What DE do you prefer to use on Devuan?

Camtaf · 2026-10-09 08:58:10

@pcalvert

I run Devuan XFCE on my 2GB/16GB eMMC chromebook quite happily.

But if you want something lighter, maybe take a look at JWM, (I now use that as a secondary desktop system).

zapper · 2026-10-09 15:41:23

@Camtag there's a reason its puppylinux's default desktop interface.

Mercury · 2026-10-09 22:02:49

My old netbook with 2GB RAM runs Devuan with XFCE.

Devarch · 2026-10-14 19:51:35

KDE.

I have a HiDPI display and an external monitor; the settings for the internal and external displays must be distinct.
Cinnamon handles HiDPI reasonably well but its multi‑display configuration is less effective than Wayland.
All other X11 desktop environments (except Cinnamon) look terrible.

Also KDE uses fewer resources than Cinnamon when Baloo is disabled and unnecessary components are not installed.
In terms of lighter usage, I am concerned about CPU usage rather than the 100–200MB difference in RAM.

tux_99 · 2026-10-14 20:10:53

X11 can handle Hidpi just fine, you just have to make sure the DPI is set correctly for your screen. I used a HiDPI screen with X11 and KDE 3.5 already 18 years ago.

Devarch · 2026-10-14 20:21:48

More of that I understand that commercial LLMs are trained mostly, always exclusively on open source code. So, to my mind it must be (as it will be fair) free to all open source projects, but the world is not perfect.

Yes. I have mentioned that Cinnamon X11 handles HIDPI well. KDE X11 does so as well. I then explained why I chose KDE over Cinnamon:
1. Lower CPU usage.
2. Support for both X11 and Wayland, where Wayland provides better automatic configuration (resolution, brightness, and refresh rate) on multi-display setups.

coder-hase · 2026-10-20 19:51:22

I have been using lxde and then lxqt on Debian / Devuan systems. The work very well with 2GB RAM. Since I do not really need an IDE I switched now to

jwm an window manager
dmenu_run as launcher; alternatives: rofi or xlunch (https://github.com/Tomas-M/xlunch)
xmenu for an easier popup than jwm

klein · 2026-10-22 00:41:16

openbox / devuan, arch, or cachyos same menu.xml edited for os that way everything is formulator. gtk2-ng and obmenu3. x11

Last edited by klein (2026-10-22 00:45:46)

pcalvert · Yesterday 11:58:01

Camtaf wrote:

I run Devuan XFCE on my 2GB/16GB eMMC chromebook quite happily.
But if you want something lighter, maybe take a look at JWM, (I now use that as a secondary desktop system).

Yes, I like the idea of using JWM. I was originally thinking of using it with Xfce, but now I think that LXQt would probably be a better fit. To be clear, the idea is to install LXQt and then installing JWM and using that instead of LXQt. In other words, I'd use JWM along with the Qt apps that come with LXQt. Although I could certainly build a similar system from scratch (and I may), this approach gives me a shortcut that would allow to me set up a system like this quickly to see how I like it.

Mike · Today 04:30:23

I've found X11 and JWM works well for me.

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#26 2026-10-09 08:58:10

Re: What DE do you prefer to use on Devuan?

#27 2026-10-09 15:41:23

Re: What DE do you prefer to use on Devuan?

#28 2026-10-09 22:02:49

Re: What DE do you prefer to use on Devuan?

#29 2026-10-14 19:51:35

Re: What DE do you prefer to use on Devuan?

#30 2026-10-14 20:10:53

Re: What DE do you prefer to use on Devuan?

#31 2026-10-14 20:21:48

Re: What DE do you prefer to use on Devuan?

#32 2026-10-20 19:51:22

Re: What DE do you prefer to use on Devuan?

#33 2026-10-22 00:41:16

Re: What DE do you prefer to use on Devuan?

#34 Yesterday 11:58:01

Re: What DE do you prefer to use on Devuan?

#35 Today 04:30:23

Re: What DE do you prefer to use on Devuan?

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