I run MX Linux 18.3 32-bit on my Fujitsu Siemens Scenic E600 i865G with Intel Pentium IV 2.8 Ghz, 1014 MiB (it was 1.5 GiB before, but I decreased it since Windows XP refused to run reliably with so much RAM), 64 MB integrated graphics card of Intel and a 80 GB hard drive that has a 40 GB NTFS partition (Windows XP + Puppy Linux), a 37 GB partition (MX Linux) and 3 GB SWAP.
While MX Linux itself runs great, it happened multiple times that the computer began to run extremely slow, to the point that a hard reboot was the only option to get the computer working again (nothing else worked, not even xkill when started with the shortcut Num 0; xkill simply refused to start!)
I quickly noticed that this was because of Mozilla Firefox. At startup, MX Linux uses 20% of my RAM. Later, this decreases to 13%, so I assume that 13% RAM usage on 1014 MiB is the minimum that MX Linux requires to operate. When I run Mozilla Firefox with one single tab, however, the RAM usage springs to 60-70%, but then it gradually grows to 90% (with one single tab open...), and then the aggressive swapping starts, rendering the computer unusable, after which I do a hard reboot.
Then I removed Mozilla Firefox and replaced this with Palemoon. Palemoon is way more responsive, doesn't eat all of my RAM and doesn't even make the operating system crash when working with 10 or more tabs opened. With Palemoon, MX Linux is usable again.
But, this left me with a question. If MX Linux advertises being midweight, why does it come with an extremely heavyweight web browser by default? Even if MX Linux itself is midweight, if you are required to have a couple of gigabytes of RAM to run the web browser, then it isn't midweight any more. That makes MX Linux heavyweight.
So, my suggestion is, is to remove Mozilla Firefox as the default web browser of MX Linux and replace it with something more lightweight, like Palemoon!
This way, even someone using a slightly older computer (like myself!) can use MX Linux to full satisfaction, without requiring that user to manually look for a lighter web browser. Palemoon still renders all web pages correctly, so you don't lose any functionality when using it.
OR, you could provide two ISO files of MX Linux, in which you suggest to run the one with Palemoon if you have less than 2 GB of RAM. That could also be a great solution.
