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| Razor-Qt: Main Screen + Right-Click Menu |
There's a new kid on the DE block, and it's called Razor-Qt. It aims to be a lightweight, traditional-style DE, sort of like KDE, Xfce, and LXDE. The best way to put it is that it aims to be to KDE what LXDE has been to GNOME; it is stripped-down and manages the desktop in a more minimalistic way, but it is still compatible with KDE and Qt applications, just as LXDE can still take GNOME and GTK+ applications just fine.
I am trying Razor-Qt as a MultiSystem-made live USB in the form of Ubuntu Razor-Qt Remix. Follow the jump to see what it's like.
After the boot menu and a blank boot splash, I was greeted by the KDM login screen. Although this is a particular implementation of Razor-Qt in a distribution and won't apply to Razor-Qt as a whole, it's good that the developer used a nice login manager rather than something like a terminal login screen. After that I was greeted by the desktop.
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| Razor-Qt: Razor Desktop Edit Mode |
There are two problems though. One is big: the desktop switching applet on the panel seems to be completely broken, in that using it (though switching virtual desktops using other means works fine) causes the whole desktop to disappear save for the desktop background (which for some reason changes from the default selection that is first seen upon logging in to the default pick for KDE 4.6). There is no recourse; twice I made this mistake, and my only options were either switching to a different terminal using 'CTRL+ALT+F1' or forcing a cold shutdown by holding down the power button.
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| Razor-Qt: Razor Tools + Razor Panel Menu |
The big deal about Razor-Qt seems to be the tools, called Razor Tools, used to configure it. I'll go through them one by one.
The first tool I saw was to set the desktop background. This is a tool that seems to have been written specifically for Razor-Qt, and it's really simple and minimal, but it works fine.
The second was to edit the desktop. This makes the words "Razor Desktop Edit Mode" appear on the screen in big blue letters, though it is possible to continue using other applications in the meantime (as I am doing as I write this). This shows blocks representing the different widgets that can be configured or removed from the desktop, and there is a menu to add new widgets, though there aren't many widgets available in all. Unfortunately, configuring the widget requires the importation of already-made configuration text files, meaning that sort of like Openbox, if the user wants to configure Razor-Qt beyond the extremely shallow tools given, coding of text files is required. Also, I had to manually right-click and uncheck "Edit Desktop" to get back to the normal desktop view, which is slightly cumbersome.
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| KWin: Dolphin + Desktop Cube |
Right now, the Razor Appearance Configuration dialog can only change the icon theme, and as far as I have seen, that change doesn't happen at all. That needs to be fixed soon.
The Razor Configuration Center is just a small program that acts as a gateway to the other Razor Tools. I feel that unless Razor-Qt really makes a commitment to remaining stripped-down, the Razor Configuration Center will contain more than just the 4 shortcuts it contains now.
The Razor Mouse Theme Configuration dialog is just a program to change the cursor theme. Confusingly, in the Razor Configuration Center, it is called the Razor Mouse Configurator, which initially led me to believe that it would actually configure the operation of the mouse, but then I remembered the presence of the KDE System Settings program to do that. I do hope that the developers make the naming a little more consistent, though thankfully the discrepancies are minor.
Unfortunately, at one point, opening a few of these at the same time caused a pretty major system slowdown. Thankfully after a minute or two this was resolved.
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| Razor-Qt: Dolphin + Tabbed Windows + Desktop Effects |
The Razor Session Configuration program allows changing the WM behind Razor-Qt. In Ubuntu Razor-Qt Remix, the only available WM is KWin, so that's not much of an issue there. Also available are options to configure startup applications, defaults, and others.
In terms of being lightweight, Razor-Qt uses 220 MB of RAM at idle with no desktop effects. This is significantly less than fully-featured DEs like GNOME and KDE, comparable to Xfce, and a good deal more than LXDE, which I feel is its main competitor of sorts.
That's where my time with Razor-Qt ended. Although I only had a few problems in number, in scope they were pretty major. I definitely wouldn't recommend it for a newbie because it's still too new and too rough around the edges. (Maybe those edges can be razored off soon...? Hehheh. (OK, I'll stop.)) But for Linux users with a little experience troubleshooting problems and who can learn quickly enough to stay out of trouble (e.g. the problematic desktop switcher panel applet), I think this is a great new alternative DE that offers the power of KDE to people who may still be wary of the whole Plasma thing as well as of KDE's often-hefty resource requirements. I'm certainly going to keep an eye on this thing.
You can get it and find out more here.
It does indeed look beautiful. It's nice that. somebody is using gnustep, extending it into a desktop environment.
ReplyDelete220 while being far less than KDE is a good deal more than LXDE and E17.
ReplyDeleteStill more alternatives are good.
220 MB? LXDE on Salix basic needs only 45, but it's still early days, hopefully it will come down. Thanks for the very detailed walkthrough. Your blog is still getting better, and it wasn't bad to begin with. Interesting. Cheers ~ Barnaby
ReplyDeleteOk, why not KDE-lite?
ReplyDeleteIs there a real need for yet-another-DE ?
Yes, there is!
DeleteCuz more is better!
Go back to Windows, if you don't like alternatives!
;p
__________________________
I've been using LXDE with Compiz for about a year now (left Gnome BEFORE it became cool!!! (lol just kidding: left Gnome for personal reasons way before G3 and not because of it)), and haven't been using any KDE for a long time (8-10 yrs maybe) - but I heard of Razor-qt and had to try it: it's not really "mature" yet, but it's promising.
For now, it needs some hard coding and the cumbersome KDE-"theming"-section to customize it, yet there are not that many apps for QT as are for GTK, so it takes time to customize a whole desktop in the way I like it...anyway, I'll stick with it for at least a week maybe, growing accustomed to it and then decide over it for now.
But even if I might decide to not use it anymore, this doesn't mean, there is no need for Razor-qt....otherwise there would be no KDE (don't like the whole look and feel of it, esp the panel and the system settings...the plasma-panel seems to not have changed that in a way) , Gnome (tried g3 and the gnome-shell for 1-2 days and didn't like it) or XFCE (cheap copy of g2, why start it at all in the days of g2??^^), not to speak of all the window managers, ROX or E17.
"Cuz more is better!" I absolutely not surprised that this is the 1st reaction. I cannot help myself but associate this to the fast food crowd. Sure more is better, but when would quality win vs quantity???
DeleteI wish them good luck...
Fast food crowd?
DeleteI definately have to associate this with anti-modern uniformism.
I mean...what are we talking about? There's only 2 major and like 4 or 5 lesser DE's at all...and you wouldn't call your car dealer a "fast food dealer with an excessive count of car models", if he'd offer two different car models with a total of six different designs, would you?
Despite that I think razor-qt really is, or at least has the potential for a good DE - even less-than-good projects can bring up good ideas and good code that advance other projects...so think before you write, Mr. Too-shy-to-say-my-name
Oh, No, I do not have a valid argument, that's why I am going to reserve to personal insults and "go back to Windows" trolling. Open Box - yes, Open Source - Yes, Open Mind - NOPE that does not exist.
DeleteIf you're still interested (and/or capable) to keep it clean and open-minded then think about the following:
* "excessive count of car models" yet each model needs to sell and maintain X amount of customers to stay in production. Too many models to chose from is not good neither for customers nor for producers/resellers (in real world of course).
* "anti-modern uniformism" Well, Apple sells only one OS with only one DE, and they charge quite a premium (and no, I don't have one). Yet, Apple's desktop market share is larger than all 500+ distributions of Linux combined. I could say the same about Android phones - one OS + one DE, and Droid is doing quite well on the market.
* "There's only 2 major" DE's. How about 4? Besides the usual Gnome and KDE, there are Unity and Cinnamon. The popularity of Ubuntu and Mint puts those two into Major League almost instantly. You can argue that those are just different shells, but I see them as separate DE's.
Do I object against a fat-free-Qt based desktop? No, I don't. But I don't see why it needs to separate itself from KDE either. KDE-lite and KDE-full pair is much easier to 'market' to potential Linux users (specially refugees from MS). If you like over-the-top desktop bling-bling and have the hardware for it go with KDE-full; if not KDE-lite is there for you. I like to keep it simple (in all the aspects).
@Anonymous: You completely missed the point. There's a smiley face (":p") under the comment saying "go back to Windows" indicating sarcasm. So please, just take it easy. Now, with regard to the rest of your comment, for one, Linux distribution developers are under no such obligation to remain profitable. Sure, many depend on donations to continue, but many others can keep going by just being a hobby. With regard to Android, that isn't quite true, because every phone manufacturer that ships Android customizes it at least a bit. HTC, Samsung, and others have their own unique Android interfaces. You're right about the separate DEs, so I won't argue over that. But finally, there already is a "KDE-lite". It's called "KDE Low-Fat Settings", so if you really want that, you can use that. Considering that Kubuntu seems to be the KDE distribution that takes marketing itself to new users (read: Microsoft Windows refugees) the most seriously, it does include KDE Low-Fat Settings, so your question has already been answered. I don't believe Razor-Qt is meant to target newbies; I think it's meant to target existing Linux users who want to use Qt 4 and similar KDE stuff but want to still avoid Plasma.
DeleteIm pretty sure it idles at a lot lower if you're using Openbox as your WM as LXDE does. Kwin is as bloated as KDE...
ReplyDelete@Sell My Cell Phone: Wait, what?
ReplyDelete@Jeff Hoogland: I'm pretty sure I said something to that effect too.
@Barnaby: I appreciate the support! I don't think the comparison is entirely fair, though, because it's pretty much guaranteed that even Ubuntu running without any graphical DE will use more RAM than a comparable other distribution also running without a DE.
@Anonymous 1: Why not have another DE? Is that such a bad thing? If many people come to use it, the chances are higher that people will also donate money to keep the project going. If very few people use it, the project will either shut down due to a lack of funding or keep going just as a nice little hobby to scratch the developers' collective itch.
@desm0tes: Yes, there will certainly be a use for Razor-Qt even if a few of us don't care for it. And I find it interesting that you've combined LXDE and Compiz.
@Anonymous 2: How does Razor-Qt in and of itself say "quantity over quality"? That makes no sense.
@Mark: I'm sure it does too, but Ubuntu Razor-Qt Remix only offers KWin for testing because it's built from Kubuntu. Maybe there should be another remix of Razor-Qt built from Lubuntu in order to use Openbox.
(I'm replying like this rather than taking advantage of threading commenting so that I don't spam the comments section with my own replies and so that I can condense everything into one comment.) Thanks for the comments!
220 mb is about double the RAM I use with Xfce at idle on Debian with compositing on and conky running.
ReplyDeleteMost or all the Razor-Qt devs use Openbox.
@Anonymous: That would make sense considering that I was using the default KWin WM present in Ubuntu Razor-Qt Remix (as that is built from Kubuntu). Thanks for the comment!
ReplyDelete