LXQt, the lightweight desktop environment based on Qt, has hit its 1.0.0 release, with tons of changes and improvements. Going through the changelog, we can see it’s based on the final LTS release of Qt 5, Qt 5.15, and sports new features across all of its components. The file manager has seen a lot of work, there’s now a do-not-disturb mode, there’s the usual Wayland improvements, and a lot more.
Scanning their website makes me ache for a straightforward explanation of it’s merits without acronym word salad plus a fair feature list comparing it it other desktops and some benchmarks to back up their claims. I know that’s a few days work but their about page really doesn’t tell me anything. I dont want a glossy sales brochure but at least an explanation in plain English so I know what the heck it’s about.
I’ve not used it, but my understanding is that it’s really lightweight, so a good choice for a low-resource Qt-based desktop.
https://www.debugpoint.com/2021/11/lxqt-1-0-release/
I’m particularly impressed with how it’s progressed. In 2017 Linux Format ranked it last in their roundup of DEs:
But by 2019 they’d ranked it top out of the lightweight DEs.:
So it seems to have come on a long way and I'm happy to see them hitting 1.0.0.
@Flypig
I’d still like them to write a proper about page but the concept of desktop features versus how light they are is an interesting topic. I read yesterday an academic paper studying the best version of Windows to use in a VM. They were all within a margin of error apart but graphically Windows 7 came out ahead. Windows 10 was 30% slower. For Linux I’m using Linux MInt Cinnamon but I know it’s a bit on the fat side. Benchmarks suggest MATE and XFCE are fairly similar to each other. So along with KDE rounding up the most popular desktops maybe there’s a space in Linux for something lighter still.
If themed well I find it difficult to tell one desktop from another so if LXQT has something to say for itself I’m not complaining.
This is a bit old but a useful developer view.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cz75cMYHRM
This is a useful end user review.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fv13QggtxrU
If LXQt is too fat, there is Fluxbox and Openbox. Super minimal and require tweaks to be pretty though.
http://fluxbox.org/
http://openbox.org/wiki/Help:Getting_started
Be warned, the *box WMs have a different desktop paradigm then most. Gnome3/40 is kind of a modern interpretation, but the *box WMs are still very different.
I’ve tried it and kept having flashbacks to WinXP.
It would be neat if they were a KDE light. Adopt the cooler features of KDE without the option bloat.
It doesn’t use that much RAM, and it emulates the WinXP UI/UX.
I’ve used LxDe and LxQt in my old machine. To me, it is a very lean and fast and simple alternative to using KDE apps without the Plasma DE that is kinda bloated. But since a few versions, KDE started to get faster, maybe due to Qt5, and after that I’ve upgrated to a Ryzen 5600G, so I do not use LxQt on my main machine, b but on my eeePC 701 and Aspire One, it is a pretty good alternative, given the old hardware.
Of course, if you use gnome you have more alternatives of DEs, but Qt was realling missing this one, so I am glad of what they achieved.
LXDE is still being developed and is more modular and lightweight than LXQt (quick install on Debian)
It is true that LXDE is still being developed, but it is a dead-end. They still use GTK+2, which last had a release back in 2011. If the current LXDE was to actually be updated to the latest technology, I’m pretty sure you would see their resource usable rocket up beyond LXQt.
Pity.
The terminal has been migrated to GTK3 but everything else seems to be GTK2. Not that it matters too much if it works, my favorite setup is plain openbox with chosen parts from LXDE.
I guess I just don’t see the point of LXDE. In my opinion, they are not providing anything novel. Every application is already covered by a better solution (actively developed using modern tools but similarly lightweight).
Additionally, I had a look at their Sourceforge page and except for LXTerminal, the project really seems to have gone dormant. After seeing that, saying it is “still being developed” seems a bit of a stretch.
My opinion is based on my experience trying to make an old laptop usable again (AMD Sempron Mobile 3000+ and 768MB of RAM). Currently, I’m using standard AntiX with IceWM… seems to be working well.
Nothing wrong with Gtk2 for this application. Unlike newer versions it is lightweight and stable. LXQt is the one to fill in the bleeding edge lightweight DE although IMHO it is too late – there are quite a few better options now.