MX-21 MX-Fluxbox

[seaken64]

Thank you Jerry3904 for MX Fluxbox. I have installed it on some old Pentium 4's and on Live USB.

Question: Is the MX Fluxbox that is installed from the Repos using MXPI the same as the ISO release? I installed the package from the MXPI and I noticed that the interface is slightly different from MX-FB21 installed from the ISO.

Thank you,
Seaken64

[i_ri]

Hello Jerry3904 and Everyone
dockmaker
The default dock lacks the initial command (at the beginning)

Code: Select all

pkill wmalauncher

needs to be added to /home/demo/.fluxbox/scripts/DefaultDock.mxdk

The dockmaker window "Operation Mode" for create, edit, ...
the x in the window does not close the window. the "Close" button will close the window.

After an Overwrite edit the rofi command has "--show drun" show up in the wrong place; it kills the rofi launcher.
For the command for rofi: added backslash \ (?) fixed for us the overwrite error that splits the rofi command. Does this work for you on DefaultDock edit overwrite? Can you fix it differently?

Code: Select all

wmalauncher --command rofi \-show drun

[Touhami-Dz]

which kernel is stable and using less ram ?
im trying to find the right kernel - Fluxbox setting for a pentium 4 3.2 ghz + 1gb ral
who will be used for youtube and browsing only

[ceeslans]

Try the antiX-4.19 (or even antiX-4.9) to see if that will shave off some MBs --> the 64 bit versions can be installed from MXPI's 'popular apps' tab.
You do realize that current browsers are actually sucking up way too much memory for a pleasant web surfing experience on 'only' 1 gb RAM ?

[seaken64]

I agree with @ceesians and suggest you try both antiX 4.19 series and the 4.9 series. I have had good success with both. However, I am currently running the default 5.10 with no issues on this Pentium 4HT 3.2Ghz with 3GB of RAM.

I would suggest increasing your RAM to at least 2GB for MX Fluxbox. And try out some browsers other than Firefox. I use SeaMonkey and Otter-Browser. I also don't attempt Youtube in the browser. I use SMTube for that.

I have a How-To here in the forum somewhere about lowering the memory footprint of MX Fluxbox for use on old 32-bit computers. I will try to find it and link to it.

Edit - here it is:
viewtopic.php?t=55175

Oops! Wrong thread. That thread was about my experiments prior to writing the How To. Here's the link to the How To:
viewtopic.php?f=23&t=56269

Seaken64

[Touhami-Dz]

1- oh trust me i have read all the 48 posts (i enjoyed it) x) but i was tired and wondering maybe all the best features are implemented on the new mx fluxbox (i planned to watch MX-21 Fluxbox- what's new (Part 1+2 on YT) from jerry and see what's up) than i will re-read that topic later , and try to make the best OS possible for the this
(P4 3.2 / 1 GB RAM / nvidia 7200 GS)

2- i tried antiX first than switched to MX cuz this P4 is not mine and the owner is rly noob with PC in general and i felt like antiX (out of the box) will be hard for him

i have some questions since im trying to catch up to all what i have been missing )=

3- what is the best way to install fluxbox on MX (so far i had bad experience with the simple package installer on antiX i tried xfce and there is icons missing etc and on mx couldnt install kernels) + is the experience on MX fluxbox better than antiX fluxbox ?

4- right now i installed 64 bit mx 18.3 on that p4 (3.2) 1gb ram should i try non-pae kernel for better stability and faster / less ram experience ?

5- what made you choose mx 21 on P4 over 18.3 even tho the mx 21 on idle is using more RAM ? is there something good on mx 21 that i dont have on 18.3 ?

6- is there a way to run youtube on otter browser (downloaded app image and couldnt run youtube , tried it on windws 10 and it has problems) as i said the owner is noob im trying to avoid giving him a hard time when possible ?
and thank u to devs and this community for making old pcs available again , there is still people who cant afford new pc's

[Touhami-Dz]

ok i will check it out i hope i didnt ask questions that are answered alrdy

[seaken64]

@Touhami-Dz,

I'm not sure if your questions were directly to me but I can try to share what I know. Jerry and others know more on the subject than I do and maybe they will chime in.

1. Yes, I think the current MX-21 Fluxbox is the best as far as user interface goes. However, your equipment may be better suited to antiX.

2. Personally, I find antiX quite nice to use. I like the IceWM interface as it is familiar to me as an old Windows user. IceWM is very similar menu interface to Windows 2000 thru Windows 7. Fluxbox is different and is not as easy for me.

3. MX Fluxbox has been developed for you and therefore I think it is easier than trying to add XFCE to antiX. antiX Fluxbox is also developed by the antiX folks but it is more "geeky" in it's approach. If your user is not given to changing config files than I think MX may be easier to use.

4. I would use the 32-bit non-pae 4.9 kernel for best/lowest memory footprint. Better yet is to add memory to the P4.

5. On my P4 I have 3GB of RAM so it is not a problem running MX-21-Fluxbox. In fact, on this P4 with 3GB I have not made any changes as I have described in the How To mentioned above. MX-21 is the latest and I wanted to use the latest version (based on Debian Bullseye)

6. I don't know. When I use Youtube on these old computers I don't use a browser. I use SMTube.

Seaken64

[Touhami-Dz]

even when i used google chrome with a 720p youtube video wih mx 18.3 (nothing changed just upgreades) i had still som free ram that is free so i dont understand why does he need to upgrade to more than 1gb in this case i personally told him to upgrade cpu to something like quad core

is there something that im missing here

[seaken64]

He doesn't HAVE to upgrade, it is not a directive. But in my experience with MX it works best with at least 2GB of RAM. It can work in less and I do have it running in 512MB on an old P-III at version MX-18.

It also depends on the graphics controller installed in the computer. I can't run anything over 360p on one of my P4's that just has the integrated Intel graphics. If they can get 720p that is fine. But how much memory is left and what if the OS needs to run some background applications? Using SMTube will keep the memory used even less than any browser and give extra room and CPU cycles to the OS for use with other applications.

Browsers are hungry, and getting ever more hungry all the time. They may get to watch a single 720p video today but soon they may not get anything to work. And compression schemes can cripple the CPU.

Seaken64

We're getting off topic again. Please start a new topic. This topic is for feedback on MX-21 Fluxbox.