"No matter how paranoid you are, it isn't paranoid enough." -- X-files
There are lighter and more efficient options as well...
There are lighter and more efficient desktops than XFCE if that is a major concern. I don't want to cause a religious desktop war, but we need to set a 'base expectation' for system requirements and work from there. Unless of course, we're intending to work with everything from an 80386 and up ;)
In violent agreement
"we need to set a 'base expectation' for system requirements and work from there" -- hear! hear!
I certainly don't want to start desktop or editor or any other kind of flame war, either. I do think we should find a space in the Wiki for platform baseline requirements and leave it open to discussion there for a while. We should do the same for baseline software functional requirements, too.
@all: Is the any sort of project protocol for this, or do I just claim ownership and do it?
--
Sp00ky
"No matter how paranoid you are, it isn't paranoid enough." -- X-files
Yeah I agree. I'm a
Yeah I agree.
I'm a GNOME user myself, but for this purpose something lightweight would be preferable.
A well-configured fluxbox would be great in my opinion.
XFCE could be another option if fluxbox (or some other window manager) doesn't provide enough functionality.
XFCE
I've primarily been a Fluxbox user, but as I suggested on IRC, XFCE seems to be the best option. Check out the other minimal window managers on lynucs.org - the screenshots should give you all a good idea of the productivity, minimality, and flexibility allowed by the WMs.
On another note, it wouldn't be too hard to disguise Paranoid Linux as Mac OS X or Windows using pre-existing WMs and themes - for those that don't want to be suspected of using "terrorist technologies" in the presence of foes. Of course, a flexible distro would have to be chosen as the basis for PL - and I would still suggest XFCE as the default since it is most flexible (users can use Compiz and many other add-ons in addition).