From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Oct 21 16:38:52 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C28C516A515 for ; Thu, 21 Oct 2004 16:38:52 +0000 (GMT) Received: from emboss.bossbox.com (cpc2-tall1-5-0-cust19.dbln.cable.ntl.com [81.98.89.19]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0716843D31 for ; Thu, 21 Oct 2004 16:38:52 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from Brian@bossbox.com) Received: from bogbox ([192.168.0.2]) by emboss.bossbox.com (8.12.10/8.12.10) with ESMTP id i9LGcnSI038978; Thu, 21 Oct 2004 17:38:50 +0100 (IST) (envelope-from Brian@bossbox.com) Message-Id: <200410211638.i9LGcnSI038978@emboss.bossbox.com> From: "Brian " To: "'Benjamin Walkenhorst'" Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 17:38:58 +0100 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Microsoft Office Outlook, Build 11.0.5510 In-Reply-To: <4177E231.8070507@gmx.net> Thread-Index: AcS3iiD8rB6i7zWZQ4e1f+i8zCu5pgAAf49A X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1441 cc: 'FreeBSD Questions' Subject: RE: Rid of those Windows Desktops! X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 16:38:52 -0000 What exactly is "lots of RAM"? I think you should have 128MB for a graphical environment, preferrably more if you want to run lots of memory-eaters (like KDE). I've been happy for a long time with 256MB, now I have 512 and am even more happy. =) But 128 to 256 should be sufficient under most conditions. If they are at 1.9GHz, chances are rather good they have more than enough RAM. =) As for CPU speed, a Pentium III 450 can make for a decent desktop machine, so you've got nothing to fear, here... Window Manager: I use Window Maker. I've been using it for some years now, and I love it. It's easy to use, doesn't waste my ressources and it has everything I need, namely virtual desktops. Plus, it has a sidebar that can be extended with useful DockApps. Email/Web: I use Firefox and Thunderbird happily. Again, they are quite easy to use, not too ressource-hungry and got everything I need. Thunderbird has excellent junk-mail detection, Firefox has an extension called AdBlock which does a great job at blocking ads. For IRC i use xchat, though I gotta admit I just chose the first irc-client that came to mind. For programming I like gvim, since it's... well, vi plus some useful enhancements. Emacs I just use for HTML... (Probably Emacs is great, but I don't know any lisp and haven't had much success at learning it) >Or point to some documentation on building a secure stable desktop >enviroment. > > Uh, the handbook? You can install it locally along with FreeBSD. I've you've worked with FreeBSD before, you probably know it already. Especially, you might want to look at http://www.de.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/desktop.html Also, if you are willing to spend some money, "The Complete FreeBSD" by Greg Lehey is really great. It's both a good beginner's introduction into various tasks and a useful reference (it covers version 5.x). "Absolute BSD" by Michael Lucas is said to be good, too, but I don't know if it covers 5.x. Lots of ram is they all have at least 512mb. I should take "Secure" out of there I'm fairly well up on FreeBSD Security and all boxes are behind a well maintained FreeBSD Router/Firewall. I have all those books :) Cheers --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.773 / Virus Database: 520 - Release Date: 05/10/2004