[Sussex] Noob

[Geoffrey Teale]

Morning,
...

Gavin Stevens wrote:
<snip>
> Incidentally, I found out that it is possible to install Ubuntu without
> Gnome - I came across a how-to on the Ubuntu site relating to less
> powerful machines. It seems that typing the word "custom" before
> starting the installation results in a basic installation without a GUI.
> You then apt-get all the X-server bits & cap it all with Icewm. I shall
> try this when I give space to Ubuntu on my HD - I use Icewm on Debian,
> it's my favourite window manager & even on my 2.8GHz machine, I don't
> like to have things using more resources than necessary.
> 
> Also, Icewm is more "Windows-like" in appearance & could be a good
> choice for enticing people from Windows.
</snip>

While I understand your choice of IceWM I would encourage people 
generally to stick with Gnome if they wish to get the best out of Ubuntu 
- it is a much more "complete" desktop environment with all the little 
touches that Windows and Mac users expect.  GNOME (and KDE) take 
advantage of a look of work being done by FreeDesktop.org that is 
helping make Linux a much more consistent, professional feeling experience.

Most impotantly of all Ubuntu actively maintains a GNOME configuration 
above and beyond the default install.  Ubuntu releases are tied to GNOME 
releases and they provide extra integration packages that make several 
applications (OpenOffice.org, Firefox, Thunderbird) integrate strongly 
with GNOME.

--
Geoff Teale
Free Software Foundation <tealeg at member.fsf.org>